Last updated: June 2024
The Green and Blue Network in France is a national policy which "aims to restore ecological continuity in order to promote the migration of species and the resilience of ecosystems to face habitat threats and climate change. It also aims to strengthen the place of nature in the city and public awareness." In Montpellier, implementation of "this project has improved knowledge of the city's natural heritage and enhanced ecological continuity, as well as protecting, and sustainably managing high-potential sites and integrating the social dimension, raising public awareness, the observation of nature"(Ref. 2).
Green and Blue Urban Network (2013)
Maarten Thiels, retrieved 08/15/2018
Overview
Nature-based solution
- Blue infrastructure
- Lakes/ponds
- Rivers/streams/canals/estuaries
- In-land wetlands, peatlands, swamps, and moors
- Community gardens and allotments
- Horticulture
- Grey infrastructure featuring greens
- Alley or street trees and other street vegetation
- Riverbank/Lakeside greens
- Parks and urban forests
- Large urban parks or forests
- Pocket parks/neighbourhood green spaces
- Green corridors and green belts
Key challenges
- Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
- Climate change adaptation
- Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
- Habitat and biodiversity restoration
- Habitat and biodiversity conservation
- Regeneration, land-use and urban development
- Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development
- Water management (SDG 6)
- Flood protection
- Stormwater and rainfall management and storage
- Improvements to water quality
- Cultural heritage and cultural diversity
- Preservation of natural heritage
Focus
Ecological restoration of ecosystems, Protection of natural ecosystems, Knowledge creation and awareness raising
Project objectives
"Restoration of ecological continuity in order to promote species movement and the resilience of ecosystems to habitat fragmentation and climate change. It also aims to strengthen the place of nature in the city and public awareness." (Ref. 2)
"This green network is also intended to ensure biological connections between the different natural spaces. This is to ensure that biodiversity is maintained or enhanced." (Ref. 2)
The green and blue network the following objectives (Ref. 6):
-Reduce the fragmentation and vulnerability of natural habitats and species habitats and take into account their displacement in the context of climate change;
-Identify, preserve and link areas important for the preservation of biodiversity through ecological corridors;
-Implement the objectives referred to in IV of Article L. 212-1 and preserve the wetlands referred to in 2 ° and 3 ° of III of this article;
-Implement the water quality and quantity objectives set out in the master plans for water development and management;
-Take into account the biology of wild species;
-Facilitate the genetic exchanges necessary for the survival of species of wild fauna and flora;
-Improve the quality and diversity of landscapes.
Implementation activities
-"The City's project focuses on the implementation, strengthening and development of biological continuities on the south-eastern fringe of the City of Montpellier, between the area of Grammont and Lez" (Ref. 5).
- Identification / Mapping
- Awareness / Communication
This project took place in 4 phases:
- Realization of naturalist inventories on each site: in order to determine the preservation issues, the management to adopt as well as the valorisation and the communication planning
- Study and project: to valorize these areas according to their use, their ecological interest, their location and their possibilities for restoration
-Work: reinforcement of ecological continuity thanks to plantations of local species adapted to the Grammont sites and the Parc des Pastourelles; Vegetation of the banks of the Lez (plantations and cuttings), control of invasive alien species for the Lironde. On the most suitable sites, improvements have been made to improve access to the public
-Communication: definition of the communication actions to be adopted on each site and the overall communication, Implementation of awareness-raising panels, naturalist trips and guided tours
(Ref. 5)
Realization of naturalist inventories on each site: in order to determine the preservation issues, the management to adopt as well as the valorisation and the communication planning (Ref 5)
Climate-focused activities
Climate change adaptation:
- Restore wetlands and/or coastal ecosystems to dissipate the effects of flooding and/or storms
- Other
Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities
Biodiversity conservation:
