Monde, Geographer Sara Fernandez Argues That Current Water Distribution Systems Are No Longer Adapted to the Changing Hydroclimatic Regime

She stresses the urgent need to collectively question the usefulness of water uses and their capacity to worsen or mitigate extreme phenomena. Fernandez is a geographer at the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (Inrae) and a member of the Sociétés, acteurs, gouvernement en Europe laboratory. Her research focuses on water governance, the financing of necessary infrastructure, and the management of pollution and aquatic environments.

She co-directed the books "Idées reçues sur l'eau et sa gestion" (Le Cavalier Bleu, 2024) and "L'Environnement en mal de gestion. Les apports d'une perspective situationnelle" (Presses universitaires du Septentrion, 2020). The interview highlights that the main challenge is first to abandon the illusion of water abundance, as the current systems for allocating water resources are no longer suitable for the new climatic conditions.