The Grands Espaces Naturels (GEN) on the Pays de Rennes in 2022

The inventory of Natural Environments of Ecological Interest (MNIE) was launched at the instigation of the elected representatives of the District of Rennes in the 1990s. This voluntary approach by elected representatives to improve the consideration of biodiversity at the level of their territory has made it possible to significantly enrich the knowledge and distribution of the natural environments of the territory. The elected representatives of the SCoT decided to extend this inventory to the entire territory of the Pays de Rennes.
The SCoT has established strict protection of these environments. Since its approval, they have become regulatoryly inconstructible. A single document, the ‘Atlas des MNIE du Pays de Rennes’, locates all the sites identified on the territory of the Pays de Rennes. The Syndicat mixte du SCoT is now the structure that manages the MNIE file.

This atlas refers, inter alia, to:
\- Large natural areas (GEN), areas without regulatory scope;
\- Natural habitats of ecological interest (MNIE), areas strictly protected by the SCOT,
This gives them a regulatory scope.

This layer locates large natural ensembles (GEN).

The habitats of the GENs are elements of knowledge made available to municipalities and EPCIs. They cover areas that are generally more favourable for fauna and flora. These are assemblies composed of a complex of contiguous environments, generally poorly modified by humans: rivers bordered by a ripisylva, more or less wet permanent grasslands, ordinary groves and woods, ponds and ponds, areas of continuous bocage, etc. The coherence of these large natural areas is often enhanced by topographical parameters: valley bottom, hillside...
The remarkable character of a GEN is based on one or more of the following criteria: faunistic and/or floristic ecological interest, landscape interest, contribution to the protection of water quality. Within the GEN, the most interesting natural environments are identified as MNIE.