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‘The most powerful weapon in the world is a camera,’ says anti-whaling activist Paul Watson

Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson has dedicated his life to sailing into danger to protect marine life. At 73, his decades of activism have brought him into conflict with numerous countries, multiple arrests, and even Interpol red notices – the latest is

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‘The most powerful weapon in the world is a camera,’ says anti-whaling activist Paul Watson

Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson arrived in France on Friday after spending five months in detention in Greenland based on an Interpol red notice requested by Japan. He spoke to FRANCE 24 about his time in detention and his plans for the future.

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‘The most powerful weapon in the world is a camera’, anti-whaling activist Paul Watson says

Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson arrived in France on Friday after spending five months in detention in Greenland based on an extradition request filed by Japan. He spoke to FRANCE 24 about his time in detention and his plans for the future.

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Friday, december 20, 2024

'Mayotte abandoned many years ago': Island 'forgotten, neglected' during drought & migration crisis

People in storm-ravaged Mayotte implored French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday to do more to help as he toured the overseas territory. Officials in France's poorest overseas territory fear thousands could have been killed. For in-depth analysis an

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Macron extends visit to cyclone-ravaged Mayotte amid local anger

French President Emmanuel Macron extended his stay in Mayotte on Friday after distraught and angry locals jeered and shouted out their grievances as he toured the storm-ravaged Indian Ocean archipelago. Emergency efforts continue as the death toll from C

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Mayotte: France must raise 'standard of infrastructure, public services' on densely-populated island

Emmanuel Macron extended his visit to cyclone-devastated Mayotte after angry residents vented exasperation and despair over the scale of the disaster. For a deeper perspective on France's unpreparedness for the level of destruction of Chido, FRANCE 24 we

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Thursday, december 19, 2024

Future of mining: Head of industry giant BHP speaks to FRANCE 24

The mining industry plays a key role in the world’s energy transition, providing the critical minerals and metals needed for new, green technology. It’s also facing pressure to reduce its own carbon footprint, and protect the communities affected by its

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Wednesday, december 18, 2024

Cyclone Chido: 'Tens of thousands' may be dead, Mayotte hospital worker says

Rescue operations are still underway in Mayotte, where thousands are feared to have died following the passage of cyclone Chido. The country's main hospital, which was also hit by the storm, stuggles to treat all incoming patients and doctors there, warn

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Tuesday, december 17, 2024

Denmark will not extradite anti-whaling activist Watson to Japan

Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson was freed from prison in Denmark on Tuesday, his lawyer told AFP, and he will not be extradited to Japan. Watson was detained on a 2012 Japanese arrest warrant, which accuses him of causing damage to a whaling ship in th

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France imposes nighttime curfew on cyclone-hit Mayotte in bid to prevent looting

Mayotte will be placed under curfew from Tuesday evening as authorities seek to re-establish order in the French overseas territory in the aftermath of the deadly Cyclone Chido. The annoucement comes as rescuers continue to search for survivors in a race

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India: Forty years on, Bhopal disaster still plagues local residents

Forty years after India's Bhopal disaster, local residents are still suffering from its aftermath. The gas explosion at a chemical plant caused toxic waste to contaminate the water in nearby areas, causing locals to develop numerous health issues. Today,

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Monday, december 16, 2024

Scientists call to uphold independent research in response to French farmers' protests

Following an incident on November 28, where a group of farmers associated with the FNSEA walled off the entrance to INRAE in Paris, more than 240 researchers published an op-ed in Le Monde. They emphasize the necessity of radical transitions and the impo

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Devastation in Mayotte: Cyclone Chido batters France's poorest overseas department

Will it be dozens, hundreds or thousands killed? Mayotte's worst cyclone in 90 years has flattened homes, knocked out power and cut phone service, leaving faraway loved ones in limbo as they desperately try to get in touch with those in the French Indian

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Rescue workers race against time to reach survivors of Cyclone Chido in Mayotte

Authorities fear that thousands of people have died following the devastating Cyclone Chido that ripped through the French overseas department of Mayotte on Friday. Many inhabitants are still without water or electricity as rescue workers race against ti

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Macron to declare national mourning period for cyclone-ravaged Mayotte

French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that he will visit the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte "in the coming days" and "decree national mourning" after the island was battered by its worst cyclone in nearly a century on Saturday. Authoriti

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Sunday, december 15, 2024

Oil spill near Black Sea after two Russian tankers seriously damaged in storm

Russia mounted a rescue effort Sunday after two oil tankers were wrecked in rough seas off Moscow-annexed Crimea and one broke apart, killing at least one sailor and causing an oil spill. Two criminal cases have been opened by Russian investigators.

