Le dessous des cartes

How and why are we still starving in 2017? Climatic, economic and political factors combine to create these humanitarian disasters. In recent months, food crises in Nigeria, South Sudan, and Yemen have shown that war plays a key role in triggering the current famines.

Despite the development of alternative energies, coal still plays an important role in the world's energy supply. With its excellent caloric efficiency, it is also a very polluting fossil fuel, responsible for half of the carbon dioxide emissions produced by the energy sector. However, its future is far from being threatened. …

Sand is the most used raw material in the world after water, and it is everywhere: in deserts, seas and rivers. However, we are increasingly short of it. With close-ups on Cape Verde, Singapore, Vietnam, India and Brittany, 'Behind the Scenes' takes a look at an issue with multiple stakes: economic, ecological, geopolitical…

The Amazon is home to both the largest equatorial forest and the largest river system in the world. This common heritage of humanity straddles eight countries. After the large-scale deforestation carried out in the 20th century, can we reconcile environmental protection with the economic development of these states?

In response to the threat posed by humans to the oceans, marine protected areas have been created by individual states or several countries acting together. These sanctuaries are effective and could be a permanent solution to stop the poisoning of the oceans.

Some 400 undersea cables weave an invisible yet crucial network for our connected world. With a length of 1.3 million kilometers, they are essential to the smooth running of the Internet and carry 99% of intercontinental exchanges. More than ever, these little-known infrastructures are attracting the attention of governments,…

For states, going into space is still a power issue. But whereas the 'star wars' launched by Ronald Reagan in the 1980s were part of a military strategy in the context of the confrontation with the USSR, the conquest of space in the 21st century is part of another war: that information and telecommunications, but also that…

What happens to food traditions in a world where you eat American burgers in the Arabian Peninsula, and Japanese sushi in all European cities? Has globalization allowed humanity to eat more?

The expansion of trade pushed man to annex the oceans. The conquest of the maritime routes says a lot about the history of men, their exchanges and their will to power. China has fully understood the importance of mastering these spaces. As part of its so-called “New Silk Roads” project, it invests in canals, straits, isthmuses and…

Partout dans le monde, les oiseaux disparaissent à une vitesse vertigineuse. En Europe, leur population a décliné d'un tiers en vingt ans. Déforestation, pratiques agricoles, urbanisation, surpêche, pollutions diverses… : les causes de la catastrophe en cours sont nombreuses et identifiées. Quelles perspectives mondiales, mais…

There are 7.6 billion human beings on Earth, with a growing proportion of young people, unequally distributed. Does this mean that the migratory rush from the south to the north is inevitable?

Water is essential to life, which makes it eminently precious. What are the planet's resources of 'blue gold'? Are we in danger of running out? Focus on the strategic stakes of a very unevenly distributed resource, and mapping of the geopolitical conflicts it provokes.

Since the development of Alan Turing's message decoding machine, artificial intelligence has made enormous progress. Today, it is used in software for traders, household robots, digital assistants and, tomorrow, autonomous cars. We take a look at the states and digital giants that have taken the measure of the formidable…

If our planet is a Tower of Babel where nearly seven thousand languages are spoken, some linguists agree that nearly half of them will have disappeared by the end of the century. Sources of conflict (Catalonia, Crimea...) and power issues, languages have become a geopolitical subject.

If we have been overexploiting our forests for centuries, four productions are now responsible for 40% of the world's deforestation: palm oil, wood and paper-based products, soy and cattle breeding. But humanity has also become aware that forests are a precious asset to be protected.