Posted on July, 26 1999
Among the seven people nominated by Time for their work in protecting waterways, Christine Jean is the only European and the only woman. The others include four Americans, one Brazilian and one Indian.
A biologist specialising in river hydrology, Christine Jean has led WWF's twelve-year crusade to preserve the Loire. The mother of two children, she holds degrees from the School of Agronomy in Nancy and the Laboratory of Hydrology in Metz. In 1992 she won the Goldman Prize, considered by many to be the 'Nobel Prize for the Environment'. She donated all the 60,000 dollars in prize money to the conservation of the Loire.
Christine Jean, together with a group of conservation organizations, that form the 'Loire Vivante' or 'Living Loire' committee, have achieved some remarkable successes. Most significantly, there are no longer any plans to build new dams on the Loire or its tributaries. Instead, other more environmentally-friendly solutions have been put in place to protect the population from flooding and ensure it has adequate water supplies. This marked a major change in the management of the Loire and other rivers as, for the first time, the protection of flora and fauna became an objective in itself.
With funding from the European Union and the French government, WWF and eight other conservation organizations, are running a programme called 'Loire Nature'. This innovative project is the largest run by conservation organizations in Europe, and has managed to protect more than 1200 hectares of exceptional sites in the Loire Valley over the past 6 years.
Christine Jean and WWF now aim to protect the Loire estuary, which is under threat from a proposed extension of the port of Nantes Saint-Nazaire. WWF believes that now is the time to launch an ambitious project to reclaim the Loire.
Contact : Bertrand Pichene, WWF-France, til. : +33 1 55 25 84 64 ; e-mail : bpichene@wwfnet.org
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