Paris (AFP)

This is one of the big novelties of the season on France 2: Hugo Clément will launch on November 26th his show "On the Front", in which he accompanies activist ecologists who fight to try to save the planet and its inhabitants.

The first issue of this program scheduled for 21:05 will be dedicated to the oceans. Hugo Clément takes viewers to several countries of environmental struggles at sea and on land.

On the Sharpie, a ship of the NGO Sea Sheperd, he follows volunteers who protect the last vaquitas, the most endangered species of cetaceans in the world, in the Gulf of Mexico. Supported by armed soldiers, they seek to repel poachers (filmed in full act) and release their captures, during sequences worthy of an action movie.

Another report: the misadventures of Hugo Clement in Australia, where he was arrested with his film crew this summer and spent several hours in detention. His crime: having accompanied activists who were demonstrating against the massive export of coal and a gigantic mine project in Queensland. A project that can only aggravate oceanic warming, responsible for the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef.

Struck by a ban on approaching mining sites, coerced by the police who monitor and seek to impede his movements, the former "Daily" and the site Konbini had to trick to film the hidden face of the Australian economy.

The form and positioning of the show cut with the usual tone of the programs of France 2. During a press presentation of "On the front", Hugo Clément said assume his approach as a journalist committed, he considers "complementary" to other forms of journalism, saying that "as millions of people of (his) age" have become aware of the gravity of the situation.

- From impotence to action -

Faithful to its principles, "On the front" was shot with a team voluntarily reduced (3 to 4 people only, a rare configuration for a program of this caliber and broadcast in prime time), to reduce as much as possible its ecological footprint .

Hugo Clément explained that he designed the show to respond to a change in the attitude of citizens. "Many people are tired of being in a phase of finding, helplessness and anxiety about what is happening." This is why he wants to highlight the work of "those who fight" in the field, to "give the desire to act and be able to say that it works" because "the solutions often we have them" .

But in terms of messages, the show is at odds with "punitive and apocalyptic" ecology. "For people to be interested, the heart of the matter is to be with those on the ground to act concretely, we must be able to say to ourselves: the situation is serious, but there is hope and opportunities to act, "says the journalist. The show shows the beauty and resilience of natural ecosystems when they are effectively protected.

For Nathalie Darrigrand, who directs the programs of France 2, the journalist brings to the channel "a way of telling the reports otherwise". The show also allows the public service to get closer to younger generations (an important issue to renew its audiences) through an original digital device: parallel to the television broadcast of "On the front" (with 4 numbers planned this season, one of which will be dedicated to glaciers), Hugo Clément publishes every week a report on Slash (the platform of France TV dedicated to young people) and social networks where it has hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

This new France 2 bet is part of a global environmental campaign by France Télévisions, with the broadcast in October of the "Emission pour la terre", and the documentary series "Green blood" planned for the year next on France 5.

© 2019 AFP