Mayotte powerless in face of climate change: 'There's a huge inequality and injustice issue here'

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00:00In other news, French President Emmanuel Macron is to head to Mayotte this week,

00:03where he's set to declare a day of national mourning. An estimated 70% of the population

00:09of this tiny French territory is thought to have been affected by the worst cyclone

00:14to hit the country in nearly a century. Rescue workers are struggling to reach survivors

00:21in France's poorest overseas department. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people are

00:26thought to have been killed, with the French government now imposing a night-time curfew.

00:30Cara Scarlan reports.

00:34It's an exceptional operation for exceptional circumstances. This A400M plane is one of

00:41several taking part in an air bridge to transport crucial personnel and humanitarian aid from

00:47Reunion to Mayotte. Before they fly to the disaster zone, civil security soldiers are

00:52briefed on their mission. Our primary objective is to deploy the first water production site on

00:58Petite Terre. Given the enormous needs in Mayotte, the mission is shaping up to be a long one.

01:06Two months, three months, four months, it's possible. The task is immense.

01:11The cyclone was of an unprecedented scale.

01:15Reunion, another French territory in the Indian Ocean, is about 1,400 kilometres from Mayotte.

01:21It takes two to three hours to reach the disaster zone by plane and up to four days by boat.

01:27The Marion Dufresne, a scientific exploration ship, will also deliver supplies. However,

01:34authorities say they're experiencing a cluster log, meaning the number of trips isn't enough

01:39to deliver all the aid that's available. It's the case for these Red Cross pallets that are

01:43waiting at a warehouse in Reunion. The site director hopes they can leave this week,

01:48but there are no guarantees.

01:50Here, we have plastic sheets to cover the roofs of houses. We also have kits for rebuilding homes,

01:59so we can get back to work on temporary shelters.

02:04Humanitarian aid is also being prepared in mainland France.

02:08These firefighters are gathering the material needed to construct a field hospital.

02:14Given the situation on the ground, we're going to take in all the patients in intensive care.

02:18With trips set to ramp up in the coming days, hundreds of tonnes of material is

02:22expected to make its way from Reunion and mainland France to Mayotte.

02:28Joining me now is Charlie Gardner from the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology

02:32at University of Kent. Thank you so much for your time.

02:35What made this cyclone so incredibly powerful?

02:40Well, there has been, as a result of climate change, which is driven by burning fossil fuels,

02:46there's been incredible heat throughout the Western Indian Ocean over the course of this year.

02:53And when there's more heat in the water, that drives, that puts much more energy into weather

02:59systems. It puts much more humidity into the atmosphere. And so, although we don't have

03:05data yet, the attribution studies yet, that show that this particular storm was driven

03:10by climate change, we do know that climate change caused the cyclone to erupt.

03:14We do know that climate change causes a much greater intensity of tropical storms.

03:20And it means that very intense tropical storms like this one become much more frequent.

03:24So it's happening, and this has happened because of burning fossil fuels primarily.

03:30But it's, we also know that the eye of this cyclone passed over the island itself,

03:35which meant that as a result, the danger that it posed was far more amplified.

03:42This is exactly right. And what this tragic example shows is that the impacts of climate

03:49change aren't just about the severity of the extreme weather. They're also about

03:55our resilience as human societies and our capacity to withstand this weather. Now,

04:01Mayotte is one of the poorest islands in the world, as we're seeing on our images now.

04:08The, much of the infrastructure, including people's homes, just isn't built to withstand

04:15storms of this intensity. So yes, the impacts we're seeing are the combined result of the storm

04:20itself. And the fact that our human societies just aren't prepared to deal with this sort of

04:27extreme weather. And that's a very, that has really important implications. Up till now,

04:32the discussion about how to respond to climate change has been rightly very focused on mitigating

04:39the problem, stopping it getting worse. In other words, getting off fossil fuels and stopping

04:44destroying nature as fast as we can. What this storm and other things show is that we also need

04:50to prepare ourselves in a second way. We need to adapt to the changes that are coming. And you know,

04:54this isn't a future problem. This is happening right now. And there are impacts that we simply

05:00cannot avoid. So whilst we do need to increase the focus on decarbonisation, we also need to

05:08rapidly redouble our efforts on preparedness and adapting to these impacts that are now inevitable.

05:16And as you pointed out, Charlie, this is France's poorest territory. Many of those people living in

05:23shanty towns and the devastation caused by this cyclone surely must be a wake-up call for

05:30authorities, as you pointed out, to do more for people impacted by climate change. But what exactly

05:35needs to be done? Well, we need to do two things. We need to rapidly transition away from burning

05:45fossil fuels as our main energy source. And we need to stop destroying nature through agriculture,

05:52primarily through the production of meat. Now, as you pointed out, there is a huge inequality

06:00issue here. There's a huge justice issue here. The people who are suffering on the front lines

06:06in Mayotte and elsewhere are some of the smallest contributors to this problem. It's some of the

06:15policies of the French government and other governments of industrialised nations, the

06:19policies of French fossil fuel companies like Total and the high carbon lifestyles of people

06:28on mainland France that are driving this problem, and not the people of Mayotte. So I do really hope

06:36that you're correct that this does serve as a wake-up call, because of course the people in

06:41Mayotte do not have the power to change this situation for themselves. It's only those in

06:48Europe and industrialised countries that really have that power. Charlie Gardner, we're going to

06:53have to leave it there. Thank you so much. Thank you.

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