4 Participatory Devices Generated by PIREN-Seine
Researchers and Their Effects on Public Action
The participatory imperative is not specific to water management – participatory
devices are foreseen for all policies – but it is one of the principles at the heart of the
WFD (Article 14). The 1992 French water law already instituted basin committees
for each major river basin district and local water commission by watershed.
However, all water management procedures, such as catchment supply areas to
produce drinking water, needed to integrate a participatory device henceforth.
The initiatives carried out over the past 10 years have taken several forms of
partnership research, with researchers in multidisciplinary teams combining environmental and social sciences. Participation is understood as a means to facilitate the
connection between actors and the production of common meanings. By working on
controversial topics such as modifying agricultural practices to reduce diffuse
pollution, or removing river weirs to restore ecological continuity, participation
should not become a tool for accepting new rules or overcoming resistance. On
the contrary, it must help to collectively identify a problem and then explore various
levers of action, without one solution being put forward over another. Participants do
this on a voluntary basis. The facilitation methods are fundamental in order that each
participant can find their place and, above all, express themselves.
4.1 Participatory Experiments Conducted by PIREN-Seine
Researchers
The first form of partnership research is to build scientific knowledge on a territory.
Some experiments are designed to feed scenarios specific to the PIREN-Seine, where
participants are co-constructing the data that feed models and scenarios. Others aim
to build a dialogue between actors on a controversial issue by questioning the
production of scientific knowledge and its appropriation.
4.1.1 Co-constructing Data for Models and Scenarios (ABAC Project)
Between 2012 and 2018, the ABAC project and network involved farmers from
various parts of the Île-de-France region, as well as water agencies, farmers’
federations and chambers of agriculture. The project is participatory given that
farmers were, as far as possible, involved in sampling operations and interpreting
results. A steering committee was set up and met every year to discuss the results and
possibly reorient the project. The farmers’ network made it possible to compare
nitrogen leaching on their farms according to their practice [33]. The database was
used for scientific publications but also by regional and local partners. Verbal reports
River Basin Visions: Tools and Approaches from Yesterday to Tomorrow
403
Researchers and Their Effects on Public Action
The participatory imperative is not specific to water management – participatory
devices are foreseen for all policies – but it is one of the principles at the heart of the
WFD (Article 14). The 1992 French water law already instituted basin committees
for each major river basin district and local water commission by watershed.
However, all water management procedures, such as catchment supply areas to
produce drinking water, needed to integrate a participatory device henceforth.
The initiatives carried out over the past 10 years have taken several forms of
partnership research, with researchers in multidisciplinary teams combining environmental and social sciences. Participation is understood as a means to facilitate the
connection between actors and the production of common meanings. By working on
controversial topics such as modifying agricultural practices to reduce diffuse
pollution, or removing river weirs to restore ecological continuity, participation
should not become a tool for accepting new rules or overcoming resistance. On
the contrary, it must help to collectively identify a problem and then explore various
levers of action, without one solution being put forward over another. Participants do
this on a voluntary basis. The facilitation methods are fundamental in order that each
participant can find their place and, above all, express themselves.
4.1 Participatory Experiments Conducted by PIREN-Seine
Researchers
The first form of partnership research is to build scientific knowledge on a territory.
Some experiments are designed to feed scenarios specific to the PIREN-Seine, where
participants are co-constructing the data that feed models and scenarios. Others aim
to build a dialogue between actors on a controversial issue by questioning the
production of scientific knowledge and its appropriation.
4.1.1 Co-constructing Data for Models and Scenarios (ABAC Project)
Between 2012 and 2018, the ABAC project and network involved farmers from
various parts of the Île-de-France region, as well as water agencies, farmers’
federations and chambers of agriculture. The project is participatory given that
farmers were, as far as possible, involved in sampling operations and interpreting
results. A steering committee was set up and met every year to discuss the results and
possibly reorient the project. The farmers’ network made it possible to compare
nitrogen leaching on their farms according to their practice [33]. The database was
used for scientific publications but also by regional and local partners. Verbal reports
River Basin Visions: Tools and Approaches from Yesterday to Tomorrow
403