LIFE NaturArmy aims to establish the Army as a major player on biodiversity matters in the French and European institutional landscape. The LIFE project will also clarify the French ministry of the Armed Forces ’ internal decision-making rules on matters relating to biodiversity.
French ministry of the Armed Forces & biodiversity actors
The collaboration between the French ministry of the Armed Forces , as the manager of numerous Natura 2000 sites, and other bodies in the institutional landscape will be improved at national, regional and local level.
At national level, the roles of the main diversity actors (OFB, DREAL, DDTM, etc.) will be clarified for the Ministry staff. There are also plans to draw up framework agreements. An internal French ministry of the Armed Forces environment network directory will be drawn up containing the contact details of all the environment officers, their remits and their areas of competence.
At regional level, a diagnosis of the Joint Local Defence Environment Committees (CMLDEs) will enable the system to be improved.
At local level, experiments will be carried out on two military sites with a view to improving consultation and cooperation between the ecology partners and MINARM staff using dedicated tools (meetings and documents for non-specialist audiences). Ideas will also be put forward on establishing long-term partnerships between the armed forces and the CENs.
Progress so far
The French ministry of the Armed Forces launched a project entitled MAP’ENVIR, which concerns a networking app for the ministry’s staff with responsibility for environmental matters. The resulting directory was made available in 2021. Since the beginning of the LIFE project, the CEN-Army partnership has also developed. 6 new military sites have set up ecological partnerships with a CEN.
Ministerial biodiversity strategy
The French ministry of the Armed Forces wishes to develop a specific biodiversity policy through a ministerial strategy on preserving the biodiversity of military land.
Drawn up by the Directorate for Territories, Property and the Environment (DTIE, formerly the DPMA), this strategy will explicitly set out the aims of the French ministry of the Armed Forces (knowledge, actions, funding and governance) and will enable it to extend the exemplary management of biodiversity to all military sites.
Progress so far
The ministerial strategy on the preservation of biodiversity for 2030 was published in 2021, during the UICN World Congress.
To achieve its ambitious objectives, the Ministry plans to spend €2 million a year between 2022 and 2027 to fund ecological management plans for its sites, research programmes and the local initiatives undertaken by its environment officers.
As far as human resources are concerned, the Ministry is assigning more staff to the departments in charge of environmental policy (+ 114 jobs by 2025).
Project partners
