Norbert Chardon, accompanist

Portrait

Port-Cros National Park

"Acquiring knowledge without passing it on isn't much use!"

As far back as he can remember, Norbert Chardon was already dreaming of nature:

When I was very young, I collected animal pictures when my friends collected marbles. In fact, I always wanted to work in nature.

After studying biology and geography, the young man from Valentines took on a series of different jobs: "I was the director of vacation centers, I worked with children in the sports world ...". As a mid-mountain guide, he supervises canoeing, canyoning, caving, hiking, mountaineering... " But I was always looking for a job in the environment".

He then joined several environmental protection associations as a guide, built wooden houses, performed acrobatic work and then, just after the 2004 tsunami, he went abroad to an NGO in India to carry out projects with children: "We recreated links between fishing villages that had been destroyed by organizing sporting events He stayed there for 4 years.

On his return in 2008, he saw an advertisement from the LPO for a position as head of the League for the Protection of Birds program in the Hyères salt flats.

I didn't know much about Hyères and birds, but I had the experience of managing teams, and that of a naturalist guide.

Today, he says he is happy to have made this choice:

I am very well here, the area of Hyères is quite fabulous; at the naturalist level it is very rich, and it is one of the most beautiful coastlines of the area. There is an extraordinary diversity in the same commune, with the richest area in birds in the region after the Camargue. At the Pesquiers salt marsh, there are 350 species on only 900 hectares, including 140 species of migratory birds.

Now responsible for the Var for the LPO, Norbert coordinates several programs in the department:

But I'm still in the field, and have been for over 13 years. It is very pleasant and enriching. I like to pass on knowledge, if you don't pass it on, it's not much use. 15,000 people take part each year in our visits to the two sites of the Salins d'Hyères and we welcome about 130 classes from the metropolis, i.e. 5,000 children who come back year after year. It is very encouraging because they will inevitably be sensitive to natural environments and ecology.