France Relance Recovery Plan: the OFB supports over 100 new projects in favour of biodiversity in the territories

The French Biodiversity Office (OFB) unveils the list of winners of the second session of the "Atlas of Communal Biodiversity" (ABCs) and "MobBiodiv'Restoration" calls for projects, launched in July 2021 within the framework of the France Relance Recovery Plan, thus closing a particularly mobilising year in favour of supporting actors in the territories.

Launched jointly as part of the France Relance Recovery Plan, and with the support of the Ministry of Ecological Transition (MTE) for certain overseas projects, these two calls for projects aim to support local authorities and associations in carrying out projects to preserve and restore biodiversity.

In total, 107 projects were selected by the OFB, out of more than 220 candidates. The selection of the winners was based on the advice of the OFB's regional offices in conjunction with their partners (administration -DREAL, Water Agencies, Departmental Councils, Regional Councils, Regional Biodiversity Agencies, etc.), followed by the analysis of a National Selection Committee for each call for projects.

The proposed projects are often built in a participatory and concerted approach, in connection with public and territorial biodiversity measures (EU-Natura 2000 directives, areas under the French ZNIEFF category, green and blue corridors, national action plans (PNA) for threatened species).

In addition to the 12.7 million Euros already financed in total for these two schemes in 2021, nearly 4.5 million Euros will be mobilised in 2022 and 2023 in support to:

• 65 ABCs (Communal Biodiversity Atlas) projects carried out by municipalities, inter-municipalities, Regional Nature Parks and National Parks in metropolitan France and in the overseas departments and regions.
• 42 projects aiming at the implementation of ecological restoration actions led by local authorities and associations. Among the projects selected, 38 are financed by the France Relance Recovery Plan and 4, located in overseas countries and territories, are supported by the MTE. Note: 5 of them follow the completion of an ABC

The ABCs aim to provide volunteer local authorities with a real decision-making tool to better integrate biodiversity conservation into their public policies. The ABC, through the acquisition of naturalist knowledge on the scale of the territory and thanks to the mobilisation and awareness-raising of all the inhabitants and local stakeholders who take part, enables local elected officials to benefit, in the long term, from a map of the biodiversity issues at the scale of their territories.

The ecological restoration of degraded ecosystems is a major challenge for the recovery of biodiversity in the territories. The call for projects carried out by the OFB aimed to support the restoration of drylands and the maintenance of the species that depend on them in good condition (the restoration of wetlands is the responsibility of the water agencies). Project leaders could request funding for any preparatory or operational stage that met ecological restoration objectives, ranging from diagnosis to monitoring and evaluation.