Franco-Chinese Exchanges on Ecological Connectivity: Field visit in France, from dialogue to practice

25 to 29 August 2025, France

From 25 to 29 August 2025, NatureXpairs hosted a six-member delegation from the Institute for National Parks at Tsinghua University (China) for a study visit under the China Biodiversity Facility (CBF).

The visit began in Paris, at AFD Headquarters, with an institutional dialogue where French partners presented their national approaches. With welcoming remarks from both the French Embassy in China and the National forestry and Grassland administration of China, the meeting featured:

• AFD welcomed the delegation and presented the China Biodiversity Facility frameworks and projects
• MEAE highlighted France and China collaboration on Biodiversity
• MTECT shared the French National Biodiversity Strategy on protected Areas (SNB)and its integration of connectivity.
• OFB presented the national policy on ecological connectivity and the resources center “Trame Verte et Bleue”
• NatureXpairs highlighted the diversity of French protected area types and their contribution to connectivity.
• Tsinghua University shared the preliminary result of their research and state of art on ecological connectivity in China’s national park

Finally, WENR European expert presented the role of ecological networks from a European perspectives, laying the technical basis for the policy dialogue discussion that ensued.

This exchange provided the delegation with the institutional frameworks necessary to contextualize the subsequent field visits.

Immersion in the Alpine landscapes

Over four days, the delegation explored emblematic sites in the French Alps where connectivity challenges are acute:

• Vanoise National Park: dealing with emblematic species conservation, glacier retreat, balancing tourism pressures, and advancing rewilding and scientific monitoring.
• Bauges Regional Nature Park, and CEN Savoie: showcasing biodiversity-friendly agriculture, demonstrating how connectivity can be integrated into territorial planning.
• Grand Lac Community future biosphere reserve and CISALB water course restoration projectpresenting the role of local engagement, the resilience of social networks for conservation, and the complexity of overlapping governance systems.
• ASTER & Bout du Lac National Nature Reserve: presenting experiences of lake ecosystem connectivity, collaborative governance, climate change adaptation, and goodpractices of connectivity tools to ensure the conservation of protected species.

Throughout the visits, the delegation engaged with park managers, municipalities, scientists and local communities, identifying both best practices and common challenges.

Key learnings and shared challenges

The study visit confirmed several shared lessons from France to China:

• Connectivity is multi-scalar, requiring coherence from local corridors to European frameworks.
• Science underpins adaptation: monitoring glacier retreat, wildlife movements, ecosystem change and knowing the specificity of each species to conserve is key for informed decisions and choose of connectivity tools
• Communities are central: local actors, youth and volunteers strengthen conservation effectiveness.
• Tourism management is critical: visitor regulation and community engagement are essential to balance use and protection.

These lessons echo and precise those identified during the first symposium, highlighting a continuity between international dialogue and field practice.

Next steps

The results of the Franco-Chinese exchanges will be shared in upcoming international arenas:

• CBF ASMM ( 17 September 2025)
• 5th World Congress of Biosphere Reserves (Hangzhou, 23 September 2025)

By combining institutional dialogue with on-the-ground immersion, this study visit strengthened Franco-Chinese cooperation on biodiversity. Together with the Xi’an symposium, it represents important steps in the dialogue around ecological connectivity with China under the CBF framework.