From conservation to offsetting and neoliberalization: Institutional change, risks and opportunities in the French context

Following the institutionalist framework, this paper analyses the way institutional changes affect the representations and strategies of the actors involved in biodiversity conservation. We conducted a survey within the network of the French Conservatoires d'Espaces Naturels after the adoption of the French Biodiversity Law in 2016. The latter introduced several critical changes in the legal framework, especially the enforcement of Avoid–Reduce–Offset principles and the potential development of an offset supply. Our survey shows that these changes in the institutional framework both reduce and increase uncertainties, and raise debates and controversies concerning the way such changes may be interpreted as steps towards a neoliberalization of biodiversity's conservation in France. These results contribute to the debates concerning the processes of environmental policies changes and their consequences.