La protection des espaces naturels

• In France, regional natural parks, marine parks, and national parks are protected spaces that differ from one another, but all aim to preserve nature while promoting human activities. Public access within parks is not restricted, but environmentally responsible practices are encouraged. Tourism, agriculture, and fishing are managed differently within parks. • There are three types of parks.

• National parks are natural, terrestrial and marine spaces whose natural environment and cultural heritage are of special interest and must be protected. They must be preserved from degradation that could alter their diversity, composition, appearance, and evolution. • National parks protect exceptional territories in their central zone, which is generally uninhabited or very sparsely populated—known as the park core. The surrounding buffer zones encourage the economic, social, and cultural development of the parks. • As of early 2021, there are eleven national parks in France. Seven are located in mainland France. Considering only their terrestrial parts, these eleven national parks cover 48,620 km², or 8% of the land area of mainland France and the five overseas departments. The terrestrial part of park cores covers 25,715 km².

• Regional natural parks aim to ensure local development around the preservation and promotion of their ecological, economic, social, and cultural heritage. • Each regional natural park has a charter that defines management measures for the territory concerned. The initiative to create a regional natural park can be public or private. It is often the result of mobilization by local elected officials around a shared territorial project. The creation process is managed by the regions involved. The project is validated by a ministerial decree for a period of 15 years. At the end of this period, a request for renewal of the designation can be made based on a revised charter. • As of 2025, France has 59 regional natural parks with a total area of 106,330 km², roughly twice the size of the Grand-Est Region. 57 regional parks are located in mainland France with an area of 99,362 km², nearly 20% of the territory. Two regional natural parks are in overseas territories: one in French Guiana with an area of 6,229 km² and another in Martinique with an area of 739 km². The largest, the Auvergne Volcanoes regional natural park, covers nearly 400,000 hectares, roughly the area of the Tarn-et-Garonne department.

• Marine natural parks aim to protect seas, develop their dependent activities sustainably, and improve knowledge and study of marine environments. • They target vast areas where nature protection issues are linked to activities such as fishing. Marine natural parks support environmentally responsible activities, ensure environmental control and enforcement, and promote awareness among users and the general public. • As of 2025, France has eight marine natural parks with a total area of 139,727 km², twice the size of the Occitanie Region. Six are located in mainland France (Iroise, Gulf of Lion, Gironde Estuary and Pertuis Sea, Picardy Estuaries and Opal Sea, Arcachon Basin, and Cape Corse and Agriate) with a combined area of 23,600 km². In the overseas regions, there are two marine natural parks: one in Martinique (47,747 km²) and one in Mayotte (68,381 km²).

• A reserve is generally a space where nature preservation takes priority over human activities. Reserves protect animal and plant species, habitats, or remarkable features. The general idea is to let nature thrive while limiting human impact. • There are several types of reserves.

• National nature reserves preserve functional natural environments that are generally fragile, rare, or threatened, of very high ecological and scientific value. Nature reserves benefit from great diversity of animal and plant species or rare or threatened geological formations. • Reserves allow limitations on work, movement of people, domestic animals and vehicles, agricultural and forestry activities, and hunting. • National nature reserves are created by the State, whereas regional reserves are administered by regions. • As of January 1, 2025, there are 169 national reserves in France covering 1.7 million km², the majority of which is marine. They are mainly located in mainland France. In overseas departments, there are 14.

• Regional nature reserves are spaces managed by Regions and local authorities. They are protected areas where it is important to ensure the conservation of fauna, flora, soil, water, mineral deposits, and fossils. • Regional nature reserves are established by the Regional Council for a limited and renewable period. Certain activities cannot be regulated, such as hunting, fishing, and material extraction. • There are 185 regional nature reserves covering 436 km². 183 are located in mainland France covering 405 km², and two overseas: one in French Guiana and one in Martinique. • There are also seven nature reserves specific to Corsica, with a particular status and covering 870 km², including 64 km² terrestrial and 806 km² marine.

• Biological reserves are specific to public forests: State forests, known as "domanial," municipal or local collective forests, and public institution forests. • Classification as a biological reserve gives protected status to forest areas. These reserves are created by the Agriculture and Ecology ministries. Biological reserves preserve remarkable natural heritage and enable ecosystem study. Biological reserves thus have ecological and scientific value. • Two types of biological reserves are distinguished: strict reserves are undisturbed habitats with minimal intervention, while managed reserves are actively managed with human intervention.

• Game and wildlife reserves aim to protect migratory bird populations in accordance with international commitments. These reserves ensure protection of natural habitats essential to protect threatened species. They contribute to sustainable hunting development in rural areas. Hunting and any other activities that could disturb wildlife are prohibited. There are approximately 12,000 game and wildlife reserves in France. • Some game and wildlife reserves are particularly important, especially if they shelter threatened species, are very extensive, or have scientific value. In these cases, a ministerial order can designate the area as a "national game and wildlife reserve." • As of 2025, France has eleven national game reserves located only in mainland France covering a total area of 425 km², including 73 km² marine.

