The CNRS presented this research strategy on Monday, June 9 for the next ten years on the polar regions on Monday, June 9, victims of “rapid and unpublished transformations under the effect of climate change”, which require “intensifying research to better understand their dynamics and impacts.”
Three years after the adoption of the first “polar strategy” of France, the National Center for Scientific Research has listed “15 interdisciplinary scientific challenges” to assume in the next decade.
The Research Institute cites “the understanding of Arctic societies, the impact of contamination on fauna and populations or even the loss of Antarctic mass and its impact on the level of the seas” as priority challenges for the French scientific community.
A molten “spectacular” iron of the ice bull
Heating is four times faster in the Arctic than in the world average. In Antarctica, the cast iron of the ice bull since 2016 is “spectacular”, according to the synthesis of the CNRs presented outside the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC-3), organized in Nice.
“Another alarming phenomenon, the highly pathogenic virus of Aviar influenza recently affected the colonies of birds and marine mammals of the sub-Antarctic and Arctic regions,” adds the public body in its document entitled “Postpective Polar Polar 2025-2035”.
Scientists alert the general consequences of these disorders: elevation of the level of seas, interruption of ecosystems and greater pressures on indigenous communities. Poles also become the scene of the increase in geopolitical tensions, particularly for access to resources and new maritime routes.
100 million euros for 10 years
This possible aims to structure an ambitious national research program, which requires an envelope of 100 million euros for ten years to, among other things, strengthen and perpetuate observation capabilities and “expand the French polar scientific community” through training and university programs.
The report also alerts to the risk of disappearance of the French Polar Institute Paul-Tele Victor (IPEV), now weakened, “without greater financial and structural support.”
He also insists on scientific diplomacy, “essential lever to preserve stability and peace in polar regions, while creating resilience against climatic, environmental and social challenges.”
“This is a unique opportunity to increase the visibility and impact of French research on Poles, while contributing to the scientific advances necessary to better understand and anticipate climate developments,” concludes the CNRS, the Second Research Institute in the World in Volume of Scientific Publications in this area.
Source: BFM TV
