Elemental Wetlands

In France, according to Article 2 of the Law on water of 3 January 1992, ‘wetland, whether or not exploited, usually flooded or sprinkled with #x27; fresh, salted or brackish water permanently or temporarily; vegetation, where it exists, is dominated there by hygrophile plants for at least part of the year’; Wetlands (HZ) are home to about 25 % of biodiversity in metropolitan France, but are among the ecological habitats that have declined the most (-67 % in metropolitan France in the 20th century), according to the Ministry responsible for the environment. These wetlands continue to degrade globally according to the Biodiversity Observatory. The Gers Department undertook, in 2009, the inventory of HZs of its territory. This allowed the identification of 733 zones that are described. The Department decided in 2014 to set up a department centre & Wet and Aquatic Zones; aiming at: & Coordinate all the actors and actions carried out in the Gers on wetlands and aquatic areas, beyond what concerns the restoration of rivers (competence of trade unions and CATER) and taking into account the specific actions carried out by all local operators, in particular CATZH (ADASEA). The objective is to strengthen the network operation of the operators of the territory & Continue the work engaged in the realisation of the departmental wetland inventory, to meet the complementary inventory needs in order to improve knowledge. Communicate and disseminate widely the documents resulting from the studies and inventories undertaken. & Ensure the inclusion of wetlands and aquatic areas in the policy of the Departmental Council: accompaniment of river trade unions, work carried out by the Departmental Council, ENS policy (Sensitive Natural Spaces) in line with the objectives of the SDAGE. & Establish a method of departmental governance on these issues, ensuring the exchange of information and cross-cutting and collaborative work: — Identification of issues and proposed scopes of action to establish programmes. Proposing objectives, prioritisation, and results to be achieved in a formalised document and ensuring that partners agree on shared objectives. — Identify the project owner(s) or project owner(s). Each member of the departmental cluster is responsible for sharing their knowledge of the local context. Consultation in the cluster will help to determine which of the most relevant project owners are. — The department will ensure the maintenance or creation of technical assistance missions in order to provide assistance to the owners or managers of these environments. __Origin__ The data came from the work of a departmental inventory carried out in 2009. The zoning comes from different organisations (ADASEA du Gers, Adour Institution, etc.), from #x27; surveys among the public and mayors of all the municipalities. This work has produced several thousand zonings. Only 733 were retained, on which a precise inventory was carried out. __Partner organisations__ Gers Department [See this page on geo.data.gouv.fr](https://geo.data.gouv.fr/fr/datasets/36d14d60703e5f95da4dacdf60479e758c628044)