The Administrative Court of Paris condemned the French State for ” faults in the protection of biodiversity, because it has not respected its commitments to reduce the use of pesticides. Seized by 5 environmental defense NGOs, the court recognized the existence of a ” ecological damage resulting from the massive contamination of water and soil.
It is a decision historical for NGOs. Climate, air pollution and now biodiversity. The court orders the State to repair the ecological damage, linked to the massive use of pesticides in agriculture, accused of causing a collapse of biodiversity, and to prevent ” worsening damage by June 30, 2024.
Justice recognizes once again the responsibility of the State in the aggravation of environmental crises.
Two faults are attributed to him by the administrative court of Paris. The first: its inability to reduce the use of pesticides in French agriculture, which is one of the greediest in the European Union. As early as 2009, the State had nevertheless committed to halving the use of phytopharmaceuticals in 10 years. This deadline has been postponed from plan to plan, without ever achieving an objective, which no longer even appears in the very latest.
The second fault of the State condemned by justice is its incapacity to protect its underground water against the incidence of these pesticides. Here too, France, like all the Member States of the European Union, had undertaken to do so by 2015. The deadline has already been postponed to 2027.
In the short brief to the court, the state tried to argue that these goals were only programmatic, but the court found them to be “binding”.
Unique reserve despite its “ culpable deficiencies with regard to the precautionary principle “, says the judgment, the State is not forced to review its risk assessment and pesticide marketing authorization procedures.
A point on which the applicant NGOs have already indicated that they would appeal.
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