National parks, an element of environmental safeguard? Deslandes Tifenn – 08255504 Abstract The National Park is often perceived by the population as a place isolated of the rest of the world, a refuge for the menaced species. Even if its main role is to preserve the fauna, the flora and the wonderful landscapes that Nature offers to us, we must not confuse a National park with a zoo. This paper will discuss the efforts of the French government for surpassing these prejudices with an analysis of the evolution of the French legislation since the creation of National Parks. Key words National Park ; France ; Environmental protection ; French legislation The picture in the background is the logo of French National Park
Introduction Now with the end of the first decade of the second millennium looming, there is a period of crisis affecting areas of social, economic and environmental concern. It is in these times of environmental protection that the climatic disturbances and their dramatic consequences occupy the thoughts of everybody. Never before has the connection between human beings and their environment been so scrutinized and analysed. There have been many international conferences and agreements in relation to Environmental issues, the Kyoto protocol and Earth Summit naming but a few. In addition all the countries have taken their own decisions about Environmental policy. In France, in 2008, the French Ecology, Energy, Suitable Development and Regional Development department decided to have a debate between the State, the unions, the environmental protection agencies and the deputes about the Environment. It is called Grenelle de l’Environnement and the results of this meeting became legislation. The environment is really a sensible topic these last years. In all the solutions proposed, an old one was a little in question especially in France. The National Parks are viewed as a temple, where everything is forbidden, where it is difficult to develop an economy or to live around. They have the impression that it was more a zoo of fauna and flora than a protected space. The aim of this paper is to show that the National Parks have evaluated since their apparition, taking France as an example. First a little explication of what is a National Park should be necessary before seeing how France reacted against all these critics.
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National Park in the World A National Park is a defined space submitted to specific rules which are defined by the Government, and that is why the adjective National is used. The park in question is not chosen by chance, it has some rare qualities that have to be preserved. In this area, the conservation of the fauna, of the flora, of the ground, of the subsoil, of the atmosphere, of the waters and, in general, of the natural environment has a specific interest. So it is important to preserve this environment against all the effects of natural degradation and to stop all the artificial interventions which can spoil this. Over time, in addition to its role of protector of a biodiversity which is often threatened, the National Park now has a new function. It is the guardian of the Past preserving cultural landscapes which sometimes contain archaeological remnants. Today National Parks are essential tools in the Suitable development policy of a lot of countries. They are the safeguard of a varied biodiversity, giving it the space that the different vegetal and animal species need to live. The National Parks help to preserve some wonderful landscapes while at the same time improving the quality of life of humanity as the majority of the European population is urban and as such the parks provide a natural landscape that people would not be used to. It was in 1872 that the first National Park was created, which was Yellowstone which is situated in the United States of America. There are around 5 000 National Parks in the world with a variable surface. The smallest is the National Park of Thayata in Austria with 1 300 hectares; while the National Park of Etasha in Namibia with its 2.2275 million hectares, is considered as the bigger. All the National Parks together represent around 4.4 million square kilometres. Europe itself has 300 National Parks (Parcs nationaux de France website). If a National Park is an open space, where everybody is welcome, it is also a preserved and protected space defined by strict regulations. The regulation of these areas means the rules governing them are easily known. They are dictated by common sense and the respect of others and Nature.
