Not a single day goes by without the subject of climate making headline news in all media. The phenomena weather reportweather report extremes and their consequences are on everyone's lips, rightly so. But don't we feel like we're forgetting something fundamental? Biodiversity.
The COPs follow one another, but not all arouse the same interest. Whether at the political, media or general public level, the COP devoted to biodiversity (which took place last October in Colombia) was completely crushed by the one devoted to climate, which is currently being held in Azerbaijan.
Allain Bougrain-Dubourg, famous television and radio journalist, dedicated his life to the protection of nature. Since 1986, he has been the president of the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO) and was also in charge of the animal protection mission for several years with the Ministry of Agriculture.
What is the state of biodiversity today in France?
Allain Bougrain-Dubourg : We are not taking the measure of a dramatic reality, the decline is accelerating. Even though we have shown that we are capable of resilienceresilience. Some of the species that were dying in the 1970s are doing better: beavers, large birds of prey like great owls and vultures. We have succeeded with these emblematic species, on the other hand the decline of ordinary biodiversity has worsened, those which are on our coasts and which we cannot see: 70% of insects have disappeared. At European level, 800 million birds have disappeared in four decades. However, the bird is officially the indicator of the state of biodiversity.
What is the species whose survival worries you the most in France currently?
Allain Bougrain-Dubourg : The European minkEuropean mink. There are 150 individuals left in the southwest, that's 10 times fewer than the pandas! There is also the ortolan which has lost 80% of its population in 40 years, it is the same for the turtledove. boisbois. But the decline is general across all living things.
Allain Bougrain-Dubourg : The first reason is industrial agriculture around the world. It's the same everywhere, in Asia there is deforestationdeforestation for palm oil; in South America, we deforest for militarymilitary. We should do agroecology. Talking to the agricultural world is very difficult, and we have tried everything. With the smallest producers, we are able to dialogue, particularly for protection programs like the harrier. We identify nesting sites and locate mowing, compensating farmers. There are possibilities for action with some, but overall, there is a rejection when we denounce the use of pesticidespesticideseven though there are risks for the farmers themselves. It's more complicated these days to save species than it was 50 years ago.
A study by the Bona fidé agency, which has just been released, shows that 82% of municipal mayors are worried about the disappearance of biodiversity, 87% even think that biodiversity is a way to fight against global warmingglobal warming. And yet, 59% believe they lack the financial resources to fight against its disappearance.
Why do we talk much less about the disappearance of biodiversity than about the problem of global warming, in your opinion?
Allain Bougrain-Dubourg : One of the explanations is that we see the devastating effects of the climate, whereas we do not see what use biodiversity has, we consider that we can do without it without measuring the consequences.
What should be done to place biodiversity as a central subject, in the same way as that of climate?
Allain Bougrain-Dubourg : There is a High Council for Climate, but there is no High Council for Biodiversity, it must become the High Council for Climate and Biodiversity. For the climate, we have fairly simple indicators and answers, we measure the carbonecarbone For example. But we do not have the same indicators for biodiversity, because the issue is very diverse. We have also lost proximity to nature: in the 1970s, there were “nature classes”, we took children to discover the newtsnewts in ponds, and that no longer happens. However, this also matters in protecting the environment.
What do you think of COP16 biodiversity which ended, without any real agreement reached in the end?
Allain Bougrain-Dubourg : I have been to the COP since 1992 in Rio, I experienced moments of happiness and hope with the first commitments of the nations. Everything has been said, in 2010 we committed to stopping the decline of biodiversity, and we postponed this deadline each time. We also reduced our goals to make it easier to achieve.
Since the climate is at the heart of the discussions, there is also the question of the development of renewable energies: but in certain cases, there are counterproductive effects on biodiversity, too rarely mentioned…
Allain Bougrain-Dubourg : I asked that there be no wind power in the forest and I have already spoken to the Ministry of Agriculture about it. We must also look at the cumulative effect: if we put wind turbines across the entire Atlantic arc, this has an impact on birds. migratorymigratory. Concerning photovoltaics, many farmers are tempted to give up their land to implantimplantbut here too the impact depends on the type of panels used. What is certain is that putting panels in a scrublandscrublandit is sterilizing a site potentially favorable to biodiversity. We must accept a simple strategy: we do not put renewable energies in areas Natura 2000Natura 2000 and other protection zones. Doing this with a wet finger is unacceptable!
What do you want to say to the general public, but also to decision-makers, to help you in your fight for biodiversity?
Allain Bougrain-Dubourg : For the general public, join a nature protection association! Whether it's the LPOLPOor another. The more members we have, the more this allows us to be better recognized by the executive. And for the executive, we just have to respect the law and listen to science: we have admirable regulations, if they were implemented, there would not be this decline in biodiversity.
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