Nature and youth take a seat in France's third constitutional assembly

For the first time, the French Committee of IUCN holds a seat in France's Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE). For Jeunes Ambassadeurs pour l'Environnement (JAE), an IUCN Member organisation, this is more than an institutional milestone: our president, Astrid Vital Durand, now sits in the assembly as the councillor designated by the French Committee, carrying the voice of both nature and future generations. Last week, she took part in the annual conference where the 69 organisations represented in the CESE set the institution's priorities for 2026-2027.

What is the CESE? A quick guide for readers outside France

The CESE (Conseil économique, social et environnemental) is the third constitutional assembly of the French Republic, alongside the National Assembly and the Senate. Unlike the two legislative chambers, its members are not elected politicians: they are representatives of organised civil society. Trade unions, employers' organisations, farmers, associations, youth movements and environmental organisations all sit together, 175 councillors in total, appointed for a five-year term.

The CESE does not vote laws. Its role is to advise the government and parliament on economic, social and environmental matters, to bring the realities of everyday life into public decision-making, and to build common ground between groups that rarely sit at the same table anywhere else. In recent years it has also become France's home for participatory democracy, hosting citizens' conventions and examining petitions from the public.

In short: it is the place where French society, in all its diversity, deliberates about its future. Which makes it exactly the kind of arena where nature needs a voice.

A first for IUCN in France

The 2026-2031 term opened with a first: the French Committee of IUCN now holds a seat in the assembly, within the environmental organisations' group. It brings to the CESE a voice grounded in science and in international biodiversity law, with a guiding thread, the adaptation of territories, and an operational foundation, ecosystem restoration.

At the annual conference of the organisations represented in the CESE, held last week, the 69 member organisations jointly defined the priorities that will guide the institution's work for 2026-2027, including the controversies it deliberately chooses to address rather than avoid. In a democratic moment shaped by major political deadlines in France in 2027, that choice matters: as CESE president Claire Thoury put it, the ambition of this term is to make the Council a place where society's tensions are worked through, not sidestepped.

Why this matters to us: the long term belongs to future generations

Electoral calendars think in months. Nature thinks in decades and centuries. The CESE is one of the few public arenas in France where it is possible to reason on the timescale of those who will be living in 2050, which is precisely the timescale of biodiversity, and of youth.

This is the intergenerational approach JAE stands for: priorities designed together, from the realities of all territories, in mainland France and in the French overseas territories, with socio-environmental justice as a compass.

Our president, Astrid Vital Durand, designated as councillor by the French Committee of IUCN, defends three convictions in the assembly that are also ours:

Inhabiting territories differently. Rethinking spatial planning as a whole, from urban development to water management. This is not an ecological afterthought but a condition of habitability: the foundation on which tomorrow's health, security and prosperity rest.

Redirecting public finance. Subsidies harmful to biodiversity still far exceed spending in its favour. In a constrained budgetary context, every euro counts twice: the one that repairs, and the one that could have prevented. Every misdirected euro today will be paid twice by the younger generations.

Reinventing dialogue. Opening the doors to debate, including on divisive issues, and recreating the conditions for a dialogue that French society sorely lacks. Progress will come from these demanding exchanges, not from what is left unsaid.

Rooted in the IUCN network, from local to global

This seat in the CESE extends a commitment JAE has been building for years. As the only French-speaking youth organisation that is a Member of IUCN, we work to bring the voice of younger generations wherever the rules of their future world are written, from the French Committee of IUCN to international arenas such as the IUCN World Conservation Congress and the biodiversity COPs.

We warmly thank Aurélie Guerry, Vice-Chair for Western Europe of the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication (CEC), for her support to youth engagement across the IUCN network and for making intergenerational dialogue a lived reality, not just a slogan.