French Parliament definitively adopts comprehensive mountain law covering 30% of territory

At the Senate, in Paris, on July 21, 2026. LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP

The French Parliament definitively adopted a bill dedicated to mountain regions and their specificities on Tuesday, July 21, addressing areas that remain frequently overlooked by public policies. One day after its adoption in the National Assembly, the text was approved by senators in a final vote of 325 in favor and 16 against.

Key Context

Mountain regions—representing approximately 30% of the national territory—are on the front line of climate change and face a combination of constraints, including:

• Steep slopes
• Landlocking
• Isolation

These factors often render public policies designed for lowland areas ineffective. The bill, co-signed by 122 deputies from various political backgrounds, seeks to address challenges such as:

• School closures
• Difficulties in accessing healthcare
• Water management
• Urban planning rules

Government Response

Minister Delegate for Rurality Michel Fournier hailed the legislation as an extension of the 1985 law, which enshrined the principle of territorial differentiation for mountain areas—meaning "starting from the realities of a territory to write a standard that works."

"You are giving mountain elected officials the tools they have been waiting for—for schools, for heritage, for water, for those who work there, and, in fact, for living there," he emphasized.

Key Provisions

Public Services (Consensual Measures)

• Schools: Better adaptation of the school map to mountain realities by incorporating criteria related to isolation and travel times in decisions to open or close classes.
• Healthcare: Strengthened obligations for access to care, including the introduction of emergency air medical transport in the most landlocked areas.

Controversial Measures

The bill also includes provisions on water management and relaxed urban planning rules, which prompted an unfavorable vote from environmentalists.

Environmentalist Opposition

Senator Guillaume Gontard, president of the environmentalist group in the Senate, criticized the article facilitating the creation of hillside reservoirs "without prioritizing water uses," placing drinking water and water intended for artificial snow on the same level.

"The scarcity of snow is already destabilizing alpine skiing in mid-mountain areas. No, the answer lies neither in more snow cannons nor in new equipment," he argued, calling for "the [ecological] transition to begin now."

Read also:

• The battle of the village of Aiglun to save its waterfall
• "The 2030 Winter Olympics freeze mountain territories in a model that is running out of steam"

Le Monde with AFP