201
The main milestones of the Port 2000 project
were, September 1995, start of the project; end of
1997, public hearing; winter 1999, creation of an
expert committee; July 2001, start of works on
Port 2000; February 2002, start of rehabilitation
works; July 2005, end of the dyke works; and
April 2006, fi rst container ship arrives in Port 2000.
3.2
The Years 2000: An Optimistic
Decade for an EcosystemBased Management
At the beginning of the 2000s, there was an effective
governance of the Seine estuary (Lozachmeur and
Dauvin 2008 ). The Estuary Council (about 10
members), chaired by the prefect of the Upper
Normandy region, has the decisional power to
implement a global management plan for the
estuary. The monitoring committee (over 100
members, including associations of ecologists)
provides an arena for debate. The Estuary Council
has a scientifi c and technical committee to provide
scientifi c and technical expertise. The operational
part of the Seine-Aval programme was reinforced
in 2003 by the creation of the GIP-SA, which
coordinates the Seine-Aval programme, transfers
the scientifi c results to decision makers and policymakers, develops research applications, helps
in the use of models and communicates the scientifi c results and their applications to a wide public
(Dauvin 2009 ). The GIP-SA began in 1995 and
was fi rst renewed in 2007 and then again in 2012
until 2020. ( http://seine-aval.crihan.fr ).
In 2004, the Estuary Council asked the SeineNormandy Water Agency to coordinate a forecast
study on the perspectives for restoring the environmental functions of the Seine estuary by 2025,
taking into account all the Seine Estuary actors.
The analysis concerned the socioeconomic and
environmental systems of the Seine estuary by
considering two main points of convergence
(Dauvin 2006 ):
• A shared awareness of the geographic dimension of the estuary, based on the understanding
that the upstream/downstream and north/south
relationships impose forms of solidarity that
should be discussed and acted upon.
• A recognition of the interdependence of the
local stakeholders, given the infl uence of
external factors that play a role in the long- term
status of estuarine functions. These factors
depend not only on the stakeholders in the
Seine catchments area (notably regarding the
quality of waters entering the system) but
also the national, European and international
context (Dauvin 2006 ).
Four scenarios correspond to four key strategic questions: (1) what would be the consequence
for environmental functions if present trends
continue, (2) can environmental functions be
restored to their 1980 level and under what
conditions, (3) what conditions will lead to a
catastrophic scenario, and what would be its
consequences and (4) what are the limits of local
resolve and local means? The following scenarios were analysed by (Dauvin 2006 ):
• The dynamic trend scenario, taking into
account both the socioeconomic and political
context as well as the behaviour and interactions of the local stakeholders.
• The voluntarist restoration scenario, requiring
the successful completion of a major ecological
engineering project.
• The economic crisis scenario, in which a
major economic crisis hits the region affecting
the activities of the Rouen Port Authority,
clearly demonstrating the negative consequences on environmental and socioeconomic
functions, and (4 ) the local initiative scenario,
which involves working together to create a
global collective project for the estuary and
bringing together all the resources necessary
for its successful execution. This is the only
scenario that has any hope of restoring environmental functions.
In the second stage of the process, the study
needed to be continued to determine the monetary cost of scenarios 2 and 4. But this exercise
remained confi dential and lacked any real fi nancial propositions from the stakeholders to act in
favour of a global management of the estuary.
The GIP-SA and the city of Le Havre
responded to the 2005 call for projects related to
integrated coastal zone management launched by
the French state. The objectives were to develop
The Estuary-Bay of Seine Continuum: The Need for an Ecosystem-Based Management
The main milestones of the Port 2000 project
were, September 1995, start of the project; end of
1997, public hearing; winter 1999, creation of an
expert committee; July 2001, start of works on
Port 2000; February 2002, start of rehabilitation
works; July 2005, end of the dyke works; and
April 2006, fi rst container ship arrives in Port 2000.
3.2
The Years 2000: An Optimistic
Decade for an EcosystemBased Management
At the beginning of the 2000s, there was an effective
governance of the Seine estuary (Lozachmeur and
Dauvin 2008 ). The Estuary Council (about 10
members), chaired by the prefect of the Upper
Normandy region, has the decisional power to
implement a global management plan for the
estuary. The monitoring committee (over 100
members, including associations of ecologists)
provides an arena for debate. The Estuary Council
has a scientifi c and technical committee to provide
scientifi c and technical expertise. The operational
part of the Seine-Aval programme was reinforced
in 2003 by the creation of the GIP-SA, which
coordinates the Seine-Aval programme, transfers
the scientifi c results to decision makers and policymakers, develops research applications, helps
in the use of models and communicates the scientifi c results and their applications to a wide public
(Dauvin 2009 ). The GIP-SA began in 1995 and
was fi rst renewed in 2007 and then again in 2012
until 2020. ( http://seine-aval.crihan.fr ).
In 2004, the Estuary Council asked the SeineNormandy Water Agency to coordinate a forecast
study on the perspectives for restoring the environmental functions of the Seine estuary by 2025,
taking into account all the Seine Estuary actors.
The analysis concerned the socioeconomic and
environmental systems of the Seine estuary by
considering two main points of convergence
(Dauvin 2006 ):
• A shared awareness of the geographic dimension of the estuary, based on the understanding
that the upstream/downstream and north/south
relationships impose forms of solidarity that
should be discussed and acted upon.
• A recognition of the interdependence of the
local stakeholders, given the infl uence of
external factors that play a role in the long- term
status of estuarine functions. These factors
depend not only on the stakeholders in the
Seine catchments area (notably regarding the
quality of waters entering the system) but
also the national, European and international
context (Dauvin 2006 ).
Four scenarios correspond to four key strategic questions: (1) what would be the consequence
for environmental functions if present trends
continue, (2) can environmental functions be
restored to their 1980 level and under what
conditions, (3) what conditions will lead to a
catastrophic scenario, and what would be its
consequences and (4) what are the limits of local
resolve and local means? The following scenarios were analysed by (Dauvin 2006 ):
• The dynamic trend scenario, taking into
account both the socioeconomic and political
context as well as the behaviour and interactions of the local stakeholders.
• The voluntarist restoration scenario, requiring
the successful completion of a major ecological
engineering project.
• The economic crisis scenario, in which a
major economic crisis hits the region affecting
the activities of the Rouen Port Authority,
clearly demonstrating the negative consequences on environmental and socioeconomic
functions, and (4 ) the local initiative scenario,
which involves working together to create a
global collective project for the estuary and
bringing together all the resources necessary
for its successful execution. This is the only
scenario that has any hope of restoring environmental functions.
In the second stage of the process, the study
needed to be continued to determine the monetary cost of scenarios 2 and 4. But this exercise
remained confi dential and lacked any real fi nancial propositions from the stakeholders to act in
favour of a global management of the estuary.
The GIP-SA and the city of Le Havre
responded to the 2005 call for projects related to
integrated coastal zone management launched by
the French state. The objectives were to develop
The Estuary-Bay of Seine Continuum: The Need for an Ecosystem-Based Management