How many such spaces are there in France?

Sea cucumbers and lemon sharks will be able to relax. The Gazette was enriched Thursday with a new national nature reserve created on the uninhabited Glorieuses archipelago, located in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and the Comoros archipelago. This means the surface of the islands, but also the waters around them. It joins 167 or so national nature reserves that already exist.

“The creation of this national nature reserve is a major achievement of the National Strategy for Protected Areas for the Next Decade (2020-2030), announced by the President of the Republic on January 11 during the One Planet Summit in Paris. It contributes to the goal set by Emmanuel Macron: to classify 30% of the area The French marine and land areas are in protected areas, of which a third are under strong protection,” explains a press release from the Ministry of Environmental Transformation.

“Beyond the numbers, the challenge is to focus our efforts on biodiversity ‘hotspots’, including the Glorious Archipelago, and the impressive buildings of the ecosystems that comprise them, is a good example,” said Beranger Aba, Minister of State in charge of Biodiversity. The archipelago contains 2,500 species, 20% of which are endangered.

Thomas Pesquet immortalized the glorious archipelago in 2017 from the International Space Station.

Five French regions are among the hot spots النقاط

Each of the 35 global biodiversity hotspots is home to at least 1,500 endemic species and more than 70% of their original vegetation cover has been lost. French territory is found in five of these hotspots.

Today, According to the French Nature Reserves websiteFrance’s network of nature reserves has 354 designated nature reserves including 168 national nature reserves, 179 regional nature reserves and 7 Corsican nature reserves. the biggest ? Those of the French southern lands. In mainland France, these are the mouths of Bonifacio in Corsica. smaller? Verdi Mine in the Rhone.

The first national nature reserve, in Lake Luitel, was designated in 1961 in the Rhône-Alpes region.

What are the uses of national reserves?

National nature reserves ensure the preservation, preservation and even re-creation of the natural heritage.

Protecting the natural heritage may require the use of traditional human interventions such as grazing, mowing, burning or adjusting water levels (in wetlands).

Often it is the Society for the Conservation of Nature that sends, through the intermediary of the governor, to the ministry responsible for the environment a scientific study to designate a natural area as a national or regional reserve. Following a favorable opinion of the National Scientific Committee, the Governor is responsible for drafting the project and for consulting all interested parties, before going into a public investigation.