• The new exhibition of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, whose godmother is the actress Mélanie Laurent, alerts on the threats which weigh on the Arctic and the Antarctic.

  • "I hope that the emotion aroused by the beauty of the polar regions [...] will lead Humanity to consider them with respect and caution, because [...] the future of the poles prefigures ours", recalls Prince Albert II of Monaco.

In the huge Whale Room, just below a life-size cetacean skeleton, “humpbacked” specimens sing and hunt in swarms of krill.

Animated in an impressive image box, equipped with 34 video projectors, these marine mammals offer their ballet to the spectators of the new exhibition of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, embarked as reporters in a “Polar Mission”.

With two opposing visions.

That of the breathtaking spectacle of the (very) fresh and clear waters of Antarctica, under the aurora australis.

And that of a certain helplessness on an unstable pack ice, in the Arctic, melting and splitting.

With this exhibition, Monaco recalls the threats hanging over these frozen worlds, which Prince Albert 1er, precursor of a wave of explorers, discovered in 1898.

“The poles, and in particular the Arctic, are more affected than the rest of the world by global warming.

When the average temperature of the globe has risen by about one degree since the beginning of the industrial era, at the North Pole, it has risen by two, even three degrees in the high Arctic”, points out Robert Calcagno Director , Director General of the Oceanographic Institute, which runs the Monegasque museum.

“Let us listen to nature a little more”, pleads Mélanie Laurent

With the rise in temperatures, and therefore the rise in water levels predicted by the various IPCC projections, plastic pollution and overfishing are further weakening the situation that the manager also recounted in a recent book released this year

Between warming and covetousness, at the heart polar worlds

(Ed. Glénat).

"Polar Mission" explains the immediate effects of these misdeeds, on biodiversity in particular.

The places of life of polar bears which are reduced to a trickle.

The whales who find themselves again threatened by the lack of food, taken for human consumption.

"Through this journey offered by the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, I hope that we will listen to nature a little more," confides Mélanie Laurent, sponsor of the exhibition.

I hope that the new generation leaves with the hope of finding a solution.

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At the end of the course, on animated terminals, the actress also invites visitors to get involved.

In particular for the creation of new marine protected areas supported by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.

And there is urgency.

“I hope that the emotion aroused by the beauty of the polar regions […] will lead humanity to consider them with respect and precaution, because what we now know for certain is that the future of the poles foreshadows ours”, recalls the sovereign, the first head of state to have visited both the Arctic and the Antarctic.

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  • Planet

  • Nice

  • monaco

  • Company

  • Exposure

  • Global warming

  • IPCC

  • Antarctic

  • Arctic

  • Paca

  • 20 minute video