16: High biodiversity of military areas. Cooperation agreements with the Regions.

The Belgian military domain extends over more than 25,000 hectares, of which an important proportion is made of natural areas. Nearly 19,500 hectares of Belgian military grounds have been proposed as Natura 2000 sites. Historically, the big military domains were established in areas with little agricultural potential: moors, marshes, bogs, sand dunes, etc. While these biotopes progressively disappeared from civil areas, they were maintained and even extended in military domains. Various factors can explain this: the size of military areas, the absence of agricultural practices (no fertilizers, no pesticides), the forbidden access, the low pressure generated by military activities and even the positive effects of some of them (heath regeneration following fires after bombardment exercises, creation of temporary ponds, etc.) and the management carried out by military authorities.

In order to administer this exceptional natural heritage as best as possible, the Ministry of Defence has established cooperation agreements with the Regions. Under the agreements, management plans combining biodiversity protection and military use are implemented by Local Planning Commissions, made of Defence representatives and competent regional organisations (Division Nature & Forêts / Afdeling Bos & Groen). An internal procedure also allows the designation of the most interesting and fragile sites as "protected military areas".