The Association of French Mayors publishes a study in which elected officials are questioned about the application of the “net zero artificialization” law. They denounce too short deadlines and complex instructions.
The rules to achieve the goal “zero net artificialization” (ZAN) are considered too complex by a significant portion of mayors, the Association of French Mayors (AMF) denounced on Wednesday 24 July in a supporting survey.
The association chaired by the mayor (LR) of Cannes David Lisnard, who has long been fighting against the ZAN rules considered too complicated to be implemented, says it received 4,754 responses to its survey on the system, launched in the spring.
Established in 2021 by the Climate and Resilience Act, the ZAN objective aims to halve, every ten years, the rate of urbanization of natural spaces, to achieve zero net artificialization in 2050. It was significantly relaxed in 2023, with the granting of a “rural guarantee” that authorized each municipality to develop at least one hectare.
In France, 24,000 hectares of natural, agricultural and forest areas disappear every year, or almost five football fields per hour. And the consequences for the environment are dramatic: erosion of biodiversity, worsening of the risk of runoff, limitation of carbon storage.
Despite the importance of the topic, many mayors suffer from a lack of information and training. Nearly 35% of those interviewed believe they are not sufficiently informed about the application of this system, while 65% answered affirmatively.
Only 5% will have written the first report on time
Few (25.5%) indicated that they have started the census activities of natural areas, which should allow the monitoring of artificialization, and only 5% will have written the first report on the monitoring of artificialization in time.
The obstacles most regularly identified by mayors and presidents of inter-municipal communities concern the taking into account of “past efforts” or the definition of “projects likely to be shared on an inter-municipal scale”. Compliance with the first reduction threshold, set in 2031, is also indicated as a critical point by 58% of respondents.
Municipalities and intermunicipalities must coordinate their urban planning documents with the regional general plans, which in turn must be discussed with the State, a complexity regularly denounced by the AMF.
The association’s secretariat “calls for the end of the obligations deriving from the system that cannot be respected within the expected timeframes, as well as the redefinition of a method that makes the system more coherent with respect to the objectives pursued and closer to local dynamics and needs.
Erosion of agricultural and forest land by cities has deleterious effects on the environment and biodiversity and increases the vulnerability of cities to climate risks.