RRI Green Planning Archives: France

Environmental Management In France: Background (current to 2000)

Areas of Concern

Although some improvements have been achieved in a few sectors during the last years, there is still a lot to be achieved. Areas of concern include:

Air Pollution

Since 1980 there has been a decrease in the main emissions responsible for air pollution, as a result of efforts made in both industry and homesto diversify energy sources. The emissions caused by the transport industry, however, have increased, the transportation causes a third of carbon dioxide emissions.

Pollution of Coastal and Freshwaters

Although the concentrations of some chemical pollutants are decreasing, nonetheless there is still considerable contamination of the estaury of the Seine by PCBs and high concentrations of cadmium at the mouth of the Gironde.

Waste Management

Though the local authorities management budget as well as the quantity of waste collected and treated has increased, half of the waste still goes to the garbage dump.

Land Management

Between 1975 and 1995, 25% of grasslands were transformed into either fields for growing cereals and high-protein oil seed crops or into fallow land. Grasslands however play a significant role in controlling water levels and contribute to preserving biodiversity.

Pollution Taxes

Pollution taxes are on the increase in France but the proceeds are low. Taxes are increasingly used in environmental policy under the polluter-pays principle. The number of taxes applied has doubled in 10 years but the amount of money they generate remains low.

Drinking Water

Overall, the quality of tap water is improving but, in the future, preventing action needs to be developed, e.g. reducing inputs from agricultural activities, extending grassland, upgrading animal housing to the standards set by law and adopting farm slurry spreading plans etc.

Green Planning

1. Principles

• Think global
  (interlock global, continental, national, regional and local decision-making)
• Subsidiarity principle
  (to ensure that local issues and their foreseeable consequences are tackled in the most appropriate manner)
• Precautionary principle
• Cost reduction
  (Reducing the costs for inovations and prevention)
• More rigorous application of the environmental laws
• Decentralisation of the responsibilities and integration of issues on the environment into the whole society

2. Policy Development

Three years after the Club of Rome published its report "Limit of Growth" in 1968 the Ministery of the Environment was created in 1971. The first environmental community action program was set up in 1973, one year after the first United Nations Conference concerning the environment in Stockholm. During the 70s several conventions were adopted, in areas like polution of the river Rhine or transfrontier air pollution. The environmentally harmful accidents of the 80s (Tchernobyl in 1986, pollution of the river Rhine through the Sanoz de Bâle company in the same year, Exxon-Valdez in Alaska in 1989) rose the awareness furthermore. Considering the Brundtland Report in 1987, a change was created towards an integration of the environment into the process of economic development in France.

3. Policy Implementation

3.1 Ministry of the Environment

When it was established in 1971, the Ministry of the Environment, at that time the "Ministry for the Protection of Nature and the Environment", was responsible for coordinating the different activities of the various ministries and for organizing the United Nations Conference in Stockholm in 1972.

Over the last twenty years, the responsabilities of the Ministry have expanded so as to reflect increasing national and international awareness, following which:

• certain natural resources, such as water, previously regarded as inexhaustible, are now seen as rare and necessary;
• environmental and health issues are closely interdependant;
• the economic and technological stakes are high when dealing with the environment;
• accumulated local pollution can adversely affect the planet, this issue was stressed at the June 1992 Rio Summit Conference.

The Ministry of the Environment's current mission is to monitor the quality of the environment, protect nature, prevent, reduce or totally eliminate pollution and other nuisances, and enhance the quality of life.

With this spirit in mind, it conducts two different types of actions.

The first are aimed at preserving and protecting spaces and species: this includes the prevention of pollution and of major risks, both nature conservation, the protection of landscapes and sites and lastly the management of water resources.

The second are aimed at developing research, at improving knowledge of the state of the environment and taking account of concerns at both the European and international levels.

Both above-mentioned actions also contribute to educating, training, heightening the awareness and informing all the actors, wether public or private, that are able to contribute to the environment's protection.

To perform these missions, the Ministry has a number of specific powers:

• regulating and managing freshwater fishing, hunting, water resources and classified installations, as well as the management of waste disposal and the control of noisy activities or devices etc.
• proposing and instilling an environmental dynamic in the economic and social field.

