INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM • MAY 31, 2024

The social and economic impacts of drought

“It’s a fact that climate change is increasing extreme weather events: floods as rainfall intensifies and seas rise, and droughts whose duration will increase for every half degree of warming, making it almost impossible to adapt to a +3C world.
We need to change our trajectory: reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and the impact of anthropization.”

Florence Habets, CNRS Research Director, Associate Professor at ENS

The symposium is aimed in particular at socio-economic and regional players, scientists, journalists, representatives of think-tanks, NGOs, professional associations and students.

Symposium moderated by Carine ROCCHESANI Environmental journalist

8:30 am – Welcome coffee

9:00 am – Official Opening
Jean JOUZEL President of Météo et Climat and Florence HABETS CNRS Research Director, Associate Professor at ENS

9:15 am – Great Witness
Magali REGHEZZA-ZITT Geographer, lecturer at the École normale supérieure (PSL)

Session 1 – Soil Drought

As the main receptacles of precipitation and the main support for our activities and society, soils are both the first environment to be affected by drought, and the one with the greatest capacity for adaptation.
9:45 am – Keynote 1
Jean-Christophe CALVET Vegetation, Water and Geophysics researcher at Météo-France (Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques, CNRS/Météo-France)

10:15 am – Round Table 1
Isabelle COUSIN Soil Science Research Director, INRAE
Bertrand DELIGNON Director, Property & Casualty, MACIF
Lamine IGHIL-AMEUR Soil Mechanics Researcher, CEREMA
Antoine QUANTIN Director of Reinsurance, Consulting and Modeling, CCR (Caisse Centrale de Réassurance)

11:15 am – Break

Session 2 – Drought in rivers and lakes

Rivers and lakes are home to aquatic biodiversity and support human activities. Droughts impact both the quantity and quality of these environments.
11:30 – Keynote 2
Thibault DATRY Research director at INRAE on ecohydrology issues

12:00 pm – Round Table 2
Grégoire CARRIER Deputy General Director of the Pyrénées-Orientales Department
Eric DIVET Director of Water Resources of CNR (Compagnie Nationale du Rhône)
Agnès DUCHARNE Research Director (METIS-IPSL), member of the French Academy of Agriculture Luc TABARY Water coordination & multi-use, EDF Hydro

1:00 pm – Lunch-Break

2:30 pm – Great Witness
Soraya BOUDIA Historian and sociologist of science and the environment, co-director of the Risk Research Program

Session 3 – Groundwater droughts

Groundwater is widely used for drinking water, due to its quality and accessibility. It also supports many industrial and agricultural activities but is being impacted by climate change, basin development and abstraction.
3:00 pm – Keynote 3
Jean-Christophe MARÉCHAL Hydrogeologist and researcher at BRGM. Deputy director of the G-eau transdisciplinary research unit

3:30 pm – Round Table 3
Delphine ALLIER Hydrogeologist at BRGM
Frédéric BARREZ Hydrogeologist for Eau de Paris
Olivier CHALOCHE Organic cereal grower
Anne GUERRERO SNCF Group’s Deputy Director for Ecological Transition.

4:30 pm – Break

4:45 pm Session 4 – Student Panel

Coordinated by Vivian DÉPOUES, Head of Adaptation to Climate Change at I4CE, this sequence will give the floor to five young Masters and PhD researchers who have chosen to focus their studies on the challenges posed by drought in the context of climate change.
Matthieu BELIN, Ecole des Ponts ParisTech ENPC, Céline CARON, Université Paris Cité MIRC, Hajar EL KHALFI, Université de Lorraine, Marine PETIT-JEAN, Université de Poitiers and Juliette PIKETTY-MOINE, Ecole Normale Supérieure PSL, will talk about the choice they made regarding the direction of their careers, the issues they feel are essential and what motivates them to work on the subject of drought and its impacts. It’s an opportunity to reflect on what they’ve heard and remembered from the past day, and what surprised or challenged them. Finally, discussions will open up on their perception of the changing role of scientists in the face of the climate challenge in 2024.

5:45 pm – Conclusion
Florence HABETS CNRS Research Director, Associate Professor at ENS

5:55 pm – Closing
Jean JOUZEL President of Météo et Climat

6:00 pm – Visit to the FIM 2024 Public Exhibition at the Académie du Climat.

Droughts affect part of France every year. Their spatial extension and duration have increased, as can be seen in the Pyrénées Orientales.
The aim of this symposium is to shed light on the evolution of different forms of drought, their consequences and impacts on biodiversity, but also on their amplification by human activities.
The program is organized by type of “environment”: soils, lakes & rivers and groundwater, as the dynamics and associated socio-economic activities differ. The symposium will conclude with the presentation of multidisciplinary studies on current droughts.