ABSTRACT
Many people think that the French national parks are exclusively dedicated to environmental protection. Today, at the start of the new millenium, when awareness of environmental problems has never been greater, they are rebalancing the goals of national parks in favour of development. The history of the Vanoise National Park makes clear that the revision of the 1960 law is part of a long-standing process and that, to a certain degree, it is a return to the ideas of some of the initiators. It remains to be seen just what sustainable development can mean in what is, for the time being, the peripheral zone of the Vanoise National Park, which has the highest concentration of ski resorts in Europe, if not in the world. Finally, it remains to be seen what financial resources the national parks will in fact receive, at a time when the environment has suffered repeated budget cuts.
