France Nature Environnement backs social movements linking ecology and social justice, Digi Mart USA News (France): France Nature Environnement (FNE) reaffirms its full commitment to a democratic, just and equitable society and expresses support for social movements working toward that goal.
The group says more than 8,000 people died from heat during last summer’s heatwaves in France and nearly 100,000 hectares of forest burned. It also describes the country’s most severe drought on record, which it says has caused a collapse in agricultural production and serious impacts on biodiversity.
FNE argues that the government’s draft budget fails to address the population’s need for protection against climate change impacts, or the needs of public services such as firefighters, civil security and health care, which it says are essential during major environmental crises. The federation also says the budget does not adequately respond to the broader climate and biodiversity crises or widespread pollution.
According to FNE, its role is to connect environmental protection with broader issues of democracy, defense of freedoms, respect for dignity and greater social justice. The group says it supported the high school student movement from its beginning, citing shared demands on school buildings and the education system’s poor adaptation to global warming, as well as a shared vision for a future-oriented society.
FNE says this generation will be affected throughout its lives by major environmental crises without being primarily responsible for them, and that young people regularly express anger and anxiety over public policies in France and worldwide that endanger their future. The group states that FNE and its regional federations have a place among supporters of this autumn’s social movements.
The organization also says that protecting nature and living systems has no future in an authoritarian, repressive or illiberal world. It reiterates support for movements calling for greater equality, justice, democracy and a better life in a livable world.
FNE supports the November 5 call to protest, which demands higher wages for everyone as well as additional resources to address climate change by reducing environmental impact and adapting territories and ways of life. It also backs a day of mobilization planned for November 14, which follows a September 26 call to gather across France, in which several FNE member associations took part.
Citing what it describes as the executive branch’s persistent unresponsiveness to intermediary bodies over the past 10 years, FNE defends the constitutional right to peaceful demonstration, including against what it calls disproportionate police responses that environmental movements have experienced.
