UNature France

Nature-Based Intervention Reference Centre (CRMN)

Our Nature-Based Response to France's Prevention Challenge

As France moves toward a healthcare policy more firmly centred on prevention - with €170 million dedicated to prevention innovation under the France 2030 framework and the Santé publique France National Public Health Strategy 2025–2030 -contact with nature remains one of the most accessible and least leveraged resources in this field. Its effects on human health have been documented by scientific research in Europe and internationally since the 1980s.

UNature France trains professionals in healthcare, medico-social services, education, and the corporate sector to mobilize this resource with scientific rigour and innovative educational and practical tools.

We draw on the international UNature network, active in Switzerland, Luxembourg, Italy, and Canada since 2014, and on a corpus of 8,000 referenced scientific studies.

Our first territorial anchor is the Nature-Based Intervention Reference Centre (CRMN), in the Argonne region, the first centre of its kind in France, driven by a coalition of medical, scientific, territorial, and institutional stakeholders.

The CRMN, led by UNature France, benefits from the support of the european program Interreg NWE-Forest4Youth

Meet the Team

  • Dr François Ihuel

    Public Health Physician, President of UNature France. Founding Member, CRMN

  • Dr Jean-Rémy Martin

    Senior Engineer and Doctor of Cognitive Sciences and Philosophy, EPSM de la Marne. Founding Member, CRMN

  • Hubert Mansion

    Founder and Chair of the Scientific Committee, UNature. Founding Member, CRMN

  • Dr Mélusine Martin

    Environmental Sociology Researcher

  • Martial Vuillaume

    Associate Director, Élan Argonnais. Founding Member, CRMN

  • Emilia Tamko

    Founder, UNature. Founding Member, CRMN

  • Valérie Boisgelot

    Former President, UNature France Member

  • Daniel Cohen

    Medical Geneticist, Co-Founder of CEPH (Centre for the Study of Human Polymorphism) and Généthon.

    Patron of UNature France

  • Philippe Bourguignon

    Serial Entrepreneur

    Patron of UNature France

  • Laurent Baheux

    Wildlife Portrait Photographer

    Patron of UNature France

Two areas of action for UNature France

01.Healthcare and Mental Health

The creation of the Nature-Based Intervention Reference Centre (CRMN), aimed primarily at professionals in healthcare, medico-social services, education, and psychiatry. It offers them training co-designed with French practitioners, along with tools adapted to their specific contexts for integrating contact with nature into prevention and support practices.

02.Businesses, Youth, and Communities

Beyond the healthcare sector, UNature France makes nature-health knowledge accessible to a broader public. Lectures, workshops, and tailored programs for workplace teams, young people, underserved populations, and organizations looking to integrate nature as a prevention lever in their work.

What does the Nature-Based Intervention Reference Centre (CRMN) offer?

04

Training

Developing and co-designing with French practitioners research-based training programs grounded in international scientific evidence on the health effects of contact with nature.

01

Tools

Designing and adapting protocols and educational resources for direct use by practitioners in their professional settings.

02

Research

Building a structured research dynamic to measure the effects of nature-based interventions on the mental health and well-being of local populations.

03

Territory

Establishing in the Argonne region an innovative prevention model built on existing natural resources, designed to be replicated across other French territories.

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