Why did Napoleon drain the Marais d'Orx?
So how come this institution intervened in the wetland? "In 1800, Napoleon ordered the draining of the wetlands because they were considered unhealthy, so he put them in the hands of the noblemen of the time in order to create agricultural land and ensure long-term health," explains Charrier.
Napoleon III installed a complex and innovative drainage system of pumps and dikes around the Marais d'Orx to create a polder, an area that has been reclaimed from the marsh which, once drained, is used for cultivation.
Charrier points out that this polderisation and draining of the marsh led to a great deal of development in the area. During and after the Second World War, this agri-food industrialisation generated some of the highest maize yields in France.
During this industrialisation period pumps ran on diesel and electricity, so although they were highly efficient, maintaining them was very expensive. "At one point, the landowners of the time were unable to maintain the system of pumps and dams, and water penetrated into the fields. What was bound to happen happened, every now and then half a metre or a metre of water covers the polder," explains Charrier.
The Marais d'Orx, used until the 1980s for agro-industrial purposes, is now beginning to attract the attention of the scientific community and also of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). "The Conservatoire du Littoral is committed to restoring this place, previously harmed, back to nature", expresses the head of the Conservatoire du Littoral in Aquitaine with pride. With the financial support of WWF, the institution has bought 1,000 hectares of the Marais d'Orx, which was recognised as a national nature reserve in 1995.
"We have gradually started to work with the Syndicat Mixte de Gestion des Milieux Naturelles, which manages and looks after the nature reserve and proposes a comprehensive project for the restoration of the natural environment". This wetland ecosystem is being used as a renaturation experiment in France which, according to Charrier, potentially serves as a model for similar projects across Europe.
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Euronews
a day ago
- Euronews
Why did Napoleon drain the Marais d'Orx?
Why did a public body decide to buy the Marais d'Orx? Ludovic Charrier is the chief diplomat at the Conservatoire du Littoral (CdL) in the Aquitaine region, a public institution primarily tasked with acquiring coastal sites in France. In 2025, the Conservatoire du Littoral, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, has acquired some 220,000 hectares of coastal land in order to protect them. So how come this institution intervened in the wetland? "In 1800, Napoleon ordered the draining of the wetlands because they were considered unhealthy, so he put them in the hands of the noblemen of the time in order to create agricultural land and ensure long-term health," explains Charrier. Napoleon III installed a complex and innovative drainage system of pumps and dikes around the Marais d'Orx to create a polder, an area that has been reclaimed from the marsh which, once drained, is used for cultivation. Charrier points out that this polderisation and draining of the marsh led to a great deal of development in the area. During and after the Second World War, this agri-food industrialisation generated some of the highest maize yields in France. During this industrialisation period pumps ran on diesel and electricity, so although they were highly efficient, maintaining them was very expensive. "At one point, the landowners of the time were unable to maintain the system of pumps and dams, and water penetrated into the fields. What was bound to happen happened, every now and then half a metre or a metre of water covers the polder," explains Charrier. The Marais d'Orx, used until the 1980s for agro-industrial purposes, is now beginning to attract the attention of the scientific community and also of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). "The Conservatoire du Littoral is committed to restoring this place, previously harmed, back to nature", expresses the head of the Conservatoire du Littoral in Aquitaine with pride. With the financial support of WWF, the institution has bought 1,000 hectares of the Marais d'Orx, which was recognised as a national nature reserve in 1995. "We have gradually started to work with the Syndicat Mixte de Gestion des Milieux Naturelles, which manages and looks after the nature reserve and proposes a comprehensive project for the restoration of the natural environment". This wetland ecosystem is being used as a renaturation experiment in France which, according to Charrier, potentially serves as a model for similar projects across Europe.
