AFP UK

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon destroyed an area bigger than Qatar in the 12 months through July 2022, according to official figures, which showed a decline from the year before — but a sharp increase overall under President Jair Bolsonaro

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon destroyed an area bigger than Qatar in the 12 months through July, according to official figures released Wednesday, which showed a decline from the year before — but a sharp increase overall under outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro.

In the latest grim news on the world’s biggest rainforest, satellite monitoring showed 11,568 square kilometers (4,466 square miles) of forest cover was destroyed in the Brazilian Amazon from August 2021 to July 2022, according to national space agency INPE’s annual deforestation tracking program, PRODES.

The figure was a decrease of 11.3 percent from the year before, when INPE detected 13,038 square kilometers of deforestation — a 15-year high.

But it closed out four years of what environmentalists call disastrous management of the Amazon under the far-right Bolsonaro, whose successor, veteran leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has vowed to work toward zero deforestation when he takes office on January 1.

Under agribusiness ally Bolsonaro, average annual deforestation rose by 59.5 percent from the previous four years, and by 75.5 percent from the previous decade, according to INPE figures.

“The Bolsonaro government was a forest-destroying machine… The only good news is that it’s about to end,” said Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, a coalition of environmental groups.

“The devastation remains out of control. Jair Bolsonaro will hand his successor a filthy legacy of surging deforestation and an Amazon in flames,” he said in a statement, urging ex-president Lula (2003-2010) — who has faced criticism over his own environmental record — to show “zero tolerance” for environmental crimes.

Experts say the vast majority of the clear-cutting and fires erasing the Amazon is aimed at turning rainforest into farmland — especially for cattle ranches in Brazil, the world’s top beef exporter.

Activists accuse Bolsonaro of gutting Brazil’s environmental protection programs and encouraging the destruction with his pro-agribusiness and pro-mining policies.

“The Amazon is getting closer and closer to a tipping point,” Mariana Napolitano, science director at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Brazil office, said in a statement.

“Significantly reducing deforestation… is imperative for humankind in the face of the twin climate and nature crises the world is facing.”

Emmanuel Macron is the first French president to be welcomed for two US state visits

France’s President Emmanuel Macron underlined US-French cooperation with a tour of NASA headquarters Wednesday, but tough talks on trade and China are expected when he meets Joe Biden for the main part of a rare state visit.

The French leader, who arrived late Tuesday with his wife Brigitte, joined Vice President Kamala Harris at the NASA facility in Washington to discuss cooperation in space.

“France is a vital ally to the United States and this visit demonstrates the strength of our partnership, our friendship…, one that is based on shared democratic principles and values,” Harris told Macron.

Macron will stay in the high-tech sphere later when he attends a meeting on civilian nuclear energy.

The busy schedule, which also includes a working lunch to discuss biodiversity and clean energy, and a visit to the historic Arlington National Cemetery, illustrates the ambitions set for the trip — the first formal state visit by a foreign leader to Washington since Biden took office nearly two years ago.

The core of the visit will be on Thursday, including a White House military honor guard, Oval Office talks with Biden, a joint press conference and a banquet where Grammy-award-winning American musician Jon Batiste will perform.

Compared to Macron’s awkward experience as the guest of Donald Trump in 2018, this trip will be a carefully choreographed display of transatlantic friendship.

– EU-US trade tensions –

Tensions, however, are rising over trade as Europeans nervously watch the rollout of Biden’s signature green industry policy — the Inflation Reduction Act.

The IRA is set to pump billions of dollars into climate-friendly technologies, with strong backing for American-made products. A similar effort is being put into microchip manufacturing.

Europeans fear an unfair US advantage in the sectors just as they are reeling from the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine and Western attempts to end reliance on Russian energy supplies.

Talk in Europe is now increasingly on whether the bloc should respond with its own subsidies and championing of homegrown products, effectively starting a trade war.

Another gripe in Europe is the high cost of US liquid natural gas exports — which have surged to help compensate for canceled Russian deliveries.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the US side wants to defuse tensions, promising “transparent, forthright” discussions.

“We certainly will stay open to listening” to the EU concerns, he said.

– Strategizing on China, Ukraine –

The breadth of Macron’s entourage — including the foreign, defense and finance ministers, as well as business leaders and astronauts — illustrates the importance Paris has put on the visit.

At the White House, however, a senior official said the main goal is to nurture the “personal relationship, the alliance relationship” with France — and between Biden and Macron.

