Massive wildfires in Gironde, the Landes and the Var. Back to back heatwaves across the country. Severe drought seriously affecting agriculture. This summer, the impacts of human-caused climate change have well and truly come to France.
With only a few months to go before the presidential election, environmental issues are expected to take an unprecedented place in the political debate. Historically championed by the left, the topic has become inescapable, forcing the right and the far right to take it up.
Because today, "given the delays and the seriousness of the situation, France no longer has a choice: it must adapt, and fast", warns the Climate Action Network (Réseau Action Climat), which challenges recent governments, saying they "have not taken the necessary measures to adapt the country to the effects of climate change".
Yet the warnings have been sounding for several years. As early as 2013, the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) stated that "warming of the climate system is unequivocal and, since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia".
"The years 1983 to 2012 are probably the warmest 30-year period the Northern Hemisphere has experienced in at least 1,400 years", the report also noted.
