Can a territorial policy be based on science alone?: The system for creating the Natura 2000 network in France

Decreed in May 1992 by the EEc with a view to conserving biodiversity, the Habitats directive envisages, between now and the year 2004, constructing a European ecological network named Natura 2000. The implementation of the network, based firstly on compiling a list of habitats and species that could be recognized as being of Community importance, generated considerable conflict in France, to the extent that the directive was suspended in July 1996. The analysis of the Habitats directive system has taken a two-fold approach. The procedures first of all correspond to the tools for reaching the goals set out in the Brussels text, in the time allowed and based on scientific criteria. The second dimension refers to an interpretation of the debates and conflicts generated by the application of the directive's conservation measures on the territory. This second dimension in fact would have been difficult to implement were it not for the support of the area administrators, since their involvement was crucial. In this context, we have interpreted the changes in the procedures of the Habitats directive and the role given to negotiations as well as the issues raised by the nature conservation policies that could no longer be restricted to scientific criteria.