Region Occitanie

Occitanie Biodiversity Regional Agency

Website

Zina Bourguet

President of the Occitanie Biodiversity Regional Agency

Description of Environmental Challenges of the Region

The Occitanie Region has a very rich biodiversity of heritage interest on a French scale, even global: it includes part of the Mediterranean basin, this being one of the 34 biodiversity “hot spots” identified around the world, and hosts more than half of the French species of flora and fauna. Presence of 215 species (144 species of the Directive Birds and 71 species of the Habitats-Fauna-Flora Directive) and around a hundred habitats of interest community in Occitanie, including 8 marine habitats. Occitanie is thus a territory particularly strategic for the conservation of habitats and species.

This heritage responsibility justifies the deployment of the Protected Area Creation Strategy (SCAP) and areas considered as remarkable spaces in Occitanie:

• 33,000 km2 of natural zones of ecological flora and fauna interest (ZNIEFF), land (i.e. 45% of the regional territory and 19% of the surface area in ZNIEFF 1 and 2 of France);
• More than 16,000 hectares of marine ZNIEFF;
• 264 Natura 2000 sites, covering 18% of the territory (264 sites participate in the Natura network 2000, including 201 designated under the “Habitat-Fauna-Flora” Directive, and 63 under the Birds Directive);
• 64,000 ha of wetlands of international importance (RAMSAR convention), or 0.8% of the surface of the territory;
• 51 nature reserves and biological reserves, including 13 regional nature reserves (i.e. 0.4% of the territory's surface area in RNN and RNR);
• 2 national parks (5% of the territory, including 1.9% in the heart of the national park);
• 7 regional parks, covering 20.3% of the territory, 2 planned (2.5%) and 2 under study and 1 park marine natural;
• In 2017, there were 43 projects eligible for the national strategy for creating protected areas (SCAP) in the territory of Occitanie, representing 68,557 ha, making Occitanie, the second contributing region to the strategy.

ENCORE Engagement

• Involved since 2012 in ENCORE events and Steering Group meetings, the Occitanie Region participates actively in the governance and workshops of the network.
• The Occitanie Region has hosted the TAIEX funded european workshop „Make space for biodiversity : the role of biodiversity in regional policies in Europe“ in spring 2023 in Montpellier, Occitanie Region (France), under the banner of the ENCORE network.
• Many cooperation projects were initiated under the ENCORE banner, such as the noteworthy multidisciplinary cooperation with the Generalitat de Catalunya.

Projects

• Regional observatory of biodiversity - Website
• Regional network of protected areas network - Website
• Regional network of local authorities engaged for biodiversity - Website
• Regional community for Avoidance, Mitigation and Offsetting environmental impacts - Website

ENCORE-Team in Occitanie Region

Simon Woodsworth

Contact
Simon Woodsworth, Director
Occitanie Biodiversity Regional Agency
Montpellier Office
Phone: +33(0)6.33.32.73.86
E-Mail: simon.woodsworth@arb-occitanie.fr