Association representatives and participatory water management: the case of the Orb watershed

Abstract

In France, public participation in water management is increasingly institutionalised. Public participation principle aims at better water management but faces many difficulties in practice. Our working hypothesis is that the efficiency of a public participation institution is conditioned by agents perceptions and expectations. We define a frame to characterize agents just before they enter participation in order to understand potential tensions or stumbling blocks. This work relies on interviews with NGO representatives and on one observation of an advisory committee in the Orb valley. This study should be seen in the context of researches aiming at the development of concerted decision support tools.