France's highest administrative court, the Council of State, on Monday overturned a decree issued in July 2024 by the Minister for Ecology, which exempted projects to create bodies of water smaller than one hectare from strict environmental protection requirements in wetlands. The court ruled that the decree violated the principle of non-regression of environmental standards, enshrined in the law of August 8, 2016, for the restoration of biodiversity, which stipulates that the level of environmental protection can only be reduced by legislation. The decision followed an appeal filed by six associations, including France Nature Environnement, the League for the Protection of Birds, and Eau et Rivières de Bretagne (Water and Rivers of Brittany).
The annulled decree challenged a stricter regulatory framework established in 2021, which subjected the creation of any bodies of water in wetlands to three cumulative conditions: demonstrating a major public interest, showing the absence of a less damaging alternative, and providing for compensatory measures. It responded to a demand from the agricultural sector, expressed during demonstrations in early 2024, to facilitate the creation of reservoirs for water storage in anticipation of summer droughts.
An issue that goes beyond the surface area
The Council of State considered the relaxation all the more problematic as the majority of bodies of water identified in France have a surface area of less than one hectare, according to the national inventory established by the Ministry of Ecological Transition in 2024. The measure was therefore likely to affect the majority of projects, even though small wetlands play a recognized role for biodiversity, water filtration and carbon storage.
The court also notes that 41% of the main French wetlands deteriorated between 2010 and 2020, which led the public authorities to adopt in 2022 a national plan for the preservation of these environments running until 2026.
