Work has started on a project to knock down seven houses built in the 1970s and 1980s, close to the sea in the south Brittany town of Treffiagat (Finistère).
When they were built the properties were protected from the sea by a dune. However, the dune has since eroded to the point where the houses are no longer safe to live in.
The Communauté de communes du Pays Bigouden Sud is in charge of the operation, which will cost three million euros, mainly to compensate owners. “Scientific advice left us with no option but to buy the houses from the owners and demolish them, and then to try to rewild the site,” said Stéphane Le Doaré, its president.
In an interview on France 2 he said: “We are sorry to be the first to carry out such demolitions, but we have no choice. We would have preferred to look to other areas or to the state to find another solution, but there is none.
“And the role of elected representatives is first and foremost to ensure the safety of their people.”
In the first stage of the operation, in June, two houses were demolished. The rest are scheduled to go by summer 2027.
The Communauté de communes will also build two dykes to protect a housing estate in the town of 366 properties, which is at risk of flooding. The dykes should protect the estate until 2050.
Some French media pushed the idea that the owners of the houses were “the first French climate refugees”.
However, there was another high profile case in Gironde, in which a five-storey block of 78 flats, at Soulac-sur-Mer, built close to the beach in 1967, was declared uninhabitable.
After years of court battles between owners and the state, the building was finally demolished in 2023.
Some residents said the forced demolition ruined them financially.
There are likely to be more such cases in France as sea levels rise and coasts erode, according to Robert Crauste, mayor of Le Grau-du-Roi in Gard and vice-president of an association of elected representatives from coastal regions.
He told FranceInfo: “We see the coast being eroded, which can result in the collapse of cliffs.
“Protective dunes are disappearing, which leaves houses exposed.
“In the near future we are likely to see similar situations – the threat hangs over us.”
The Environment Ministry estimates that a quarter of France’s coastal areas are eroding, but government agency Centre d’études et d’expertise sur les risques, l’environnement, la mobilité et l’aménagement (Cerema), a key body advising local authorities, says its figures show 20% of the nation’s coasts are eroding.
Cerema estimates that 5,000 homes will be under direct threat from erosion in the next 25 years.
The Communauté de communes du Pays Bigouden Sud is also engaged in a project to study wetlands in urban areas. The aim is to better protect wetlands in urban planning rules so they act as a flood barrier in towns and villages.
A special decree allowing agents carrying out the study to do so on private land was signed by the Brittany prefect.
Huge dangers without urgent action
Cities that are unbearably hot in summer, huge forest fires, and major flooding events were among the shock warnings in a recent report on how France will be affected by climate change.
Entitled La France face au changement climatique: toutes les régions impactées, it was published last year by climate activist NGO Réseau action climat. It warns of temperatures in excess of 45C, “mega” forest fires in the south of the country, and tropical cyclones in the overseas territories.
“[Extreme weather events] are becoming more frequent and more intense,” the report says, and adds that all regions will be affected in various ways.
Some of the major findings and warnings include:
Thousands of heat-related deaths. “More than 5,000 deaths were attributable to heat” in 2023 alone it states, adding that there were “almost 33,000 [heat-related deaths] between 2014 and 2022” in total, according to Santé publique France figures.
Rising risk of heatwaves. Again based on existing figures, the report says “there have been an average of two heatwaves a year in France since 2010, compared with one every five years before 1989”. This is set to accelerate, the report adds.
Coastal dangers. Saint-Malo, Mont-Saint-Michel, and the Ile d’Oléron are at risk of disappearing, due to rising sea levels, coastal erosion, and flooding. At-risk regions include Brittany, Normandy, Corsica, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, and Pays-de-la-Loire.
Too-hot major cities. Cities such as Paris could become “unlivable”, due to flooding and “commonplace” temperatures in excess of 50C in summer.
Loire river at risk. France’s longest river, near which four nuclear power stations are located, could see its flow “halved” due to rising drought risk.
The report calls for urgent changes, including city redevelopment to limit urban heat islands, water use to be rationed to prevent drought and greenhouse gas emissions to be curbed as of now".
