The City of Paris has made measures to protect biodiversity that particularly developed and grew in the city’s parks and gardens thanks to lockdown.
In line with the Biodiversity Plan passed in March 2018, the City of Paris has assessed the impact of lockdown on the fauna and flora, in parks, gardens and cemeteries in the French capital.
And no surprise, this study has been able to identify places where biodiversity has particularly developed during lockdown with places of nesting, development of the local flora, precious for pollinating insects and natural micro-habitats for insects and birds!
So, to protect biodiversity in those spaces, the city of Paris has made several measures:
- Pitches will be saved as summer and Fall meadows, thanks to late mowing. This method will be made durable on a long-term basis, so will skirts around woods and permanent bushes in order to enable pollinating insects to find enough pollen and nectar. And birds will enjoy as well.
- In line with offering a variety of flowers, the city will let undergrowth grow and keep leaves and branches fell, spaces particularly suitable for earthworms.
- Some pitches will be mowed in order to resist better to stamping and make their regeneration easier.
- The management of trees and bushes will evolve as well. Climbing plants will be kept, especially ground-ivy to give shelter and a place of nesting. Bushes will be trimmed after blossoming for pollinating insects and mowing at the feet of the trees will be made later so that herbs can be used as shelter to many birds and insects.
- Wild plants will have their part to play in interstices in buildings, walls, fences, aisles in parks and gardens.
- Plants in humid areas will be thoroughly taken care of especially in places made in parks and gardens: ponds, valley gutters and lakes are places for precious and specific biodiversity.
- Informative boards will be set in front of those places enabling Parisians and tourists to learn more about protected species.
While reopening for parks and gardens to ultimately open, Parisians can discover this new biodiversity!
