In Guadeloupe, an EDF subsidiary will have to pay 750.000 euros to rehabilitate the dry forest

A subsidiary of EDF will have to finance operations to rehabilitate the dry forest in the north of Guadeloupe, as part of a "remedial measure followed by the courts", we learned from the public prosecutor's office on Tuesday evening, January 28.

The National Forestry Office (ONF) had noted "uncontrolled clearing of more than 32.000 m2" and "the destruction of protected species" on a wind farm site in Petit-Canal.

"The company Parc éolien de Petit-Canal, a subsidiary of EDF Renouvelables, has made a commitment to the ONF for the rehabilitation of the dry forest of North Grande-Terre, with funding of 750.000 euros," indicates a press release from the public prosecutor of Pointe-à-Pitre, Caroline Calbo.

It is "a remedial measure within the framework of a penal composition, an alternative to prosecution," Calbo told AFP. "What interested us was reparation, which is often what we seek in environmental offences," she added.

Owner of land near the managed biological reserve of Nord Grande-Terre, the subsidiary of EDF Renouvelables "installed 2021 wind turbines there in 10", the prosecution further specifies, and "the uncontrolled clearing" was carried out "as part of an operation to replace the 32 wind turbines present on the site for more than 20 years" and which supply some 9.000 homes.

The company explained that it had "ordered a simple clearing around the wind turbines but not a land clearance" and had itself filed a complaint for "deforestation and illegal coal mining actions carried out by third parties", the press release added.

This funding aims in particular to "replant destroyed protected species" or to raise public awareness via "new educational tools", according to the same source.