CNRS Foundation announces ENGIE Foundation support for the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems

The CNRS Foundation is pleased to announce the support of the ENGIE Foundation for the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems, within the framework of the “Sentinelles de la biodiversité” project, notably through the long-term monitoring of species contributing to marine aquatic biodiversity, and with the development of the Camargue Workshop Area.

The ENGIE Corporate Foundationfounded in 1992, is committed to contributing to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Every year, it supports over a hundred projects worldwide. With 50% of its projects dedicated to access to renewable and sustainable energies and biodiversity by 2024, the ENGIE Foundation is committed to the environment year after year. Biodiversity conservation, access to energy for all, education and the fight against poverty: the main priorities of the ENGIE Foundation are to take care of life and our planet, and to meet the needs of vulnerable or remote populations.

The territory of the Grand Delta du Rhône, or Camargue in its broadest sense, is made up of a mosaic of landscapes and ecosystems generated by fluvio-lacustrine and lagoon-marine influences, and the multiple natural and anthropogenic pressures that make it a space of rapid transition. Recognized as a biodiversity hotspot and wetland of international importance, the Camargue has become an area emblematic of the risks induced by the effects of climate change (flooding/submergence, zoonotic emergences, extreme phenomena, etc.), and a territory symptomatic of the profound and rapid mutations of Mediterranean coastlines, with implications for health (risk prevention). This context of transition has prompted the creation, by the CNRS Ecology & EnvironmentA workshop zone, the Zone Atelier Santé-Environnement Camargue (ZACAM), whose aim is to promote scientific research based on a “One Health” approach, with a view to the sustainability of the region, which is particularly affected by these transitions.

In the Camargue, numerous uses (economic, leisure, preservation) are being called into question, and the transitions that are taking place (undergone, proposed or imposed) oscillate between “laissez faire” (renaturation) and “engineering”, including heavy infrastructures for the preservation of activities, drawing uncertain trajectories and being the object of lively tensions. Given its location and its status as a “biosphere reserve” for its protected natural areas, it is the scene of a multitude of alternative “ecological transitions” that give rise to conflict and opposition, whether in terms of agriculture (rice-growing, wine-growing, salt production, etc.), conservation and leisure activities, or the numerous, high-impact decarbonization projects (close to the Fos-Berre industrial port zone).

The ZACAM intends to contribute to raising awareness of certain issues, notably health and the environment, in order to increase the capacity for action in the transition towards sustainability in the region.