this conference on water is “vital”, according to the head of the CNRS water unit

Agathe Euzen does not know if there will be any concrete results from these three days of international conference, apart from probably the appointment of a UN special envoy on fresh water. But the head of the CNRS water cell, who made the trip to New York, welcomes such an event. “Water, we make it visible with this conference. Not completely, but it contributes to it. We put on the table at the UN level, so that is extremely important. We replace water as one of the major issues, in the same way as the climate or biodiversity or the oceans”.

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humanity “vampiric” To “broken the water cycle”, endangering billions of people across the planet, denounced Wednesday March 22 the Secretary General of the United Nations at the opening of this first UN conference on water for almost half a century. A joint report with Unesco published the day before highlights the “imminent risk of a global water crisis”.

Putting water on the political agenda

All the countries and all the water stakeholders present in New York are also made visible with this meeting. According to Agathe Euzen, this should make it possible to put water on the political agenda and to move things forward, including in France, “so that there is a real consideration of the scale of the issues and that the water plan that we expect is up to the ambitions”.

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A “water plan” is, in fact, eagerly awaited since the unprecedented fires of last summer and the continuing drought. The municipalities fear a again as the fires have already resumed. But the presentation of the text has once again been postponed due to the agenda and the turmoil linked to the pension reform.

For Agathe Euzen, Emmanuel Macron should nevertheless have come to the conference. “His political role is absolutely essential. He went to the summit on the ocean. Why doesn’t he come to a summit on fresh water? It’s just a lifeblood”, she laughs. Especially since the situation is very worrying, including in France, where 80% of the water tables are at levels below normal.