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Authorities fear 'several hundred' killed by Cyclone Chido in France's Mayotte

Authorities in the French territory of Mayotte said on Sunday that the death toll from Cyclone Chido could rise to "several hundred" and perhaps "several thousand" after the storm swept across the Indian Ocean island on its way to east Africa.

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Saturday, december 14, 2024

Negotiators fail to secure drought deal at Saudi-hosted UN talks

Parties from 196 countries and the European Union failed on Saturday to reach an agreement on how to respond to drought at UN talks in Saudi Arabia.

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Residents in rural Serbia rally against lithium mining project

Will Serbia host what is presented as Europe's largest lithium (and boron) extraction project? The president and government are doing everything they can to ensure Rio Tinto's investment goes ahead, even if it means discrediting or smearing opponents. Ho

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Friday, december 13, 2024

Rightward shift in Europe puts pressure on Green Deal: Will key EU policy survive?

Today, the EU’s Green Deal faces pressure from an atmosphere of economic crisis: car factories in Germany are set to close, farmers protesting about excessive environmental protection measures, soaring energy bills for households. But as the recent flood

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Tuesday, december 10, 2024

UN mission calls for funding amid Ethiopia education disruption

A UN high-level mission in Ethiopia led by Education Cannot Wait calls for innovative financing solutions to urgently address the education needs of 9 million crisis-affected out-of-school children. FRANCE 24's Yinka Oyetade speaks to Education Cannot Wa

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Thousands flee as wildfire threatens homes in California's Malibu

Sheriff deputies in Malibu, California went door-to-door on Tuesday ordering people to evacuate as a nearby wildfire rapidly intensified, threatening homes in the beach community. Firefighters are trying to get the blaze under control.

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Soaring carbon pollution: Private jets as taxis for the ultra-wealthy

New research shows that people are using private jets more and more as taxis to travel increasingly short distances with statistics showing that many journeys cover distances of less than 50 kilometres. Such trips by private jets are up to 14 times more

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'Madagascar on Fire': New film highlights deforestation in Madagascar

A filmmaker has told FRANCE 24 about the problems faced by the people of Madagascar as they try to survive, but also care for the environment. Sira Thierij has made a film that shows why people feel they have to chop down the forests to plant crops so th

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Oysters in hot water: Pollution and poaching threaten production

For oyster farmers, the year-end holiday period is a vital one as they make around a third to half of their annual sales during this time. But last year was catastrophic for some oyster producing regions in France after sales were banned following a spat

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Monday, december 9, 2024

Oil giant BP to ‘significantly reduce’ investment in renewable energy for rest of decade

British oil giant BP is significantly reducing its investment in renewable energy for the “rest of this decade”, it said in a statement Monday, noting it was instead entering a joint venture with Japanese power company Jera to create one of the world’s l

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Climate crisis and displacement: Flood victims in France seek recognition

One year after France’s northern Pas-de-Calais region was hit by record floods, victims are still recovering from the disaster. FRANCE 24 visited the town of Blendecques, where an entire neighbourhood is set to be demolished and transformed into a stormw

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Real or fake Christmas tree: What is the greenest option?

Let’s talk about a topic that is increasingly being debated at the dinner table here in France with Christmas around the corner! What is the greenest option between an artificial tree and a natural fir tree? On the one hand, the artificial tree is reusab

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2024 'certain' to be hottest year on record and first above critical 1.5C threshold

2024 will be the first calendar year more than 1.5 degrees Celsius hotter than the pre-industrial era, Europe's climate monitor said Monday, adding that this is "effectively certain" to be the warmest on record.