A protective order is a measure taken by a prefect or directly by the government. The protective order is quick to implement and allows protection of a site from possible degradation.

• A biotope is a location harboring a set of life forms necessary for the survival, rest, and reproduction of protected animal or plant species. Biotopes are of all kinds: for example, natural formations minimally exploited by humans, such as hedgerows, marshes, copses, dunes, grasslands, coral reefs. • To protect these spaces, departmental prefects can implement biotope protection orders. The flexibility of this protection measure explains its success. The orders regulate human activities on perimeters of very different sizes, allowing, as needed, limitation of damage to habitats and prevention of harm to species. • As of January 1, 2025, there are 1,066 biotope protection orders.

• Geotope protection orders are implemented by prefects in the same manner as biotope protection orders. The difference is that they protect geological sites of special scientific, aesthetic, or cultural value because of, for example, minerals or fossils present. • These orders are based on the National Geological Heritage Inventory, which varies by region. With this inventory, each departmental prefect can establish a list of geological interest sites by prefectural order. They can then implement measures to prevent the collection, destruction, or degradation of fossils or minerals present on these sites. • There are 34 geotope protection orders covering approximately 6 km².

• Natural habitat protection orders aim to protect natural environments important for French biodiversity. For example, marine sites harboring coral gardens or terrestrial ecosystems such as wetland meadows. • As of 2025, there are 18 natural habitat protection orders covering 94 km², including 84 km² terrestrial and 10 km² marine.

Land protection is a way to protect nature by acquiring land so it is not affected by human activities. Land acquisition is carried out by public structures called conservancies.

• The Coastal Conservancy is a public institution that implements land-based policy to protect natural spaces and landscapes on the shores of seas and lakes. • As of 2025, the Coastal Conservancy operates on 750 metropolitan and overseas sites (203,762 hectares under its responsibility). These lands involve both acquisitions made by the Conservancy on private land and allocations on public land.

• Natural space conservancies are grouped in a national federation. As associative structures, Natural Space Conservancies receive subsidies from local authorities and the State. • As of January 2025, there are 24 natural space conservancies that protect and manage 4,500 natural sites covering 300,000 hectares in mainland France and overseas, equivalent to the area of the Rhône department.

• The European ecological network Natura 2000 aims to maintain or restore the good conservation status of habitats and species of European interest. These are listed in the European Birds and Habitats, Fauna, and Flora directives. Transposed into the French Environmental Code, these objectives are a regulatory obligation. The Natura 2000 network comprises: • special protection zones, aimed at conserving wild bird species or serving as breeding, molting, wintering, or stopover areas for migratory birds; • special conservation zones aimed at conserving habitat types and animal and plant species. • As of December 2024, mainland France has: • 407 special conservation zones covering 168,563 km² (including 124,191 km² marine, more than one-quarter of the territory); • 1,354 special protection zones with a total area of 155,490 km² (including 106,302 km² marine). The terrestrial and maritime components of the Natura 2000 network cover a total of 203,834 km², more than one-third of the territory. The network extends in whole or in part across 13,031 municipalities out of 35,000.

• The international Ramsar convention, adopted in 1971, concerns wetlands of international importance. A wetland can be important for water management or the presence of waterfowl. The convention aims to reduce degradation and loss of wetlands. • Each signatory country commits to considering conservation of wetlands listed in the Ramsar list. They must promote their conservation, support research, training, management, and monitoring of these areas. Moreover, the 175 countries commit to cooperate with each other to protect wetland habitats. • Ramsar zones represent 2.5 million km² worldwide, or 5 times the area of mainland France. In France, 54 sites are listed as wetlands of international importance, with a total area of 40,000 km², the area of the Centre-Val-de-Loire region. 42 are located in mainland France and about a dozen overseas.

• UNESCO World Heritage has existed since 1972. It allows States to identify and protect properties, natural or cultural, of exceptional value. Natural properties can be remarkable physical, biological, or geological formations. • France has seven properties inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage, covering approximately 700,000 km². Four of these properties are located in mainland France.

• France has the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world. It is therefore a signatory to numerous international environmental conventions for monitoring and protection of the marine environment. It has ratified the following conventions: • Barcelona Convention: specially protected areas of Mediterranean importance; • Cartagena Convention: Caribbean maritime space; • Oslo-Paris Convention (OSPAR): protection of North-East Atlantic seas; • Nairobi Convention in the western Indian Ocean; • Convention on Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) and Madrid Protocol; • Apia Convention: France signed this marine protection agreement with several Pacific States. As of 2025, its territories are also covered by three regional sea conventions, including OSPAR. • Barcelona and Cartagena cover 214,303 km² (including 212,478 km² marine), of which: • 47,661 km² (including 47,528 km² marine) under the Barcelona Convention; • 144,566 km² (including 143,419 km² marine) under the Cartagena Convention; • 22,076 km² (including 21,531 km² marine) under the OSPAR Convention.