 The office was first created on 17 June 1974, under the auspices of the "Minister for Public Health and the Environment" ("Ministre de la Santé publique et de l’Environnement").On 16 September 1977, the environment brief was separated from that of public health, and combined with that of tourism, creating the post of "Minister for the Environment and Tourism" ("Ministre de l’Environnement et du Tourisme").It was first created as a separate post on 20 July 1979.