Regional Natural Park of Camargue

The Camargue Regional Natural Park is a regional natural park in the south of France, in the west of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. It was created on 25 September 19701. It covers a large part of the Great Camargue between the arms of the Rhone delta.

The Camargue is a site of great European2 and national importance for local birds, migratory birds and especially for wintering birds, as it was the first French site in 2000-2005 in terms of the number of welcomed winters each year (122,000 birds, as opposed to the basin of Arcachon that welcomes 105,000). The Camargue is also known for hosting the flamingo3. For this reason, protection measures and international commitments apply in the territory of the Camargue4:

The botanical and zoological reserve was created in 1928. The ministerial decree of 24 April 1975 officially classifies the Camargue as a national nature reserve. It is managed by the National Society for the Protection of Nature. The protected area, mainly that of the Vaccarès pond, covers 13,117 hectares. It is one of the largest wetlands in Europe. The habitat includes 276 bird species, of which 258 are of cultural importance.

Part of the territory is protected by the European Birds and Habitats Directives, which translates into special protection zones (SPAs) and special protection zones (SACs), which are part of the Natura 2000 network.
In addition, 193,000 hectares have been classified as biosphere reserves under the UNESCO MAB program5.
Finally, 114 000 hectares of Camargue Gardoise and the island of Camargue (central part of the park) are included in the list of wetlands of international importance of the Ramsar Convention6.

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