Preserve the biodiversity , a matter of survival

Prevention rather than cure: the first step in good biodiversity management is to avoid damaging it. For example, when planning a highway route, bypassing an area that is home to specific species, provided that the detour itself does not impact the surrounding areas. The additional cost of avoidance is offset by the absence of actions to be financed to restore or compensate for the degradation of species in the area initially targeted. Avoidance is the first step in the ERC sequence, which requires identifying and prioritizing the environmental impacts of a project.
 

This is the second stage of the ERC sequence, once the means of achieving the first have been ruled out: a mitigation measure aims to reduce, as much as possible, the duration, intensity, and extent of the impacts of a project that cannot be avoided, either totally or partially, at a reasonable cost. On a road construction site where noise has been identified as a major impact on the surrounding biodiversity, this may require adjusting the construction period to reduce noise pollution (to respect bird nesting, for example), or installing noise barriers.
 

As a last resort, when it has not been possible to avoid or reduce an impact, the Environmental Code provides for the implementation of compensatory measures to offset the significant direct or indirect negative effects of the project on the environment. These measures must be implemented as a priority on or near the affected site, on an ecological equivalence basis and in a sustainable manner, with monitoring procedures in place. For example, if the compensatory action consists of reforesting a deforested plot further away, it must be ensured that the trees chosen are suitable for the plot in question and that they will withstand the test of time.