French Version
The knowledge of specific and ecological diversity under the patrimonial responsibility of the French state is a fundamental point. It relies primarily on the coordination of national or European qualitative and quantitative inventories, concerning the most interesting features of natural heritage.
The Article L.411-5 of the Code of the Environment puts the management of the inventory of natural heritage under the scientific supervision of the MNHN. The Natural Heritage Service provides on behalf of the Museum, the scientific coordination of the implementation of this inventory, established for the entire land, river and marine natural territory and which comprises an inventory of ecological, fauna, flora, geological, mineralogical, palaeontological and zooarchaeological resources and will ensure its scientific validation.
The results of these surveys allow the realisation of heritage data banks. The knowledge thus brought together are made available, in particular through the tools for a variety of users, from researchers in ecology and biology of conservation, to managers of natural heritage.
This work allows on the one hand to produce and develop reference status and on the other hand to structure an observatory of species and habitats.
The realisation of reference status of qualitative and quantitative knowledges on living items of natural heritage is a first priority for the National Reference Centre on nature and biodiversity. The need for such status is particularly expressed by the scientific community, for example through the DIVERSITAS program or special research in biology of conservation, environmental engineering. But the demand is becoming more and more upstream, either in the application and evaluation of policies for protection, , when studying the impacts of human activities and facilities or in connection with the generalization of management plans for species and areas. In this context, the unit tries to update the reference status already established and to perform assessments of knowledge in the fields where they are missing, especially when the needs have been expressed, both at national and regional level or European.
Producing reference status must include the promotion of knowledge as it progresses. This objective requires to continue the publication of its results to the attention of all types of applicants.
Alongside the species inventories carried out by the MNHN, a close attention focuses on a periodic updating program of habitats and specie.
An "observatory" focusing firstly on species and areas of the "Natura 2000 Network" will allow to understand the evolution and the future of these species and areas on the national territory. The MNHN, as a National reference centre on nature and biodiversity is the "flagship", leads and coordinates the data collection, necessary for the production of data synthesis and thematic cartography, essential tools for a sustainable management of the national natural heritage.
