204
working groups on natural heritage have also been
created to support the management plan of the
Natura 2000 sites, especially along the Augeron
shore in the eastern part of the Bay of Seine.
Moreover, over the last 5 years, each maritime
state of the European Union has been required to
implement the Marine Strategy Framework
Directive with a view to achieving a good quality
status for the marine environment. This new
European directive had also generated many
working groups and scientifi c committees. At the
same time, the action plan for the Atlantic Ocean
aims to revitalise the marine and maritime economies in the Atlantic region. The aim is to show
how the Atlantic member states of the EU, their
regions and the European Commission can all
contribute to creating sustainable development in
the coastal regions and promote the ‘blue economy’, while protecting the environment and the
ecological equilibrium between economy and
protection of the natural heritage of the Atlantic
Ocean.
Hope for the future! Article 67 of the French
Law on biodiversity presented in the Council of
Ministers on 26 March 2014 authorises the
government to take provisional measures that
will allow the carrying out of experimentation on
the management of protected natural areas where
there is an accumulation of protective measures,
as in the case of the Seine estuary. There is a lack
of clarity as well as a failure in the pooling
resources and synergy in the management of
these protected territories, while diverse protected natural spaces may overlap with each other
on the same territory. An experiment is planned
that aims to simplify the management of these
protected natural spaces, in cases where they
overlap on the same territory. Running for a duration of 4 years, the experimentation would allow
the testing of three levels of simplifi cation in the
management of these overlapping protected
natural spaces: (1) drafting of a unique summary
document giving the main guidelines, (2) federation
of the different advisory bodies for the spaces
concerned to form a single scientifi c and technical consultative authority, and (3) designation of a
single administrator for all the spaces concerned.
There is no doubt that this new legislative
arrangement should be understood by the actors
of the Seine estuary as representing a benchmark
example at French national level.
Some concluding remarks: the Port 2000
project gave an occasion for all the users and
actors of the estuary-bay of Seine continuum to
focus on the need to have a shared vision for the
future, aimed at developing an integrated tool for
the global management of this precious estuarine
territory: there is a need for dialogue, communication, mutual training between partners and promotion of a new type of governance. From 2010
onwards, a new era began with the persistence of
sector-based management approaches and a
dramatic increase in the number of workgroups
and scientifi c and technical committees which
take local sectors into account in the management
of a multitude of protective measures. It is clear
that there is an improved consideration of the
natural heritage in the management of the Seine
estuary territory, but a lack of expertise at a global
scale taking into account this complex estuarybay continuum affected by anthropogenic pressures. At present, it is evident that numerous
diffi culties remain with the governance of the
estuary due to the emergence of new laws,
decrees and directives at European and French
national levels. We can note the absence of a
global estuary management plan in spite of
repeated commitments by the French state (as
recently expressed in a letter from the Upper
Normandy prefect to the scientifi c committee of
the Seine estuary on 5 May 2014).
However, for the future, it will be necessary to
envisage an innovative capacity for the governance and to have a real leader involved in the
development of the Seine estuary and bay. We also
need to establish an ecosystem-based management for this complex territory considered on a
global scale and not sector by sector, while taking
into account the cumulative degradation of the
Seine estuary over more than century by multiple
human activities.
Acknowledgements Thanks are due to all our SeineAval colleagues, to A. Baffreau and S. Marmin for her
help with the fi gures and M.S.N. Carpenter for correcting
the English grammar, syntax and style.
J.-C. Dauvin
working groups on natural heritage have also been
created to support the management plan of the
Natura 2000 sites, especially along the Augeron
shore in the eastern part of the Bay of Seine.
Moreover, over the last 5 years, each maritime
state of the European Union has been required to
implement the Marine Strategy Framework
Directive with a view to achieving a good quality
status for the marine environment. This new
European directive had also generated many
working groups and scientifi c committees. At the
same time, the action plan for the Atlantic Ocean
aims to revitalise the marine and maritime economies in the Atlantic region. The aim is to show
how the Atlantic member states of the EU, their
regions and the European Commission can all
contribute to creating sustainable development in
the coastal regions and promote the ‘blue economy’, while protecting the environment and the
ecological equilibrium between economy and
protection of the natural heritage of the Atlantic
Ocean.
Hope for the future! Article 67 of the French
Law on biodiversity presented in the Council of
Ministers on 26 March 2014 authorises the
government to take provisional measures that
will allow the carrying out of experimentation on
the management of protected natural areas where
there is an accumulation of protective measures,
as in the case of the Seine estuary. There is a lack
of clarity as well as a failure in the pooling
resources and synergy in the management of
these protected territories, while diverse protected natural spaces may overlap with each other
on the same territory. An experiment is planned
that aims to simplify the management of these
protected natural spaces, in cases where they
overlap on the same territory. Running for a duration of 4 years, the experimentation would allow
the testing of three levels of simplifi cation in the
management of these overlapping protected
natural spaces: (1) drafting of a unique summary
document giving the main guidelines, (2) federation
of the different advisory bodies for the spaces
concerned to form a single scientifi c and technical consultative authority, and (3) designation of a
single administrator for all the spaces concerned.
There is no doubt that this new legislative
arrangement should be understood by the actors
of the Seine estuary as representing a benchmark
example at French national level.
Some concluding remarks: the Port 2000
project gave an occasion for all the users and
actors of the estuary-bay of Seine continuum to
focus on the need to have a shared vision for the
future, aimed at developing an integrated tool for
the global management of this precious estuarine
territory: there is a need for dialogue, communication, mutual training between partners and promotion of a new type of governance. From 2010
onwards, a new era began with the persistence of
sector-based management approaches and a
dramatic increase in the number of workgroups
and scientifi c and technical committees which
take local sectors into account in the management
of a multitude of protective measures. It is clear
that there is an improved consideration of the
natural heritage in the management of the Seine
estuary territory, but a lack of expertise at a global
scale taking into account this complex estuarybay continuum affected by anthropogenic pressures. At present, it is evident that numerous
diffi culties remain with the governance of the
estuary due to the emergence of new laws,
decrees and directives at European and French
national levels. We can note the absence of a
global estuary management plan in spite of
repeated commitments by the French state (as
recently expressed in a letter from the Upper
Normandy prefect to the scientifi c committee of
the Seine estuary on 5 May 2014).
However, for the future, it will be necessary to
envisage an innovative capacity for the governance and to have a real leader involved in the
development of the Seine estuary and bay. We also
need to establish an ecosystem-based management for this complex territory considered on a
global scale and not sector by sector, while taking
into account the cumulative degradation of the
Seine estuary over more than century by multiple
human activities.
Acknowledgements Thanks are due to all our SeineAval colleagues, to A. Baffreau and S. Marmin for her
help with the fi gures and M.S.N. Carpenter for correcting
the English grammar, syntax and style.
J.-C. Dauvin