In the extreme southwest of China, a few tens of kilometers from the border with Laos and Burma, Xishuangbanna is one of the preferred tourist destinations for the Chinese who want to escape the winter that is beating down on the northeast of the country. Jinghong, the capital of this mini-region, lives much more to the nonchalant rhythm of the Mekong which crosses it than to the more hectic one of Beijing.

Read also China reaffirms an “unwavering” zero Covid strategy

But, for the past few days, the city has been in turmoil. At least one person with Covid-19 would have walked on Friday, December 24 the famous night market which is the charm of Gaozhuang, this district located on the left bank of the river, facing the city center, popular for several years by young people attracted by the nightlife, street food, and the rental for a few hours of stunning Thai costumes that make selfies unforgettable. Result: since Monday, the thousands of residents and tourists who live in this neighborhood have to undergo a daily antigen test. Above all, the whole neighborhood has been cordoned off.

Mousetrap

The tourist paradise turned into a mousetrap in a few minutes. As planes continue to land, tourists may enter without knowing that they will not be able to exit. Faced with growing discontent, the authorities wanted to make a gesture on Wednesday. People who entered the neighborhood after December 25 were allowed to leave on condition that they underwent a PCR test at the hospital in the city center across the bridge. Has the facility been overwhelmed? Did the authorities realize that they were letting people go into the wild? In any case, the authorities again, during the day, closed the crossing point between the neighborhood and the rest of the city, leaving hundreds of tourists, often young people, helpless with their suitcases, trying in vain. to get out.

Read also Covid-19: “It is neither in Korea nor in Australia that more dangerous variants have appeared, but in the most permissive countries”

In front of dozens of police and soldiers, the young people were shouting around 9:30 p.m. “We want tests”. This wait is all the more anxious as all residents of Jinghong City must be tested, from Thursday. A measure which, de facto, prevents residents from leaving. ?I absolutely have to go to Beijing. I know that there is no longer a direct flight and that once in the capital I will have to do quarantine at home, but I cannot afford to stay here ?, explains Jane, who arrived a week earlier. It was then 10 p.m. and no doctor had yet taken a test.

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Read also China reaffirms an “unwavering” zero Covid strategy

Mousetrap

Read also Covid-19: “It is neither in Korea nor in Australia that more dangerous variants have appeared, but in the most permissive countries”

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Demonstration against Shell oil company's plans to conduct underwater seismic surveys along South Africa's southeast coast, at Muizenberg Beach, Cape Town, December 5, 2021. — Demonstration against Shell oil company’s plans to conduct underwater seismic surveys along South Africa’s southeast coast, at Muizenberg Beach, Cape Town, December 5, 2021.

A shock wave every ten seconds in the ocean: a project by the giant Shell to search for oil and gas off one of South Africa’s most beautiful coasts was suspended Tuesday, December 28 by justice, a victory unprecedented for environmental activists.

Open to the Indian Ocean in the south-east of the country, the Wild Coast, with spectacular wild landscapes, stretches over some 300 kilometers and has several nature reserves and marine protected areas.

Read also Oil pollution: Shell to pay 95 million euros to communities in south-eastern Nigeria

It is there, over more than 6,000 km², that the energy giant had decided to launch a new seismic exploration project. Environmental activists, fishermen and locals opposed it, saying it poses a threat to marine life.

Thousands of ocean activists and nature lovers demonstrated in December on beaches across the country and blocked Shell gas stations, calling for a boycott.

“Spiritual link with the ocean”

Earlier this month, the country’s justice system rejected a first appeal by environmental activists. The energy minister had defended the project, accusing his critics of blocking the economic investments South Africa needs.

This time, in this new action involving the community living in this hitherto unspoiled corner of nature, the Grahamstown court has “Prohibited to undertake seismic prospecting” to the Anglo-Dutch multinational, with immediate effect, according to the judgment of which AFP has obtained a copy.

Also read: In Uganda, Total’s oil imposes silence and fear

Judge Gerald Bloem ruled that the company had not fulfilled the obligation to consult the local population, which notably holds fishing rights and maintains a “Special spiritual and cultural link with the ocean”.

“We respect the court ruling and have suspended the study while we review the judgment”a Shell spokesperson told AFP, who did not say whether the company would appeal.

