FERALITY: A NOVEL CONCEPT FOR FORESTS

摘要

© AgroParisTech, 2021.Numerous agricultural or grassland environments left unmanaged are currently evolving toward more or less wooded stages depending on climates, soils, and human heritage. These environments belong to a rewilding process and can be considered similar to feral nature. A lot of them can be found in France, linked to various economic crises. The oldest ones are 100 to 130 years old; the most recent ones are 10 to 20 years old. They can occupy large spaces in the southern part of France. In this article, we present a few examples of feral nature in various regions of France, in the Mediterranean zone, in medium mountain, in Brittany or along rivers, in order to demonstrate the interest of these feral forests for the conservation of endangered species, from large insects to large mammals. French feral nature offers a huge, very concrete opportunity to recognise the intrinsic value of wild nature.