The CEN Rhone-Alpes, an association under a 1901 law, has been working for thirty years for the conservation of the Rhone-Alpes remarkable natural environments.
Its purpose is the conservation and enhancement of biological, ecological and landscape resources in order to ensure their sustainability for the social, educational and scientific benefit of the community. At the heart of the regions, it seeks the mobilization and voluntary involvement of all stakeholders (owners, users, communities, associations, etc…) in a spirit of openness and dialogue, in order to bring out projects going in the direction of better consideration of biodiversity. It works in five departments directly (Ain, Ardèche, Drôme, Loire and Rhône) and in coordination with the five other partner Conservatories in the Auvergne Rhône Alpes region : Allier, Isère, Savoie, Haute-Savoie and Auvergne. An organization has been set up to promote joint work and exchanges between the six CENs : CEN Rhône-Alpes provides the secretariat for the CEN permanent conference and its President is the referent.
Members of a national network of 29 CENs, these six associations benefit from an approval established by the Grenelle II law of 2010 and confirmed by the Biodiversity law of August 8, 2018. This joint approval by the State and the Region was subject to a new Five-Year Action Plan 2018-2022 common to the six CENs of Auvergne Rhône-Alpes. Involved for a long time in the knowledge and preservation of karst environments, the CEN Rhone-Alpes joined the foreshadowing association of IFREEMIS in order to contribute to the emergence of territorial dynamics necessary for the proper consideration of challenges of these remarkable environments for various reasons.