Allain Bougrain-Dubourg, President of the League for the Protection of Birds: "I must rise to the occasion!"

Since his early adolescence, Allain Bougrain-Dubourg (who will be at 4 p.m. on the Yitzhak Rabin Stage at the Jardin Albert 1er) has constantly defended the animal cause, in his programs, Des animaux et des hommes , Terre des bêtes , Animalia , as in his abundant production as a committed writer, from L'agonie des bébé phoques to his Dictionnaire amoureux des oiseaux (Plon. 2022). To go into the field, to take up the cause, (for twenty years to stop the poaching of the wood turtle dove in the Médoc!) and to continue to address the major environmental challenges every Saturday on RTL in On refait la planète . Interview.

Ten days before the opening of the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC-3), what does it mean to chair this festival?

I have to live up to this event! What's interesting is to see how it fits in with the UNOC and this theme of "Setting sail," which is very important. And I have a truly emotional thought for Boualem Sansal, who was forced to leave us. A very warm and peaceful man, the victim of ineffable violence.

Are birds the mirrors of humanity?

Birds are indicators of the state of biodiversity. Where they thrive in numbers, the entire spectrum of life—small mammals, insects, and amphibians—does well. Yet we lose nearly 20 million birds each year in Europe. And the most affected are seabirds, which are increasingly affected by accidental catches in nets, plastic pollution, and so on.

Have you expanded your reach beyond birds?

He remains its ambassador. But I also worked hard, notably to limit accidental dolphin fishing, going all the way to the Council of State and obtaining a spatio-temporal suspension of this activity that affected them. Since then, the number of carcasses has decreased by 70%. In a world where industry prevails, we have a duty to coexist judiciously with the living.

How to influence legislation?

We must listen to science and apply the law. We have remarkable regulations and scientists who are the heirs of Buffon, Lamarck, and so many other great lords of the Age of Enlightenment. The problem is that there are all kinds of lobbying movements that block progress and even rational management. And when we knock on every door—ministries, local elected officials, businesses—who since the Grenelle Environment Forum have eliminated greenwashing, and it doesn't work, we go before the administrative courts, even the Council of State, or the European Court of Justice, where I have also pleaded.

As an individual, how can we act?

Getting closer to associations. The LPO refuge is one answer. These are havens of peace, there are nearly 70,000 of them in France, representing nearly 80,000 hectares, and each time, it's the initiative of a citizen, who promotes biodiversity by installing an insect hotel, a small pond, and nesting boxes. I developed this approach with national monuments, and planted a tree with Yaël Braun-Pivet, to create an LPO refuge in the gardens of the National Assembly. And because I wanted the LPO to be able to leave its mark on UNOC-3, we came up with the idea with the City of Nice of a mural presented from May 28 to June 13 on the exterior walls of the Nice flea market. We have three original works by Sandro, who is a contemporary painter. There is the great albatross, the Balearic shearwater and the black-headed gull, birds that embody the sailor, with also a whale on one side and a jellyfish on the other.

Is the defense of biodiversity inseparable from that of the environment?

The climate issue has undoubtedly entered our consciousness. We are seeing the intensity of climate events, which are of a violence we have never experienced before and which are accelerating. On the other hand, we are not perceiving the decline in biodiversity. We have lost 800 million birds in 40 years. And 67% of the mammals currently living on the planet are human livestock. 30% are humans. 97% are humans and their livestock. 3% of wild mammals remain.

How did your vocation come about?

It brings me back to this idea of ​​setting sail. I grew up on the Île de Ré, and on the beach, I could see the horizon. And I dreamed of going to see the polar bear in the Far North, the penguins in the South, the panda in China, the anaconda in South America. And I met all these animals, all these places. It was miraculous for me. I was helped by people who trusted me, notably Jean Rostand, the great biologist. As I invested myself in trying to rehabilitate the unloved, the snakes and the birds of prey, he called me the apostle of nature.

What did observing him bring you?

It's an inestimable privilege. I wish everyone could marvel at the wildebeest migration or watch with equal emotion as a spider weaves its web. Listening, tasting, caressing, smelling, and looking—it's within everyone's reach. It's free, and we come away enriched. The book of nature opens up to our senses to bring us unimaginable happiness.

Nice Book Festival, this Friday and until Sunday. From 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Albert 1er Garden, TNN Kiosk, Promenade du Paillon, Nice Opera, L'Artistique, Aston la Scala Hotel. Free admission. www.lefestivaldulivredenice.com