More than half of endangered animal and plant species in France are not adequately protected, according to a new report by a French environmental research body.
The French Committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says 56 percent of animal and plant species (1,610 out of 2,857) threatened with extinction in France are not listed in any protection order.
Martine Bigan, president of the commission of conservation of species of the French Committee of the IUCN says the protection of biodiversity in France is "insufficient and partial".
The organisation is calling for a strengthening of measures to respect the environmental commitments made at the COP15 Biodiversity summit in Montreal in 2022.
While all amphibians and almost all threatened mammals and reptiles are subject to protection measures, spiders, sharks and sting rays have been left off lists in France, the IUCN wrote in a report released on Thursday.
Protecting habitats is crucial
Fish, invertebrates and plants are only protected "in small proportions, because they are not on the conservation radar," Florian Kirschner, from the IUCN told France Info.
But he warns that protection alone of the species themselves doesn't solve all the problems.
"What is essential is to stop pollution or overfishing or land development that destroys valuable natural habitats," he says.
Geographically, there is also a strong disparity, with endangered species in certain overseas territories such as Guadeloupe, Martinique or Polynesia appearing more neglected than in mainland France.
Among the unprotected species, the IUCN says more than 300 are critically endangered, the final category before extinction.
In France, ministerial or prefectural decrees list the protected species and specify a series of prohibitions, such as their destruction, the destruction and removal of eggs or nests, the collection or capture of specimens, their sale and the degradation of their natural habitats.
The French branch of the organisation recommends that these protection orders be extended to cover all critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable species.
'Out of date' orders
It also says the orders should include "near threatened" species which present vulnerability factors such as low reproduction rates, migration or because they are endemic species.
Protection of essential habitats for species should be systematically integrated into protection orders, the branch said.
Certain orders no longer meet the needs for protection of species in the face of current threats and must be updated by 2026, the IUCN says.
The organisation cites the example of those concerning plants dating from 1982, freshwater fish (1988) or certain insects from France, including the Agrion - a dragonfly with a body ringed in blue and black - classified as vulnerable and yet unprotected.
In a separate study released in April, the IUCN found that 28 different types of mushrooms out of 319 studied in mainland France were under threat of extinction or extremely vulnerable. Only a tiny proportion of the 25,000 different mushrooms that have been listed across French territories and yet to be evaluated.
Mushrooms play an essential role in soil fertility and the balance of ecosystems. They live in symbiosis with trees, providing them with nutrients through the roots. Mushrooms allow natural material to be recycled, but have not been subject to any protection measures until now.
(with AFP)