“The French regulation for National Parks� From the French National Parks website 2 Tifenn Deslandes / 30 290 Assignment
But the National Park has not only one aim of preservation, it must also illustrate to the next generation the fragility of the ecosystem in which they live. National Parks have a very important role in the education of the population, they must teach them the respect of biodiversity and encourage caution. History of French National Parks If it is easy to define exactly the date of the creation of legislation for governing the National Parks whether they are either French or foreign; it is very difficult to specify with accuracy the creation of the first spaces which protected fauna and the flora. According to the French Ecology, Energy, Suitable Development and Regional Development department, we have to go back to the Middle-ages to find the first attempts at protecting the environment. During the feudal period the landlord would Figure 1 - French National Park Les Ecrins establish areas where hunting and fishing were forbidden or strictly regulated, and where wood and drinking water were available in abundance. It is clear from this that people understood even at this early period the importance of preserving their environment for personal needs. It is from the 19th century that we can find the first real protection spaces for flora without a reference to a vital need of human beings. Some “artistic forest series” protected a special kind of trees from ordinary exploitation because of their quality. These forest series were the first evidence of legislation, with a national regulation spaces. Around the end of the 19th century, we can already find some biologic forest reserves protecting the flora and some huge national reserves for hunting “protecting” the fauna. The most famous in France was the Mercantour. Even if it is more for aesthetic than environmental protection, the law of the 2nd of May 1930– called the law for a protection of natural monuments and areas with a special characteristic as an artistic, a historic, a scientific and a technical one – signalled the beginning of the environmental preoccupation in France. After the Second World War, there was still no trace of regulation of National Parks in France. At these times, France was one of the only one among developed countries who had not yet created National Parks. But France had all the same environmental preservation spaces as natural reserves which were governed by the minister of Waters and Forests and by some join organisations like Ligue de Protection des Oiseaux (Protection Birds league) or Société Nationale de Protection de la Nature (National Society of Nature Protection).
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The decree of the 27th November 1946 of the National council of the Nature Protection finally defined the status of National Parks in France. But it was only in 1960 that the minister for Agriculture adopted the law of the 22nd July, establishing National Parks. In this way, the first seven French National Parks were created one after the other and by decree: Vanoise National Park, the 6th July 1963 Port-Cros National Park, the 14 December 1963 Pyrenees National Park, the 23 March 1967 Cevennes National Park, the 2nd September 1970 Ecrins National Park, the 27th March 1973 Mercantour National Park, the 18th August 1979 Guadeloupe National Park, the 20th February 1989 The Guyana and Reunion National Parks were created respectively on the 27th February 2007 and the 5th March 2007. A project for a tenth National park is planned for 2009 in the Calanques area (it is the black triangle in the map, near the Mediterranean sea).
“The National Parks in France” From the French National Parks website
The tourism is, despite itself, destructive for the environment. That is the reason why, the European Union set up in 2002 the European Charter of a suitable tourism (Europark Federation, 2002) which give advices to the communes about how they can preserve Nature helping their tourists to spend suitable holidays. This idea came from a report in 1993 called “Loving Them to Death? Sustainable Tourism in Europe’s Nature and National Parks". 4 Tifenn Deslandes / 30 290 Assignment
The French National Park reform The deputy of the Var Department issued a report in June 2003 at the request of the then Prime minister Jean-Pierre RAFFARIN and from the French Ecology, Energy, Suitable Development and Regional Development minister Roselyne BACHELOT – that began the reform of the National Parks. In his report – Les parcs nationaux, une référence pour la France, une chance pour ces territories – Jean-Pierre GIRAN, UMP depute, explains what he thinks can be the weakness of the National Park in France. His observations Figure 2 - French National Park Le Mercantour show how much France and French people are linked with the concept of National Park, underlining the exceptional label for the landscape, the pride of French inhabitants and the need of the parks as a preservation and suitable development tool. Secondly he points to the current National Parks bad functioning; developing some different reflexions as extraterritoriality reproach; expropriation feeling for the landlords; the confusion of administration; proliferation of the rules; the frustration of elected people; the suspicion of the associations; the ambiguity of the park borders; the communication issues, the National Park process creation problem and the lake of money (GIRAN, 2003). He wishes to unify the different institutions which make the National Park and to help them to work together combining the environmental protection with suitable development; regulation with contracts, finally unite tradition and progress, caring about connecting National and Local actors. The third part of his report is composed of propositions about aims and objectives of National Parks, their functioning