Biodiversité

The current loss of biodiversity has been broadly acknowledged as the main cause of ecosystem change. To halt this trend, several international agreem…

Through the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) and the financial investments of the LIFE projects, Europe has become an experimental arena for biological conservation. With an estimated annual budget of €20 billion, the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 has set an ambitious goal of classifying 30% of its land and sea territory as Protected Areas and ensuring no deterioration in conservation trends and the status of protected species. We analysed LIFE projects focused on animals from 1992 to 2018 and found that investment in vertebrates was six times higher than that for invertebrates (€970 versus €150 million), with birds and mammals alone accounting for 72% of species and 75% of the total budget. In relative terms, investment per species towards vertebrates has been 468 times higher than that for invertebrates.

Assessing progress towards achieving conservation targets is required for all countries committed to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Natura 2000 network is the largest protected area network in the world and was created to protect Europe's threatened species and habitats, often requiring active management. This study assesses the effectiveness of areas classified under the EU Birds Directive at protecting Western Europe's agro-steppes, the last remnants of suitable habitat for several endangered bird species. We quantify agro-steppe habitat change in the last 10 years using high-resolution aerial images of 21 Special Protection Areas and surrounding areas.

Cinq Grand Prix de la biodiversité ont été décernés en 2019 en France. Et Mesnières-en-Bray (Seine-Maritime) figure parmi les lauréats dans la catégorie Suivi scientifique et méthodologique.

Cette distinction est obtenue grâce au Damier de la succise, une espèce de papillon que la commune protège. « C’est une espèce emblématique des coteaux calcicoles du pays de Bray », avance Aurélie Phiilippeau, chargée de projets au CenNS (Conservatoire d’espaces naturels Normandie Seine).