Speech: Integrating Nature-Based Solutions into France’s Water Security Strategy

By Madeleine TRON

“Close your eyes.

Today, we’re going to use your imagination.

The same one you used as a child –
To picture yourself exploring the jungle,
Conquering the sea,
Discovering new lands filled with colourful birds of every size.
Or looking down at your feet in the crystal-clear, cold water of a river,
With colonies of fish darting away with every step you took.

Connect. Visualize.
Your childhood summers.

Mine were spent in the south of France, at my grandmother’s place.
I spent my days under the Provençal sun, chasing butterflies.
When the heat became too much, around 2 or 3 p.m., when temperatures neared 32°C,
I started a water war with my brother, where a splashed meant death.
Now, looking back, I see the irony of it all.

Now let’s fast forward.

Time has passed.
Like it always does. 

New presidents were elected,
Some wars ended, others began.
Time has passed,
But this time, the world has changed.

And by the world, I mean not just the human world.
But the animal world,
The vegetal world,
Our physical world.
It is different now.

Imagine yourself in 50 years.
If you’re my age today, you’re about 75 years old.
I am now 75, and I look around.

It’s August 15th.
In the garden, the once-blue lavender and green grass
Have faded into shades of yellow.

The temperature is close to 40°C.
A heatwave has lasted for 12 straight days.

Children are not running outside.
They are immobilized,
Crushed beneath the weight of this endless summer.

Yesterday, news came.
Their grandfather died in the care home just down the road.
He couldn’t withstand the heat.
He suffered a cardiac arrest during a power outage—
Triggered by a shortage of water needed to produce hydropower
And to cool nuclear plants.
They weren’t able to save him.

And I remember that day,
Back during my studies at Sciences Po,
When we were shown, day after day, what the future could look like.
And I wonder:
How could I have been so naïve to still have hope?

Nowadays, we keep hearing about these so-called “nature-based solutions”,
But they are not scaling fast enough.

That’s why I’m here today: 

So that we can finally stop approaching environmental issues in silos

Because the crises we face will fall like dominoes.

I urge water utilities in particular:
Change the way you see and treat water.
Become leaders in reshaping our collective mindset.
Work with local public authorities and farmers
To change how we use, value, and protect
Not just our blue water resources,
But also our green ones.

And for that to happen,
I need you, Madame la Ministre Agnès Pannier-Runacher,
To ensure that these efforts are recognized, measured, and supported
Through a national strategy.
One that finally links ecosystem health and vegetative cover
To hydrological regulation.”