VIDEO. Jean-François protects the forests by buying them with his association

“The question arose: but which forests are we going to leave to future generations, to our descendants? Are we going to leave a forest like this, cultivated? Or else, beautiful forests like that where nature expresses itself in all its splendour.“By buying plots of forest, this former logging employee does everything to protect them. His association has already acquired two plots of 34 ares, or 3400 square meters.

“I worked in the logging industry, I worked in the lumber industry and the sawmill industry. The jobs I took on in the industry pushed me to buy more and more wood, and when I saw the damage it was doing to the forests, I said, ‘No, you can’t , you can’t do that anymore.‘” Currently retired, Jean-François has set himself an objective: to save as many plots of forest as possible. With his association “Libre Forêt”, he buys land with the aim of “let it evolve at their own pace”, all without “human intervention”. “It’s called non-management”, he specifies.

In France, several associations have initiated similar projects, particularly in the Pyrenees. In national parks, 1.4% of forest areas have been deliberately left to evolve freely in mainland France. In the overseas parks, it is 58%. “JI strongly believe in the weight of citizens. If you have a considerable mass of people who think the same thing, who act the same way, well indeed, there can be a shift in society and in the world.”