Natural reserve

A natural reserve is a territory protected in a voluntary way, or following a measurement imposed by a state or a community, to preserve natural resources, possibly remarkable and/or threatened, that they are animal and vegetable alive species, of Minéraux, Fossile S, or the natural environment, being able to include traditional activities… A natural reserve can have a local, regional or national importance, which is not necessarily related to its surface.

The classification of a zone in natural reserve generally aims at withdrawing the medium from the direct impacts of human activities suitable for degrade the medium or to attack the species (voluntary pollution or not, case of arson, exploitation, drive out, etc). Sometimes, the manager also seeks via Plane a “of management” to limit more or less natural phenomena such as fires, natural filling of a lake, natural closing of a dry lawn, etc

Natural reserves are one of the tools for protection of the natural environments. It is complementary to other forms of protection like the national parks, the regional parks, the Conservatoire of the littoral.

To Canada, they can bear the name of “ecological reserve” . UNESCO supports a network of Réserve of biosphere. There exist underwater, rural reserves even urban.

François Terrasson often in its conferences and its works insisted on the intrinsic Paradoxe of this concept. A reserve cannot be natural. This denomination is a kind of “double bond” , source of Dissonance cognitive for the general public. It is also a source of faintness for many naturalists and managers (who know that nature is precisely for much, which is not managed but which car-maintenance). Without denying their utility (like provisional academy), he denounced the fact that it did not indicate what they were actually, and were often used as folding screen when they did not guarantee a broad destruction of Nature around these reserves.

Origins and history

The very first natural reserve of the world would go back to 200 after J.C, with the Sri Lanka. The king Devanampiya Wove having established a sancuaire wild life .

In the United States, the first National park is the National park of Yellowstone created in 1872, although a decree of 1864 conferred also a protection on the park of Yosemite (first regional park).

Functions

The reserves in addition to a function of protection direct of habitats and species have teaching functions and are often places of research, even of experimentation (for example of restauratoire management styles or academy).
Il exists in certain countries of which in France of the hunting preserves (theoretically obligatory on the territories of ACCA where the game is judicious capacity to reproduce).
Elles has sometimes function of compensatory measure following work having destroyed environmental resources.
Elles is finally nodal zones important for connectivity écopaysagère and the operation of the ecological Réseaux.

Natural reserves in France

Creation and management

In France, the protective system by natural reserve functions according to a high stepladder (even triple, “cf”. will infra):

national natural reserves, whose financial asset is considered to be national or international, and who are classified by decision of the minister of environment;
the regional Natural reserves (or RNR, which replace since 2002 the voluntary Natural reserves (RNV)), classified by decision in District council, whose financial asset is of regional level;
natural reserves of Corsica with particular status, share the nature of its administrative statute (see the detailed article Corsican territorial collectivity).

The classification of a territory in natural reserve theoretically prohibits any destruction and any modification of the medium. In certain cases the traditional activities like the Agriculture or the breeding, even hunting are maintained, and installations related to the opening to the public or hunting can have negative environmental impacts. Each natural site being single, the extent of the regulation and prohibitions on the territory of a reserve given and is on a case-by-case basis described in the order of the prefect which institutes the creation of the reserve. A perimeter of protection, terrestrial, marine and/or air can be defined around the reserve.

The decree of classification in natural reserve founds three types of new actors on the territory where the reserve is:

the manager: the law provides that perhaps a community, an association, a foundation, an public agency like a natural park. This organization sees entrusted responsibility to create Plane of management of reserve which will determine for 5 years the actions of conservation and protection of the reserve, as well as task to collaborate with two categories following, like with local actors (inhabitants, tourists, farmers, hunters, etc)
advisory committee, obligatory, is composed of prefect of department where locates reserve (or a co-ordinating prefect when the site extends on several departments), and representatives of all the actors in presence on the reserve: associations of protection of nature, fishermen and hunters possible, farmers, residents permanent and secondary, community (S), arranges water, ONF, etc the list can be rather long.
the scientific committee, optional, which allows the advisory committee and the manager to take measures of management and protection supported by scientific arguments. This committee can be common with that of another reserve, of a natural park, to be only abstract and made up of punctually consulted experts, or not to exist whole when the manager has the scientific capacities necessary.

Some figures

In 2006, one counted 310 natural reserves, including 157 national reserves, 170 regional, and 6 natural reserves of Corsica, for an entire surface of 5.400 km ², is approximately 1% of the national territory. Largest, located in Guyana, account 100.000 ha. On the whole that represents surroundings 240.000 ha in Metropolitan France and 306.000 ha in the territories of DOM-TOM. One finds there 70% of the natural habitats considered to be priority at the European level, 82% of the species of mammals threatened and 79% of the species of birds in danger.

All French natural reserves are gathered within an association called “ Natural reserves of France ”, from which the goal are the centralization of the relative informations to natural reserves, the exchange of the experiments of conservation carried out, legal information circulation near the managers, etc

In France, the first natural reserve was that of the Lake Luitel in the solid mass of Belledonne, created in March 1961.

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