VSshortages of drinking water, melting Alpine glaciers, drying up of rivers, agricultural losses…: the summer of 2022 marked the end of temperate climates in Western Europe and made the impacts of climate change more visible.
In France, the first conflicts of use broke out on the distribution of the resource, and, in the Rhône basin, the production of electricity fell by 25%. The situation is still critical with more than seventy-eight departments affected by restrictions.
Elsewhere, from the dried up rivers of the Parana (South America) and the Yangtze (China) to the devastating floods in Pakistan, the same observation is clear: the rivers are vulnerable and increasingly fragile. It is urgent to understand this, finally, and to act to save them, so much we depend on them and the services they offer for our primary needs: food, transport, heating, living in a healthy environment.
“We must tackle the ecological crisis head-on, which is nothing less than a questioning of our relationship with nature”
The risk would be to forget, last summer and a crisis chasing the previous one. On the contrary, the alert must be transformed into collective action, to avoid emergency measures as much as possible. Let’s go back to the source of the problems and prepare for the adaptation of our societies. Environmental planning is a necessary first step.
The second risk is due to the reflex of wanting to rationalize by discipline or public action the responses to be given when we have to accept the obvious: there are no borders in life. We will only succeed in overcoming challenges if we approach them holistically. Why separate the world conferences on climate and biodiversity (COP)? We must tackle the ecological crisis head-on, which is nothing less than a questioning of our relationship with nature.
Let’s bet that the rivers become the laboratory of transitions. Water is a material. A stream, a river or a river are living beings. To protect, it is better to be a being than a matter, necessarily abstract.
To succeed, eight priorities must guide our actions:
– getting to know the rivers by combining views and knowledge, bringing together researchers, practitioners, decision-makers and users to recognize the value they create. Let us develop multidisciplinary knowledge to deal with the urgency of protecting them;
Let’s not forget the right to water
– integrating rivers into global action: the environment, plants and animals – including humans – are linked. Let’s decompartmentalize public policies and connect more river, ocean, climate, health and biodiversity! ;
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