SENAT
Report n° 230 (2006-2007) by M. Christian GAUDIN, Senator (for the parliament office for the evaluation of scientific and technological choices)
Disponible au format Acrobat (12 Moctets)
VIII. THE RAPPORTEUR'S CONCLUSIONS AND PROPOSALS
1. Strategic regions
The polar regions are of strategic importance for both our country and Europe for two main reasons:
. They are at the centre of great climatic changes that will determine our future and allow for very sophisticated research that is likely to change our way of life and view of the world.
. Because of global warming and technological progress, these regions are becoming increasingly accessible for the development of economic activities. The northwest and northeast passages, as well as the natural resources of the Arctic and Antarctic regions are important issues.
2. Regions to protect
The polar regions are particularly fragile, because they are subject to increased climatic changes. Certain of their defining characteristics, as well as their flora and fauna are threatened.
The exploitation of resources, as well as tourism in these regions must be regulated.
While the Washington Treaty and the Madrid Protocol will protect the Antarctic from mining for another 40 years, they can do nothing to prevent a rapid rise in tourism.
Our country, which played a decisive role in 1989 in the protection of the Antarctic, must oppose an unregulated growth in tourism marked by the use of ships with over 3,000 passengers and the construction of permanent, land-based infrastructure.
Your rapporteur is also opposed to the growth of tourism in Adélie Land, which would use for commercial purposes the logistical means currently reserved for research and would force the scientists to participate in tourist-based activities.
3. Essential regions for understanding climate change:
The polar regions, via the glacial ice cores carried out at Vostok and at Concordia by EPICA, have already had a great effect on our understanding of climate change, by allowing researchers to recreate the Earth's changing climate over the past 850,000 years and by demonstrating mankind's effect on climate. This data is also the standard metre of climate models aimed at predicting future climate change.
We must continue to strongly support climatic research in the polar regions, because it will surely allow for important discoveries:
- Through ice coring , allowing scientists to study the earth's climate for over the past 1.2 million years and to recreate critical periods - both ancient (the Eemien) and more recent - in order to understand the future variabilities of the Earth's climate;
- Through oceanography , allowing scientists to understand the determining factors of the world's oceanic circulation - in particular, the formation of deep cold waters and the ocean's ability to absorb carbon;
- Through monitoring the large glacial regions , in order to predict their future evolution and the consequences this will have on climate and biodiversity.
It is essential that our understanding progresses in all of these domains.
4. Life in the polar regions: of great value to humanity
The biological polar research carried out by France is among the most sophisticated in the world. It was possible to develop this research by taking advantage of France's network of research bases, which forms an exceptional climatic gradient - extending from the Antarctic to the subtropical regions and incorporating the polar front - and which is ideal for the study of the region's flora and fauna. This research has also led to the creation of a database covering over 40 years of research, which today enables scientists to pursue studies of great interest.
The two main research areas that are the adaptation to climate change and the adaptation to extreme environmental conditions are of great interest, as much for future biodiversity as for human health. They are therefore at the center of important societal issues and have a real economic potential.
Today, this innovative research is increasingly turned towards the most advanced technologies, closely related to the biomedical techniques.
Its financial means and organization (more multidisciplinary teams) must therefore be appropriate. This research must also establish stronger national synergies, so as to develop its international partnerships.
5. The polar regions: an observatory for the Earth
A great many geophysical observatories have been set up in the polar regions, either in order to complete the world-wide network or because the two poles offer unique conditions for observation (for example, for studying Earth-Sun relations or monitoring the ozone layer).
These observation activities are symbolic of the scientific community's networking and the collaborative spirit for observing physical phenomena of great size.
Therefore, France must fully support these activities in order to maintain them, in the long-term, at the international level.
6. Strongly support the development of astronomy at Concordia
Astronomy has become the new frontier for French polar research. Scientific and political officials alike must realize that Concordia could rapidly be considered one of the planet's top astronomical sites, in competition with or to complement the space-based sites.
Indeed, the United States, at its South Pole station, has taken this direction and supports fundamental ground-breaking research, such as studying the universe's cosmic background and the detection of neutrinos (two research areas awarded the Noble Prize in 2006 and 2002, respectively).
Our country, in cooperation with Italy, must therefore develop a scientific and logistical strategy that takes into account the activities already carried out at the South Pole station, as well as those that could be developed at Dome A once the Chinese have constructed a permanent base there.
Your rapporteur proposes, first of all, that we develop projects of great scientific added value - but that are realistic, given the current infrastructure - in order to, secondly, place Concordia in a position to welcome large international instruments with the appropriate logistics.
