Launching a five-day conference sponsored by the United Nations on protecting the diversity of Earth’s plant and animal life, Chirac called for a change in world attitudes to ensure more was done to protect species close to extinction.
"I appeal to all scientists to gather to create a world network of expertise, and France will propose to its partners … the creation of an inter-governmental group on the evolution of biodiversity," Chirac said.
He gave few details but said France would push for adoption of such measures by the signatories to the 1992 Convention onf Biological Diversity, which is designed to sustain biodiversity.
"With the fight against world climate change, the protection of biodiversity demands a deep change in how we think and live," he said.
The conference of 1,200 participants, organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), is looking at ways to prevent the loss of biodiversity due to disappearing natural habitats and world climate change.
UNESCO cited figures suggesting almost 16,000 species of living creatures were near extinction and said the dangers of extinction were increasing with global warming.
One in four known mammal species and one in 10 bird species is in danger of extinction, it said. Of the 350,000 known plant species, 60,000 are threatened with extinction, it said.
Chirac has been a vocal supporter of global biodiversity, but France stands accused of not meeting its own standards for promoting conservation.
The European Union’s executive Commission said last week Paris had failed to heed rulings from European’s top court on nature conservation, public access to environmental information, water protection, and genetically modified micro-organisms.
France has said it is aware of of its delay in implementing the European directives and has made it a priority since 2002 to catch up on the delay.
"We fear that once again speeches will just give rise to more speeches," Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth said in a statement as they and other environmental groups held a parallel meeting to the UNESCO gathering.
"Every six hours, an area of forest the same size of Paris is disappearing, meaning the extinction of numerous species of plant and animal life sometimes not even known about."
Story by Elizabeth Pineau and Gerard Bon