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What we do International Dark Sky Places

Pic du Midi

Pic du Midi (France)

About

Pic du Midi International Dark Sky Reserve – known as Réserve Internationale de Ciel Étoilé du Pic du Midi in French – is located in a mountainous region of southern France that currently draws 1.5 million visitors per year. It encompasses both a UNESCO World Heritage Site (Pyrénées-Mont Perdu) and a French national park (Pyrénées National Park).

The region is capitalizing on the IDA designation as a means of furthering research into land use policy and practices, tourism business models, and resources sustainability at the nearby University of Pau and Pays de l’Adour. A team has been designated by the University to manage the Dark Sky Reserve project and to install and maintain scientific instruments in the Pic du Midi region to monitor the quality of the night sky in the future.

Designated

2013

Category

Dark Sky Reserve

PicDuMidi-map-160px-160px

Address

Hautes-Pyrénées, France
Google Maps

Contact

Nicolas Bourgeois
Website
Tel.: +33 (0)5 65 54 16 76

Land Area

3,112 km2

Documents

Application
Press Release
Annual Reports

Weather

BARÈGES WEATHER

Media

Timelapse at the Pic du Midi Observatory from Romain Montaigut on Vimeo.

IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille in September 2021, featuring 3 French IDSRs (Pic du Midi, Alpes Azur Mercantour and Cévennes National Park), with partners from the two other French IDSRs and the support of French Office of Biodiversity and the Museum of Natural History of Paris.

World Conservation Congress: Conference Cycle Light Pollution, September 4-11, 2021

Flyer promoting the IUCN Light Pollution Conference.