environmental groups from France, Italy and Switzerland have worked together under the umbrella organisation, proMONT BLANC, to jointly raise concerns and to put pressure on national governments and the European Union to support and make quicker progress with World Heritage classification. In 2012 the organisation published a detailed assessment and supportive rationale into the state of the Mont Blanc application to be a World Heritage Site. ProMont Blanc also undertakes reviews of a suite of 24 environmental, 24 economic and 10 social indicators across 15 towns around the massif (seven French, five Italian and three Swiss), and monitors and reports on the effectiveness of measures intended to deliver sustainable development across the region. In October 2017 representatives from all three nations finally signed a joint declaration of intent as the first formal step towards submitting a bid for the Mont Blanc massif to be a candidate for inclusion on UNESCO's World Heritage Site list. All the French parts of the Mont Blanc massif, plus the neighbouring Aiguille Rouges range, have been listed as a Zone naturelle d'intérêt écologique, faunistique et floristique (ZNIEFF). This does not give regulatory protection, but is a recognition of the outstanding biodiversity of the area, and of its landscape, geomorphological, geological, historical and scientific importance. The 2011 schedule documents list over 150 species of animals and plants for which the massif is important. In Italy, the whole Val Ferret watershed was designated a Special Protection Area (Italian: Zone di Protezione Speciale) in 2003, and this area now forms part of the European Union's Natura 2000 network of protected sites. Despite these individual designations, the Mont Blanc massif as a whole is still regarded by conservationists as representing an important missing link in the wider network of protected areas of the western Alps. See also Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix Haute Route Notes References Further reading External links Mont Blanc massif on French IGN mapping portal Mont Blanc massif on OpenStreetMap.org Mont Blanc massif on Bing aerial view Map of all 4000m peaks in Mont Blanc Massif Google StreetView on the Mont Blanc Massif Climate Live (above and below-ground temperature plots) CREA: Le Centre de Recherches sur les Ecosystèmes d'Altitude Espace Mont Blanc website proMONT BLANC website Retreating glaciers of Mont Blanc massif as revealed by French IGN Geoportal (YouTube video) The Mont Blanc massif in LEGO Mountain ranges of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Mountain ranges of France Mountain ranges