How can we protect the polar regions and fight climate change? We went to Paris to find out

Well, I have made it to the city of love, and here is a crazy story for you. I've just been on a surfing trip; that's why I'm dressed for the beach, not for Paris. A National Geographic called me and they said, "You need to cut your surfing trip short and come to Paris to interview President Macron for the One Planet Polar Summit." So here I am in the city of love, not to get engaged, but instead to talk with the president and leading scientists about icebergs and very lovely cold places.

Turns out you can't go and meet a president in your flip-flops, so it's time to get changed. Now I got to remember to tie a tie. Send help! Okay, tie complete—got dolphins on it. Very on-brand National Geographic.

Okay, I think we're ready. Let's do this! Well, here we go! Here at the Natural History Museum in Paris for the One Planet Polar Summit, and I'm glad to not be wearing flip-flops anymore. I'm excited! As a wildlife filmmaker, I'm always looking for new ways to make a positive impact, so to speak with President Macron was a real honor and an exciting opportunity, especially as he is vocal about finding global solutions to the climate crisis.

My name is Berti Gregory. I'm a wildlife filmmaker with National Geographic, and very good, thanks. I'd just like to start by showing you a quick video—a very special group of Antarctic killer whales that use teamwork to create waves to wash seals off the ice. So these seals would otherwise be out of reach for these killer whales, but together they create waves to wash the seals into the water.

These killer whales are in trouble; there's only 100 of them in existence, and they're declining because their sea ice home is disappearing. I've seen many world leaders talk about the environment, and I don't always believe that they genuinely care. But when I watch you, I get the impression that you do genuinely care. So I'm curious to know, where does your passion, your love for the environment come from? How did that originate?

"Look, I’m converted—no, no, but sincerely, I was not initially. As a politician, I worked very hard on Africa and different countries, and I was shocked by how much climate change and the crisis of biodiversity is impacting first most vulnerable countries, poor and emerging countries. You cannot build something strong in an unfair world. Second, I don’t believe for our children that we will build something sustainable if we don’t care. Human dignity is number one, but humanity cannot survive without biodiversity and a sustainable climate."

"And for his cold political strategy, I expected this spot right here to be full of ice, not just icebergs but sea ice. This whole area frozen. And it’s not. This year is different. You've been very good at positioning France as a world leader in the conversation with climate crisis and protecting polar regions. We're having a discussion, but we're much more interested in the doing. So I'm curious to know, how do you envision France's role in protecting these polar regions and fighting the climate crisis?"

"What we want to do is to fight for the cryosphere, glaciers, poles, and so on. The first way to do it is to protect our own place; 100% of our glaciers are already protected, but just 60% have the high level of protection. So we will go from 60% to 100%. Second, we build this coalition precisely to engage a lot of countries to work with us on research. We have to launch a big research program to push countries to take action. I decided to invest 1 billion on our polar strategy for Arctic and Antarctic."

"So here are a few examples of the very clear commitments: research, protection, and so on. Sea ice has been steadily disappearing over the last decade. You might think this place looks cold, but Antarctica is one of the fastest warming regions on Earth. This issue is larger than France; it requires a huge amount of global cooperation. How are you going to bring all these countries together?"

"I think the main message was to say the cryosphere is already addressed, and this is a big issue for all of us. Tomorrow, it will be your problem as well. So this is a scientific discussion, scientific cooperation, and this is where it's important to work beyond the craziness of this time with all the different big powers. Now the critical points and where we would have to put pressure are about conservation and preservation. We have to decarbonize; we have to be compliant with the Paris Agreement. This is a multi-crisis with multi-impacts, and we have to follow up on all these STS. But it's very important to remain committed to biodiversity and climate change and to be sure that we engage with all the big powers. So it's just a matter of action."

"I know that I don’t believe there forever, and I will have to explain what I did during this period of time. So I don't want to have decades of my life saying, 'I'm sorry, I didn’t know.' It's not true, right? We did know. I just want to explain what we did."

"Cool, well, thank you very much for your time. Thank you so much! By the way, I'm a big fan."

"Cool, thanks very much!" Well, that's cool—the president is a fan, but I'm still waiting for the follow-back on Instagram. But seriously, talking to him furthered my insight into the climate crisis from a policy level, and it's motivated me to carry these learnings back into the field and continue documenting the changes in our most remote places.

Crucially, this event is not just about world leaders; it's about the scientists, the key people who are gathering important data. They are the ones who are pushing us forward and finding innovative solutions for the planet. What happens in Antarctica doesn't stay in Antarctica. We estimate that there is the potential of instability that could be a tipping point with no return.

And so this vessel is going to be frozen into the ice, drifting slowly around, packed full of scientists and some cool technology. What do you hope it will achieve? "A common understanding of the Arctic with all the nations around and of course to also tell people and to share this adventure. I mean, we need to show people with emotion and unite to do this for the next 20 years."

"Why should people that live far away from these places care?"

"Because what happens to the world’s ice is what happens to the planet. But we have to act now. But it does require the people demanding this, and not because of polar bears, but because it impacts their lives."

"I think events like these are so important because they bring together leading scientists and world leaders to come together to really figure out how we're going to fix the climate crisis and restore the health of polar regions. Many world leaders have spent a lot of time talking the talk about these things; now it’s time for them to walk the walk."

Well, time to say goodbye to the amazing Southern right whale, and that's a wrap for the One Planet Polar Summit.