“Huge victory”

Offshore fossil fuel prospecting uses the analysis of the propagation of seismic waves to determine the geological structure of soils likely to contain hydrocarbons. The shock waves are sent by boats equipped with air cannons.

“Studies of this nature have been carried out for more than fifty years, with more than fifteen years of in-depth scientific research”, argued the spokesperson for Shell.

Read also Nigeria: Amnesty accuses Shell of “manipulating” oil leak studies

?South Africa is heavily dependent on imports for a large part of its energy needs. If viable resources were discovered at sea, it could contribute significantly to the country’s energy security ?, he argued.

According to environmentalists, these detonations risk disrupting the behavior of fauna, its diet, its reproduction as well as migrations, especially that of whales, most marine animals relying on hearing.

“Incredibly strong lobbies”

“The voice of those directly affected has finally been heard and the constitutional rights of indigenous peoples have been recognized”, welcomed in a statement Sinegugu Zukulu, of the collective of residents Sustaining the Wild Coast (SWC), which brings together landowners, fishermen and traditional chiefs.

“It’s a huge victory”, greeted Katherine Robinson, of the NGO Natural Justice, who was a civil party in the first legal action against the project.

“If we are to fight climate change, we must resist the exploitation of oil and gas in South Africa and across the continent, even though the lobbies are incredibly strong”, she insisted.

Shell’s project was to run for five months without interruption. The research involved sending a powerful shock wave every ten seconds, 24 hours a day.

Shell had assured to take all precautions to “Avoid or minimize the impact on fish, marine mammals and other wildlife”, in the research area located more than 20 kilometers from the coast in deep waters of 700 to 3,000 meters.

The World with AFP

Read also Oil pollution: Shell to pay 95 million euros to communities in south-eastern Nigeria

Thousands of ocean activists and nature lovers demonstrated in December on beaches across the country and blocked Shell gas stations, calling for a boycott.

“Spiritual link with the ocean”

Also read: In Uganda, Total’s oil imposes silence and fear

“We respect the court ruling and have suspended the study while we review the judgment”a Shell spokesperson told AFP, who did not say whether the company would appeal.

“Huge victory”

“Studies of this nature have been carried out for more than fifty years, with more than fifteen years of in-depth scientific research”, argued the spokesperson for Shell.

Read also Nigeria: Amnesty accuses Shell of “manipulating” oil leak studies

“Incredibly strong lobbies”

“It’s a huge victory”, greeted Katherine Robinson, of the NGO Natural Justice, who was a civil party in the first legal action against the project.

“If we are to fight climate change, we must resist the exploitation of oil and gas in South Africa and across the continent, even though the lobbies are incredibly strong”, she insisted.

Shell’s project was to run for five months without interruption. The research involved sending a powerful shock wave every ten seconds, 24 hours a day.

The World with AFP

In the aftermath of tightening restrictions due to the fifth wave of Covid-19 and the spread of the Omicron variant, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced Tuesday, December 28, the payment of a monthly premium of one amount of 100 euros net to nurses in critical care and resuscitation services.

?Nearly 30,000 nurses (?) in public and private establishments ? are affected by this “Long-term premium”, Who “Represents a global budget of 54 million euros per year”, said the Ministry of Health in a statement released Tuesday afternoon. The head of government initially mentioned the figure of 24,000 people concerned.

Read our report: On the eve of the holidays, hospitals on the “tightrope”

“These services require a qualification, a very strong technicality and the difficulty of this task can be detrimental to the attractiveness of these services”, explained Mr. Castex, who spoke at the end of a visit, alongside the Minister of Health, Olivier V�ran, of an intensive care unit of the intercommunal hospital center of Cr�teil. According to the Prime Minister, the��intention [du gouvernement] is to follow the guidelines ? a report from the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (IGAS) on the subject, which the Minister of Health will present next week.

In this report, that The world has obtained, along with 27 recommendations, the social affairs inspectors rule on the issue of the number of intensive care beds. If a massive increase is not considered opportune, the inspectors write that this expected increase in needs, “On the basis of a maximalist estimate”, “Could make it necessary to create 1,000 additional intensive care beds by 2030”. Regarding intensive care nurses, the report recommends, in addition to the need to “Financially recognize” the specificity of their profession, “Systematize an eight-week job adaptation training upon taking up intensive care duties” or to reintegrate a “Resuscitation module” in the training of nursing students.

