A tourist in the Scandola reserve in Corsica - PASCAL POCHARD-CASABIANCA / AFP

The Scandola reserve in Corse-du-Sud will lose its European diploma in protected areas, a distinction it had obtained in 1985, due in particular to the excessive tourist pressure on the site and its harmful effects on the flora and fauna.

This Council of Europe decision, published in a report dated 30 March, was taken unanimously by the experts concerned at a meeting on 18 and 19 March, in particular "due to the considerable lack of progress made and minimal communication attempts ”from reserve managers. It will take effect in September.

"Uncontrolled attendance"

Basically, the withdrawal of this European label from the Scandola reserve, created in 1975 on 920 hectares of land and 1,000 hectares of marine area, is notably due to “the uncontrolled use [of the site] by visitors of all stripes and ( …) The damaging effects on the nature of the site, its ecosystems [and] the species of flora and fauna that are specific to it ”.

As early as December 2018, a CNRS report had pointed out, for example, that "the population of osprey, a protected and threatened raptor in the Mediterranean Sea, [is collapsing] in the Scandola national nature reserve" because of tourism.

Planet

Biodiversity: Does the new French Office launched by Macron have the means to achieve its ambitions?

Planet

Pyrenees: The controversy swells over the causes of the death of the Cachou bear

  • Tourism
  • Biodiversity
  • Nature