Question 8247 — biodiversity

Summary

Mr. Patrice Martin draws the attention of the Minister of Ecological Transition, Biodiversity, Forests, Sea and Fisheries to the excess of power and zeal perceived during the controls carried out by agents of the French Biodiversity Office (OFB) in the field. Created in 2020, this public establishment with 3,000 agents, including 1,700 environmental inspectors spread across 270 sites in France, is regularly denounced by professionals in the agricultural, hunting and fishing world for its interventions deemed intrusive and repressive. Control missions, often unannounced, are experienced as a form of direct pressure, sometimes exercised in a climate of intimidation that is not conducive to dialogue. The armed presence of certain agents, including during interventions on agricultural operations, tends to further crystallize tensions, despite the circular issued in December 2024 inviting officers to carry their weapon discreetly as well as an individual camera. 50,000 checks were carried out in 2023 by environmental inspectors, of which 2,759 concerned farmers, or less than 1% of the 390,000 active farmers according to official data relayed by the director general of the OFB. Of these controls, half were compliant with the legislation. 1,360 reports were drawn up nationally, of which 594 fall under the jurisdiction of prefects and 766 under that of public prosecutors, which represents an average of 13 reports per year and per department. In this context, many voices are being raised to emphasize that strengthening the acceptability of environmental controls requires clarification of the objectives of the OFB, better articulation of its interventions with those of the decentralized State services and the public prosecutor's office, as well as the establishment of a right to make mistakes for actors in good faith. It would also be appropriate to provide educational sequences without verbalization, carried out in partnership for example with the chambers of agriculture for the agricultural sector, in order to anchor a logic of prevention and mediation rather than a repressive and guilt-inducing posture. So, he wishes to know the measures that the Government intends to take to guarantee environmental control action that is more readable, proportionate and better accepted by the professionals concerned.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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