Why are French environmentalists protesting against a water reservoir in La Rochelle?
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00:00Well, for more, we can speak to Bénédicte Kerkala from the French environmentalist organization
00:05Notre Affaire 2.
00:07I translate that as our common interest.
00:09Hello to you, Bénédicte.
00:10Thank you for speaking to Paris Direct.
00:12I'm not sure if you heard that report we just had on, but I was wondering if I could get
00:16your reaction.
00:17Gérald Dominant saying that it's hard to see a link to defend between these protests
00:24and the environment.
00:26What would your reaction be to that?
00:29The thing is that these projects of these mega reservoirs are largely contested by scientists,
00:36by the local population.
00:37And actually, most of the local populations are heavily against these projects, but their
00:45voices are not heard.
00:46They have not been taken into account.
00:49And the construction of these projects have already started for some of them, while the
00:55legality of them has not been ruled yet by the local courts.
01:00So yeah, of course, violence is never the solution.
01:06But the problem is that the climate movement, the environmental defencers are not being
01:13heard.
01:14As again, as I was saying, we're still waiting for a court ruling on these cases.
01:20Can you help us understand it?
01:21Because it's a very technical issue.
01:23And part of the wording itself can even determine which side of the fence you're on.
01:27Proponents might call it a replacement reservoir.
01:30Others call it a mega basin.
01:32Tell us why there is so much concern about these facilities.
01:36Sure.
01:37Actually, several scientists have actually demonstrated that these projects are being
01:43supported by the government and institutions generally without taking into consideration
01:49climate change, which is actually a major loophole of the last study produced by the
01:54Geological and Mining Research Bureau, which is a French public institution.
01:59So basically, the reservoirs aims to store water during periods of important rainfall,
02:04so generally during fall and winter, by pumping water directly from the water tables so that
02:10the stored waters can be used for irrigation during spring and summers.
02:15The problem is that these seasons are now witnessing less and less rain.
02:20And for instance, in 2022, rain was severely lacking during the winter.
02:25And accordingly, the natural water level in these water tables are now structurally low.
02:31And thus, pumping the water now dries the soils because of the insufficient rains, while
02:38we are actually losing the supposed benefit of storing the water due to heavy water evaporation
02:44during heat waves.
02:45Actually, 20 to 60 percent of the stored water is concerned by water evaporations during
02:52high temperatures.
02:53Sorry, just to step in, I want to be sure I understand it correctly.
02:59The proponents of these projects would say they help alleviate the effects of drought.
03:04You're saying they might actually exacerbate the effects of drought.
03:08Is that correct?
03:09Exactly, because we're consistently lacking rain during winter, so the water tables are
03:18not able to be refilled to a proper level.
03:23Plus, the water we actually store, also because the summers are hotter and hotter, we lose
03:31a lot of water, which should be in the water tables and should benefit the whole biodiversity,
03:37the whole water cycle.
03:38So actually disrupt the natural water cycle.
03:42And how do campaigners like you feel about the political situation in Paris?
03:46We have a centrist alliance that lost the election, which looks like they want to see
03:52these projects move forward.
03:54We have a left-wing alliance that had won the most seats of any of the parties, the
04:01alliances in the elections, seeming like they don't want these projects to go forward.
04:07How do you feel about the political situation?
04:11I mean, as an NGO, I mean, we don't exactly partake in the debate of the politics dynamics.
04:20But what is sure now is that the civil society is acting, is really asking for a stop on
04:28the development of all these projects.
04:31We're asking to conduct more solid scientific research, and we're asking to listen and take
04:40into account what the local people actually want for their territory.
04:46Because another main issue we haven't really discussed yet is that this system only benefits
04:55to the big farm industry.
04:58And that's one thing.
04:59And the second thing is that this water system is only used for crops such as corn, which
05:08are only used for export and will not be consumed locally.
05:13Plus, so actually what is criticized here is a whole system where we export some of
05:20our resources to the local south, and then we enter into competition with farmers abroad.
05:25So here it's actually like, it's a social issue, it's an environmental issue.
05:31And yeah, now we really need to listen to the experts who really know what is going
05:36on.
05:37And is there a solution that would appease these large scale farms that you mentioned,
05:44but also keep the local communities satisfied as well?
05:48Is there a solution that would make both sides happy?
05:52I think that we all need fair and equal access to water, and this system is just not viable.
06:03There's so much scientific argumentation against these projects, and they are not working.
06:09And that's the irony in this.
06:14It's a pretty recent issue in France, but actually these reservoirs have already been
06:20built in other places and have dramatically failed.
06:23For instance, in Spain, the exact same kind of projects have not shown results.
06:31So yeah, we should really take something from these experiences.
06:38That's a must.
06:39All right, Benedicte.
06:40Thank you very much for your time.
06:41Benedicte Kerkala speaking to us there.
06:42Thank you.
06:43Bye.
06:44Thanks.