Fridau Lecture Meeting Debate – Simon Porcher, January 16th, 2026

Please note that the seminar will be conducted in French.

Speaker: Simon Porcher, Full professor of Management at Université Paris Dauphine PSL.

Title: La fin de l’eau? Fayard, 306 pages (Winner of the Lucien Dupont Prize from the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, the Sustainable Development Prize from the Cercle Turgot, and the Best Management Essay Prize from FNEGE).

Abstract: Are we heading toward the end of water? Or at least the end of easily available and affordable drinking water? Until the recent droughts experienced in Europe and the United States, global powers tended to view water scarcity as primarily an issue for poorer countries. However, due to climate change and human overuse, half of the world’s population is now exposed to shortages of this vital resource. Around the globe, social tensions over water access are growing increasingly acute. Until recently, water rarely made headlines. Yet, its management should now top the list of the most critical issues. Solutions exist, but governments have fallen far behind. This book outlines the urgent actions needed before the ongoing disruption of the water cycle leads to catastrophic consequences.