Presentation of the Georges Emblanc Awards
for “River culture, flood risk prevention and biodiversity”

In 2018, the EPTB Seine Grands Lacs, partner of ERN France, wanted to pay a tribute to Georges EMBLANC, our dear colleague and ERN’s employee, who died suddenly on 11 March 2017 (his picture and biography below).

The “Georges Emblanc Awards”, initiated by Frédéric Molossi, President of EPTB Seine Grands Lacs and Roberto Epple, President of ERN France, are intended to reward committed students or professionals who have carried out, over the past three years, academic works, dissertations or research projects, on an educational project related to rivers, on the flooding/stretching theme or biodiversity in wetlands and related topics such as climate change, Nature-based Solutions or issues of resilience and urban/rural planning preventing natural risks.

Currently, two editions of the Georges Emblanc Awards have already been organised, rewarding 3 winners for the 2019 Awards and 7 winners for the 2020 edition. A new edition of the Georges Emblanc Avards for the year 2021 is in preparation (please, note that only french speaking students/persons can apply to these awards, all works must be in French)

ERN France is proud of this beautiful event which perpetuates the passion that Georges Emblanc had for passing on his knowledge and expertise to the younger generations.

Who was Georges Emblanc ?

Georges Emblanc

Georges Emblanc was khnown and recognised as an expert in professional and institutional circles for his knowledge about rivers and freshwater ecosystems. Georges passed away on 11 March 2017 following a cerebral haemorrhage.

Georges, a passionate collaborator of ERN France-SOS Loire Vivante, worked closely with the EPTB Seine Grands Lacs on the issue of floods and also flood acceptance, on what we use to nominate by “river’s culture”, especially on the Seine basin. He was also an informed member of the Joint Flood Commission in charge of allocating Barnie funds and for advising national policies related to flood risk.

Georges was particularly appreciated and recognised for his commitment, his skills, his humanity, his incredible knowledge in many fields as well as for his capacity for dialogue but also for his simple “joie de vivre”.

In addition to his collaboration with ERN and Seine Grands Lacs, he was notably co-founder and administrator of the Fonds pour la Conservation des Rivières Sauvages, on a voluntary basis. And previously, he had worked for WWF France for a long time, always on the subject of freshwater ecosystems and preservation of wetlands.

His voluntary commitment was remarkable and Georges also gave his personal time for the regularisation of migrants, for the “Société Protectrice des Animaux”, on environmental education of course, because youth and future generations were one of his main concerns.

Georges had a big heart and a big soul and the awards wich perpetuate his name aim to reward deserving students who have worked to prevent certain natural risks while preserving nature, rivers and the environment. His beloved wife, Nicole Emblanc was involved in the 2019 and 2020 editions of the Georges Emblanc Awards and each year she was able to give one award to a young winner.