Protected areas in the Mediterranean, pesticides … Emmanuel Macron’s promises for the environment – archyworldys

On the third day of his visit to Marseille, during his speech to the World Congress of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which opens in Marseille, Friday, September 3, Emmanuel Macron announced a series of initiatives for the environment.

IUCN, the world’s largest conservation organization, launched its world congress on Friday on calls to tackle crises head-on “Binoculars” biodiversity and climate change, to save the future of humanity on a planet it has already seriously damaged.

“We can clearly see that the climate, nature and humanity are inseparable, and I think we measure it much better unfortunately since we experienced this Covid-19 pandemic because we have rediscovered our anchoring in the living “, launched the French president.

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Extension of highly protected areas in the Mediterranean

Referring to the COP26 on climate in November in Glasgow, he insisted on “The urgency of resynchronizing these two agendas, (…) to make everyone understand that the battle for the climate and against climate change goes hand in hand with the battle to preserve and restore biodiversity. And that both feed “.

After an outing at sea in the famous Calanques natural park, he announced the holding in France of a summit on the oceans – called “One Ocean Summit” – at the end of 2021 at the beginning of 2022, but also of a significant increase in strong protection zones. in French Mediterranean waters, which he wants to bring to 5% of the total in 2027, against 0.2% currently.

This extension of highly protected marine areas in the Mediterranean, eagerly awaited by environmental defenders, constitutes “A real change, which will allow us to reach another objective of 10% [d’ici] to 2030 “, said the French president.

Accelerated release of pesticides

Mr. Macron said he wanted to start an accelerated phase-out of pesticides, without further details, when France has the rotating presidency of the European Union, in the first half of 2022. “It is only at European level that we will get there, otherwise we will slow down”, did he declare.

Since the Grenelle de l’Environnement at the end of 2007, which set a target of reducing the use of synthetic pesticides by 50% in ten years, successive plans have failed. Sales of chemical pesticides were up in 2020 in France, as farmers anticipate restrictions having built up stocks.

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The “Glyphosate exit” promised by Emmanuel Macron did not materialize either. Many crops are struggling to do without this weedkiller, which is as controversial as it is effective, currently authorized until the end of 2022 in the European Union.

Opposition to the EU-Mercosur trade agreement

Citing the protection of the climate and biodiversity, Emmanuel Macron also announced that France will maintain its opposition to the EU-Mercosur trade agreement, concluded in June 2019, after twenty years of negotiations, with the four Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay). “We cannot conclude it today like this”, insisted Mr. Macron, believing that “Our commercial policy must include mirror clauses on the climate plan and on the level of biodiversity”.

“This is what I want the French Presidency, alongside our partners, with the Commission, to be able to carry”, he continued: “We must reinvent our trade policies so that they are coherent with our climate policies, with our biodiversity policies, it is a necessity. ” Negotiated by the European Commission on behalf of the EU countries, the treaty will not be definitively ratified until it has been ratified by the parliaments of all the member states.

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Ads that struggle to convince

The president’s words were not entirely convincing. “Overall, it is a beautiful speech as we have already heard in the mouth of Emmanuel Macron”, estimated with Agence France-Presse Jean-François Julliard of Greenpeace France, regretting the holding of a “Umpteenth summit”.

Pierre Cannet, from WWF France, talks about a “Mixed return from the President of the Republic on the biodiversity front”. While he welcomes the declarations for the Mediterranean and the commitments not to import raw materials linked to deforestation, his “Vision and course (…) remain vague and inconsistent “.

The announcements made by Emmanuel Macron did not convince supporters of Extinction Rebellion either. “The planet is in danger, no more biodiversity! “, chanted a hundred demonstrators gathered in the center of Marseille. Asked before the opening of the congress, Alain Bougrain-Dubourg, president of the Bird Protection League, asserted: “President Macron’s mandate does not leave an ecological footprint. “

Amandine Le Breton, of the Nicolas Hulot Foundation, welcomed the “Clarification of the French position with regard to Mercosur” and the promise that France will carry during its presidency of the EU the dossier of “Mirror clauses” requiring imported agricultural products to comply with European standards to avoid any distortion of competition. But it also falls under “Inconsistencies” : “What we expect, beyond this congress, is that each government decision is, at a minimum, not harmful to biodiversity, even positive”, she explains.

The World with AFP