France fires: 'What is burning is not just forests, but a way of inhabiting the land that is no longer possible'

In 2003, during a historic heatwave in France, we discovered that people could die from heat. Thousands of elderly, isolated and vulnerable people perished largely unnoticed. The heatwave exposed the weaknesses of our healthcare system and our social organization. We learned, with difficulty, to better protect bodies: alert plans, health monitoring, prevention and adapting healthcare facilities. But the 2026 heatwave has been something else entirely. No longer are only individuals at risk, but entire regions: extreme heat now goes hand in hand with megafires, the destruction of whole landscapes, the collapse of environments and the evacuation of entire towns. The health crisis has become a crisis of habitability. This shift has forced us to fundamentally rethink our relationship with the environments we have shaped. The fires currently ravaging the Landes de Gascogne forests are not just climate accidents. These heatwaves call into question a historical model – this vast forest in Landes, the largest planted forest in Europe, is as much a human creation as a natural landscape. It is the product of economic history, planning choices and a particular way of conceiving land. So what is burning today is not just a forest, but a way of inhabiting the land that is no longer possible. Resilience Because it was built, this forest can be reimagined. The megafires remind us that the question is no longer simply how to rebuild after the fire, but how to refound: which tree species should be favored to withstand climate change, which interfaces between inhabited and forested areas should be preserved and which ecological corridors should be strengthened? This is why what is happening today in Saint-Médard-en-Jalles is of exemplary value. This forest-city, which has long called for a different approach to the relationship between urban development, forests and the preservation of natural environments, now faces evacuation. In the very place where, for several years now, the philosophy chair at the hospital, under the guidance of city hall, has led a research-action program dedicated to territorial vulnerabilities, care and the resilience of local communities, we now find ourselves confronted with scenarios we once thought were purely theoretical. The dismay is great, but the determination to invent new community models prevails. You have 52.62% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.