ENVIRONMENT To rewild nature, several associations are beginning to acquire forests before leaving them to evolve freely
In the Grand Barry wildlife reserve in Drôme, the otter has reappeared. — R. Collange/Aspas
- While France is lagging behind in nature protection, associations are mobilizing to acquire forests and transform them into wildlife reserves.
- In these places left to evolve freely, any human activity such as hunting, fishing or logging is prohibited.
- Initiated by the Association for the Protection of Wild Animals, the movement is gaining momentum in France.
Will rewilding nature save the planet? Appeared in the United States in the 1990s, this concept which wants to make its freedom to nature finds more and more resonance with time of climate change and threats to biodiversity. In France, there are many protected areas for fauna and flora such as nature reserves or national parks. But the country is very behind its European neighbors since these areas only cover today’ barely 1.8% of the territory, very far from the objective of 10% of protected areas under strong protection that has been set. the government for 2030.
Some nature protection associations also believe that these protected areas are not as protected as hunting and logging are authorized in some of these parks and reserves. Facing chilliness public authorities, initiatives are multiplying in France to enable nature to regain its rights. For the past ten years, the Association for the Protection of Wild Animals (Aspas) has been acquiring land to transform it into wildlife reserves. “These are free-range areas where any activity is prohibited,” says Clément Roche, head of the natural environments division at l’Aspas.
Nature in free evolution
In concrete terms, hunting, fishing, gathering and motorized vehicles are prohibited in these areas, which are intended as islands of tranquility for non-humans. The cutting and the exploitation of the wood too. “We let dead wood rot to promote biodiversity,” said Clément Roche. Based in Drôme, Aspas currently manages four forests over more than 1,200 hectares, including the last and largest in the heart of Vercors.
In the wake of the association, at the origin of the label “Wildlife Reserve” deposited in 2014, other collectives are mobilizing to protect nature through free evolution. In the Côtes-d’Armor, at a few kilometers from the Trégor reserve managed by Aspas, the Wild Bretagne association is eyeing a private forest of 18,000 m² in the town of Plouëc-du-Trieux. The steps to acquire it are already in place. well underway and a crowdfunding campaign has been launched. launched to help them. “We can all take action to fight against the destruction of wild spaces,” assures Alexandre Patureau, founder of the association.
“Nature is doing very well good on her own”
To lead to; its project, Wild Bretagne has taken up more or less the same protection criteria as Aspas. The man will of course find a place there and will be able to access foot to foot the forest, to provided of course that nothing is taken from it. “We don’t put nature under glass, emphasizes Alexandre Patureau. On the other hand, the man must be discreet and respect the marked paths.” So many rules that have already been allowed to nature to regain its rights in the reserves managed by the Association for the Protection of Wild Animals. “In the Grand Barry reserve, for example, we have seen species that had disappeared come back, like the otter, says Clément Roche. We also find that birds prefer our bodies of water to neighboring bodies of water.”
Deceased; in April, the director Jacques Perrin had moreover taken up the cause of these wildlife reserves of which he was the godfather. “Whenever we have been able to offer nature a space of freedom, it has blossomed again in all its exuberance and diversity, he said. Nature does just fine on its own, it doesn’t need us to nurture it.”