The meeting held since Wednesday at the National Museum of Natural History in the French capital, as part of the ONE Planet summits declined by French President Emmanuel Macron in recent years, resulted in a "call from Paris for the poles and the glaciers" which, according to the French president, already brings together "around thirty signatory states".
Among them, several European countries but also India, Singapore, South Korea... Or even Tuvalu and Australia, which has just offered climate asylum to the 11.000 citizens of this small group of Pacific islands eaten away by rising waters and threatened with disappearance.
The Paris appeal is intended to be a cry of “alarm” in the face of melting ice but also an encouragement to cooperation and the development of research.
The glaciologist Jérôme Chappellaz, co-president of the summit's Scientific Advisory Committee, expressed his "great level of satisfaction" at the outcome while regretting that the coalition was not "even broader".
"Cooperation"
Before the political leaders, scientists met for two days in the French capital to draw up a worrying assessment of the state of the cryosphere, which refers to all the ice present on Earth (sea ice, glaciers, icebergs or permafrost). ).
These spaces are threatened by global warming of human origin, linked mainly to the use of fossil fuels (oil, coal, gas).
Faced with the “collapse” of the frozen surfaces of the planet, an “unprecedented” and “civilizational” challenge for humanity, Emmanuel Macron pleaded for “an unprecedented level of cooperation” despite the “resurgence of geopolitical tensions”. The war in Ukraine "is weakening cooperation with major geopolitical and scientific powers", he noted, in an allusion to Russia.
“Despite all these tensions, it is clear that we must act, make the poles and glaciers privileged spaces for peace, scientific and environmental cooperation,” pleaded the French president.
New ship
Pressed by the scientific community to strengthen its resources, he also announced that France would invest one billion euros “by 2030” in polar research. This billion covers the period 2024-2030 and represents double the credits for the previous period 2017-2023, according to his entourage.
The president more specifically announced the construction of a new ship. Based between Nouméa, in New Caledonia, and Hobart, in Australia, this so-called "ice-capable" vessel, capable of navigating in the ice that clutters the polar seas and which can reach several meters in thickness, will be shared between the Pacific West and Antarctica.
It will bear the name of former Prime Minister Michel Rocard, who was the first French ambassador for the poles, said the French president.
The one billion envelope will also help finance two major initiatives in the two poles: the Polar Pod with explorer Jean-Louis Etienne in the Southern Ocean, and the Arctic Station supported by the Tara Foundation.
France will also rebuild its Dumont d'Urville station on the Antarctic peninsula from 2026 and will work to renovate the Franco-Italian Concordia station, while maintaining the best environmental standards, the Head of State said. , adding that Paris would participate in close collaboration with its European partners in a major research project in East Antarctica, where knowledge is still limited.
These new means were eagerly awaited. “We need support,” said paleoclimatologist Jean Jouzel at the opening of the scientific sequence of the summit on Wednesday.
"Polar research needs resources, they are very insufficient", was also alarmed Olivier Poivre d'Arvor, French ambassador for the poles and the ocean.
Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.