Eric Sauquet, Director of research in hydrology, scientific leader of Explore2, INRAE (testimonial from the dossier “The Explore2 project, hydrological projections to adapt water resource management” – 2024)
“I have been working since the 1990s on characterising the functioning of catchment basins and since 2007 on the impact of climate change on hydrology and water management through projects supported by the OFB, the water agencies and the Ministry for the Environment. These projects to assist water management in different catchment areas sometimes go as far as integrating socio-economic trajectories to examine the balance between water supply and demand. In 2010, Explore2070 was a pioneering study of the impact of climate change in France. A few years later, there was a real collective expectation that this data should be updated in line with the work of the IPCC. This is what motivated me to get involved in Explore2. I received a great deal of support from my partners in launching and coordinating the project, as well as the confidence of the Ministry of the Environment and the OFB. Explore2 is not strictly speaking a research project. We debated and readjusted certain choices, which is a fact of life for any project and shows that dealing with climate change remains a subject for research.”
Testimonial from our thematic dossier
Thematic dossier
The Explore2 project: hydrological projections to adapt water resource management
Explore2 is a first-of-its-kind project in Europe because of the mass of data produced. These projections and the associated technical documents, drawn up thanks to the collaboration of a large scientific community and two user committees, make it possible to undertake regional studies on the availability of water resources throughout the 21st century and to anticipate their management.
