Why the French environmental police are on strike

Officers from France’s environmental police force are planning demonstrations in response to a perceived lack of support from public authorities and comments from the prime minister over their job role.

Members of the 3,000-strong Office français de la biodiversité (OFB) will walk out today (January 31), as well as host demonstrations in several towns and cities across France. 

Further action by the agents is possible.

A notable feature of the demonstrations will be a symbolic return of new holsters the officers are required to use for their weapons when undertaking certain administrative controls on farms.

‘No support’ for officers

Since mid-January many officers have withdrawn from duties relating to controls on farms as they no longer feel safe to do so in light of widespread farmer protests, representatives say.

OFB officers feel “we have no support whatsoever,” said general secretary Véronique Caraco-Giordano to FranceInfo. 

These feelings have been exacerbated by recent comments from prime minister François Bayrou during his key policy speech, where he said OFB agents ‘humiliate’ farmers by coming armed to carry out inspections.

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OFB agents are authorised to carry weapons as they are sworn in and commissioned like all police officers.

Other politicians, including Laurent Wauquiez of the right-wing Les Républicains have called for the OFB to be disbanded altogether. 

Rising anger against the agency saw an OFB office in Brest set on fire in 2024 and an increasing number of agents report being harassed whilst on duty.

More recently, farming union members called on agriculturalists to ‘burn’ OFB cars that arrive to inspect farms, as reported in Le Monde. 

This climate of aggressiveness against the agency has to stop, its supporters have said.

Farms unlikely to be inspected 

Only around 4% of the overall work done by OFB agents involves farm inspections, Ms Caraco-Giordano said.

“When OFB agents go out to meet farmers, it is to carry out control missions and ensure the quality of the soil, the air, the water... And we all know that preserving the planet means preserving our health and our way of life,” said OFB administrative president Sylvie Gustave-dit-Duflo to France3. 

Out of the 3,000 agents under the OFB, 2,000 work in the field, with 1,700 commissioned as police officers. 

The majority of their work involves fighting against poaching and animal trafficking, and duties such as checking people are compliant with drought regulations and other environmental rules.

Read more: How do French authorities check people are not breaking drought rules?

“When the Prime Minister takes the OFB directly to task without having taken the trouble to look at our missions and the issues involved, it's inconceivable,” said Ms Gustave-dit-Duflo, with the chance of a farm being inspected by officers being around once every 120 years.