Question 7263 — biodiversity

Summary

Mr. Léo Walter alerts the Minister of Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion on the situation of small mammals in France in anticipation of the new classification of species likely to cause damage (ESOD). On February 27, 2023, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne announced the preparation of an Ecophyto 2030 plan. It follows the first conclusions of the Ecophyto II plan. The announced objective is to do without of phytosanitary product in the treatment of crops. This objective is obviously a good thing, but it must be accompanied by solutions to help farmers. However, the Government's current method is, on the contrary, to avoid the development of alternatives, to justify the continued use of devastating products: this is the case of neonicotinoids, for example. However, natural solutions exist. These solutions are numerous and most reside at the heart of biodiversity: this is notably the principle of biological control. Indeed, as shown in the latest report from the French Society for the Study and Protection of Mammals “Opinion of the SFEPM on the classification of small native carnivores “likely to cause damage””, small carnivorous mammals provide numerous ecosystem services to agriculture. As example and like ladybugs with aphids, these small carnivores feed on rodents which degrade crops, thus regulating their populations - a single fox can eat up to several thousand rodents per year! It is with this in mind that the Government chose to financially support actions to set up shelters for small carnivores (weasels for example), near crops, in order to avoid the permanent use of baits containing anti-vitamin K (AVK anticoagulants), highly toxic and ecotoxic pesticides. Unfortunately, the classification of these natural predators as “species likely to cause damage” (ESOD) authorizes, among other things, their trapping and weakens their populations which are already facing numerous threats, including the decline of their natural environment. It is therefore depriving oneself of a perfectly natural crop protection solution. Also, a first solution to get rid of phytosanitary products, as announced in the next Ecophyto plan, would be to establish a much more restrictive list of ESODs and to further develop farm protection systems, rather than methods for capturing these mammals, which hamper the food chain and therefore harm crops. It is why he asks it to clarify its vision and objectives regarding the renewal of the ESOD list in the coming months, in line with the announcements of a reduction in the use of phytosanitary products for EcoPhyto2030.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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