That more modest-sounding goal will include improving coordination on helping Ukraine to repel Russia and the even more vexing question of how to manage the rise of superpower China.

“We are not allies on the same page,” one adviser to Macron told AFP, forecasting “challenging” talks with Biden.

Despite his strong support for Kyiv, Macron’s insistence on continuing to maintain dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin has irked American diplomats.

The China question — with Washington pursuing a more hawkish tone and EU powers trying to find a middle ground — is unlikely to see much progress.

“Europe has since 2018 its own, unique strategy for relations with China,” tweeted French embassy spokesman Pascal Confavreux in Washington.

Kirby said China will be “very high on the agenda” this week but stressed that both countries share a broad approach.

“We believe that not only France, but every other member of the G7 — frankly, our NATO allies too — see the threats and challenges posed by China in the same way.”

The pre-Hispanic fresco "Huaca pintada", in northern Peru, had not been seen in a century.

Archeologists have rediscovered a pre-Hispanic fresco depicting mythological scenes in northern Peru that they had only seen in black and white photographs that were more than a century old.

“It’s an exceptional discovery, first of all, because it is rare to unearth wall paintings of such quality in pre-Colombian archeology,” said Sam Ghavami, the Swiss archeologist who led excavations that uncovered the mural in October.

Ghavami spent four years looking for the rock painting, which he believes could be around 1,000 years old, with a team of Peruvian students.

“The composition of this painting is unique in the history of mural art in pre-Hispanic Peru,” added the archaeologist, who trained at the University of Freiburg in Germany.

The fresco forms part of the Huaca Pintada temple, which belonged to the Moche civilization that flourished between the 1st and 8th centuries, and venerated the Moon, the rain, iguanas, and spiders.

The uncovered mural is about 30 meters (98 feet) long, and its images in blue, brown, red, white, and mustard yellow paint remain extremely well preserved.

In one section, a procession of warriors can be seen heading toward a birdlike deity.

The painted images “appear to be inspired by the idea of a sacred hierarchy built around a cult of ancestors and their intimate links with the forces of nature,” said Ghavami.

He told AFP that deciphering the mural’s message would form part of his research, but he believes it “could be interpreted as a metaphorical image of the political and religious order of the region’s ancient inhabitants.”

The discovery is also unusual as it shows a mixture of styles and elements of two pre-Incan cultures: the Moche and the Lambayeque, who lived on Peru’s north coast between 900 and 1350 AD.

The mural’s existence was only known via black and white photos taken in 1916 by the German ethnologist Hans Heinrich Bruning, who was living in Peru when he heard of the site after treasure hunters tried to loot it, but found nothing of value.

As the years went on, thick foliage took over, and no one had tried to look for the paintings until it piqued Ghavami’s interest and he went in search of the long-lost fresco.

However, first he had a long battle to obtain permission from the family who own the land where the mural was found.

Firefighters spray water on a wildfire raging in the Monts d'Arree, near Brasparts, Brittany, north-western France in July, 2022

France this year experienced the hottest year since records began, the country’s national weather service said Wednesday, as global warming stokes temperatures globally. 

A cascade of extreme weather exacerbated by climate change devastated communities across the globe this year, including sweltering heat and drought across Europe that wilted crops, drove forest fires and saw major rivers shrink to a trickle.

France saw temperatures surge repeatedly in successive heatwaves from May and into October, accompanied by extreme events like wildfires in areas like north-western Brittany, and damaging marine heat waves in the Mediterranean.   

“2022 will be the hottest year recorded in France since measurements began — so since at least 1900 — that is a certainty,” even if December is very cold, said Matthieu Sorel, a climatologist at Meteo France, in a briefing. 

It estimated the average temperature for the year as a whole would be between 14.2 degrees Celsius and 14.6C degrees depending on December temperatures. That is a significant increase from the previous record of 14.07C seen in 2020, and the highest since records began in 1990.   

Annual rainfall is expected to be as much as 25 percent lower than normal, with precipitation in July 85 percent below average. The driest year in France was 1989, which saw a 25 percent rainfall deficit.

Eight months of drought in France is already the country’s third longest dry spell on record, following 17 months in 1989 to 1990 and nine months in 2005.

Across Europe, exceptionally high summer temperatures led to the worst drought the continent has witnessed since the Middle Ages. 

Crops withered in European breadbaskets, as the historic dry spell drove record wildfire intensity and placed severe pressure on the continent’s power grid. 

