parc naturel et regional la camargue

Category: Natural regional park

DEFINITION OF A NATURAL REGIONAL PARK OF FRANCE

Natural Regional Parks were created to protect and enhance the open rural inhabited spaces.

A ‘Natural Regional Park’ is an area which is predominantly rural and whose landscapes, natural environment and cultural heritage are of a high quality, but whose balance is fragile.

A Natural Regional Park is organized around a collaborative project of Sustainable Development, founded on the protection and development of its natural and cultural heritage for the following twelve years. The rules of the game that the various partners have decided upon for the implementation of this project are a commitment to the framework of a ‘Sustainable Development Project’, recognized and guaranteed by the State. (Decree n°94-765 of 1/9/1994).

This project is established on a charter which is unique for each of the Natural Regional Parks of France.

Each charter fixes the goals to achieve, following the trends in the protection, enhancement and development of a Natural Park, as well as the measures which enable its implementation.

The trends : 5 large themes

  • The Protection and Management of Natural, Cultural and Landscape Heritage: managing rural areas in a harmonious way; maintaining their bio-diversity; preserving and enhancing natural resources, landscapes, outstanding sites worthy of development as well as energizing their cultural heritage.
  • Local planning, in respect of the environment.
  • Economic and Social Development: facilitating and coordinating economic and social development actions in order to ensure a quality of life, in respect of the environment of the area, while enhancing natural and human resources.
  • Welcoming visitors Education and Information: being in touch with nature, making inhabitants aware of environmental problems, encouraging visitors to explore the area through educational, cultural and tourist activities.
  • Experimenting: Programs of research and new procedures, new methods of action which can be undertaken all over the region, country as well as globe.

To Consult the charters of the different regional parks: