Standardisation of governance and proactive management protocols to reconcile military training with the conservation of protected habitats
Project Title
Start Date
End Date
Project Summary
LIFE NaturArmy (LIFE18 GIE/FR/001029) is a LIFE Governance & Information project coordinated by the French Ministry of the Armed Forces (MINARM), in partnership with the Federation of Conservatoires d'Espaces Naturels (FCEN) and six regional CENs (Champagne-Ardenne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Pays de la Loire, Loir-et-Cher, PACA) and the University of Western Brittany (UBO). Implemented between September 2019 and June 2024, the project is the continuation and national-scale consolidation of the local experiment carried out under the previous LIFE Défense Nature 2Mil. The central objective was to promote and strengthen the role of the Ministry of Defence as an exemplary manager of Natura 2000 sites in France and in Europe, acting simultaneously on internal institutional governance within MINARM, on the active management of pilot sites, on the training of military personnel, and on the construction of a European cooperation network among Defence Ministries. French military sites classified within the Natura 2000 network cover over 44,000 hectares, often harbouring richer and rarer biodiversity than surrounding civilian sites, thanks to the indirect protection afforded by restricted access.
Biogeographical Region
- Alpine
- Mediterranean
- Atlantic
- Continental
Habitats Type
Categories
- Management
- Monitoring & Evaluation
- Surveillance & Control
Context
In France, the Ministry of Defence is one of the largest public land managers with high nature conservation value, owning over 280,000 hectares of which more than 44,000 are classified within the Natura 2000 network. The indirect protection afforded by military use, which excludes urbanisation, intensive agriculture and public access, has preserved habitats and species of community interest in many of these sites in excellent conservation condition, often superior to those of adjacent civilian sites. However, until the project's launch, the nature management of these sites depended largely on local initiatives, not coordinated at national scale, and MINARM's internal procedures did not systematically integrate biodiversity conservation requirements into decision-making processes. There was no structured ministerial governance for the management of military Natura 2000 sites, and military personnel, despite operating daily within these environments, had little training on the obligations and opportunities arising from their classification within the network.
Problems and Threats Faced
- Absence of structured national governance within MINARM for the management of military Natura 2000 sites, resulting in fragmented interventions and dependence on local agreements between military commands and regional CENs
- Poor integration of biodiversity conservation requirements into MINARM's internal decision-making procedures (training exercise planning, land disposal, infrastructure)
- Lack of systematic training for military personnel - field commanders, officers, technicians - on the constraints and opportunities arising from managing Natura 2000 sites
- Absence of a European strategy for sharing experiences among Defence Ministries in the field of biodiversity management on military land, despite the common challenges shared by numerous Member States
- Biodiversity management on pilot sites not sufficiently coordinated or grounded in systematic scientific data, with gaps in knowledge of the conservation status of habitats and species
Objectives and Results
- Formalise 4 ministerial procedures for integrating biodiversity into every link in MINARM's decision-making chain: application of Natura 2000 legislation to military sites, reconciliation of Natura 2000 objectives with military activities, integration of nature data into the armed forces' geographic information system, and management of decommissioned military land
- Implement a ministerial strategy for biodiversity conservation on military land, with the signing of at least 10 new agreements with CENs and the adoption of biodiversity-friendly management on at least 11,000 hectares of Natura 2000 sites
- Ensure the continuity of good ecological management of at least 30,000 hectares of military land
- Inform over 100,000 MINARM officials and 100% of commanding officers, deputy commanders, training organisers and field commanders on the Natura 2000 network
- Develop and make available a Natura 2000 training programme dedicated to the armed forces, involving two military training schools in the preparation of future officers
- Build a European cooperation network among Defence Ministries for sharing biodiversity intervention strategies, organising 3 major European-scale dissemination events within the DEFNET network
Good Practice Description
the project LIFE NaturArmy demonstrated that a non-conventional institutional actor like the Ministry of Defence can become an exemplary manager of the Natura 2000 network, provided that biodiversity conservation is structurally integrated into the organisation's internal procedures rather than left to uncoordinated local initiatives. This shift in paradigm (e.g. from nature management as a bilateral agreement between a military command and a local CEN, to structured ministerial governance with dedicated procedures, strategies and training programmes) constitutes a replicable model for any public institution managing large areas of Natura 2000 land without biodiversity conservation being part of its primary mission.
The first pillar of the project was the construction of internal governance within MINARM: the formalisation of four ministerial procedures - on the application of Natura 2000 legislation, on reconciliation with military activities, on integration into the geographic information system, and on the management of decommissioned land - transformed biodiversity conservation from a voluntary practice into an institutional requirement integrated into the decision-making chain. This "from within" approach is fundamental: no external partnership with conservation organisations can compensate for the absence of internal procedures that make biodiversity-friendly management an ordinary responsibility of military personnel.
The second pillar is the systematic training of personnel: the project developed a Natura 2000 training programme specifically calibrated to the military context, involving two official military training schools to ensure that environmental awareness becomes part of the permanent curricula of the armed forces. The objective of informing over 100,000 MINARM officials transforms awareness-raising from a temporary campaign into a structural cultural change - a model of institutional capacity building of direct relevance to TraiN2K, which identifies the training of managers as a fundamental lever for improving the implementation of Natura 2000.
The third element of significance is the European dimension: through the involvement of the DEFNET network, which brings together the Defence Ministries of Belgium, Spain, Hungary, Romania, Switzerland and the United States as technical partners, the project transformed a national experience into a supranational reference model, organising three major European-scale dissemination events. This architecture of transnational cooperation between defence institutions is a unique case in the landscape of Natura 2000 governance, and demonstrates how specific sectoral experiences can be rapidly scaled through pre-existing institutional networks.
Impact and Results
- Formalisation of 4 ministerial procedures for integrating biodiversity into MINARM's decision-making procedures (Natura 2000 legislation, reconciliation with military activities, GIS, management of decommissioned land)
- Implementation of a ministerial strategy for biodiversity conservation on military land and signing of at least 10 new agreements with regional Conservatoires d'Espaces Naturels
- Biodiversity-friendly management of at least 11,000 hectares of Natura 2000 sites under military control and guarantee of the continuity of good ecological management over at least 30,000 hectares overall
- Development and provision of a Natura 2000 training programme dedicated to the armed forces, with the involvement of two military training schools in the permanent preparation of future officers
- Information provided to over 100,000 MINARM officials and to 100% of commanding officers, deputy commanders, training organisers and field commanders on Natura 2000 topics
- Scientific quantification of the high ecological value of Natura 2000 sites under military control, through studies conducted on pilot sites by the University of Western Brittany (UBO)
- Organisation of 3 major European-scale dissemination events within the DEFNET network, involving the Defence Ministries of Belgium, Spain, Hungary, Romania, Switzerland and the United States
- Construction of a shared European intervention strategy among DEFNET network partners for biodiversity management on military land classified as Natura 2000
