This is a specialized legislative research report published by the National Diet Library in the "Foreign Legislation" series in August 2025, dealing with legal analysis of France's law on protection and compensation of agricultural activities from invasive species.
Legislative Background and Biodiversity Threats
With climate change progression and international logistics expansion, invasive species impacts on ecosystems have become seriously globalized. In France, crop damage by wild animals including boars and deer reaches approximately €100 million annually, with damage to grains and fruit trees by invasive pests including flies and beetles, pastureland vegetation changes by invasive plants, and pathogen intrusion into aquaculture causing serious agricultural management impacts. Individual laws including wildlife protection, plant quarantine, and fisheries laws made comprehensive responses difficult, increasing the need for new legal frameworks integrating invasive species countermeasures and agricultural protection, leading to this law's enactment.
Comprehensive Regulatory System
The Invasive Species Agricultural Activity Protection Law establishes a comprehensive management system consisting of four stages: prevention, monitoring, response, and compensation. The prevention stage stipulates quarantine strengthening for imported plants and animals, risk assessment system introduction, and early warning system construction. The monitoring stage institutionalizes mandatory biological surveys in agricultural regions, invasive species discovery reporting systems by farmers, and ecosystem monitoring through collaboration with scientific research institutions. The response stage legally positions emergency control measure implementation authority, exceptional approval for chemical use, and biological control method introduction promotion.
Compensation System for Farmers
The law's core compensation system positions invasive species agricultural damage equivalent to "natural disasters," legally establishing comprehensive loss compensation by national and local governments. Compensation targets include direct crop damage, production facility destruction, productivity decline lost profits, control costs, and alternative production conversion costs, with detailed compensation standards set according to affected farm scales and crop types. Compensation calculation is ensured objective and transparent through joint assessments by regional agricultural chambers, agricultural insurance associations, and scientific technology institutions.
Strengthened Science and Technology Collaboration
Through collaboration with research institutions including the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), National Museum of Natural History (MNHN), and Forest Service, early invasive species detection technology, genetic analysis for species identification, ecosystem impact prediction models, and biological control method development are promoted. Particularly advanced technology introduction including AI-powered image analysis for automatic pest identification systems, drone-based wide-area monitoring systems, and environmental DNA analysis for aquatic invasive species detection technology is legally promoted.
Consistency with EU Environmental Policy
This law strengthens French unique agricultural protection policy while maintaining consistency with European Union "Invasive Alien Species Regulation" (EU Regulation 1143/2014), "Common Agricultural Policy" (CAP), and "Biodiversity Strategy 2030." Particularly through promoting information sharing, joint research, and technical cooperation within the EU, cross-border invasive species countermeasure effectiveness improvement is sought. Regarding third-country invasion risk management, systems ensuring consistency with WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Agreement (SPS Agreement) are also established.
Integration with Sustainable Agriculture
This law aims not merely at damage compensation but at constructing sustainable agricultural systems through invasive species countermeasures. Organic agriculture conversion support, biodiversity conservation-type farming method introduction promotion, agroecology promotion, and regional native variety protection and utilization are comprehensively stipulated, with agricultural ecosystem construction resistant to invasive species legally supported.
International Cooperation and Technology Transfer
France utilizes this law's enactment experience to conclude technical cooperation agreements with African countries, Mediterranean coastal countries, and Pacific island nations, implementing invasive species countermeasure technology transfer, human resource development, and institutional construction support. Particularly in responding to global-scale challenges including biological distribution changes due to climate change and invasion risk expansion through international trade, French legal system and technical knowledge international deployment is sought.
Economic Effects and Rural Regional Development
Act implementation is expected to bring effects including agricultural damage reduction, farm management stabilization, and rural regional economic vitalization. Additionally, sustainable regional development model construction balancing biodiversity conservation and agriculture, ecotourism promotion, and regional specialty product branding support are also anticipated as secondary effects.
The article conducts comprehensive analysis from environmental law, agricultural law, and international law intersection perspectives of what insights France's invasive species countermeasure law provides as a new legal policy model integrating agricultural protection and environmental conservation to other EU countries and international society, and what contribution it makes to sustainable agricultural system construction in the climate change era.