Editorial by Charles Ange Ginésy

Climate change requires us to stop looking the other way. It calls for strong commitments to bequeath future generations a sustainable environment. That’s why, elected President of the Alpes-Maritimes Department in 2017, I immediately made ecological transition a priority.

The departmental Green Deal activates various levers to promote soft mobility and new energies, develop short circuits, support virtuous behavior and preserve our formidable natural heritage.

Far from diktats and ideologies, I believe in an ecology of progress, a pragmatic ecology, an ecology on the doorstep. And, above all, a lively, inspiring ecology shared by all.

That’s why, at the end of 2024, I launched the Pacte citoyen pour la nature Lucia, which aims to raise awareness among all Maralpins and get them involved in protecting our department’s exceptional biodiversity.

The Pact takes the form of a number of workshops and conferences open to the general public, so that everyone can learn, in a fun way, about the importance of determined collective action.

The fight against global warming must be a matter of acceptance, not coercion. It requires education and transmission, as the Department is also doing in terms of digital and AI acculturation.

So I can’t help but appreciate the approach taken by the organizers of the International Ecological and Social Film Festival. By putting cinema at the service of the ecological cause, they have turned it into a means of expression and commitment. The FIFES is a space for awareness-raising, exchange and inspiration to take concrete action in favor of the environment and, more specifically this year, biodiversity.

This approach echoes the Conseil départemental’s DNA of solidarity and proximity, as well as its commitments to the environment and young people.

More than ever, I invite everyone to take the future of our department into their own hands.

Together, let’s make the Alpes-Maritimes a sustainable and and eco-responsible.

Charles Ange Ginésy