Wetland

Typology

; The continental wetlands include/understand:

Stagnant waters: pond S, Gravel pit S, Lake S, Lagoon S, ponds, mouillères, retained stopping;
Running water: rivers, rivers, brooks and their sources;
Floodplains: marshy wood, alluvial or wet forests, wet moors, marshes, marshes, meadows alluvial or wet, ripisylves, plains and valleys alluvial, mudholes;
remarkable vegetable Zones hygromorphes: Alder plantation S, cariçaie, rice plantations, roselières, willow plantations, Peaty S acids or alkaline, paratourbeuses moors.

; On the Estran, wetlands of the littoral and oceanic fields include/understand:

Archipelago, islands and small islands;
Bays, splits, gulfs and Lagoon S;
Benches, littoral dunes and Beach S of sand;
Arm-deaths and arm of the sea low depth;
Deltas and Estuary S;
maritime Cliffs;
coastal Marshes, saline, salted or salt-water;
Mangrove S;
Pebble beaches;
Reefs coral or (seldom) consisted of bivalves

An incomparable natural heritage

The wetlands are écotone S, spaces of transition between the ground and the water, which fulfill various functions conferring biological values to them, hydrological, economic and sociological remarkable:

Of the biological functions:

The wetlands are remarkable mediums of life for their Biodiversité. Many plant species and animal are pledged there: in Metropolitan France, although they cover only 3% of the territory, they lodge a third of the remarkable or threatened plant species, half of the species of birds and the totality of the species of Amphibians and fish. They are places of shelter, nourrissage and reproduction for many species, essential to the reproduction of the batrachians. They constitute migratory stages, places of reproduction or wintering for many species of water birds and fish.

Of the hydrological functions:

The wetlands take part in the regulation of the flow of the rivers (attenuation of the risings, prevention of the floods and support of low water level). Their capacity to store and restore gradually great quantities of water, allows the food of the underground and surface sheets of water. By supporting purification thanks to their rich person Biocœnose, they take part in the safeguarding of water quality.

Of the economic functions:

Wetlands depend on many economic activities, the such breeding of shellfish, of molluscs or fish, the fishing or the production of wicker, salt or peat.

Of the social and cultural functions:

From their great landscape quality, the wetlands are places of relaxation, of discovered and leisures, favourable with many entertaining activities, such navigation, hunting or fishing.

A large biodiversity

A productivity record

Except in the very cold and acid zones, the wetlands gather the most productive ecosystems of planet.

An exceptional richness

The wetlands are among the natural environments richest of the world:

Remarkable species

By providing water and food to quantity of species, these ecosystems are of a large biodiversity, even under the moderate climates.

Some remarkable species of the French wetlands: Alose finte, thread-like Althénie, spangled Bittern, Cistude d' Europe, ashy Curlew, Fritillaire guinea fowl, Glaréole with collar, Grassette, Héron crabier, Linaigrette gracile and Otter.

the Rhine does not shelter less than 30 piscicultural species: Abramis brama , Alburnoides bipunctatus , Alburnus alburnus , Bearded bearded , Blicca bjoerkna , Carassius carassius , Chondrostoma nasus , Cobitis taenia , Coregonus lavaretus , Cottus gobio , Cyprinus carpio , Esox lucius , Gasterosteus aculeatus , Gobio gobio , Gymnocephalus cernuus , Lethenteron zanandreai , Leuciscus idus , Leuciscus leuciscus , Leuciscus cephalus , Misgurnus fossilis , Nemacheilus barbatulus , Bored fluviatilis , Phoxinus phoxinus , Rhodeus sericeus , Rutilus rutilus , Salmo salar , Salmo trutta , Scardinius erythrophthalmus , Thymallus thymallus and Tinca tinca .

the boggy mediums of France shelter many animal species of Community interest (within the meaning of the Habitats European directive): Crayfish crayfish , Austropotamobius pallipes , Bufo calamita , Bufo viridis , Coenonympha heroe , Coenonympha oedippus , Dytiscus latissimus , Emys orbicularis , Euphydryas aurinia , Hirudo medicinalis , Hyla arborea , Hyla meridionalis , Leucorrhinia will albifrons , Leucorrhinia caudalis , Leucorrhinia pectoralis , Lycaena dispar , Maculinea nausithous , Maculinea teleius , Mustela lutreola , Mustela putorius , Rana arvalis , Rana dalmatina , Rana esculenta , Rana lessonae , Rana ridibunda , Rana temporaria , Thersamolycaena dispar , Triturus cristatus , Triturus marmoratus .

An inheritance in danger

From time immemorial, the wetlands attracted the populations: the major part of humanity still lives close to the coasts or of the rivers and water is omnipresent in the cultural and social traditions. Because of their considerable productivity, they were regarded a long time as inexhaustible resources and also often like unhealthy and pestilential zones! Two reasons which served as a pretext for their continuous destruction. Like the forests, these zones not very accessible to the armies often sheltered those which wanted or were to hide authorities. The forests were split up, the marshes were drained, these two mediums having sometimes preserved the after-effects of old wars. Draining, clearing out, drainage, industrialization, Pollution, fill and urbanization did not cease reducing the surface of the wetlands: between 1960 and 2000. The Evaluation report on the public policies as regards wetlands published by the Prefect Paul Bernard in 1994 after an evaluation carried out of 1992 to 1994 concluded that approximately 50% of the French wetlands had still disappeared in 30 years, in spite of their priceless value taking into consideration service which they rendered, and mainly because of the public policies. It is in this report/ratio that the concept of natural infrastructure in the French administrative vocabulary appears. However, the recurring climatic catastrophes of these last years can only encourage to preserve or restore the wetlands.

Sometimes as in the Sea of Aral, it is the diversion of the rivers for the Irrigation, well upstream which empties and pollutes the wetlands, the there arriving water little being charged with Engrais, Pesticide S and Polluant S.

The restoration, protection and the management and rational use of these very rich but significant zones, by reconciling the social activities and economic with the durable maintenance of natural balances are not a Utopia ecologist: it is a civic duty in the interest of all and the generations to come, which devotes conventions of Ramsar and the European Parent directive on water.

Great wetlands of France

A strong political recognition

French texts

the Code of the environment:

Book II, on the physical environments: Water and aquatic environments;

Book III, on natural spaces: Inventory and development of the natural heritage, Littoral, Parks and reserves, Sites, Landscapes, Access to nature;

Book IV, on fauna and the flora: Protection of fauna and the flora, Drives out, fresh water Pêche and piscicultural stock management;

Book V, on the Prevention of pollution, the risks and the harmful effects: Installations classified for environmental protection, Prevention of the natural risks, Protection of the framework of life;

Book VI, on the applicable provisions in New Caledonia, French Polynesia, in Wallis and Futuna, in the southern and antarctic lands French and in Mayotte.

the Law littoral:

The law n° 86-2 of January 3rd, 1986, relating to installation, protection and the development of the littoral, was codified partly with the code of the environment. According to the article 1st, “the littoral is a geographical entity which calls a specific policy of installation, protection and development. The realization of this policy of general interest implies a coordination of the actions of the State and local government agencies, or their groupings, having for object:

- the implementation of an research effort and innovation relating to the characteristics and the resources of the littoral;

- the protection of biological and ecological balances, the fight against erosion, the safeguarding of the sites and landscapes and the inheritance;

- the safeguarding and the development of the economic activities related to the proximity of water, such as fishing, cultures marine, naval port activities, construction and repair and the maritime transport;

- the maintenance or the development, in the littoral zone, of the forestry agricultural activities or, industry, the craft industry and tourism. ”

the law on water:

According to article 2 of the law n° 92-3 of January 3rd, 1992, “the provisions of this law have as an aim a balanced management of the water resource. This balanced management aims at ensuring:

- the safeguarding of the watery ecosystems, the sites and the wetlands; : - protection against any pollution and restoration of water quality surface and underground and sea waters within the limit of territorial water; ”

the “laws Fishes”:

Law n° 73-1230 of December 31st, 1973, on the fishing rights in certain private salted ponds of the littoral;

Law n° 91-411 of May 2nd, 1991, on the interprofessional organization of maritime fishings and the marine breedings;

Law n° 93-805 of April 21st, 1993, authorizing an agreement between France and Switzerland on the exercise of fishing and the protection of the aquatic environments in the Doubs border zone;

Law n° 97-1051 of November 18th, 1997, on the marine maritime fishing and cultures.

the law LOADT:

According to article 23 of the law n° 99-533 of June 25th, 1999, Loi of orientation for installation and the sustainable development of the territory, “diagram of collective of natural spaces and rural services describes measurements suitable to ensure the landscape and environmental quality, the safeguarding of the natural resources and biological diversity, the protection of the nonrenewable resources and the prevention of the climate changes. It determines the conditions of implementation of the preventive actions of the natural risks in order to ensure their application adapted on the whole of the territory. ”

the Law of agricultural orientation (LOA):

According to the article 1st of the law n° 99-574 of July 9th, 1999, “the agricultural policy takes into account the situations specific to each area, in particular in the mountainous areas, the wetlands precisely delimited whose characteristics require the installation of a specific agricultural policy, at the underprivileged zones and the overseas departments, to determine the importance of the means to implement to arrive to these objectives. ”

The National plan of action for the wetlands

This plan, adopted by the French government on March 22nd, 1995, shows the will to act to stop the degradation of the wetlands, to guarantee by a good management their durable safeguarding, to support the restoration of the important wetlands and to reconquer the sites of national interest. This Action plan governmental applies according to four axes:

inventory of the wetlands with creation of a National observatory of the wetlands (ONZH), reinforcement of the tools of follow-up and evaluation, translated in a national plan of research on the wetlands (PNRZH);
consistency of the public policies;
to restore qualitatively and quantitatively wetlands;
to launch a programme of information and sensitizing of the administrations, elected officials and managers.

Ten years later, certain areas are very late for their inventory, and it is made only for the zones of more than 1 ha whereas the smaller zones are a really essential element of the ecological grid. The small wetlands continue with strongly regressing in France, mainly because of the agricultural Drainage.

This plan rests on:

of the existing tools for planning: management and master development plans of water (SDAGE), then regional environmental profiles, SRADT , etc;
of the instruments of protection: special natural reserves, protection zones, domanial biological reserves, fishing and hunting preserves;
land control: academy of littoral space and the lake shores, regional academies of natural spaces, national Foundation for the protection of the French habitats of the wildlife;
of the international labels: Ramsar sites, sites Natura 2000 (Large Brenne is an example of site controls Natura 2000);
of the financial incentives: European funds, program LIFE, Contracts of durable agriculture (CAD), funds of management of the natural environments, assistances of the Agencies of water, funds national of solidarity on water, departmental Tax on significant natural spaces (TDENS).

Texts of the European Union

The directives “Birds” and “Habitats” represent the Community contribution to the maintenance of the biodiversity as stipulated by the convention of Rio.

the directive “Birds”:

The directive 79/409/CEE of April 2nd, 1979, on the conservation of the wild birds, declares “that the conservation has as an aim long-term protection and the natural stock management as an integral part of the inheritance of the European people; that safeguarding, the maintenance or the re-establishment of a sufficient diversity and a surface of habitats are essential to the conservation of all the species of birds; that certain species of birds must be the subject of conservation measures special concerning their habitat in order to ensure their survival and their reproduction in their surface of distribution; ”

Article 3 specifies that “the Member States take all the necessary measures to preserve, maintain or restore a diversity and a surface sufficient of habitats for all the species of birds aimed to the article 1st. 2. safeguarding, the maintenance and the re-establishment of the biotopes and the habitats comprise following measurements initially:

a) creation of protection zones;

b) maintenance and installation in conformity with the ecological requirements of the habitats being inside and outside the protection zones;

c) re-establishment of the destroyed biotopes;

d) creation of biotopes. ”

the directive “Habitats”:

The directive 92/43/CEE of May 21st, 1992, on the conservation of the natural habitats as well as fauna and flora savages envisages special zones of conservation baptized Réseau Natura 2000 and defines a common framework for the conservation of the plants and the animals other than the birds - 173 species of plants, 71 of invertebrates and more than 160 the vertebrate ones profits from a strict protection -, and habitats as natural environments - 200 types of natural habitats are indexed: “considering that safeguarding, the protection and the improvement of the environmental quality, including the conservation of the natural habitats as well as fauna and flora savages, constitute an key objective, of general interest continued by the Community considering that, on the European territory of the Member States, the natural habitats do not cease being degraded and that a growing number of wild species are seriously threatened;

Article first: Community site of importance: a site which, in the biogeographic areas to which it belongs, significantly contributes to maintain or restore a type of natural habitat of appendix I or one species of appendix II in a state of favorable conservation and can also contribute significantly to the coherence of “Natura 2000” aimed to article 3, and/or contributes significantly to the maintenance of biological diversity in the biogeographic areas concerned.

Article 3: 1. A coherent European ecological network of special zones of conservation, called “Natura 2000”, is made up. This network, formed by sites sheltering of the types of natural habitats appearing in appendix I and of the habitats of the species appearing in appendix II, must ensure the maintenance or, if necessary, the re-establishment, in a favorable state of conservation, types of natural habitats and habitats of species concerned in their surface of natural distribution. The network Natura 2000 also includes/understands the protection zones special classified by the Member States under the terms of the provisions of the directive 79/409/CEE. ”

It includes/understands six appendices, whose two first were modified by the Directive 97/62/CE of October 27th, 1997: Appendix 1: Types of natural habitats of Community interest whose conservation requires the designation of special zones of conservation (coastal habitats and vegetations halophytic - marine water and mediums with tides, cliffs maritime and pebble beaches, marshes and salt meadow lambs Atlantic and continental, marshes and salt meadow lambs Mediterranean and thermo-Atlantic, halophilous continental steppes and gypsophiles -, maritime and continental dunes - maritime dunes of the Atlantic shores, of the North Sea and the Baltic, maritime dune of the Mediterranean shores, continental, old and decalcified dunes -, habitats of fresh water - stagnant waters, running water, sections of river to natural and semi-natural dynamics -, moors and thickets moderate, sclerophyllous thickets (matorrals), formations grassy natural and semi-natural, peaty high and peaty low and low-marsh, rock habitats and caves, forests);

the directive “Water”:

The directive 2000/60/CE of October 23rd, 2000, on the field of the water and the wetlands of the environment, precise: “On May 29th, 1995, the Commission adopted a communication in the European Parliament and the Council concerning the rational use and the conservation of the wetlands, which recognizes the important functions that these zones exert for the protection of the water resources. A policy of effective and coherent water must take account of the vulnerability of the watery ecosystems located near the coast and of the estuaries or in the gulfs or the relatively closed seas, since their balance is strongly influenced by water quality interior which are thrown to it. The protection of the state of water inside the catchment areas will bring economic benefit while contributing to the protection of the piscicultural populations, including the coastal fishing resources. The present Directive aims to the maintenance and the improvement of the watery environment of the Community. The quantitative state of a subterranean water mass can affect the ecological quality of surface water and the terrestrial ecosystems associated with this subterranean water mass.

Article 1st: The present directive has the aim of establishing a framework for the protection of interior water of surface, of water of transition, coastal water and the subterranean water, which: a) prevents any additional degradation, presents and improves the state of the watery ecosystems like, with regard to their requirements out of water, of the terrestrial ecosystems and the wetlands which depend on it directly; E) contributes to mitigate the effects of the floods and the drynesses”

International texts

the Convention of Ramsar:

The Relative convention at the wetlands of international importance, signed with Ramsar (Iran) in 1971, aims ensuring the rational and durable use resources wetlands and at guaranteeing their conservation. Canada and France adhered to it respectively in 1981 and 1986. In 20 years, nearly 800 wetlands of international importance were indicated, in particular of the transborder zones or the migration paths of birds or fish. This fundamental text declares that “the Contracting parties, Recognizing the interdependence of the Man and his environment; Considering the fundamental ecological functions of the wetlands as regulators of the mode of water and as habitats of a flora and a fauna characteristics and, particularly, water birds; Convinced that the wetlands constitute a resource of great economic value, cultural, scientific and entertaining, whose disappearance would be irrevocable; Eager to stop, now and in the future, the encroachments progressive on these wetlands and the disappearance of these zones; Recognizing that the water birds, in their seasonal migrations, can cross the borders and must, consequently, being regarded as an international resource; Persuaded that the conservation of the wetlands, their flora and their fauna can be assured by combining long-term national policies with a coordinated international action; Are agreed of what follows:

Article 2: 2. The choice of the wetlands to register on the List should be founded on their international importance from the point of view ecological, botanical, zoological, limnologic or hydrological. Should be registered, initially, the wetlands having an international importance for the water birds in all seasons.

Article 3: 1. The Contracting parties work out and apply their plans of installation in order to support the conservation of the wetlands registered to the List and, as much as possible, the rational use of the wetlands of their territory.

Article 4: 1. Each Contracting party supports the conservation of the wetlands and the water birds by creating natural reserves in the wetlands, that those are or not registered on the List, and provides in an adequate way for their monitoring. ”

the convention of Bern:

The preamble to the relative convention to the conservation of the wild life and the natural environment of Europe (Bern, November 19th, 1979) gives the tone: “Grateful that the flora and fauna savages constitute a natural heritage of a value esthetic, scientific, cultural, entertaining, economic and intrinsic, that it is important to preserve and transmit to the future generations; Recognizing the crucial role of the flora and fauna savages in the maintenance of biological balances; Noting the rarefaction of many species of the flora and fauna savages and the threat of extinction which weighs on some of them; Conscious of what the conservation of the natural habitats is one of the essential components of the protection and the safeguarding of the flora and fauna savages;

Article 1: 1. Present Convention has the aim of ensuring the conservation of the flora and fauna savages and their natural habitats, in particular of the species and habitats whose conservation requires the co-operation of several States, and to promote such a co-operation. 2. An special attention is given to the species, including the migrating species, threatened of extinction and vulnerable.

Article 2: The Contracting parties take the necessary measures to maintain or adapt the population of the flora and fauna savages to a level which corresponds in particular to the ecological, scientific and cultural requirements, while taking account of the economic and récréationnelles requirements and the needs for the subspecies, varieties or forms threatened on the local plan.

Article 3: 1. Each Contracting party especially takes the necessary measures so that are implemented of the national policies of conservation of the flora and fauna savages and the natural habitats, by giving an special attention to the species threatened of extinction and vulnerable, with the endemic species, and the threatened habitats, in accordance with the provisions of this Convention. 2. Each Contracting party begins, in her policy of installation and development and in her measures of struggle against pollution, to take into account the conservation of the flora and fauna savages. 3. Each Contracting party encourages the education and the diffusion of general information concerning the need for preserving species of the flora and fauna savages like their habitats. ”

the Convention of Rio:

The preamble to the convention on biological diversity signed in Rio on June 5th, 1992, notes “that the conservation of biological diversity requires primarily the conservation in situ ecosystems and natural habitats as well as the maintenance and the reconstitution of viable populations of species in their natural environment

Article 8: Each Contracting party d) Supports the protection of the ecosystems and the natural habitats, as well as the maintenance of viable populations of species in their natural environment; F) Gives in state and restores the degraded ecosystems”

Notes & References

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