On 10 July 1976, the Nature Conservation Law was proclaimed, after being passed unanimously. This landmark legislation profoundly transformed environmental law by establishing the protection of species, natural areas and biological balances as an objective in the public interest. As the ecological crisis worsens, this legacy is now under threat.
Resulting from several decades of scientific research, campaigning by organisations and civic engagement, the 1976 Act provided our country with the principles and mechanisms that frame environmental legislation: species protection, nature reserves, impact assessments, and the recognition of nature as a common heritage.
This anniversary should be a time to celebrate. Instead, it happens during a process of methodical dismantling of the tools for nature conservation built up over half a century, with no regard for the future and the safety of French people – robust ecosystems that enable us to better cope with the effects of climate change such as drought, heatwaves and floods – or for France’s international and European commitments.
The ‘agricultural emergency’ law currently under discussion in Parliament is a further example of this. The return of neonicotinoids, the weakening of protection for wetlands and water resources, the undermining of the balance within local water governance bodies, the authorisation to shoot a protected species – the wolf – in nature reserves and the heart of national parks, and so on.
Despite the public participation in environmental matters being part of the Constitution since 2005, this draft law seeks to reduce and alter the time limits and procedures for appeals.Our environmental democracy is thus being undermined, and this is, sadly, accompanied by the silence of governments regarding the violent attacks on individuals, organisations or public bodies (such as the French Biodiversity Agency) that serve and defend nature conservation and seek to apply the rule of law.
These political choices directly contradict the recommendations made by the National Biodiversity Committee [1] in the opinions it adopted on 25 June in the National Nature Restoration Plan (PNRN) [2] and in the 2025 progress report on the National Biodiversity Strategy (SNB) [3]. As a multipartite forum for societal debate established by the Law on the Restoration of Biodiversity [4] of 2016 and bringing together 150 stakeholders, the Committee condemns the lack of strategic vision, the inconsistency of public policies, the inadequacy of funding, the absence of new measures and the growing gap between stated ambitions and the decisions actually taken.
France cannot celebrate a historic law whilst simultaneously undermining it. In light of the ecological emergency, the anniversary of the 1976 Law should be an opportunity to reconnect with the principles that led to its unanimous adoption by the French Parliament: a long-term vision, supported by scientific knowledge and serving the public interest.
For decades – and for some organisations, for over a century – the nature conservation sector has successfully mobilised a significant proportion of the population and numerous experts to study biodiversity, develop innovative initiatives to preserve and raise awareness of it, and support the work of national authorities. This has led to the establishment of a remarkable network of protected areas. It is this entire collective effort, spanning more than three generations, undertaken not for private gain but for the public good, that is now being undermined, whilst biodiversity continues to decline. A 32.5% decline in common bird populations in agricultural areas since 2001, a 70% loss of hedgerows since 2050, and a 50% loss of wetlands over recent decades…
We, committed to the protection and restoration of nature for the benefit of society as a whole, affirm that the protection of nature is neither a luxury nor a form of nostalgia: it is a vital, democratic, ethical and civilisational imperative. Protecting nature means giving humanity greater confidence in the future.