China and North America also experienced unusually high temperatures and exceptionally low rainfall over the June-August period.

An analysis by an international team of climate scientists in October found that human-caused climate change made the drought across the Northern Hemisphere at least 20 times more likely, and warned such extreme dry periods will become increasingly common with global heating. 

Earth has warmed more than 1.1 degrees Celsius since the late 19th century, with roughly half of that increase occurring in the past 30 years, the World Meteorological Organization said in a report in November.

Globally, if projections for the rest of 2022 hold, the United Nations says that each of the last eight years will be hotter than any year prior to 2015. 

Greenhouse gases accounting for more than 95 percent of warming are all at record levels, the WMO’s annual State of the Global Climate found.

In the European Alps, glacier melt records have been shattered in 2022, with average thickness losses of between three and over four metres (between 9.8 and over 13 feet), the most ever recorded.

Switzerland has lost more than a third of its glacier volume since 2001.

Emmanuel Macron (R) will be the first French president to be welcomed for two US state visits

France’s President Emmanuel Macron underlines US-French cooperation with a tour of NASA headquarters Wednesday, but his state visit will veer into tougher territory when he meets his counterpart Joe Biden for the main part of a rare state visit.

The French leader, who arrived late Tuesday with his wife Brigitte, will join Vice President Kamala Harris at the US space agency facility in Washington. He’ll stay in the high-tech sphere later when he attends a meeting on civilian nuclear energy.

The busy schedule, which also includes a working lunch to discuss biodiversity and clean energy, and a visit to the historic Arlington National Cemetery, illustrates the ambitions set for the trip — the first formal state visit by a foreign leader to Washington since Biden took office nearly two years ago.

The core of the visit will be Thursday, including a White House military honor guard, Oval Office talks with Biden, a joint press conference and a banquet where Grammy-award-winning American musician Jon Batiste will perform.

Compared to Macron’s edgy experience as the guest of Donald Trump in 2018, this trip will be a carefully choreographed display of transatlantic friendship.

– EU-US trade tensions –

But tensions are rising over trade as Europeans nervously watch the rollout of Biden’s signature green industry policy — the Inflation Reduction Act.

The IRA is set to pump billions of dollars into climate-friendly technologies, with strong backing for American-made products. A similar effort is being put into microchip manufacturing.

Europeans fear an unfair US advantage in the sectors just as they are reeling from the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine and Western attempts to end reliance on Russian energy supplies.

Talk in Europe is now increasingly on whether the bloc should respond with its own subsidies and championing of homegrown products, effectively starting a trade war.

Another gripe in Europe is the high cost of US liquid natural gas exports — which have surged to try and replace canceled Russian deliveries.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby struck a cautious note, telling French reporters that “right now we’re in the mode of listening and making sure we understand concerns by our European partners.”

Kirby went out of his way to praise Macron, referring to his “experience and wisdom.”

– Strategizing on China, Ukraine –

The breadth of Macron’s entourage — including the foreign, defense and finance ministers, as well as business leaders and astronauts — illustrates the importance Paris has put on the visit.

At the White House, however, a senior official said the main goal is to nurture the “personal relationship, the alliance relationship” with France — and between Biden and Macron.

That more modest-sounding goal will include improving coordination on helping Ukraine to repel Russia and the even more vexing question of how to manage the rise of superpower China.

“We are not allies on the same page,” one adviser to Macron told AFP, forecasting “challenging” talks with Biden.

Despite his strong support for Kyiv, Macron’s insistence on continuing to maintain dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin has irked American diplomats.

The China question — with Washington pursuing a more hawkish tone and EU powers trying to find a middle ground — is unlikely to see much progress.

“Europe has since 2018 its own, unique strategy for relations with China,” tweeted French embassy spokesman Pascal Confavreux in Washington.

A senior US official said even if their approaches to China were “not identical,” they should be at least “speaking from a common script.”

Pelicans suspected to have died from H5N1 avian influenza are seen on a beach in Lima in November

The highly contagious H5N1 avian flu virus has killed thousands of pelicans, blue-footed boobies and other seabirds in Peru, according to the National Forestry and Wildlife Service (SERFOR).

The current bird flu outbreak began in Canada and spread to the United States, which has seen a record 50 million avian deaths, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Peru first issued a health alert last Thursday after confirming three cases of H5B1 in pelicans, and since then thousands have been found dead in coastal areas.

