The government wants to extend for a second time the national nature reserve (RNN) of the French Southern Territories (TAAF), created in 2006 in the heart of the Indian Ocean, announced Tuesday the Ministry of Overseas Territories. This project, which received a favorable opinion “
unanimously, with reservations
”
at the
end of September
by the Commission for Protected Areas of the CNPN (National Council for the Protection of Nature), will be open “
for public consultation from November 22 for three weeks,
”said the ministry in a press release. Following a first extension, at the end of 2016, the RNN of the TAAF, in the Indian Ocean, “
currently covers an area of 7700 km² of land area and 665,310 km² of maritime domain, in the waters of Crozet, Kerguelen, Saint-Paul and Amsterdam
”.
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The second extension envisaged in the draft decree "
will cover all the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of Crozet, Saint-Paul and Amsterdam and Kerguelen
", "
of exceptional ecological richness
", details the ministry.
It "
will mark the determination of France to ensure the conservation of these jewels of the Indian Ocean and to promote this model of management of our resources with our neighboring States of this region of the world
", welcomed the Minister of Overseas. -mer Sébastien Lecornu, quoted in the press release.
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This extension of the current area, "the
result of intense consultation with the actors of this territory
", "
will mark a considerable step forward in the protection of biodiversity and French natural spaces
", pleaded for his part Bérangère Abba, secretary of State to Biodiversity.
This reserve has the population of seabirds "
the largest in the world and populations of marine mammals among the most diverse and abundant in the Indian part of the Southern Ocean
", argues the ministry.
The procedure will continue in the coming weeks "
with a view to final adoption of the decree in early 2022
", he explains.