Towards a joint management of areas and landscapes in the middle-range mountains: the contribution of research work which is under way

Abstract

The territory-planning notion in France dates back to the '60s, but concerns relating to land-expanse and landscape management are far more recent. In spite of the statutory progress, it remains the creation of the conditions for the implementation of an efficient landscape policy in answering the questions which call out land-expanse managers and landscape acting people, for the mid and long run. This document expounds in three stages, the work under way conducted by the multidisciplinary teams of the various partners of the Clermont-Ferrand hub: natural conservation scientists, foresters, agronomists, animal-husbandry specialists, pastoralists, landscape gardeners, sociologists, economists and computer scientists. The first stage consists in describing, on the one hand, landscapes and their components (relief, vegetation, human structures) in their ecological dimension, and on the other hand, the organisation and management methods of these areas in their human dimension (social, cultural, economic), and to understand their operation and their dynamics. The second stage consists in planning and simulating the possible or probable future developments, at the scale of a plot, then at the scale of acting people and territories. The third stage leads to the identification of new actions by proposing management techniques suited to possible uses of these areas, without forgetting the assessment of actions and public policies and the various ways to call upon the acting people.