“The latest official report carried out at a national level shows more than 13,869 wild seabirds killed by the dangerous H5N1 avian flu virus,” said a SERFOR statement released late Tuesday.

This number includes 10,257 pelicans, 2,919 sea boobies and 614 blue-footed boobies, among other species.

Meanwhile, the national agricultural health agency SENASA said it had quarantined the town of Gallito in the northern coastal Lambayeque region to control the first bird flu outbreak on a poultry farm.

SENASA said the health alert was a precaution because the virus arriving from North American migratory birds could spread to “backyard birds,” such as ducks and chickens, as well as to commercial farms.

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) earlier this year warned countries in South and Central America to be on “high alert” for the virus spreading via migratory birds.

There is no treatment for bird flu, which spreads naturally between wild birds and can also infect domestic poultry. Avian influenza viruses do not typically infect humans, although there have been rare cases.

Firefighters spray water on a wildfire raging in the Monts d'Arree, near Brasparts, Brittany, north-western France in July, 2022

France this year experienced the hottest year since records began, the country’s national weather service said Wednesday, as global warming stokes temperatures globally. 

A cascade of extreme weather exacerbated by climate change devastated communities across the globe this year, including sweltering heat and drought across Europe that wilted crops, drove forest fires and saw major rivers shrink to a trickle.

France saw temperatures surge repeatedly in successive heatwaves from May and into October, accompanied by extreme events like wildfires in areas like north-western Brittany, and damaging marine heat waves in the Mediterranean.   

“All the months of the year have been warmer than normal, except January and April,” said Meteo France in a statement.

It estimated the average temperature for the year as a whole would be between 14.2 degrees Celsius and 14.6C degrees depending on December temperatures. That is a significant increase from the previous record of 14.07C seen in 2020, and the highest since records began in 1990.   

Annual rainfall is expected to be as much as 25 percent lower than normal, with precipitation in July 85 percent below average. The driest year in France was 1989, which saw a 25 percent rainfall deficit.

Globally, if projections for the rest of 2022 hold, the United Nations says that each of the last eight years will be hotter than any year prior to 2015. 

Earth has warmed more than 1.1 degrees Celsius since the late 19th century, with roughly half of that increase occurring in the past 30 years, the World Meteorological Organization said in a report in November.

Greenhouse gases accounting for more than 95 percent of warming are all at record levels, the WMO’s annual State of the Global Climate found.

In the European Alps, glacier melt records have been shattered in 2022, with average thickness losses of between three and over four metres (between 9.8 and over 13 feet), the most ever recorded.

Switzerland has lost more than a third of its glacier volume since 2001.

For many drivers in Cotonou, electric motorcycles are more a question of cost than pollution

Beninese hairdresser Edwige Govi makes a point these days of using electric motorbike taxis to get around Cotonou, saying she enjoys a ride that is quiet and clean.

Motorcycle taxis are a popular and cheap form of transportation in West Africa. 

But in Benin and Togo, electric models are gaining the ascendancy over petrol-powered rivals.

Customers are plumping for environmentally-friendlier travel and taxi drivers are switching to machines that, above all, are less expensive to buy and operate. 

“They are very quiet and do not give off smoke,” says Govi, 26, who had just completed a half-hour run across Benin’s economic hub.

In African cities, road pollution is becoming a major health and environment issue, although for taxi drivers, the big attraction of electric motorcycles is the cost.

“I manage to get by,” said Govi’s driver, Octave, wearing the green and yellow vest used by Benin’s zemidjan taxis — a word meaning “take me quickly” in the local Fon language. 

“I make more money than with my fuel motorcycle.”

Local environmentalist Murielle Hozanhekpon said the electric motorbikes do have some disadvantages “but not on an environmental level”.

Alain Tossounon, a journalist specialising in environmental issues, said electric bikes were prized by taxi drivers as they were less expensive to maintain or run.

The cost factor has become more and more important in the face of an explosion of fuel prices this year triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

– Credit carrot –

In Benin, an electric motorcycle costs between 490,000 CFA (750 euros) and 884,000 CFA (1,345 euros) depending on the model. 

But this price difference is only one factor which explains the trend towards “silent motorcycles,” said Tossounon. 

To allow these motorcycles to be competitive with gasoline motorcycles, Beninese authorities have decided to exempt electric vehicles and hybrids from VAT and customs duties. 

