Climate change and risks

Fires, droughts, heat waves, cold snaps, extreme precipitation, coastal erosion, avalanches, and melting glaciers—climate change are intensifying all these phenomena. Because it affects the entire world, climate change is exacerbating current threats to the environment, biodiversity, and society; it is also creating entirely new risks. INRAE is focused on understanding how the climate is shifting, including towards more frequent and intense extreme weather events (e.g., heat waves, cold snaps), and how these shifts are affecting agriculture, food production, forestry systems, water resources, waste management, and the health of plants, animals, and humans. The objective is to limit the impacts of climate change as well as to develop food systems that are adapted to new conditions. In tandem, it is important to simultaneously reduce ecosystem vulnerability and increase ecosystem resilience. INRAE is accomplishing these tasks by generating scientific knowledge and informing public policies. The institute is also helping prevent and manage climate risks.