French Office for Biodiversity

The French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) (Office français de la biodiversité) was founded in 2020, when the French Agency for Biodiversity and the National Hunting and Wildlife Office of France was merged into one national agency. The Agency for Biodiversity had been founded in 2016 through a merger of National Office for Water and Aquatic Environments (the former Higher Fisheries Council) with the National Park Service of France and the Marine Protected Areas Agency.[1]

Mission
  • Research and expertise on species, environments and their uses
  • Environmental police and wildlife health supervision
  • Support for the implementation of public policies
  • Management and support for managers of natural areas
  • Supporting actors and mobilizing society in favor of biodiversity

Source:[1]

Environmental police

OFB contributes to the exercise of administrative and judicial policies relating to water (pollution of the resource, damage to wetlands or the coast), natural areas, flora and wild fauna (game species or protected, fight against trafficking in species), hunting (counter-poaching, strengthening hunting security) and fishing. The OFB also organizes the review of the hunting license and issues the license.[2]

To fulfill this mission, environmental inspectors have certain criminal investigation powers enabling them to search for and find certain environmental offenses. Commissioned by ministerial decision and sworn in by the judicial authority, they exercise their judicial police missions under the authority of the public prosecutor. The environmental police also includes the administrative police. Within the OFB, environmental technicians exercise these missions under the authority of the departmental prefect. They issue technical opinions on projects subject to administrative instruction at the request of the prefect, and carry out administrative checks on compliance with environmental regulations.[3]

Organisation
  • National level, where the policy and strategy of the OFB are defined and managed (bureaus of the OFB)
  • Regional level, where coordination and territorial variation are exercised (regional bureaux)
  • Departemental and local levels, of operational and specific implementation (departemental services, front offices, nine marine natural parks and the Agoa marine mammal sanctuary, and 26 nature reserves)

Source:[1]

Personnel

2,800 agents (including 1,900 in French territorial entities and in the overseas territories). Of these, 1,800 are environmental inspectors exercising the police powers of the OFB.[1][2]

References
  1. L'Office français de la biodiversité. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  2. Police de l'environnement. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  3. Le portail technique. Police de l'environnement. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
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