The 4th July 2018 Biodiversity Action Planfor mainland and overseas France

Preserving biodiversity
is protecting life!
From French Guiana to theAlps, from the Pacific Ocean
to the Mediterranean Sea,
from the French Antilles toBrittany, France has adiversity of naturalenvironments and species,
both on land and at sea.

These ecosystems support about
10% of the 1.8 million known
species on our planet. Thisbiodiversity is our common

heritage and our capital for thefuture.
With the 4th July 2018
Biodiversity Action Plan, theState is rallying with local
authorities, NGOs, socioeconomic stakeholders andcitizens to achieve a common
objective: preserving biodiversity
because it protects us. Because,
beyondits intrinsic value, it provides

26%590, 000 haof the species assessedin 2018 are threatenedin France, with this risk
reaching 39% in theoverseas islandsof natural andagricultural areas wereconverted into artificial
areas between 2006 and2015, i.e. a department
such as Seine-et-Marne

services essential to our daily
lives: pollination, water and air
purification, protection against
risks of marine submersion andflooding, food quality anddiversity, resilience to climatechange, improvements to theliving environment...
Preserving biodiversity iswatching over a natural capitalupon which our survival andliving conditions depend.

68 %of the habitats
threatened in Europe
are located inmainland FranceBiodiversity Plan

5 major focuses to take action!
It is urgent to put biodiversity at the heart of our public policies, and to act topreserve it in our territories, by involving all the stakeholders!
The Biodiversity Action Plan sets the goal to reduce the net loss of biodiversity
to zero, but also to speed up the implementation of the French National
Biodiversity Strategy. The Government makes commitments through this Plan,
the ambition of which is also to get the French society involved in a collective
mobilisation and to support the necessary changes.

Limiting landconsumption andpreserving
environments

Urban sprawl and land take directly
contribute to the degradation of ecosystem
function, the loss of species diversity andthe aggravation of extreme weather
events, by destroying and fragmenting
natural and agricultural areas. Despite
improvements in urban and rural planning,
the consumption of these areas remains
too rapid, even in territories where thepopulation and employment are notincreasing.

What the Biodiversity Action
Plan says

The Biodiversity Action Plan sets the goalto achieve zero net land take. This involves
limiting as much as possible theconsumption of new areas, and, where thisis impossible, “returning to nature” or“renaturalising” the equivalent of the areas
consumed. This is achieved, for example,
through the development of nature in thecity which, beyond biodiversity-related
issues, improves urban living conditions
and makes it possible to deploy naturebased solutions for more resilient territories.

22%of specialist
commonbirds infarmland,woodlandand built
environments,
disappearedin mainland
Francebetween1989 and2017

Protecting ecosystems
and certain emblematicand threatened species

For more than a century, the protection of naturalenvironments and species has been based on a range of
instruments and tools: national action plans for threatened
species, national and regional parks, marine natural parks,
nature reserves, and so on. French protected areas cover
more than 20% of the territory, on land and at sea. The
protection of these areas also allows everyone to discover
this natural heritage and these exceptional landscapes,
which contribute to France’s attractiveness.

What the Biodiversity Action Plan says

The Biodiversity Action Plan includes the extension of themarine and terrestrial protected areas network and thestrengthening of their management: the objective is topreserve species and ecosystems, while contributing to theimplementation of green and blue infrastructre. At thesame time, the protection of threatened species, such as
bears and certain Cetaceans, contributes to thepreservation and restoration of their habitats. The Planalso aims to strengthen education and training, forinstance by deploying 500 educational terrestrial andmarine areas by 2022. At the international level, the aim is
to strengthen the fight against wildlife trafficking and themobilisation for tropical forest protection.

Preserving thesea and coast

Present in all the oceans,
except the Arctic Ocean, France
possesses the 2nd largest maritime areain the world. The amount of plastic foundin the oceans continues to increase withadverse consequences on biodiversity
and human health. Today, solutions exist
to limit waste generation at source,recover plastics, and develop products
based on recyclable and recycledmaterials.

