ZNIEFF Type 2
This layer delineates France's Type 2 Natural Zones of Ecological, Faunal and Floral Interest (ZNIEFF).
Source: INPN / PatriNat — MNHN (ZNIEFF) Year: 2012 Category: Transition risks · Sensitive areas · Critical areas · ZNIEFF Coverage: Country (France — mainland and overseas: Guadeloupe, Guyane, La Réunion, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon) Format: Boundary polygons Used in risk analysis: Yes — gates Sensitive areas
What it shows
This layer delineates France's Type 2 Natural Zones of Ecological, Faunal and Floral Interest (ZNIEFF). These are large, coherent natural areas that are rich and little modified — forest massifs, valleys, plateaux and similar landscapes — offering important biological potential. A site within or near one of these zones sits in an area of recognised ecological value, which can carry heightened regulatory and reputational attention.
How it is built
ZNIEFF is the French national inventory of areas of ecological interest, maintained by the national natural-heritage authorities. Type 2 zones are the larger units, capturing extensive, well-preserved natural ensembles rather than the smaller, sharply defined Type 1 zones. This layer presents those inventoried zones as fixed boundary polygons; it is a designation map rather than a graded risk score.
How to read it
This is a presence layer. A site that intersects or lies near a Type 2 polygon is flagged as falling within an inventoried natural area of significant biological potential. There is no 1–5 score; the signal is whether a location coincides with a designated zone.
Class thresholds
This layer does not model a continuous physical quantity, so there is no unit and no numeric class breaks. It is a categorical boundary / presence mask: the geometry is the set of inventoried ZNIEFF Type 2 polygons (large, coherent, little-modified natural ensembles), with no graded 1–5 score and no underlying flux being binned.
Instead of risk classes, the layer has two states:
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Inside / near a ZNIEFF Type 2 zone | The site overlaps, or lies in proximity to, a designated Type 2 polygon |
| Outside | The site does not coincide with any Type 2 zone |
A site is flagged on the Sensitive areas dimension when it overlaps or is near a ZNIEFF Type 2 polygon (an intersection-type proximity trigger), and the entity's matching ENCORE pressure/service is also material. The Darwin configuration defines no buffer distance for this layer; the trigger is geometric overlap/intersection with the inventoried zone.
How these thresholds were set. There is nothing to threshold — the "classes" are the official ZNIEFF Type 2 boundaries themselves. The zones are delineated and maintained by the French national natural-heritage inventory (INPN / PatriNat — MNHN) as part of the ZNIEFF programme, not by Darwin. Darwin simply ingests these designated polygons as a presence layer.
Reference: INPN / PatriNat — MNHN, French national natural-heritage inventory (patrinat.fr).
Source
INPN / PatriNat — MNHN (French national natural-heritage inventory). Open Licence 2.0.
Comparison with the WWF Risk Filter Suite
This is a French national inventory layer with no direct global equivalent in the WWF Risk Filter Suite. It extends area-based coverage related to BRF S14_1 Protected/Conserved Areas and S14_4 Other Important Delineated Areas regionally, beyond the global datasets WWF relies on.
Risk analysis
A site is flagged on a dimension by combining a proximity trigger (this layer) with an activity trigger (the entity's ENCORE pressure/service). Proximity only → Potentially material; proximity and the matching ENCORE pressure/service is material → Very material; neither → Not material.
| Dimension | ENCORE service / pressure | Proximity trigger (this layer) | Activity trigger (entity) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sensitive areas | Sensitive area disturbance | Site overlaps / is near the feature | impact ratio ≥ 10%; “Disturbances (e.g noise, light)” pressure ≥ 4; “Introduction of invasive species” pressure ≥ 4; “Area of freshwater use” pressure ≥ 4; “Area of seabed use” pressure ≥ 4; “Area of land use” pressure ≥ 4; “Other biotic resource extraction (e.g. fish, timber)” pressure ≥ 4; “Volume of water use” pressure ≥ 4; “Emissions of non-GHG air pollutants” pressure ≥ 4; “Generation and release of solid waste” pressure ≥ 4; “Emissions of toxic soil and water pollutants” pressure ≥ 4; “Emissions of nutrient soil and water pollutants” pressure ≥ 4 |
Generated from darwin/layers/layer-znieff-type-2.toml and risk_indicator_pairs.toml (develop).