7. Take advantage of the polar regions' complementarity with the space missions
Today, many space missions need to be prepared or validated by work carried out in the polar regions.
The Antarctic is increasingly recognized as a favorable site for the preparation of both men and materials for long-duration missions to explore the solar system.
This scientific and technological dimension is truly promising, although the exploration programmes' scheduling does not make it a current priority.
8. Strengthen France's presence in the polar regions
France must increase its presence in the polar regions, due to their strategic importance.
Historically strongly present in the south, our country has built for itself an internationally-recognized scientific legitimacy in the austral region, which should serve to strengthen our positions.
France has again started to develop its research activity in the Arctic region, where traditionally it has been less present. This change of strategy must be significantly strengthened, considering the scientific and political importance of these regions, as well as the bi-polar nature of most research areas and international partnerships.
9. Reorganize France's presence in the polar regions
The bi-polar dimension of France's presence in the polar regions suffers from a lack of direction and permanency.
Therefore, your rapporteur proposes that we appoint a coordinator for the French presence at the two poles, by assigning this mission to either the French Polar Institute - Paul-Émile Victor or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the naming of an ambassador-at-large in charge of polar-related issues.
In the southern regions, France suffers from disagreements between the two main players: the TAAF and IPEV. Following the example of the national audit office, your rapporteur proposes a better separation of the two missions (particularly in terms of logistics) while, at the same time, we bring their objectives closer together (taking advantage of the polar territories via research, sustainable resource management, and defending French interests in these regions).
10. Better coordinate polar research
Your rapporteur also proposes that we better coordinate polar research.
While the polar-institute model, an agency of skills and means, seems appropriate to both the French research environment and our objectives, it must, in the future, be provided with real means and real organizational powers.
It must be the site where our priorities are developed and from which the coherency of our research project stems with regard to its means - both at the national level and in its partnerships at the international level.
It must help to train young researchers, even while its American counterpart is already busy selecting its postdoctoral researchers.
Finally, it must act as a reservoir of human resources for the management of European and international programs.
11. Solve the problem of insufficient funding for polar-research logistics
While it may not be possible to put a figure on French funding of polar research, considering the organization of such research, it is nevertheless clear that France under-finances polar logistics.
IPEV is in the process of becoming more of an oceanographic, rather then polar-based, institute, specialized in deep ice-coring due to the rising cost of the Marion Dufresne . If this change were to be confirmed, the institute would progressively lose its polar specificity.
Despite significant funding by the Ministry of Research, this oceanographic ship weighs heavily on the entire IPEV budget. It is today urgent to find a coherent solution, with the principal role of Ifremer in the management of France's scientific fleet.
This financial burden prevents IPEV from beginning the urgently needed renovation of the Dumont d'Urville station, many of whose buildings are decrepit.
On this occasion, we must pursue a long-term scientific and logistical consideration of our presence at Dumont d'Urville, taking into consideration the opening of Concordia.
Finally, it also prevents the realization that, among the great Antarctic nations, France suffers from the weakest logistics, having neither a real icebreaker nor an airplane.
12. Define a French strategy for European and international cooperation
Finally your rapporteur believes that it is essential to formulate a cooperation strategy at both the European and international level.
A European strategy is essential for a fundamental research domain that is particularly costly in terms of logistics and covers vast geographic areas. It is also essential because as isolated countries, the European nations cannot compete with the great polar powers that are the United States, Russia and, tomorrow, China.
If the idea of establishing a European agency must be abandoned in the mid-term due to opposition from the European Commission and the current level of cooperation, it is still possible to formulate a three-part strategy.
Firstly, we should take advantage of the synergies that can be expected from the large European programmes (EPICA, DAMOCLES). Secondly, we should take fully into account the constraints and political, logistical and scientific imperatives of our main partners. Thirdly, the process of Italo-Franco-German bipolar cooperation should be intensified by keeping it open to other European countries.
In this regard, your rapporteur recommends that the new French President reconsider our country's decision to participate only marginally in the German project for a European icebreaker, the Aurora Borealis .
At the international level, your rapporteur thinks that France should have two main priorities. On the one hand, France must give priority to structured, long-lasting relationships which are the most likely to offer important opportunities for collaboration by focusing on the more important partners. On the other hand, France should be able to exercise its leadership in those domains in which it excels at the international level - the fields of glaciology, biology and, perhaps tomorrow, astronomy come particularly to mind.