The National Network

Within France, 26 Regional Departments of the Environment ("DIREN") together with the Industrial Environmental Services of the 24 Regional Departments for Industry, Research and the Environment ("DRIRE") are in charge, under the Regional Grefect's authority, for locally implemeting the policies defined at the national level. At the level of the departments, the Ministry's work is carried out mainly by the Departments of Health and Social Affairs ("DDAS"), the District Infrastructure Departments ("DDE") and the District Department for Agriculture and Forests ("DDAF").

State-supervised or Jointly-supervised Public Corporations

Some of these operate at the national level, such as the French Environment and Energy Control Agency ("ADEME"), the National Agency for the management of Radioactive Waste ("ANDRA"), the French Environmental Institute ("IFEN"), the National Museum of Natural History, the Fisheries Council ("CSP"), the National Forestry Office ("ONF") and the Conservatory of Coastal Areas and Lakeside Shores. Others operate at regional level, such as the water agencies and national parks.

Advisory Bodies attached to the Ministry

The following four bodies: the National Council for the Protection of Nature, the national Council for Noise Pollution, the National Water Committer, the High-council for Classified Installations; are each responsible for their own sector, and assist the Minister in making decisions through their recommandations. This also applies in the case of the French Sustainable Development Commission attached to the office of the Prime Minister and which advises the authorities on the implementation of the decisions taken at the June 1992 Rio Summit Conference.

3.2 The French Institute for the Environment (IFEN)

The French Institute for the Environment (Institut français de l'environnement or IFEN) was established in 1991. It is a public administrative body under the authority of the French Ministry of Environment and constitutes its statistical department. IFEN undertakes and coordinates the collection, processing and dissemination of statistics and data on the environment as well as on natural and technological risks. It helps to define and harmonise methodologies used to gather environmental data for the purpose of general knowledge.

IFEN conducts studies and reports on the state of the environment and trends, the economic and social dimensions of the environment and is devising a system of sustainable development indicators. The institute is also the focal point of the European Environment Agency (EEA) based in Copenhagen (Denmark). It is involved in the work undertaken by international organisations (EUROSTAT, OECD and the UN) and in bilateral cooperation programmes.

Guidance in its work is provided by three bodies: the Board comprising 23 members, the Scientific Council (15 members) and the Users' Committee (15 members).

Working closely with the relevant national and international institutions, particularly EEA, IFEN's task is to produce and disseminate scientific and statistical documents and information in the following areas:

• land use and natural resources
• land cover and landscapes
• the state of fauna, flora, terrestrial and marine ecosystems,
• protection of coastal and mountain areas and other protected or sensitive areas
• water quality and pollutant discharges
• air quality and pollutant emissions
• soil quality
• waste management
• noise
• the urban environment
• the release of chemicals and the resulting impacts on the environment
• natural and technological risks
• public opinion and behaviour concerning the environment.

3.3 Awareness Raising

The success of measures geared towards sustainable development depends on public opinion and on individual behavior patterns and decisions. Raising awareness among the public depends first on raising awareness among its elected representatives. This is why conventions on sustainable development have been held. These meetings were organized on the initiative of regional councils. Politically elected representatives as well as a number of businesses took part in workshops on specific topics. The topics addressed varied according to the local priorities, and aimed to stimulate discussions among all those concerned.

Furthermore, to influence the public opinion some towns produced municipal advertising campaigns and publications.

4. State of the Environment

The French Institute for the Environment (Institut français de l'environnement or IFEN) was established in 1991. IFEN conducts studies and reports on the state of the environment and trends, the economic and social dimensions of the environment and is devising a system of sustainable development indicators.

The Institute recently published its second "Report on the State of the Environment," covering the periode 1994-1998 (Edition de La Découverte, Paris, 1998).

5. Future Directions

France is making slow progress in solving its most serious ecological problems. The annual review of environmental quality in France set up by the French Environment Institute (IFEN) highlights a range of issues where improvements are needed such as air quality in many country towns or the disposal of household wastes. The IFEN identified water pollution by nitrates as the most significant problem in France, because of the intensive animal farming, especially in the northern part. France has already been warned by the European Commission to improve its record on nitrate pollution or face possible legal action at the European Court of Justice.

There is also a need for environmental considerations to be taken into account by all governmental departements. Therefore a government committee is shortly to start work to look at economic aspects of environmental policy.