:
Each stormy episode causes torrents in the Nice valleys, as shown by the impressive images from Pessicart. More Cévenol episodes are expected this fall.
Laurent LANQUAR-CASTIEL explains the phenomenon: “Our overly urbanized coastline lacks natural spaces. Most planted areas are only superficial. The tree plantings boasted by various greening plans are merely decorative arrangements: Only clusters of trees can retain water. The issue is not new in the Maralpina conurbation. After the deadly dramas of 2015, one would have thought that the awareness of our elected officials would not be reduced to statements of intent.”
The ecologist urban planner refers to the statements of the metropolitan elected officials who reacted at the time: “Since 2015, nothing has been done. It’s business as usual, as if nothing happened. No questioning, no eco-responsible practice: the negative opinions from the environmental authority on both the PLUM and the Climate Plan illustrate this.”
Laurent LANQUAR-CASTIEL concludes: “For the heatwave, it was the same: statements follow statements, without any action. Yet, heatwaves and flooding are the same battles! The solutions are the same, because the causes are the same: the over-urbanization of our territories with its corollaries of soil artificialization and disappearance of natural spaces. The solutions are known: having groves of vegetation in open ground every 200 meters, removing asphalt wherever possible to make the soil porous, generalizing rainwater collection… In a word: make the earth and the city breathe! That’s the ecology of solutions.”
