A complete inventory of endangered animals and plants in France

Comité Français de l'Union Internationale pour la Conservation de la Nature (UICN), created in 1992, has forged an interesting partnership with two French ministries, 13 public agencies, 40 non-governmental organizations, and more 250 experts.They meet in specialized committees and theme working groups, in which the local authorities and companies are also represented.The French Committee of the UICN thus gathers together many environment defense associations, and has a network of volunteers, experts who are eager to upgrade all the land and maritime ecosystems, in metropolitan France and the overseas territories.The Committee's four principal missions are to meet the challenges of biodiversity in France and to utilize French expertise internationally.When requested by the French ministries, it participates in the major environmental debates, and enjoys observer status with the United Nations since 1999.

A common baseline, shared by all

The "Red List" of endangered land and marine species contains the latest information available on the risk of disappearance of plant and animal species.Each national "Red List", based on an international baseline, serves to determine the status of the various species making up our biodiversity, by educating the territorial players, from the nonprofit world to the mass public, about their vulnerability.

The French "Red List" is an inventory of the risk of extinction of the species in our country and the threats they face: it helps identify the species most urgently in need of conservation measures.While heightening the awareness of public opinion and political leaders about the importance of biological diversity and the threats it faces, it provides a coherent scientific basis for guiding public and private policies.

It is subdivided into groups of species and territories, on which booklets will be published from 2011 to 2013, starting, for metropolitan France, with Birds (nesting, hibernating and migratory) and Butterflies, freshwater Crustaceans and Sharks and Rays, followed by the vascular Flora. The overseas chapters deal first with the Fauna and Flora of the Island of Réunion, followed by Guadeloupe, and goes on to the Birds of all the territories.

Associated with the French Ministry for Ecology and other private foundations and partnerships, the Veolia Foundation is happy to support this project, which fits in with the National Strategy for Biodiversity in terms of knowledge sharing and public awareness. The Foundation is investing particularly in the production and dissemination of the booklets of results.