The environmental president of the Metropolis of Lyon, Bruno Bernard, unveiled Thursday the main lines of a Nature plan endowed with 44 million euros, which emphasizes the establishment of
"ecological corridors"
to preserve biodiversity .
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"This Nature plan is a very important element of our policy to preserve the climate, fight against heat islands but also to protect biodiversity, stop its extinction"
, he declared to the press in the Grand Miribel-Jonage Park, in the northeast of the metropolitan area of 1.4 million inhabitants.
"It is also a social issue because we need nature to live well (...) We amplify what already existed"
, added the elected EELV noting that the budget dedicated to this plan, voted in January, as part of the multi-year investment program for the community, represents a doubling compared to the previous mandate.
Environmentalists, who have governed the Metropolis since last July, intend to create urban forests, the first of which, made up of 2,600 trees and shrubs, was inaugurated in February in Saint-Priest, south of Lyon, and to strengthen the plan Canopy of vegetation cover for streets and public spaces, in particular to fight against heat islands.
"Ecological corridors"
Pierre Athanaze, vice-president in charge of the Environment, spoke at the same time of the future restoration of
"ecological corridors"
in the territory, to avoid
"the collapse of biodiversity"
by allowing animal and plant species to circulate, to s 'feed and reproduce.
“It is no use having lots of small preserved areas if they are isolated. They will have to be connected so that the species can colonize, ”
he stressed.
In total, twelve corridors
“of a few kilometers”
to several
“tens of kilometers”
, the restoration of which is considered
“priority”,
have been identified. The longest of them will link the Parc de Parilly in the south-east of Lyon to that of the Grand-Parc de Miribel-Jonage in the north-east of the city. Nine million euros will be devoted to the acquisition of land to implement this policy of revegetation of the territory. The Metropolis was also selected in a call for projects from the Water Agency to plant 28 km of hedges and create 28 ponds in the city.
