They should not go unnoticed this weekend along the roads of the Ile-de-France region, with their processions of bikes pulling large papier-mâché snails. Saturday morning, environmental protection groups in the Ile-de-France region will set off from the four corners of the region to the “Land March”, coordinated by
France Nature Environment (FNE) Ile-de-France.
The mobilization is inspired by the “citizens’ march” towards Matignon organized in October 2019 by the Collective for the Triangle de Gonesse (CPTG). In the line of sight of the walkers, there was then Europacity, this mega project of shopping and leisure center of 80 ha endorsed by the government and which was to mark the beginning of the artificialization of the
Gonesse triangle, in the Val-d’Oise, one of the last pockets of agricultural land (670 ha) so close to Paris.
Fronts far from being limited to the Triangle de Gonesse
Matignon will also be the point of arrival for this new Land March on Sunday. But the theater of struggles has widened very widely since the idea, this time, is “to unite all the collectives who oppose projects of artificialization of soils in Ile-de-France”, explains Margot Holvoet, regional coordinator of FNE Ile-de-France.
Saturday morning, Gonesse will only be one of the four starting points [le détail ici]. The one in the north. A month after the October 2019 march, Emmanuel Macron buried the Europacity project, but the CPTG remains mobilized while the construction of a metro station for the future line 17 remains relevant in the middle of the fields of the Triangle de Gonesse . Which, in the eyes of the collective, leaves few doubts about the will of the State to urbanize the surroundings.
To the east, the march will start from The Chapelles-Bourbon (Seine-et-Marne), where residents oppose a project to extend the
Val-Bréon commercial activity zones. In total, 150 ha of agricultural land are threatened. In the south, the walkers have an appointment
at the Zaclay camp, this zone to defend (ZAD) created last spring in opposition to the
creation of line 18 of the Grand Paris Express metro and the nibbling of new agricultural land that it involves on the
Saclay plateau.
Finally, a last step will start from Thoiry (Yvelines), focused on the challenge of the 43 million tonnes of backfill that will generate by 2027
the Grand Paris Express site with its 200 km of metro lines. “Several projects encounter local opposition *, some of which are, again, at the cost of artificialisation of agricultural land,” continues Margot Holvoet.
600 ha of artificialized natural spaces per year in Ile-de-France
So much for the four processions, which will include other fronts in the fight against the artificialization of land along their routes. The Marche de Gonesse will thus pass through the Jardins Ouvriers d’Aubervilliers, threatened by the construction of the future swimming pool for the Paris Olympic Games. The backhoes were in action in early September, a few days after the expulsion of the opponents, but the building permit has since been suspended by the courts. Likewise, the Thoiry march has planned a stopover on Saturday at the gates of
Grignon estate, which the State plans to sell to a real estate developer when an association
former AgroParisTech students, which had its campus there for decades, proposed to make it an economic center dedicated to agriculture, food and the environment.
Regarding these various artificialization projects, FNE Ile-de-France totals around 600 ha of threatened natural areas, mainly agricultural land. Six hundred hectares, that also corresponds to the surface of natural spaces (agricultural and forest) consumed each year, on average, in the capital region, between 2012 and 2017. “We are talking about net artificialization, ie gross artificialization less renaturations. When, for example, we restore quarries that are no longer in use to their natural state [ce que la loi oblige] », We specify to
Paris Region Institute, the Ile-de-France planning and town planning institute. Gross artificialization amounts to more than 840 ha per year, on average, over the same period.
Less advanced artificialization than in the past …
It is less than in the past. The Paris Region Institute, which has been doing the count since 1982, speaks of a peak reached in the late 1980s – early 1990s, with more than 2,500 ha artificialised per year in those years. The curve then fell globally from 1999, to arrive at 590 ha of net artificialization today.
In France, estimates agree to estimate the rate of artificialization at 27,000 ha per year on average. That’s the equivalent of three to five football stadiums per hour. And “Ile-de-France is the metropolitan region which urbanizes the least,” says the Institut Paris Region, although it concentrates 20% of the population and 20% of jobs.
But comparisons between regions remain perilous on artificialization, in particular with Ile-de-France, historically urbanized. And who, as such, can more easily opt for rehabilitating already artificialized spaces rather than nibbling new land for their development projects. A track not sufficiently taken into account to date? “Only 11% of housing produced in the region each year is built in urban extension”, tempers all the same the Institute Paris Region.
… But can still do better?
For Luc Blanchard, however, it is urgent to do much better. The co-president of FNE Ile-de-France refers to the Climate and Resilience Law, promulgated on August 22, which sets the objective of zero net artificialization in France in 2050, and that of halving the rate by 2030. “Declined in Ile-de-France, it would be necessary to arrive at 300 ha of artificialization by year in nine years, ”he says. Before recalling that in a month, the region must revise its regional master plan (SDRIF), a territorial planning document of which one of the pillars will be zero net artificialization. “We cannot be content to set off limply towards this objective,” continues Luc Blanchard. Especially since everything pushes us to maintain green networks and agricultural land in and around large cities, both to fight against heat islands as to preserve biodiversity and move towards a little more autonomy in our supplies. food. “
This weekend’s processions demand an immediate moratorium on the artificialization of agricultural land. Complicated in a plagued region to a deep housing crisis? “We could put much more emphasis on renovating unsanitary homes or converting empty offices, which are numerous in Ile-de-France, into housing. Margot Holvoet also invites us to look at “the debatable reasons” for which we justify the artificialization of soils today. Opponents of Europacity pointed to the excessiveness of the shopping center project, with its indoor ski slope. At the Jardins Ouvriers d’Aubervilliers, part of the plots destroyed – 19 for a total of 4,000 m² – “will be destroyed.
to build the solarium of the Olympic swimming pool », She laments.