What the Biodiversity Action
Plan says

The Biodiversity Action Plan aims tomobilise the territories and citizens sothat no more plastic is discharged into theocean. It also intends to maintain themomentum to create marine protectedareas and strengthen the management
actions carried out within them. It also
sets a goal of protecting 100% of Frenchcoral reefs by 2025. On the coast, it plans
to extend the natural areas protected by
the Conservatoire du littoral (French
Coastal Conservation Authority) by
10,000 hectares by 2022. At theinternational level, the Plan intends tostrengthen discussions about the sea sothat they rapidly result in actual
commitments on protected areas,
fisheries, and biodiversity protection in
the high seas.

Taking account of therelationship between
health and the environment

Intensive agricultural practices, in particular those having
significant recourse to the use of plant protection products,
have negative impacts on biodiversity, water quality, andthe health of producers, users and residents. The
agricultural world is aware of the challenges and has
already begun to take up these issues, by changing
practices and developing labels and quality marks. More
broadly, the development of certain human activities
releases pollutants into the environment, with potential
consequences for human, animal and plant health.

29%of the sites
monitoredoverseas
show a lossof thesurface areaof live corals
in 2017

What the Biodiversity Action Plan says

The Biodiversity Action Plan seeks to encourage andsupport a more environmentally friendly agriculture(decrease of the water and biodiversity footprint, soil
conservation…) and one that is more protective of thehealth of farmers and consumers. This also involves
improving diagnosis sharing, by achieving bettertransparency on plant protection product sales data. The
Plan also aims at strengthening the way biodiversity
stakes are taken into account in human, animal and plant
health policies.

Enabling the transition of our
production and consumption models
Our economy is highlydependent on biodiversity: without it there
would not be any raw materials, energy oragriculture. Several reports assess theservices provided by nature and show thatbiodiversity forms the basis of our economy
and our present and future well-being.
Companies and consumers are becoming
increasingly aware that the sustainabilityof their activity and choices also depends
on their ability to sustainably manage
natural resources.

What the Biodiversity Action
Plan says

The Biodiversity Action Plan intends toreconcile economic development andbiodiversity conservation by mobilising andsupporting economic stakeholders, and byenabling
the transition of our production andconsumption models (agroecologicalconversion, reduction of the biodiversity
footprint…).

Consult the 24 goals and the 90 measures of the Biodiversity Plan at: https://tinyurl.com/y6epjzjc

France wishes, as it has done on climate, to take a world-leading role on biodiversity
issues and set them high on European and international agendas. It aims to makebiodiversity a European priority, particularly in the discussions of sectoral policies suchas the Common Agricultural Policy, the Common Fisheries Policy, and European aid.
Major events are already on the calendar to put biodiversity conservation
at the heart of the debate.

2019

France holds thepresidency of the G7- forum for discussion
and economic partnershipbringing together the world’s
seven leading powers - with the aimof mobilising partners on
the theme of biodiversity.

April-May
2019

France hosts theplenary meeting ofIPBES (IntergovernmentalScience-Policy Platform on Biodiversity
and Ecosystem Services). On this occasion,
IPBES will unveil its first report on thestate of biodiversity in the world. This
major event will provide scientists with alegitimate, recognised and visible interface
to question decision-makers.

June
2020

France will host the7 th World Conservation
Congress in Marseille. This congress is an
important moment for citizen, political,
scientific, associative, and corporate
mobilisation and awareness-raising torally the international community andsupport the political negotiations, which
will take place a few months later at the15 th Conference of the Parties (COP15) tothe Convention on Biological Diversity(CBD).

Ministry for an Ecological and Inclusive Transition
Hôtel de Roquelaure
246, boulevard Saint-Germain
75007 ParisDecember
2020

France, alongside theEuropean Union, will
participate in COP15 of theConvention on Biological Diversity (CBD) inChina. This conference is a major politicalevent where the global strategic framework
for biodiversity (adopted in 2010) will berenewed. France wants to raise the level ofambition and strengthen the meansof implementation.

MINISTÈREDE LA TRANSITIONÉCOLOGIQUEET SOLIDAIREDICOM-CAB/FLY/19029-1 - March 2019 - Photo credits: A. Bouissou, O. Brosseau, T. Degen / Terra; P. Chabanet, O. Dangles / IRD; M. Ravanat / Tieti diving; B. Celica, F. Lepage / Cœurs de nature-SIPA - Key figures: Datalab biodiversité 2018 - Printed on European Ecolabel certified paper

France is mobilisingat the international level: