The supermarket giant was planning to set up a warehouse a few kilometers from the Pont du Gard. The prefecture’s environmental authorization was canceled by the Nîmes administrative court on Tuesday, November 9.
Posted
Reading time : 1 min.
The disputed Amazon warehouse project near the Pont du Gard was blocked by administrative justice. Tuesday, November 9, the administrative court of Nîmes canceled the environmental authorization issued by the prefecture. A decision taken in particular to protect the magpies and amphibians in the area.
This is a new setback in France for the distribution giant, after two project abandonments according to the NGO Les Amis de la Terre. For Patrick Fertil, member of the ADERE association which lodged the appeal, installing Amazon near the Pont du Gard was nonsense. For three years, they have been fighting against the establishment of this 38,000 square meter warehouse in the countryside, just over four kilometers from the Pont du Gard. “Everything is human-sized and this is what was decisive in the approach that was taken”, he explains.
“It is a project which was perfectly incongruous in this place and which was not justified on a territory which is intended to enter a regional natural park.”
Patrick Fertil, member of the ADERE associationto franceinfo
According to the court, what the Amazon project would bring economically does not compensate for what it could destroy in environmental matters. There is no imperative reason of major public interest to justify the environmental authorization issued by the prefecture. “This shows two things, emphasizes Alma Dufour, from the NGO Friends of the Earth. Already wherever Amazon tries to gain a foothold, there is strong local opposition. The second thing is that indeed these projects have legal loopholes “, she explains.
#Amazon recoils in the face of mobilisations in French territories. After the abandonment of the Montbert and Ensisheim projects, the environmental authorization for the # Fournès has just been canceled.
Reaction ⤵️https: //t.co/92O58Awis3
– Friends of the Earth FR (@amisdelaterre) November 10, 2021
In the Gard, the species that got the better of the American giant are amphibians, reptiles and the southern shrike, which is one of the protected species in the region.
An Amazon warehouse project blocked near the Pont du Gard to protect flora and fauna – Report Etienne Monin
to listen