Chamonix (France) (AFP)
Emmanuel Macron went on Thursday morning to the Mer de Glace, a petrified mastodon that winds at the foot of Mont-Blanc, whose accelerated melting has become emblematic of the effects of global warming.
Dressed in a ski suit, the president went to the famous glacier, alternating light brown rock and greyish living ice, after having taken the small tourist cog train of Montenvers, which leads to more than 1,900 m d 'altitude. He also went to the ice cave, a bluish tunnel dug in the glacier.
"I did not imagine such a rapid melting, it is impressive. We realize how the non-decisions made it happen", exclaimed Mr. Macron, accompanied by guides, experts and "caves" who each year spend four months cutting the ice cave.
It is estimated that the Mer de Glace recedes 8 to 10 meters per year, making the site the most spectacular illustration of the impact of global warming in France. The average temperature observed near the Mont-Blanc Massif increased by 4 ° between the 1950s and the 2000s.
The longest French glacier, which winds for 7 kilometers, has receded by about 2 kilometers since 1850, giving way to a bed of pebbles at the bottom of the "white valley" and has lost 120 meters in thickness over the past century .
This year, the snow did not hold on the living ice, strewn with small pebbles and gray traces of pollution.
Mathieu Dechavanne, CEO of Compagnie du Mont-Blanc (CMB), explained to the president that he wanted to install a new gondola arriving higher on the glacier in order to have easier access to it because currently with the cast iron, it is getting harder and harder to get there. Last year, 80 steps had to be added to the very long staircase which descends from the Montenvers platform to the glacier.
© 2020 AFP