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Thursday, december 5, 2024

New Delhi suffocates from air pollution in winter

For almost 6 months every year, residents of New Delhi suffocate under a blanket of pollution. The Indian capital is among the most polluted cities in the world, and new records are set each November. The fine particles in New Delhi’s air are 60 times th

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Wednesday, december 4, 2024

Climate change: Villages in Pakistan under threat of melting glaciers

Pakistan is home to thousands of climate refugees. While the country contributes less than 1 percent of global greenhouse gas, it is heavily impacted by the warming climate. One of the most affected areas is the autonomous province of Gilgit-Baltistan, l

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Tuesday, december 3, 2024

Valencia floods: Human tragedy and environmental disaster

With at least 222 people dead, the torrential rain and floods in Valencia – on the eastern coast of Spain – have devastated many families and the cleanup of the region continues, more than a month after the disaster struck. But until now, there has been

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Melting permafrost in Canadian Arctic town could lead to first climate refugees

PRESS REVIEW – Tuesday, December 3: French Prime Minister Michel Barnier faces a fight for his job as two votes of no confidence will be held against him, plunging France into a deep political crisis. The New York Times reports from a Canadian Arctic tow

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Monday, december 2, 2024

Poaching in Indonesia: Government cracks down on wildlife trafficking

Indonesia is the Asian capital of wildlife trafficking, a market estimated at $20 billion according to Interpol. The archipelago is one of the world’s biggest reservoirs of biodiversity. Wild animals are already the victims of massive deforestation, but

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UN top court opens landmark hearings on climate protection guidelines

The UN's top court begins landmark hearings Monday on global climate protection guidelines. Vanuatu and Pacific island nations lead proceedings before 15 judges. Over two weeks, more than 100 countries and organisations are set to present submissions on

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Sunday, december 1, 2024

Hopes of global plastic pollution treaty fade as negotiators call for more time

Efforts to seal a global treaty to curb plastic pollution faltered on the last day of scheduled talks in South Korea's Busan on Sunday as over 100 countries pushed to cap production while a handful of oil-producing countries sought to focus only on plast

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Tuesday, november 26, 2024

The problems with plastic recycling: Is there a viable alternative?

Will the international community manage to come to an agreement to fight plastic pollution? That question is on everyone's minds as representatives from across the globe meet in Busan, South Korea. The challenge is significant: plastics represent a threa

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Award-winning photographer Shane Gross on the importance of saving the ocean

The winner of this year's prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year award has spoken to FRANCE 24 about his love for photography and his hope that his work will help protect the world's oceans and its ecosystems. He calls himself a marine conservatio

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Sunday, november 24, 2024

South Korea hosts treaty talks on curbing 'existential challenge' of plastic pollution

A conference on how to end plastic pollution opened on Monday in Busan, South Korea, but there was little consensus between nations on how to deal with the 90 percent of plastic produced globally that is not recycled.

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Developing nations blast 'paltry' $300 billion deal approved at COP29 UN climate summit

The contentious deal reached at the UN climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, commits developed nations to paying at least $300 billion a year by 2035 to help developing countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissons and prepare for disasters related to glo

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Key points of the COP29 deal to help poorer nations cope with climate change

The Baku accord raises the amount of money that developed countries must provide to help poorer nations adapt to global warming to at least $300 billion per year by 2035. The deal states that the money will come from a "wide variety of sources", includin

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Friday, november 22, 2024

COP29 drags on as developing nations reject $250 billion offer

In tonight's edition: A draft deal on climate finance has been rejected by African nations at the COP29 summit. Also, the Algerian Press Agency confirms that Franco-Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal has been arrested by Algerian authorities. Plus, support

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Wealthy nations offer $250 billion on climate action, developing nations say it's not enough

Wealthy nations on Friday pledged $250 billion by 2035 to help poorer nations hit hardest by extreme weather events adapt to the challenges of climate change. A number of developing countries have already responded that they need far more to help them sh

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India banks on renewables to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

At the COP29 summit draws to a close, this report takes us to a renewable energy farm in India, partly owned by billionaire Gautam Adani. He has just been charged in the US for allegedly bribing Indian authorities over contracts for solar plants in the s

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Real carbon, false credits? Investigating mass deforestation in Cambodia

With around 40 percent of its territory covered by forests, Cambodia has become Asia's champion of carbon credits. This system is supposed to finance the protection of the country's forests, thanks to money injected by multinationals from around the worl

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COP29 draft deal proposes rich nations give $250 bn in climate finance

A new draft deal at UN climate talks Friday proposes that rich nations commit $250 billion a year to help poorer nations combat global warming in an 11th-hour bid to break the deadlocked negotiations.