- Protect and enhance urban habitats
- Preserve and strengthen existing habitats and ecosystems
- Preserve and strengthen habitat connectivity
- Protect species
- Undertake specific measures to protect native species
- Undertake specific measures to protect valued species
- Control and clean invasive alien species
- Means for conservation governance
- Raise public awareness
- Public engagement
- Create and use scientific knowledge for conservation
- Capacity building
Biodiversity restoration:
- Rehabilitate and restore damaged or destroyed ecosystems
- Restore species (native, endangered, or unspecified)
- Clear and control invasive alien species
- Restore ecological connectivity
- Public engagement
- Other
Main beneficiaries
- National-level government
- Local government/Municipality
- Researchers/University
- Citizens or community groups
- Other
Governance
Management set-up
- Co-governance with government and non-government actors
Type of initiating organisation
- National government
- Regional government
- Local government/municipality
- Researchers/university
Participatory approaches/ community involvement
- Co-management/Joint management
- Citizen oversight (e.g. boards, advisory)
- Citizen science
- Citizen monitoring and review
- Other
Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project
-The national government and the municipality are the main actors specifically for the Montpellier Green and Blue Urban Network (Ref. 7). "Irstea" (National Institute of Research in Science and Technologies for the Environment and Agriculture) is in charge of monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of Green and Blue Urban Network (Uploaded document, page 7). There are different studies ongoing with the whole national project "Green and Blue Urban Network" (Please, see the list of the research projects on visiting the page of the reference 9).
The study was "Carried out in parallel with the development of the Schema Regional of Ecological Coherence of Languedoc-Roussillon, the planned actions take into account the orientations of this diagram. At the scale of the Montpellier Agglomeration Community, a work is also carried out in order to take into account the elements constituting the green and blue urban network" (uploaded document, page 1).
Project implemented in response to ...
... an EU policy or strategy?
Yes
("Montpellier has joined the CBD's "Global Partnership on Cities and Biodiversity" network to share all advances in biodiversity-friendly urban development" (Ref. 5).
"The green and blue network is articulated with all other environmental policies (protected areas, Natura 2000, regional natural parks, national action plans in favor of threatened species, objectives of good ecological status of water bodies, studies impact, etc.), in particular within the framework of the national strategy for biodiversity 2011-2020. In addition to policies based on the knowledge and protection of remarkable species and spaces, the Green and Blue Network takes into account the ecological functioning of spaces and species in regional planning, relying in particular on ordinary biodiversity" (Ref. 12).
)
... a national policy or strategy?
Yes
("The Environmental Code (Article L. 371-1 I) assigns to the Green and Blue Urban Network the following objectives:
-Reducing the fragmentation and vulnerability of natural habitats and species habitats and taking into account their displacement in the context of climate change;
-Identify, preserve and link important spaces for the preservation of biodiversity through ecological corridors;
-Implement the objectives referred to in IV of Article L. 212-1 and preserve the wetlands referred to in 2 ° and 3 ° of III of this article;
-Implement the objectives of water quality and quantity laid down in the master plans for the management and management of water;
-Consider the biology of wildlife;
-Facilitate the genetic exchange necessary for the survival of species of wild fauna and flora;
-Improve the quality and diversity of landscapes." (Ref. 5)
"The green and blue network is articulated with all other environmental policies (protected areas, Natura 2000, regional natural parks, national action plans in favor of threatened species, objectives of good ecological status of water bodies, studies impact, etc.), in particular within the framework of the national strategy for biodiversity 2011-2020. In addition to policies based on the knowledge and protection of remarkable species and spaces, the Green and Blue Network takes into account the ecological functioning of spaces and species in regional planning, relying in particular on ordinary biodiversity" (Ref. 12).)
... a local policy or strategy?