For a few months in Cotonou, at least two companies have been offering electric models. They say they are overwhelmed with requests and each shows strong sales in their own company figures. 

The manufacturer Mauto launched in mid-2022 in Benin and Togo, where it said it has already put 2,900 motorcycles into circulation.

Many taxi drivers are also lured by flexible credit deals — instead of making a hefty one-off purchase, many are able to get loans that they pay off monthly, weekly or even daily. 

“The queue here is from morning to evening. Every hour, at least two roll out of the shop,” said Anicet Takalodjou, a vendor from Mauto’s competitor Zed-Motors. 

Oloufounmi Koucoi, 38, director of the company delivering the models to Cotonou, said they had put thousands of e-motorcycles in circulation.

“The number is growing every day.” 

By assembling the motorcycles locally in Benin, his electric models are cheaper than if they had been imported. 

To attract customers, his company, Zed-Motors, offers solar panels to facilitate recharging for those who do not have electricity at home. 

For decades, Benin and its economy have struggled with power cuts. The situation has improved, but outages remain common.

In rural areas, especially, electricity remains largely inaccessible.

 – Battery change – 

In Lome, capital of neighbouring Togo, Octave de Souza parades proudly through the streets on his brand-new green electric motorcycle made by Mauto. 

One point in particular makes him and his wallet happy: no more fuelling up.

“All you need to do is change the battery,” he smiled. “There are sales outlets, you go there and it’s exchanged for you.” 

A recharge costs 1,000 CFA ($1.50 / euros) and can provide three days’ mobility. For the same price, Octave said, he would only be able to ride for one day using petrol, which is subsidised by the government.

Local authorities also are encouraging the switch to electric in a bid to replace old, highly polluting motorcycles. 

But some drivers remain wary of electric models, citing range anxiety — the worry of coming to a halt with a flat battery.

Taxi driver Koffi Abotsi said he struggled with the “stress” of having to quickly find a charging station so as not to break down. 

“This sometimes leads us to swap (the battery) even with 10 percent or 15 percent charge remaining so as not to have any unpleasant surprises along the way.”

Alzheimer's disease affects cognition and function

Experts hailed full data Wednesday showing a new drug can slow cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients, but warned improvements were comparatively small and the treatment can have serious side effects.

Preliminary data from a trial of lecanemab was released in September and found it slowed cognitive decline by 27 percent across an 18-month period.

The complete trial data, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, fleshes out those findings but also raises concern about the incidence of “adverse effects” including brain bleeds and swelling.

The results showed 17.3 percent of patients administered the drug experienced brain bleeds, compared with nine percent of those receiving a placebo.

And 12.6 percent of those taking the drug experienced brain swelling, compared with just 1.7 percent of those in the placebo group.

Deaths were reported at approximately the same rate in both arms of the trial of the drug, which was developed by firms Biogen and Eisai.

The results were broadly welcomed by researchers and campaigners for patients with the disease, including Bart De Strooper, director of the UK Dementia Research Institute.

“This is the first drug that provides a real treatment option for people with Alzheimer’s,” he said.

“While the clinical benefits appear somewhat limited, it can be expected that they will become more apparent if the drug is administered over a longer time period.”

– Longer trials needed –

In Alzheimer’s disease, two key proteins, tau and amyloid beta, build up into tangles and plaques, known together as aggregates, which cause brain cells to die and lead to brain shrinkage.

Lecanemab works by targeting amyloid, and De Strooper said the drug proved effective at clearing it but also had “beneficial effects on other hallmarks of Alzheimer’s, including tau”.

The phase 3 trial involved nearly 1,800 people, divided between those given the drug and given a placebo, and ran over 18 months.

They were assessed on a clinical scale for Alzheimer’s patients that measures cognition and function, as well as for changes in amyloid levels and other indicators.

But Tara Spires-Jones, programme lead at the UK Dementia Research Institute, noted that “there is not an accepted definition of clinically meaningful effects in the cognitive test they used”.

“It is not clear yet whether the modest reduction in decline will make a big difference to people living with dementia. Longer trials will be needed to be sure that the benefits of this treatment outweigh the risks,” she added.

The drug also only targets those in the early stages of the disease with a certain level of amyloid build-up, limiting the number of people who could potentially use the treatment.

And as Alzheimer’s is not always caught quickly, some experts said an overhaul in early diagnosis would be needed to ensure more people could benefit.

