Making an inventory of its biodiversity is the project of the Vercors Regional Nature Park, with the Atlases of municipal biodiversity. A deeply participatory awareness initiative explains Chrystelle Caton, who leads it.
This municipal biodiversity atlas project will then be submitted to the 38 elected officials of the Vercors municipalities (24 in Isère, 14 in Drôme). The Park is giving itself two years to carry out this inventory, with the support of the inhabitants, explains Chrystelle Caton, in charge of the project.
France Bleu Isère: That the fauna and flora of the Vercors Regional Natural Park is unique, there is no debate. This Biodiversity Atlas project, what will change?
Chrystelle Caton : The idea is indeed to carry out an inventory of the fauna, flora and natural environments, so as to improve knowledge of this local biodiversity, in 38 municipalities of the park. It will be a decision-making tool for elected officials, but also a way for residents to appropriate this knowledge.
Is it a new specific quality label?
This is a call for projects from the French Office for Biodiversity. The park responded with 38 municipalities, it allows to have a good knowledge of biodiversity, so as to better develop the territory and best preserve its richness.
It is a play in three acts: scientific approach, participatory approach, and awareness. How does it work concretely, and in what timing?
We have a little less than two years to carry out this work, and the idea is to create small groups in each municipality, with inhabitants, elected officials, so that it is shared, participatory, to carry out concrete actions. for biodiversity. There are scientific inventories carried out, with naturalist expert partners such as the League for the Protection of Birds and Flavia. We will also carry out participatory inventories with the inhabitants, via dedicated tools, collaborative platforms, to identify certain groups of species. There will be no need to have any special skills, it is suitable for everyone. Everyone can participate in their community.
At the time of Grenoble European Green Capital, was it important to associate the inhabitants, to invite them to get involved, beyond words?
Absolutely, we really want every citizen, every inhabitant to be an actor in biodiversity close to home. Often, the inhabitants are not necessarily aware of this fauna and flora. This is an opportunity to participate, and also to participate in conferences, nature outings, workshops, in order to discover this knowledge, this biodiversity.
Also invite the elected officials to take the stage of words, move on to action, at the end of these two years of inventory in the Park?
Absolutely. The inventory is an inventory, but also a decision-making tool for elected officials. They will be able to take this knowledge and put it to use in local urban plans, so as to see if there are hedges, remarkable trees, wetlands with challenges. They will be able to materialize them, identify them on their town planning documents, and allow a little stronger preservation of these natural elements.
Your Atlas of Biodiversity starts at a time when the IPCC is still sounding the alarm. If the planet warms up by 2 degrees, 18% of species will be threatened with extinction, 30% if the planet warms up by 3 degrees. Can these local projects help counter this predicted doomsday scenario?
I think it allows in any case to know better, to better preserve. If we impact this biodiversity through human development, let’s say, with urbanization, drainage, intensive agriculture, we have the greatest impact on this biodiversity, which is already affected by climate change. The fact of better preserving and making these communal developments, it allows to stop a little, to attenuate the effects of climate change, to have a better resilience vis-à-vis climate change.