and the different ways to increase their budget. He also suggests facilitating the process of creating a new National Park, because he thinks it is not normal after ten years that Reunion and Guyana cannot still have their own National Park. The law of the 14th April 2006 The National Park policy renovation was finally applied, 45 years after the funder law of 1960. The government and the parliament wished to adopt the new law texts to the scientific context as the contribution of the biodiversity safeguard; the juridical context with an update of the law texts about the common right; and the political context for a better association between community and partners, which govern our society nowadays. The law of the 14th April 2006 is the basis for the creation of the common structure for all the French National Parks: Parcs Nationaux de France. This is a public establishment which is in charge of the federation of the National Parks and to give an impetus to their common policies and services. 5 Tifenn Deslandes / 30 290 Assignment
In addition, this law reforms the National Parks distinguishing two areas. The first, the centre of the park called the heart, is principally governed by the State who can consult territorial communities. Protection in this sector is very high and the only activities which are allowed are linked with agriculture, forestry or pastoral. In the outskirts of the National Park there is the adhesion area. This area is composed only of communes who want to participate. They must adopt a National Park charter in which a preservation and management plan is included. Their economic development has to stay in harmony with the environmental safeguard. A financial compensation settled for compensating the constraints which are imposed to the communes. A real ecological solidarity creates between the heart and its suburbs, similar preoccupations for Figure 3 - French National Park La Vanoise the two: biodiversity protection; a better functioning of the institutions reinforcing the links with the local actors; the patrimony management and the welcoming of the visitors. Louis Job, a economic sciences teacher at Versailles University explained in one of his conference how a protected spaces can help the development of a commune (JOB, 2008). Having a National Park near a town is not always a flaw. CREDOC report With the law of the 14th April 2006, National Parks have the ability to associate the communes around them to their objectives. Nevertheless, this association is based on voluntary work, the towns around a National Park have no obligation to adhere to the National Park charter and to follow their instructions. This is the reason why the pubic establishment of French National Parks – of which the main sponsor is a French assurance company called GMF – wished to carry out a study on a large scale about the economic and social repercussions of the National Parks in the surrounding communes. The aims of this study were to raise strong arguments which enhance the value of what a National Park can bring to the population around it, in a social, economic and cultural way; and to have methodological references for helping the studies and others surveys to have an idea of what kind of repercussions they can expect (CREDOC, rapport final, 2008). The research centre of study about life conditions (Centre de Recherche pour l’EtuDe des Conditions de vie) carried out this study. It made a benchmark composed of experiences and significant studies collected from 27 different countries (CREDOC, Annexe 100 fiches de lecture 2008). A seminar took place the 16th October 2008 in the Institute of Political Studies of Aix-enProvence. The participants talked about the results of the CREOC study; they were all involved in National Park or came from another association of environmental protection. 6 Tifenn Deslandes / 30 290 Assignment
The main topic was how to value the Environmental goods. According to Aurore FLEURET, this is a public good which cannot be on the market because it does not have a price but a value (FLEURET, 2008). The 11th February 2009, Jean-Louis BORLOO – the minister of Ecology, Energy, Suitable Development and Territory Management – and Chantal JOUANNO – State secretary in charge of Ecology – signed with the public establishment Parcs Nationaux de France the first contracts of objectives 2009-2011, in the presence of nine French National Parks directors. These contracts fix four new points as the improvement in quality of the commons services, the set up of new National Parks in France, the improvement of the French National Parks’ image in a national and international way and the development of their first Charter “Territory project” in agreement with the law of the 14th April 2006 (French department of Ecology, Energy, Suitable Development and Territory Management, Contrat d’objectifs 2009 • 2011 État / Établissement public Parcs Nationaux de France, 2009). Conclusion A National Park is a territory which joins an exceptional natural, cultural and landscaped patrimony. The nine French National Park are protected spaces with a very high patrimonial value. The National Park status in France has been evaluated a lot these last years. The letter from the Var deputy to the Prime minister in June 2003, which explained the problems of the functioning of these protected spaces, triggered a real reform. The law of the 14th April 2006 overturned the National Park’s functioning, it gives it a chance to surpass its boarders, to blend its boundaries with the surrounding communes’. Today, the National Park is no longer just a space frozen in time which has for its sole goal the conservation Nature. It is a space for actions where Fauna and Flora are preserved but also a space where the population can appropriate this space and assimilate the notion of respect for their Environment.
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