“This isn’t the end of the journey for lecanemab –- it’s being explored in further trials to see how well it works over a longer period of time,” said Richard Oakley, associate director of research at the Alzheimer’s Society.

“The safety of drugs is crucial and lecanemab did have side effects, but they will be closely looked at when decisions are made about whether or not to approve lecanemab, to see if the benefits outweigh the risks,” he said.

Biogen and Eisai previously brought the Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm to market, but there was significant controversy over the evidence that it worked, and its approval led to three high-level resignations in the US Food and Drug Administration.

Forest ranger Francois Villard fears the spruce saplings of Risoud will not withstand global warming

Stroking a tiny spruce sapling, Swiss forest ranger Francois Villard fears the tree will not withstand global warming and live to a ripe old age like its ancestors.

The Risoud Forest, covering the border between France and Switzerland some 1,200 metres (3,900 feet) up in the Jura mountains, is filled with spruce trees which are hundreds of years old.

Their wood is perfect for crafting acoustic guitars, violins and other string instruments, making it sought after by luthiers around the world.

But climate change has brought drier, warmer weather, threatening the special tonal qualities of the wood.

“I have never seen so many dry trees,” says Villard, who is now approaching retirement.

He is saddened by the sight of so many spruces turning red, losing their needles and drying up, and by spending his days marking trees for felling.

“When I arrived here 30 years ago, there was an average annual temperature of five to six degrees Celsius (40-43 degrees Fahrenheit). Now we are well above that,” he tells AFP. 

Recent winters have been nowhere near as cold as before.

– Risoud resonance –

Spruces are the most common tree in Switzerland, and the hitherto stable climate in the Jura made the species perfect for producing tonewood for acoustic string instruments.

Stiff yet light softwoods like spruce are used to make soundboards — the top of the instrument — which amplifies the vibrations of the strings.

The soundboard must resonate easily with good tonal qualities, while resisting the strain of the strings on the bridge — characteristics that spruce possesses better than other woods.

The trees that meet the criteria perfectly are exceptionally rare — one in 1,000 or even 10,000, some say.

The tree must be 200 to 400 years old, and the bottom of the trunk must have a diameter of at least 50 centimetres (20 inches). It must be without knots or flowing resin.

The tree must have grown straight, slowly and, above all, with regular annual growth so that the tree rings are uniform and tight.

– Wood stock –

In the workshop of Swiss Resonance Wood, in the village of Le Brassus close to the French border, Quentin Durey sketches the outline of a guitar on a thin sheet of wood. Thousands more sheets are piled up to dry out over the years.

“There are about 2,000 guitar tops — classical, romantic and folk guitars,” explains company boss Theo Magnin.

The company sells to Europe, Japan and Mexico amongst other destinations.

But Magnin is worried.

“I don’t know where people who make musical instruments are going to get their supplies in 10 or 20 years,” he says.

“If there is no more wood, there will be no more instruments.” 

Philippe Ramel, a luthier whose workshop overlooks Vevey and Lake Geneva, makes two to four guitars a year, using spruce from Swiss Resonance Wood.

“We have to stock up, on the assumption that one day these trees will no longer be there” or will lose their special qualities, he tells AFP, noting that cedar wood from Lebanon, though not as good, could end up being the replacement.

Spruce tonewood should therefore be used wisely, he said, questioning whether factories should be churning out a thousand guitars a month.

“The guitar is a popular instrument. It may become a luxury instrument,” he says.

– Music of the future –

Dry conditions weaken the spruce trees, which then attract forest-ravaging bark beetles.

And extreme weather conditions can affect their growth, altering the regularity of the tree rings.

“If it continues like this, the stress on these trees will be greater and greater and it’s not clear that they will be able to get through it,” Villard says.

Normally the trees bear fruit every two to three years. But they are now doing so more frequently, driven by the need to reproduce and thereby ensure they continue to exist, Villard explains.

All is not lost. Letting hardwoods, particularly beech trees, grow in the spruce forests helps to retain moisture in the soil, as their broader span and foliage helps keep the sun’s rays off the ground.

Others note the millions of spruces already growing in the mountains.

“In the places which are sheltered from climate extremes, particularly north-facing ones, there really will be spruces for a very long time,” forest engineer Philippe Domont tells AFP.

“With the altitude, they can take advantage of a slight increase in temperatures — if the precipitation does not decrease too much,” he insists.

But Magnin, thinking further down the line, says: “We will have to find another wood to replace spruce.”

“That’s the music of the future.”