Emmanuel Macron was this Thursday, February 13, 2020 visiting the Mer de Glaces, famous glacier at the foot of Mont Blanc and whose retreat in recent years - more than 120 meters over the last century - is the most spectacular illustration of the impact of global warming in France. - DENIS BALIBOUSE / POOL / AFP

  • In Haute-Savoie, Emmanuel Macron did not only visit the Mer de Glace. He also concluded the launching seminar of the National Biodiversity Office, the armed wing of the State in matters of environmental police and management of protected areas.
  • The opportunity to make the link between the stated objectives - to spend 30% of the territory in protected areas by 2022 - and the resources allocated to achieve it.
  • The vagueness remains on the second part, regrets the SNE-FSU union and France Nature Environment

While ecology will be one of the major challenges of the end of the five-year term, by the very admission of the President of the Republic, there is an objective that the executive has been hammering out in recent weeks: bringing protected areas to 30% of the territory by 2022, against a little more than 20% currently.

The objective was confirmed this Wednesday during the fourth "ecological defense council". It was repeated this Thursday afternoon by Emmanuel Macron in Chamonix (Haute-Savoie), in a speech concluding the institutional launching seminar of the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB).

The President of the Republic provided some details compared to the previous day, in particular by detailing the strategy of creating new protected areas to arrive at these famous 30%. Emmanuel Macron began by recalling the creation of the eleventh national park, straddling Burgundy and Champagne, last November "the largest in Europe". Within two years, 250,000 hectares of forest will be created, in Guyana but also in mainland France. A national nature reserve will also be created by June, in the Glorious Islands [Indian Ocean] and we will extend that of the Southern Territories. Four new regional natural parks will also be created by 2022. At Mont Ventoux, in the Baie de Somme, but also the Corbières-Fenouillèdes (Occitanie) and Doubs-Horloger parks. As well as twenty national nature reserves.

Jean-David Abel welcomes this, but the vice-president of France Nature Environment, in charge of the biodiversity network, would also have liked to hear the President of the Republic on the resources allocated to support the creation of these new protected areas.

"A merger that goes in the right direction"

On this aspect, Emmanuel Macron remained relatively discreet. This seminar was, however, an opportunity to get to the heart of the matter, this office being the armed wing of the State responsible for ensuring that rules are observed in these protected territories.

This office is brand new. It was officially created on January 1, 2020, born from the merger of the French Agency for Biodiversity (AFB) and the National Office of Hunting and Wildlife (ONCFS). On paper, environmental associations such as the National Environment Union (SNE-FSU) applaud, those who have long called for this grouping.

The first instance, the AFB, created in 2016 *, had mainly skills in aquatic and marine areas. The second, the ONCFS, dealt with terrestrial environments, notably in charge of examining the hunting license, the environmental police, or even monitoring many wild species. "We needed a major operator of biodiversity in France," says Patrick Saint-Leger, national secretary of the SNE-FSU. It is first of all a question of efficiency: "we bring together in the same house actors who manage close files, sometimes on common territories, thus facilitating their coordination," he continues. It is also a question of visibility, adds Jean-David Abel. From now on, the general public, businesses, communities have only one contact. "

From the environmental police to the coordination of the network of protected areas

Here is the OFB and its 2,800 agents, including 1,900 in the field. Main mission: the environmental police. In other words, ensure compliance with the environmental code throughout the territory, and not only in protected areas. "This ranges from the fight against poaching of protected species to water pollution, explains Stéphanie Antoine, deputy director of the office. In this area, the police powers of OFB agents have been strengthened. They can now conduct their investigations, from the finding of the offense to the defendant's referral to court, without having to divest the case for the benefit of a police officer. ”

LIVE | Launch of the French Office for Biodiversity: follow the President's speech @EmmanuelMacron. https://t.co/jtERSj89y5

- Élysée (@Elysee) February 13, 2020

The OFB must also assist in the implementation of public water and biodiversity policies, develop research and knowledge on species and their environments, or even support the mobilization of civil society and economic and policies on biodiversity issues. Finally, the office runs the national network of different managers of protected areas (national and regional parks, nature reserves, conservatories of natural areas, etc.) Some of these areas remain under the direct management of the OFB. This is the case of the nine existing marine natural parks in France.

"A Ferrari that drives with a 2 CV engine"

Five missions, therefore, in all. “We are carrying them out with many actors, insists Stéphanie Antoine. Associations, local authorities, managers of natural areas, users of nature (farmers, foresters, hunters)… ”That is a lot for a single agency, criticizes the SNE-FSU, which points to widening gap between the ambitions displayed and the resources allocated. To the point of comparing the OFB to "a Ferrari that drives with a 2 CV engine. "

In the merger, the office did not lose an agent and its budget remained constant (433 million euros), recognizes Patrick Saint-Leger. But that does not erase past cuts for the unionist. "Between 2012 and 2019, the ONCFS was emptied of 14% of its workforce, going from 1,675 to 1,443 agents," he recalls. Sometimes, there are less than ten agents who monitor the aquatic environments and terrestrial species of an entire department.

PRESS RELEASE from Sne-FSU @ EmmanuelMacron
inaugurates @ OFBiodiversite
in Chamonix! https://t.co/ikNI03VmvB#Agentsenvir # biodiversity # ecology pic.twitter.com/H02Ppw7F35

- Sne-FSU Biodiversity (@snefsuAFB) February 12, 2020

Marine natural parks under the management of the OFB are not necessarily better off. Patrick Saint-Leger speaks of the Iroise marine natural park, off Brest, as an exception "with its twenty agents". "Other parks, such as that of Arcachon Bay or the Gulf of Lion, are not staffed," he believes. They are empty shells. "

Sixty fewer positions by 2022

So much for human resources. "Budgets have not progressed for several years either, while the scope of action continues to widen," adds Jean-David Abel. We estimate between 200 and 300 million euros per year the full budget that should be allocated to biodiversity policies in France and the OFB. These financial means are needed to create new jobs, as much as to support communities, businesses, farmers and populations in new approaches to the challenges of biodiversity. This is another major issue to ensure good respect for a protected area. "

These extensions are not provided. "The OFB will lose 60 positions in two years", deplores Patrick Saint-Léger, 20 in 2021, 40 in 2022. Stéphanie Antoine confirms these figures, stating that "these staff reductions are a reality for all services and State operators in order to contribute to the effort to reduce public spending, ”she said. The deputy director of the OFB invites people not to see everything in black. "The OFB's workforce was preserved in 2020. We have also adopted a strategy to strengthen our agents in the marine natural parks that we manage," she illustrates. Over the next three years, we are going to allocate 37 new jobs to them, which will notably benefit the most recently created parks such as those of Martinique, Cap Corse and Agriate, the Gironde estuary and the Pertuis sea. . "

The trap of regional parks

As for the 10% of the territory to go into protected areas by 2022, not all will be under the direct management of the OFB. This is the case, for example, for the four new regional parks announced by the government.

"But it is then the other trap of figures that hammers the government, abounds Jean-David Abel. Talking about protected areas is vague. In the lot, there are strong protection spaces managed according to the highest protection levels of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). These are the hearts of national parks in particular, or national nature reserves. Other tools, on the other hand, only include soft incentive policies. This is the case for regional parks. In total, only 1.76% of our territory is under strong protection, recalls the vice-president of France Nature Environment.

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* The French biodiversity agency was born from the merger of the National Office for Water and Aquatic Environments (Onema), the national parks, the Marine Protected Areas Agency and the Technical Workshop for Natural Areas.

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