Materialize “essential recognition”

“We are going to implement from January 2022 one of the strong measures proposed by this report, which is to grant nurses in these critical care services (?) a bonus recognizing this specificity, this technicality, of 100 euros per month, which will therefore be paid from January ?, said Mr. V�ran.

“It is, as an extension of the efforts that the nation is making under the Health Segur, an indispensable recognition for these services that we obviously need eminently, more than ever, in the current crisis that we are going through with the arrival of the Omicron variant “, said the head of government, who once again insisted on the importance of vaccination.

Also read: In intensive care units, an IGAS report considers it necessary to increase the number of beds

“A premium is not enough”, reacted the National Federation of Resuscitation Nurses (FNIR) in a press release. She nevertheless “Thank you[�] the government “ for “This first gesture”. “Caregivers need improvement in their daily working conditions”, underlined the FNIR, which calls in particular for a training “Nationally structured” and staffs adapted to the “Ratio of one nurse to two resuscitation beds”.

The next measures to be announced by Mr. V�ran, established from the IGAS report, will be a “Full plan”, in the words of the Prime Minister, in order to “Review the attractiveness, training, qualification, conditions of professional practice in these critical care services, to recognize the technicality of those who work there”.

The World with AFP

Read our report: On the eve of the holidays, hospitals on the “tightrope”

Materialize “essential recognition”

Also read: In intensive care units, an IGAS report considers it necessary to increase the number of beds

The World with AFP

The weather, Wednesday, December 29, will be globally disturbed, with four departments in orange rain-flood vigilance, Savoie, Haute-Savoie, Ain and Is�re, and high avalanche risks in Haute-Savoie, according to Meteo France.

In the four departments in orange vigilance, “The soils are already well saturated” following heavy rains. And “The avalanche risk is high on all the massifs of Haute-Savoie”, adds M�t�o-France in its 6 o’clock bulletin.

?Numerous wet snow avalanches will be triggered this Wednesday with the return of the rain, which could take the entire snowpack in place. These avalanches could reach exposed road sectors as well as mountain infrastructures ?, warns the agency.

Snow expected from 900 meters

Overall, the weather is expected to be rainy from the north of the Alps to the Belgian border and to Normandy in the morning. The precipitation will remain quite marked near the alpine relief, with snow from 900 meters in the interior valleys in the first part of the day. This rain-snow limit will rise significantly over the hours.

From the South-West to Brittany the clouds will be numerous in the morning and will give light rain. In the afternoon, an improvement will emerge south of the Garonne with clearings.

The rains will also weaken from the Massif Central in the north of the country while the disturbance will block from the Alps to Alsace, still bringing rainy weather.

Around the Gulf of Lion and in Corsica, the weather will remain dry and cloudy.

The westerly wind will still be strong from Brittany to the Belgian border with gusts between 60 and 80 km / h. The Tramontana will remain sensitive in its domain, as well as the west wind on the coasts of Provence.

The World with AFP

Snow expected from 900 meters

From the South-West to Brittany the clouds will be numerous in the morning and will give light rain. In the afternoon, an improvement will emerge south of the Garonne with clearings.

The rains will also weaken from the Massif Central in the north of the country while the disturbance will block from the Alps to Alsace, still bringing rainy weather.

Around the Gulf of Lion and in Corsica, the weather will remain dry and cloudy.

The World with AFP

In the three units of the UCL Namur University Hospital Center (CHU), the Omicron storm is feared and threatens, but no more than elsewhere in Belgium, it is safe to say that it was preceded by a phase of “calm” . “For weeks, or months in fact, we have the feeling of preparing every day for the worst”, slips a nurse from the Mont-Godinne site, a large rectangular building that seems to have been placed in the middle of the fields, about twenty kilometers from the Walloon city.

Doctor Luc Mathy, medical director of the CHU, agrees: “We are at twenty-one months of a pandemic and a situation based on a hospital emergency plan (PHU) set up, in principle, for short-term events and which gives absolute priority to patients with Covid. “

The doctor therefore asks a question, still taboo: should this priority be maintained when the vast majority of patients hospitalized are not vaccinated and they mobilize material and human resources which can no longer be allocated to routine but necessary care? – even essential – other patients?

