“What will become of the Loire… and therefore us?”

Why did you choose the Loire as your “research environment”?

To start with, because the Loire is our “living environment”. We have grown up here and live here today, in Chalonnes-sur-Loire. Even if we moved away from it several times, the Loire has always been there, and we were poignantly reminded of that during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two things have thus become clear to us. First: that we are not here by chance - our life is inextricably bound up with that of the river. Second: we belong to this place, rather than the other way around: it welcomes us, sustains us and hydrates us. This means that we have responsibilities towards it.
Then, because, surprisingly, the Loire has not been studied as widely as other French and European rivers. And at the time – before Loire Sentinelle was launched in 2022 –, we knew almost nothing about the state of its microplastic pollution levels and its biodiversity via environmental DNA along the river continuum.

Can you tell us about Loire Sentinelle and the trip downriver in 2022?

Loire Sentinelle is a research-action-creation project aimed at drawing up an unprecedented map of the river’s biodiversity and “plasticodiversity”. Artists, authors and journalists have got involved to try and answer a question that unites us all: what will become of the Loire - and therefore us? Together, we travelled downriver for 3 months (from 1 May to 24 July 2022), from the sources to the estuary, on foot or in canoes, always with this question uppermost in our minds.
During this “Grande Descente”, we also met with the Loire community at ports-of-call events organised together with Mission Val de Loire, SOS Loire Vivante and Bretagne Vivante among other partners.

Looking ahead, what are the future plans for Loire Sentinelle?

They’re... varied! The priority is to make use of existing content: scientific results, texts, documentary photos, sketchbooks, documentaries and podcasts for example. And to “promote” this diverse content through science communication, which is the core purpose of the project. On another note, we shouldn't forget the drainage basin: the Loire is its main channel, the Allier its secondary one.
Everything leads us there, but all the groundwork is still to be done.

Compiled and curated by Tiphaine Crézé