Yes
(In the document uploaded, page 2:
-Schéma Directeur d’Aménagement et de Gestion de l’Eau (Master Plan for Water Management and Management of the Region)
-Stratégie régionale pour la biodiversité (Regional Strategy for Biodiversity)
-Agenda 21 Languedoc-Rousillon (Region) )
Financing
Total cost
€100,000 - €500,000
Source(s) of funding
- Public local authority budget
- Public national budget
Type of funding
- Earmarked public budget
Non-financial contribution
Unknown
Impacts and Monitoring
Environmental impacts
- Green space and habitat
- Increase in protected green space areas
- Increased number of protection areas
- Increased conservation or restoration of ecosystems
- Increased ecological connectivity across regeneration sites and scales
- Improved prevention or control of invasive alien species
Economic impacts
- Unknown
Socio-cultural impacts
- Cultural heritage and sense of place
- Improvement in people’s connection to nature
- Protection of natural heritage
- Education
- Increased support for education and scientific research
- Increased knowledge of locals about local nature
Type of reported impacts
Achieved impacts
Presence of formal monitoring system
Yes
Presence of indicators used in reporting
Yes
Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports
Yes
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
Yes
References
1. Trame verte et bleue, centre de ressource (n.d). "Montpellier : d'un schéma des réseaux verts à la Trame verte et bleue". Available at: Source link (Accessed: August 3, 2020).
2. Source link (n.d). "Le réseau vert". Available at: Source link (Accessed: August 3, 2020).
3. Radisson, Laurent (2017, June). Available at: "Continuités écologiques : la Nouvelle Aquitaine lance un appel à projets". Source link. Source link (Accessed: August 3, 2020).
4. Agence française pour la biodiversité (n.d). Available at: "Organisation de l’Agence". Source link. Source link (Accessed: August 3, 2020).
5. Source link (n.d). "Biodiversité". Available at: Source link (Accessed: August 3, 2020).
6. Trame verte et bleue, centre de ressource (n.d). Available at: "Objectifs de la Trame verte et bleue". Source link (Accessed: August 3, 2020).
7. Trame verte et bleue, centre de ressource (n.d). Available at: "Organisation et composition". Source link (Accessed: August 3, 2020).
8. Trame verte et bleue, centre de ressource (n.d). Available at: "Groupe d'échange TVB". Source link (Accessed: August 3, 2020).
9. Trame verte et bleue, centre de ressource (n.d). Available at: "Programmes de recherche". Source link (Accessed: August 3, 2020).
10. Source link (n.d). "Réseaux d'observation citoyens". Available at: Source link (Accessed: August 3, 2020).
11. Virtual Platform of the Discovery of the Green Network of Montpellier (n.d). Available at: Source link (Accessed: August 3, 2020).
12. Trame verte et bleue, centre de ressource (n.d). "Suivi et évaluation". Available at: Source link (Accessed: August 3, 2020).
2. Source link (n.d). "Le réseau vert". Available at: Source link (Accessed: August 3, 2020).
3. Radisson, Laurent (2017, June). Available at: "Continuités écologiques : la Nouvelle Aquitaine lance un appel à projets". Source link. Source link (Accessed: August 3, 2020).
4. Agence française pour la biodiversité (n.d). Available at: "Organisation de l’Agence". Source link. Source link (Accessed: August 3, 2020).
5. Source link (n.d). "Biodiversité". Available at: Source link (Accessed: August 3, 2020).
6. Trame verte et bleue, centre de ressource (n.d). Available at: "Objectifs de la Trame verte et bleue". Source link (Accessed: August 3, 2020).
7. Trame verte et bleue, centre de ressource (n.d). Available at: "Organisation et composition". Source link (Accessed: August 3, 2020).
8. Trame verte et bleue, centre de ressource (n.d). Available at: "Groupe d'échange TVB". Source link (Accessed: August 3, 2020).
9. Trame verte et bleue, centre de ressource (n.d). Available at: "Programmes de recherche". Source link (Accessed: August 3, 2020).
10. Source link (n.d). "Réseaux d'observation citoyens". Available at: Source link (Accessed: August 3, 2020).
11. Virtual Platform of the Discovery of the Green Network of Montpellier (n.d). Available at: Source link (Accessed: August 3, 2020).
12. Trame verte et bleue, centre de ressource (n.d). "Suivi et évaluation". Available at: Source link (Accessed: August 3, 2020).
Green and Blue Urban Network (2017)
Maarten Thiels, retrieved 08/15/2018