Read also Faced with the Omicron wave, European countries are tightening the screw

Doctor Mathy is cautious because he understands the importance of the debate he launched with his colleagues Beno�t Rondelet, medical director of Mont-Godinne, and Sandrine Monseur, of Dinant, two other sites of the hospital center. In early December, these three specialists signed an open letter to the political and medical authorities. They underlined the danger of postponing many interventions requiring intensive care, raised their serious concern about the condition of their staff and, above all, called for a “Ethical debate”.

Labor crisis

At this point, no official response has come. Already faced with many criticisms of the country’s state of unpreparedness, the savings made in the hospital sector in recent years or endless discussions on compulsory vaccination, the nine ministers of health (at federal, regional level and communities) do not want to decide. They stick to circulars indicating, without further clarification, that all care “Urgent and necessary” must be issued.

At the end of November, an advisory committee coordinated by the Federal Ministry of Health asked hospitals to postpone all ?non-urgent? treatments for two weeks, and to reserve 60% of intensive care beds for patients with Covid-19 . “It almost amounts to reserving all the available beds for them”, objected in La Libre Belgique, on December 3, Jean-Michel Hougardy, medical director of the Erasme University Hospital, in Brussels.

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Read also Faced with the Omicron wave, European countries are tightening the screw

Labor crisis

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This is the executive’s other puzzle. While the state summit has taken a series of measures to try to curb the surge in Covid-19 cases, and thus relieve hospital pressure, the government is working, in parallel, on the organization of the presidential election 2022. With the challenge of answering a sensitive question: how to ensure the smooth running of the campaign and the election, scheduled for April 10 and 24, in the midst of an epidemic crisis?

Responsible for the organization of the elections, in his capacity as Minister of the Interior, G�rald Darmanin will convene a commission on the organization of the presidential election, in order to examine this thorny subject. This commission will allow “Agree on rules which are obviously protective in relation to the health situation but which take into account (?) of the exercise of democracy ?, announced Prime Minister Jean Castex, Monday, December 27, at the end of a health defense council and a council of ministers.

This commission must meet “During January”, according to the Interior Ministry, after a first meeting beforehand between Mr. Darmanin and the President of the Constitutional Council, Laurent Fabius, scheduled for the beginning of the month. G�rald Darmanin requested a meeting with the president of this body, responsible for overseeing the organization of the presidential election, in order to discuss all the measures likely to improve the conduct of the poll, in times of Covid-19. “The idea is to have a forum for dialogue with political parties to bring up very technical questions that arise, such as how to use electoral propaganda, the organization of polling stations, etc.”, explains Beauvau.

While there is no question of banning meetings, as Mr. Castex confirmed on Monday, concrete questions still arise for their organization, such as the possibility of setting up gauges or requesting a health pass. at the entrance. ?What is the responsibility of the public authority or of the organizer? We can see that there is a need to clarify “, judge Matignon.

Read also Presidential election 2022: political meetings threatened by the fifth wave of Covid-19

?Consultation? approach

The government intends to involve all political groups in these discussions, as was the case ahead of the regional and departmental elections in June 2021, which had already been organized in a tense health context. The executive is in a process of ��concertation�� with the parties, with a will “To stimulate collective discussion, under the authority of the Constitutional Council”, explains Matignon. “We want all presidential candidates to be informed, and to be able to formulate all the questions and observations they wish”, indicates the entourage of Mr. Darmanin, recalling however that in the end, the government remains “The only decision maker”.

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Read also Presidential election 2022: political meetings threatened by the fifth wave of Covid-19

?Consultation? approach

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With more than 100,000 new infections every day – a record since the start of the epidemic – hospitals are on the alert. On New Year’s Eve, the wave carried by the Delta variant seems to have reached a plateau, but the arrival of Omicron could well be a game-changer in the coming weeks. At the end of the defense council held on Monday, December 27, the Minister of Health, Olivier V�ran, said he expected “250,000 contaminations per day” in early January, while stressing that the impact of such a wave on the health system is difficult to assess at this stage, given the limited data on the characteristics of this new extremely contagious variant.

Speaking on the sidelines of a visit to the Cr�teil hospital center (Val-de-Marne), the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, has already announced, Tuesday, December 28, a monthly bonus of 100 euros for some 24,000 nurses in critical care and resuscitation services from January, citing a “Indispensable recognition” for those staff whose hospital is lacking to cope with the influx of patients.

Read also Covid-19: by trying to curb the virus “without excessive constraints”, Emmanuel Macron is playing the balancing act

To counter the current outbreak, the executive continues to bet on vaccination – with the establishment in mid-January of a vaccination pass to access public places – but the bet is risky. More than 3,300 people are already hospitalized in intensive care, forcing many establishments to deprogram surgical procedures to reassign caregivers to the bedside of patients with Covid-19. ?In recent days, it seems that a plateau is emerging. If this is confirmed, it should be able to pass ?, estimates Charles Marquette, head of the pulmonology department of the CHU de Nice. In the Alpes-Maritimes, where the incidence exceeds 1,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, just over 400 people are hospitalized, against more than 700 in April.

Recently, patients with Covid-19 are no longer grouped together in separate units, but are distributed among the different medical services. “The majority of patients come with Covid-19, but not because of Covid-19”, justifies the pulmonologist according to whom “This approach should be generalized in the future”. The doctor recalls that the majority of patients admitted for severe forms of Covid-19 are unvaccinated, and admits to being worried about immunocompromised people, for whom vaccination has very limited effectiveness. Until then, antibodies made in the laboratory could be administered to them in order to limit the risks in the event of infection, but they have proved to be little or not effective against Omicron. “It’s a real problem, especially for all transplant patients”, he warns. In France, more than 50,000 people live with a transplanted organ (lung, kidney, heart).

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Read also Covid-19: by trying to curb the virus “without excessive constraints”, Emmanuel Macron is playing the balancing act

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Several leaders of La R�publique en Marche (LRM) announced on Tuesday, December 28, that they wanted to limit the number of people authorized to attend majority electoral meetings during the campaign for the presidential election, despite the exception to certain guaranteed health restrictions. political activities by the Constitutional Council.

Also read: By trying to curb the virus “without excessive constraints”, Emmanuel Macron plays the balancing act

To curb the rise in Covid-19 contamination in France, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Monday evening the entry into force of gauges set at 2,000 people at most, during events organized indoors, and to 5,000 outdoors. Already in force at the start of 2021, this restriction, like that of the health pass, cannot be applied “To political meetings and activities”, had reaffirmed the Constitutional Council on November 9. This is the case for political demonstrations organized in the street or the speeches of candidates, whose attendance may exceed the limits announced Monday by the government.

?Constitutional rules do not allow the setting of gauges at political meetings. But, obviously, the presidential majority will impose itself to respect the gauges fixed in all its events ?, wrote on Twitter the president of the National Assembly and executive of the presidential majority, Richard Ferrand. Several other parties, including the Socialist Party and the campaign team of the environmental candidate, Yannick Jadot, have announced for several weeks that they are adopting tight meeting formats to limit the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

A cross-party commission to organize the campaign

?Any meeting organizer must be careful, who would be a candidate who would like to reach the supreme office and who would not be able to protect the people who are with him present? “, asked Tuesday on Franceinfo Thierry Sol�re, deputy of LRM and political adviser to Emmanuel Macron, while acknowledging “That there will probably be fewer French people in public meetings at the time of Covid-19 than without Covid-19. “

Jean Castex also announced on Monday that a commission on the organization of the presidential election would be ” without a doubt “ brought together by the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, in the presence of all political parties. This commission will allow “Agree on rules which are obviously protective in relation to the health situation but which take into account the specificity of this fundamental activity, that is to say ultimately the exercise of democracy”, he added. The General Delegate of La R�publique en Marche, Stanislas Guerini, will represent the presidential movement.

Also read: A campaign shaken up by the Covid-19

” The date [de la commission] is not yet fixed “, told Agence France-Presse the entourage of the Minister of the Interior, specifying that the committee meeting would necessarily take place after a meeting with the President of the Constitutional Council, Laurent Fabius, scheduled for the start of January. The Minister tabled in the National Assembly, on December 21, a bill which modifies the organization of the presidential election and the electoral code in order, in particular, to facilitate the process of attorney, by allowing any voter to entrust his vote. to a voter registered on another electoral list.

The World with AFP

Also read: By trying to curb the virus “without excessive constraints”, Emmanuel Macron plays the balancing act

A cross-party commission to organize the campaign

Also read: A campaign shaken up by the Covid-19

The World with AFP

The hubbub that rises from the pit of the D�me concert hall in Marseille, this Saturday, November 20, is not that of the spectators impatient to see their idol but that of the yapping of 469 doggies of all races coming from the four corners of France. ?I fell in love when I saw him, his name is Soprano, like the singer! “ It is not the famous Marseillais that his new mistress proudly presents to onlookers, but a little cotton from Tulear from Brittany. A total of 120 puppies and kittens were sold in two days, during the first Pets and Welfare Fair.

