The use of agricultural and natural land is not exclusive to the Île-de-France region (which represents around 1,500 ha per year). In general, the economic growth of countries requires extensive agricultural areas in the world’s various peri-urban regions. In the present context of global financial crisis, the preservation of agricultural resources in these areas, whose potential conditions food sovereignty, acquires particular importance and warrants an exchange of opinions between the world’s big cities. The protection and assessment of natural open spaces makes it possible to preserve biodiversity and guarantee people’s quality of life, while also fostering sustainable tourism in major urban regions.

In 2006, the Île-de-France region consolidated the energy policy it had begun with ADEME (France’s Agency for the Environment and Energy Control) in 2001, adopting a plan to control energy use and develop local, renewable energies, particularly in the sector of public housing and service buildings, but also in private homes. It involved the promotion of numerous projects to roll out heating networks and the installation of photovoltaic solar panels, while promoting projects to build extremely powerful wood-fuelled boilers. The region further fosters asset plans for public-housing providers. In 2008, these measures moved over 21 million euro, and it is expected that this level of commitment will remain in place at least through to 2010.

We could begin a reflection on the continuation of the COP 15/Copenhagen Summit on global warming.