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CLIMATE CRISIS

France to build vessel for polar research

President Emmanuel Macron said Friday France will build an ice-capable vessel as part of a billion-euro plan to boost polar research.

France to build vessel for polar research
French President Emmanuel Macron (C), delivers a speech during the One Planet Polar Summit as part of the Paris Peace Forum, at the French National Museum of Natural History in Paris, on November 10, 2023. Photo: Yoan VALAT/ AFP.

Addressing a conference on the polar regions and glaciers, he urged world powers to act in the face of the climate emergency despite raging geopolitical tensions.

He said mankind faced a “civilisational” challenge and called for “an unprecedented level of cooperation” despite the “resurgence of geopolitical tensions”.

He spoke on the final day of the One Planet-Polar summit, a conference he called to address the climate emergency. Russia, a major Arctic nation, was not invited over its invasion of Ukraine.

The war in Ukraine “has weakened cooperation with major geopolitical and scientific powers”, Macron said, in a clear reference to Russia. “Despite all these tensions, it’s clear that we must act, and make the poles and glaciers privileged spaces for peace, scientific and environmental cooperation”, Macron added.

Based between the French territory of New Caledonia and Australia, the new ship will divide its time between the Western Pacific and Antarctica, he said.

The vessel will bear the name of Michel Rocard, a former prime minister and ambassador for international negotiations over the Arctic and Antarctic who died in 2016, Macron said.

France plans to invest a billion euros ($1.1 billion) in polar research by 2030, Macron said.

In particular, the country will finance two major initiatives in the North and South Poles, including a Polar Pod expedition by a zero-emission vessel to explore the Southern Ocean which surrounds Antarctica.

France will also rebuild its scientific station in Antarctica called the Dumont d’Urville Station from 2026 and will work to renovate the Franco-Italian Concordia station, Macron said.

He also said Paris would closely coordinate with its European partners on a major research project in East Antarctica.

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ENVIRONMENT

Homes evacuated as floods hit village in French Alps

More than 50 people had to be evacuated from their homes in a village in the French Alps as violent storms struck the south-east of the country.

Homes evacuated as floods hit village in French Alps

Less than four years after storm Alex struck the Boréon area of the Alpes-Maritimes département in September 2020, leading to 10 deaths, it was once again hit by severe weather, as the storms combined with high-altitude snow melt caused the Vésubie river to burst its banks.

The 1,400-population village of Saint-Martin-Vésubie, which was cut off from the rest of the country by the devastating 2020 storm, was again affected by severe weather.

Thierry Ingigliardi, the village’s deputy mayor in charge said: “Everything is being destroyed, we’re suffering the loss of roads yet again.” 

As a precaution, 52 people, including four children, were evacuated to a community hall.

But there was some confusion over the scale of damage caused by the flooding, after current Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin posted a message on X, formerly Twitter, saying that bridges had been washed away in the flooding. 

“None of the bridges are threatened, two fords have been washed away,” Gaël Nofri, deputy mayor of Nice, clarified on the social network.

But at least two bridges have been damaged, leaving around 20 homes cut off, while two other structures are still ‘under surveillance’, as the local council reported earlier. The latter also deplored “temporary infrastructures that are not holding”.

Hugues Moutouh, prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes region, told BFMTV: “Everyone is annoyed (…) It’s been going on for months now, we’re using temporary structures.”

Moutouh says he did not want “to come here again to see how powerless we are” when seasonal storms known as épisodes méditerranéens return in autumn. 

The storms in the Alps led to ‘once-in-a-century’ flooding in the Vaud canton of Switzlerand. Around one month’s rain fall fell in just an hour and caused major flooding in the town of Morges, which stands on the banks of Lake Geneva.

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