Almost every weekend is held in France an animal show – small puppy fairs, devoted solely to the sale of animals by breeders or dealers, at the Paris Animal Show which brings together more than five thousand each year. dogs, cats and new pets (NAC – rabbits, rodents, birds, lizards, etc.), with exhibition, competition and sale of animal products.

These salons are not affected by the new law on animal abuse, published in Official newspaper 1^is December, which provides for the ban on the sale of dogs and cats in pet shops from 1^is January 2024. The stated objective is to limit impulse purchases in order to fight against the abandonment of pets. Each year in France, around 900,000 puppies are sold or transferred, according to an estimate from the National Union of Dog and Cat Professions (SNPCC) – the latest official figures date back to more than twenty years ago -, and nearly 300,000 dogs and cats would be abandoned, according to the report by deputy Lo�c Dombreval (La R�publique en Marche, Alpes-Maritimes).

Decryption: Popular during confinement, pets invade shelters

“We are responsible for our animal all our life, recalls Reha Hutin, president of the 30 Million Friends Foundation. The acquisition must be a thoughtful act, you cannot make this decision by walking between the stands of a trade show! “ To choose the right companion, you have to be able to talk to the person who takes care of the animal, come back to see it several times, know its character well … “The salespeople play on people’s sensibilities, the puppies are weaned too young, it’s touching and that’s what attracts customers”.

Animals must be 8 weeks old to be offered for sale.

Who would not have cracked in front of the face of Sariette, a small short-haired dachshund nestled in the arms of Deva, 10 years old, or Sbouba, a shiba inu, 2 months old? Mathilde and her companion left with a pomsky (crossed husky and dwarf spitz). They had come for “Buy a pet from [leur] chat��. “When we saw that cats were as expensive as dogs [entre 800�et 3�000�euros sur ce salon], we preferred to take a dog “, explains the young woman of 25, also seduced by the possibility of paying in three installments without charge. An unexpected purchase; the proof, they came by scooter.

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Decryption: Popular during confinement, pets invade shelters

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The draft decree re-authorizing, for 2022, the use of the main neonicotinoids on beetroot was put for consultation on Monday, December 27. It follows a favorable decision rendered a week earlier by the supervisory board responsible for examining requests for exemption from the use of these products – a council made up of elected officials, agricultural unions, representatives of the sector, NGOs, etc. Barring a dramatic twist, these pesticides, banned in Europe since 2018, could be used next year on around 400,000 hectares of sugar beet. They had already been waived for this year, due to the threat of beet yellows – a viral disease transmitted by an aphid.

Ironically, this year’s crop suffered significant losses due to the use of non-compliant herbicides, mistakenly found in the products used by many growers. Those “Phytotoxicity incidents” affected, according to the data presented to the Supervisory Board by the Ministry of Agriculture, 1,139 farms in all the sugar beet regions, for a total of nearly 15,000 hectares, or more than 1.2 million tons of beets, destroyed or recycled as fuel.

Read also Government’s “pollinator” plan angered beekeepers

For Gr�gory Besson-Moreau, deputy (La R�publique en Marche) for Aube and chairman of the supervisory board, the re-authorization of neonicotinoids for 2022 is justified by the fact that“It is impossible to guarantee 99% that there will be no aphids on beets next spring”. In particular, Mr. Besson-Moreau relies on the analysis of seasonal weather forecasts, which anticipate a particularly mild winter, favorable to the return of these insects. the representative of the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE) on the Supervisory Board confirms that consultation of climate models makes it possible to anticipate, “With a probability of nearly 80%, meteorological conditions favorable to the early presence of the aphid on almost all beet production”.

“Almost zero viral pressure”

The associations for the defense of the environment sitting on the supervisory board are protesting against a new year of exemption. Agronomist Jacques Caplat, member of Agir pour l’Environnement (APE), objects in particular that the seasonal weather forecasts are notoriously fragile and that the viral pressure, as estimated by the sampling campaigns, is this year very weak.

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Read also Government’s “pollinator” plan angered beekeepers

“Almost zero viral pressure”

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