Le Figaro Nice
Worldwide, one in ten inhabitants lives in a coastal area and rather at low altitudes. Nearly 900,000 million people would therefore be directly threatened by rising sea and ocean levels, as the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, reminded Christian Estrosi, the mayor of Nice, in a letter dated at the end of October.
In view of the United Nations Ocean Summit, which will be held in the Côte d'Azur capital in 2025, the Head of State has decided to entrust the mayor with a new mission related to the issue of rising sea levels for coastal communities. Christian Estrosi (Horizons) must form a "coalition" of these cities and coastal regions in order to think about common solutions to stem this phenomenon linked to global warming and melting ice.
"The issue of sea level rise will be at the heart of the agenda of this conference," wrote the President of the Republic. Action is needed. Nice has a major role to play in mobilising cities around the Mediterranean, but also on a global scale, to face this major challenge."
Read alsoThe ranking of French cities most threatened by rising sea levels
Three themes
The action will have to be structured around three themes, Emmanuel Macron told the chief magistrate of the city of Nice: "scientific cooperation and the prevention of natural disasters", "decentralised cooperation between local authorities" and finally "the mobilisation of multilateral and private funding to carry out the necessary actions", particularly in terms of regional planning.
The mayor of Nice will have to extend a "first impulse" taken in Brest (Finistère) during a summit in February during which 40 leaders committed to finding solutions to transform their cities in the face of this challenge. The first objective set by the president for Christian Estrosi is to broaden this mobilization. And his work begins today, says the head of state, who has invited him to a summit on the poles and glaciers in Paris at this very moment.
On this mission and this challenge for seaside cities, Emmanuel Macron is even considering an event on the sidelines of the 2025 United Nations summit, and still in Nice. For the president, there is no doubt: "coastal cities are on the front line" to deal with the repercussions of climate change.