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Green spaces and social housing: Paris’s ‘bioclimatic’ plan to transform the city by 2035

The Paris City Council on Wednesday approved its "bioclimatic" urban development plan, designed to address climate challenges, housing shortages and urban expansion. The plan’s focus on green spaces, social housing and tighter rental regulations has draw

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Thursday, november 21, 2024

At UN climate talks, developing countries blast lack of detail on funding for energy transition

The draft text for the UN climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, left out how much wealthy nations will pay poorer countries to help them to reduce greenhouse gasses and cope with climate change. The developing world says it needs the $1.3 trillion in c

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Fires in the Amazon: Brazilian police track down climate criminals

With the COP29 summit now in its final days, we take a closer look at the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. A major global carbon sink that's nicknamed the lungs of the planet, the Amazon is once again under threat. Illegal fires set by farmers ravaged millio

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EU raises cash offer to poor nations to $300 billion in bid to salvage climate talks

The European Union announced on Saturday that it was, in tandem with other rich nations including the United States and Japan, increasing its offer to help poorer countries fight climate change to $300 billion a year. Its previous offer, of $250 billion

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Wednesday, november 20, 2024

G20 Rio summit ends with Ukraine blame game as Lula pushes climate action

At the G20 on Tuesday, Ukraine's allies and Russia blamed each other for escalating Europe's war, overshadowing the summit's final day. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva urged global leaders to revive stalled UN climate talks in Azerbaijan, w

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Rich nations under pressure over climate finance at COP29 talks

Pressure mounted on wealthy nations Wednesday to put a figure on the table as time runs out at COP29 to strike a deal on climate assistance for poorer countries.

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Tuesday, november 19, 2024

Goodbye old world order? Final G20 summit before Trump inauguration

Will history remember Rio as the swansong gathering of the US-led world order as we now know it? The curtain is coming down on Joe Biden's last G20 summit – his last big global gathering before the return of Donald Trump to the White House. The outgoing

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Negotiators seek to break COP29 impasse after G20 'marching orders'

Negotiators sought Tuesday to break a deadlock at UN climate talks after G20 leaders backed the need for "trillions" of dollars for poorer countries but left key sticking points unresolved. Details by Liza Kaminov.

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G20 leaders turn focus to climate change on Rio summit's last day

Leaders of the Group of 20 major economies meet on Tuesday to discuss sustainable development and the transition to cleaner energy, as they aim to increase the odds of a successful deal to address global warming at U.N. climate talks in Azerbaijan. Analy

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Trump's shadow looms large over G20 summit

G20 leaders on Tuesday were holding the final day of a summit that offered some impetus to stalled UN climate talks, diverged on wars in Ukraine and the Middle East -- and foresaw global turbulence as Donald Trump readies to take over the US presidency.

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Monday, november 18, 2024

French farmers protest EU-Mercosur trade agreement

French farmers are mobilizing for widespread protests targeting the controversial EU-Mercosur trade agreement. They argue the deal threatens their livelihoods by allowing a surge of South American agricultural imports produced under less stringent enviro

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G20 leaders to grapple with climate, taxes and Trump comeback in Brazil

G20 leaders gather in Brazil on Monday to discuss fighting poverty, boosting climate financing and other multilateral initiatives that could yet be upended by Donald Trump's impending return to the White House. Details with FRANCE 24 correspondent in Rio

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Hopes set on G20 spurring deadlocked UN climate talks

Nations returned Monday to the negotiating table at deadlocked UN climate talks in Azerbaijan, but with time running out hopes of a breakthrough are pinned on G20 leaders meeting in Brazil. Story by Liza Kaminov.

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Schools shut in India's New Delhi as toxic smog exceeds 60 times WHO limit

Schools in New Delhi were closed Monday as toxic smog enveloped the Indian capital and exceeded the daily limit set out by the World Health Organization by 60 times. The polluted air is thought to be the cause of thousands of premature deaths each year,

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