Environment. “Organize a coherent fight”: the national plan against the Asian hornet put in place

The government announced this Wednesday the implementation of the national plan against the Asian hornet, voted by Parliament in 2025 and aimed at better organizing the fight against this scourge, today in the hands of the communities or stakeholders concerned. The decree adopting the “National plan to combat the “Asian” yellow-legged hornet (Vespa velutina nigrithorax)”, was published in Jofficial log. It plans to classify the departments according to four levels of exposure, with national management and the adoption within six months of departmental variations developed under the authority of the prefect with communities, sectors, environmental associations, etc. Objective: “organize a coherent fight on a national scale, proportionate to the pressure (…) on the territories” and improve knowledge, explain the Ministries of Ecological Transition and Agriculture in a joint press release.

Introduced in 2004 in Lot-et-Garonne probably after the importation of pottery from China, today present in all French departments, this hornet is a great predator of insects and in particular of domestic bees, being able to eliminate up to 30 to 50% of the beekeeping stock on a farm. It also attacks ripe fruits (arboriculture, viticulture). Finally, it can be a risk for human health and public safety, add the ministries.

While complete eradication is “no longer possible”, “the plan aims to limit its impacts”, via the destruction of nests, the trapping of founders in the spring, devices to reduce stress on bees… An “exceptional envelope” of three million euros is planned by the Ministry of Ecological Transition for 2026 to help the territories. The 2025 law also provided for a compensation system for beekeepers who suffered economic losses. But at this stage, this “constitutes a device distinct from the national control plan”, specifies the government on Wednesday.