The government presents a “pact” to try to put an end to the accelerated disappearance of hedges | EUROtoday

Every 12 months, practically 20,000 kilometers of hedges disappear, twice as many as in the earlier decade. To try to put an end to this phenomenon, the government introduced, Friday September 29, a “pact in favor of the hedge”. The goal is formidable: it’s a query of “winning”, by 2030, 50,000 kilometers of extra hedges. To obtain this, planting extra won’t be sufficient – between 3,000 kilometers and 5,000 kilometers are planted yearly. Above all, we should cease tearing up or permitting the current hedgerow to die, significantly due to lack of upkeep.

“That a Minister of Agriculture has the courage to say that we must stop destroying hedges and that they are important, it is historic and very positivereacts Philippe Hirou, the president of AFAC-Agroforesterie, a network bringing together 235 organizations. But much work remains to be done, and some elements are not yet satisfactory. »

In a joint press release, the League for the Protection of Birds, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), France Nature Environnement and Humanité et Biodiversité also welcome an ambitious pact, while raising several “sources of concern”. “The quantitative approach favored by the government seems to operate to the detriment of qualitative, estimate the four organizations. Beyond new plantations, it is essential to prioritize the protection and enhancement of existing hedges, which have the best ecological and agronomic functions. »

Increase the “hurdle bonus”

The advantages of hedges are a number of: they retailer carbon and water, shelter wealthy biodiversity, shield towards erosion and wind, and so forth. In April, a report from the General Council for Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas highlighted their accelerated disappearance. Subsequently, a session was launched by the government. The pact, unveiled by the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, and the Secretary of State for Biodiversity, Sarah El Haïry, describes six foremost axes. But negotiations should nonetheless proceed: over the coming weeks, the stakeholders (chambers of agriculture, agricultural unions, associations, communities, and so forth.) could have to agree on the modalities for implementing the twenty-five actions corresponding to these broad outlines.

Among these is enhancing information and planning over the subsequent ten years. A “hedge observatory” have to be arrange to perform a exact stock but additionally to monitor, in the future, developments in the hedgerow. “The important thing is that this observatory does not just look at what is happening but can also evaluate the effect of public policies”underlines Philippe Hirou.

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