Brice Lalonde | |
---|---|
Minister of the Environment | |
In office 12 May 1988 –2 April 1992 | |
Prime Minister | Michel Rocard Édith Cresson |
Preceded by | Alain Carignon |
Succeeded by | Segolene Royal |
Personal details | |
Born | Neuilly-sur-Seine,France | 10 February 1946
Relations | Rosemary Isabel Forbes (aunt) John Forbes Kerry (cousin) Cameron Forbes Kerry (cousin) |
Parent(s) | Alain Lalonde Fiona Forbes |
Brice Lalonde (born 10 February 1946) is a former green party leader in France,who ran for President of France in the Presidential elections,1981. In 1988 he was named Minister of the Environment,and in 1990 founded the green Ecology Generation party.
Lalonde was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine,Hauts-de-Seine,the son of Alain Lalonde and Fiona Forbes. His maternal grandparents were Americans James Grant Forbes II of the Forbes family and Margaret Tyndal Winthrop of the Dudley–Winthrop family. Through Fiona's sister Rosemary,he is a first cousin of politicians John Kerry and Cameron Kerry. Lalonde's paternal grandfather changed his surname from Lévy to Lalonde,and converted from Judaism to Catholicism. [1] James Grant Forbes II was a poppy botanist and opium dealer in the China trade during the Opium Wars,who wrote a book on Chinese plants.
Lalonde was a student leader during the May 1968 student uprisings in France.
In 1968,Lalonde was a member of Union Nationale des Étudiants de France (UNEF),the French national students' union,and chairman of UNEF-Sorbonne,which brought France to a standstill with protests and riots. Later Lalonde,with David McTaggart,an activist involved in the Greenpeace protests against French nuclear tests at Mururoa atoll,helped create the confrontational strategies of boarding ships at sea in the 1970s. In July 1973,he was arrested by the French Navy during protests against nuclear tests in Mururoa,along with General Jacques Pâris de Bollardière,priest Jean Toulat and writer Jean-Marie Muller. [2] [3] [4]
He was the Mouvement d'écologie politique (MEP) candidate for President of France in 1981 (3.88% of the vote), [5] spokesman for Amis de la Terre in 1982 [6] and later Environment Secretary of France (1988–90) and Environment Minister of France (1990–92). From 1995 to 2008,he was the mayor of Saint-Briac-sur-Mer,a small Breton village where the Forbes family have a villa.
In 1990 Lalonde founded the Ecology Generation party,which enjoyed runaway electoral success in 1992 but then declined in face of competition from the French Green Party. He was unable to run for president in the 1995 elections,being unable to obtain the necessary 500 signatures from French mayors or MPs. In 2002,he left the leadership of his party and politics. He became a consultant,working on development projects in Africa.
In 2007 Brice Lalonde was appointed French Ambassador for Climate Change and was heavily involved in multilateral climate change negotiations until the end of 2010,when UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon appointed him Assistant Secretary-General,Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20),which was held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012.
Lalonde lives in Paris.
The Greens was a far-left green-ecologist political party in France. The Greens had been in existence since 1984,but their spiritual roots could be traced as far back as RenéDumont's candidacy for the presidency in 1974. On 13 November 2010,The Greens merged with Europe Ecology to become Europe Ecology –The Greens.
The Forbes family is one of the components of the Boston Brahmins—they are a wealthy extended American family long prominent in Boston,Massachusetts. The family's fortune originates from trading opium and tea between North America and China in the 19th century plus other investments in the same period. The name descends from Scottish immigrants and can be traced back to Sir John de Forbes in Scotland in the 12th century. Family members include businessman John Murray Forbes (1813–1898),part of the first generation who accumulated wealth,and politician John Forbes Kerry.
The Radical Party of the Left is a social-liberal political party in France. A party in the Radical tradition,since 1972 the PRG was a close ally of the major party of the centre-left in France,the Socialist Party. After the 2017 presidential and legislative elections,negotiations to merge the PRG with the Radical Party began and the refounding congress to reunite the parties into the Radical Movement was held on 9 and 10 December 2017. However,a faction of ex-PRG members,including its last president Sylvia Pinel,split from the Radical Movement in February 2019 due to its expected alliance with La République En Marche in the European elections and resurrected the PRG.
Les Essarts is the Forbes family estate at Saint-Briac,France,and the international family seat of the descendants of James Grant Forbes,a member of the Forbes family of China and Boston who settled in Brittany at Les Essarts. He is the grandfather of two famous politicians,Brice Lalonde,a Green Party candidate for President of France in 1981,and former US Secretary of State John Forbes Kerry,the Democratic nominee for President of the United States of America in 2004. Many of the Forbes family have socialized during summers spent in Brittany at Les Essarts.
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Ecology Generation is one of the four green parties in France,along with Europe Ecology –The Greens,the Independent Ecological Movement and Cap Écologie. Founded in 1990 by Brice Lalonde,Environment Minister,upon the suggestion of President François Mitterrand,it describes itself as a club with cross-party alliances of green-minded politicians and public servants. It moved away from the "presidential majority" in 1992,when Brice Lalonde left the cabinet.
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The Ministry of Ecological Transition,commonly just referred to as Ministry of Ecology,is a department of the Government of France. It is responsible for preparing and implementing the government's policy in the fields of sustainable development,climate,energy transition and biodiversity. Barbara Pompili was appointed Minister of Ecological Transition on 6 July 2020 under Prime Minister Jean Castex.
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Jacques Pâris de Bollardière was a French Army general,famous for his non-violent positions during the 1960s.
Antoine Waechter is a French politician,leader of the Independent Ecological Movement.
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The Union of Communist Students is a French student political organization,part of the Mouvement Jeunes Communistes de France. It was founded in 1939 but dissolved after World War II. The UEC was re-created in 1956,along with the MJCF. It is independent from the French Communist Party (PCF) although it remains close to it. It maintains exchange contacts with the PCF,in particular on student issues. The UEC is organized in sectors,by university,and is led by a national collective elected during the congress of the MJCF and renewed during the National Assemblies of the facilitators,every year. A national coordination runs the organization.
Émile Jean Armel-Beaufils was a French sculptor born in Rennes in 1882 and who died in Saint-Briac in 1952.
Europe Ecology –The Greens is a centre-left to left-wing green political party in France. The party is member of the European Green Party. The party was formed on 13 November 2010 from the merger of The Greens and Europe Ecology,and is considered by politologist on the radical left wing. French journalists consider the party on the radical left or far-left of the political spectrum.
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Olivier Bianchi is a French politician. A member of the Socialist Party,he has been mayor of Clermont-Ferrand since April 4,2014 and president of Clermont Auvergne Métropole since April 22,2014.