Euronews
a day ago
- Euronews
Marais d'Orx: how ospreys live
The Marais d'Orx nature reserve in the Aquitaine region of France is a 1,000 hectare wetland rich in history, nature and birds of prey that are returning to their natural habitat. In 1800, Napoleon had it converted into a polder, an area of drained wetland that has been reclaimed from the water, thanks to an innovative system of pumps and dykes. The aim was to cultivate arable land and do away with unhealthy swamps. Used for industrialised agriculture until the 1980s, the area is now a beautiful nature reserve and an important migratory corridor. The Balbuzard Plan: How do ospreys reproduce? The Marais d'Orx team, managed by Fabienne Puyo and led by Paul Lesclaux, has been working to reintroduce the osprey since 2018. The reproduction rate had been declining in the area. "This bird species, even if persecuted for decades, is philopatric, which means they have a tendency to return to their birthplace to breed after migration," says Lesclaux. Interestingly, they also tend to have the same breeding partner for life. After migration, they meet again in their nesting territory to reproduce. So if there are no young birds born in a colony, the population is in decline. The Balbuzard Plan, funded by the European Union from 2018 to 2021, has enabled the transfer of fledglings from other regions. These young birds adopt the Marais d'Orx as their birthplace, so they will return to nest and mate here. "We transferred the last fledglings in 2021 and 2024, and there are already 9 chicks that have been born naturally in the park from the ones we released." The programme has been successful and the population is growing. For monitoring purposes, an open webcam has been installed in a nest in order to follow the life of these birds of prey. From agricultural land to nature reserve After a long period during which the wetland was drained and used for agro-industrial purposes, the authorities took action to restore it. Since the Conservatoire du Littoral (CdL), a French public organisation established to conserve the country's coastline, acquired it in 1995, "there has been a desire to restore it to its natural state, to create a more balanced ecosystem which favours biodiversity," explains Fabienne Puyo, director of the nature reserve. Nature reserves like this help to mitigate the effects of climate change, Puyo explains. The director of the reserve also attaches great importance to education and public awareness. "Nature is a precious commodity, providing humanity with services that are often overlooked and undervalued.' Today the nature reserve is home to a wide variety of migratory birds, as well as other animals such as otters, turtles, reptiles and numerous species of insects. In 2015 the nature reserve invested almost €3.3 million (20% funded by the ERDF) to build an educational trail along a wooden path with several birdwatching observatories. This included the renovation of two jewels of the wetland's heritage: the Maison Béziers and the Maison du Marais. Today they serve as a visitor centre, exhibition centre and offices. Alain Oelick is an amateur photographer and bird lover. During our visit we accompanied him on his walk to follow the routine of the ospreys. "Whilst the ospreys were being reintroduced, the reserve allowed me to come and take photos to demonstrate how young ones develop and grow. His photos celebrate the process. The Balbuzard Plan is an osprey restoration programme in the Marais d'Orx. With a total budget of 351,007 euros, it was 80% financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). It has been 30 years since the Conservatoire du Littoral acquired the Marais d'Orx in 1995 in order to restore it. Today, the reserve is an example of the restoration of public nature attractions to raise visitor awareness and facilitate scientific research.
France 24
20-06-2025
- France 24
Thailand credits prey releases for 'extraordinary' tiger recovery
The release is part of a project run by the government and conservation group WWF to provide tigers with prey to hunt and eat, which has helped the big cat make a remarkable recovery in Thailand. The wild tiger population in Thailand's Western Forest Complex, near the border with Myanmar, has increased almost fivefold in the last 15 years from about 40 in 2007 to between 179 and 223 last year, according to the kingdom's Department of National Parks (DNP). It is an uptick that WWF's Tigers Alive initiative leader Stuart Chapman calls "extraordinary", especially as no other country in Southeast Asia has seen tiger numbers pick up at all. The DNP and the WWF have been breeding sambar, which are native to Thailand but classed as vulnerable, and releasing them as prey. Now in its fifth year, the prey release is a "very good activity," says the DNP's Chaiya Danpho, as it addresses the ecosystem's lack of large ungulates for tigers to eat. Worrapan Phumanee, a research manager for WWF Thailand, says that deer were previously scarce in the area, impacting the tiger population. But "since starting the project, we've seen tigers become regular residents here and successfully breed," he says. Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam have all lost their native populations of Indochinese tigers, while Myanmar is thought to have just 23 left in the wild, in large part due to poaching and wildlife trafficking. Over the past century numbers worldwide have fallen from about 100,000 individuals to an estimated 5,500, according to the IUCN, which classifies tigers as endangered due to habitat loss and overhunting of the species and their natural prey. But major tiger recoveries have been recorded in India and Nepal, where in recent years numbers of Bengal tigers have grown to 3,600 and 355 respectively thanks to conservation measures. 'Incredibly successful' In a forest clearing in Khlong Lan National Park, DNP staff open the gate of the sambar deer enclosure where 10 males and 10 females have been grazing. The deer watch cautiously as one brave individual darts out, before the rest follow at speed and disappear into the trees. Worrapan says prey release programmes -- now also happening in Cambodia and Malaysia -- are part of wider restoration efforts to "rebuild ecosystems" in Southeast Asia, where they have been adapted for local purposes from similar initiatives that have existed for years in Africa. The breeding and releases also aim to solve the problem of the sambar deer's own population decline due to hunting, says Worrapan. "The purpose of releasing deer is not solely to serve as tiger prey but also to restore the deer population," he says, adding that GPS collar-monitoring has allowed researchers to track their lives after release. He says despite having only known captivity, the deer show a strong ability to adapt to outside threats. "(They) don't simply wait passively. They try to evade predators and choose safe areas to thrive." Chaiya says only a small number of the released deer end up as predator dinner, with most going on to reproduce. The sambar deer and their offspring "play a role in the food chain within the ecosystem, serving as prey for predators," he says.
