Almost a year after France launched its polar strategy for 2030, the French President Emmanuel Macron last Friday revealed the country would build an ice-class research vessel as part of its billion-euro plan to bolster polar research. Macron was speaking at the One Planet-Polar Summit held last week in Paris. As an initiative of the French government, it was the first international summit for glaciers and poles and brought together researchers and leaders from over forty glacial and polar regions.
However, Russia, a major Arctic nation was not invited to the conference over its ongoing war in Ukraine.
Macron’s rallying point was the climate emergency facing the planet’s cryosphere, which he termed as a civilizational challenge. Macron called for “unprecedented level of cooperation” among world leaders despite the resurgence of geopolitical tensions.
Source : Maritime
