INTERVIEW
TAKING A STAND FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
Dr Jean-Claude Duplessy, Chair of the French Academy of Sciences’ Standing Committee for Environmental Sciences, provides a brief insight into the organisation’s policy activities in the environmental sector You chair the Standing Committee for Environmental Sciences at the Academy of Sciences. Why was the Committee formed in 1989? The Committee was established to analyse environmental issues at scales at which people act and can see consequences and respond to them. It undertakes scientific analyses of the impact of human activities, and it evaluates risks of various strategies (e.g. business as usual, changing industrial or agricultural practices, introducing technical progress, etc.). What types of environmental issues does the Committee focus on?
The Committee makes recommendations in reports, which are shared with policy makers and made publicly available. It thus ensures that the French Academy of Sciences has a voice in national and international debates on environmental problems. The Committee also identifies scientific areas that should be developed to fully examine consequences of human activities, which might be detrimental to the regional or global environment.
The Committee analyses environmental issues that constitute critical problems, and it evaluates the impact of regulations and past decisions. Once the Committee does this, we then write up reports to share our findings.
Finally, at the request of the Ministry of Education, the Committee writes booklets for teachers and continuously ensures that they are up to date. These booklets cover the following topics: climate change, air quality, stratospheric ozone, energy, biodiversity, ecosystems, water, natural risks, technological risks, soil issues and ocean issues.
The environmental issues we tackle broadly fall into four main areas: climate, global food and demography, health, and environmental contamination. These four focus areas – along with specific topics within these areas – are subject to permanent reflections, eventually leading to extensions of reports that are already available.
The Committee argues that the environmental problems facing the planet are pluridisciplinary by their very nature, and that one needs to take into account all the natural elements – water, air and soil – in order to tackle them. Can you expand on this mode of thought and its implications?
Over the last three years, the Committee has been involved in many activities, including:
This is a basic science model you can find in environmental textbooks. The system, composed of the oceans, continents, atmosphere and sea – as well as the ice caps – is in permanent interaction. It is often called the climate system. Any chemical or physical perturbation of one of these components has impacts on the others. For instance, you can find traces of lead pollution in Greenland ice due to dust transported by winds from as early as Roman times!
• Publishing a report on the state of knowledge about tropospheric and stratospheric ozone, evaluating the impact of international regulations (European guidelines, Montréal Protocol) • Prior to COP21, preparing a statement on climatic change issues together with the Committee on Energy, which shares our recommendations on energy policy in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions • Working on a report due to be released in 2017 about the impact of climatic change on biodiversity 1
What types of activities is the Committee involved in?
INTERNATIONAL INNOVATION
The impacts of carbon dioxide emissions on the climate system are continuously discussed in the media. While the introduction of new substitutes for chlorofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbons has reduced the amount of greenhouse gases that were expected in scenarios for the 21st Century we are not out of the woods and there are many
A TEAM OF EXPERTS environmental problems that relate to the basic science model that we need to be thinking about For example, many chemicals used in agriculture are now found in continental groundwater and transported to the ocean.
The Standing Committee for Environmental Sciences is one of 10 expert committees within the Academy of Science. Their nine other committees are dedicated to:
What are your thoughts on the outcome of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, COP21?
• Energy prospects
We consider the problems it was addressing as highly significant. The Academy made scientific and technological recommendations in its statement about climatic change. It is obvious that the objectives of COP21 will require considerable efforts in energy management and technological developments if they are to be achieved during the next century. What most excites you about the future you see ahead? I am curious, so every topic excites me. We live in an interesting time with many pending issues. A considerable amount of science and technology will be needed to solve environmental problems facing our society. This will require much effort and a widespread understanding of the difficult challenges to be tackled.
INTRODUCING THE FRENCH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Ever since it was created in 1666 by King Louis XIV, the French Academy of Sciences has been resolutely committed to the advancement of science. In fact, it was set up with the sole purpose of encouraging and protecting the spirit of scientific research. One of five academies comprising the Institut de France, the Academy has advised government authorities the world over in those matters and issues that fall under its thematic umbrellas. Today, its members – of which there are currently only 250, as membership is a lifetime responsibility – share their expertise with wider society through standing committees and working parties set up by the Academy.
• Space research • Metrology • Biosafety • Ethics and society • Teaching science • Defending scientists • International relations • The history and epistemology of science
KEEP IN TOUCH www.academie-sciences.fr/en @AcadSciences www.facebook.com/academiesciences bit.ly/FASYouTube
www.internationalinnovation.com
2