THE INTERLIFE FRANCE 2016 MEETINGS

The InterLIFE France meetings, which were organised this year by LIFE Desman, took place on November 7 and 8 at Auzat in Ariège.

Participants came from all over France, including from Reunion Island, Belgium and the Czech Republic. In Ariège’s beautiful mountainous landscapes, the fifty or so project leaders shared their experiences in leading LIFE projects, in a friendly, warm and educational atmosphere.

Presentations, feedback, recommendations and advice sparked discussions on how to optimise LIFE procedures and tools. Different workshops took place during these meetings, including a technical workshop where the decision-making tree of agricultural technical itineraries to be taken, which LIFE Alister Project partners jointly built back in 2015, was presented.

In addition, the LIFE Desman project leaders explained to attendees how to set up a cartographical tool to favour Desmans in environment procedures. These two presentations were an opportunity for all LIFE project leaders, and in particular those just starting out, to discover and perhaps be inspired by these examples of tools to raise awareness for protected species and areas.

Two outings also allowed them to meet local stakeholders in the LIFE Desman project and to kick off work on the Hers Vif River to favour recolonization of the Desman species, a job that has recently been completed.

Please find here the complete programme for these two days.

What is the Desman?The Pyrenean Desman, or in Latin Galemys pyrenaicus, is a small semiaquatic nocturnal mammal. What makes them unusual is that they have a mobile and gripping trunk which measures about a quarter of the length of their body and which has many tactile organs.

They are proficient swimmers and feed on larvae of benthic invertebrate (caddisflies, stoneflies and mayflies, mainly). The live in holes on river banks.