Social perception of wetlands: which link with action ? A historical analysis and the specific case of "depolderisation"

Abstract

This article reviews current knowledge on the links between the social perception of wetlands and the actions and policies affecting them, in France. Firstly analyzed globally, for all types of wetlands and over time - from the Middle Ages to the present - these links between perception and actions are then questioned in terms of a particular type of restoration: that of salt marshes, through depolderisation policy. It is clear that social perception has played and still plays an essential role in the evolution of wetlands, but this role is not exclusive, it is added to other evolution factors concerning wetlands and their management, including their agricultural or recreational uses. Moreover, social representations can both promoteband hinder the management of wetlands - as the example of depolderisation clearly shows in the European countries in which it has been implemented since the 1980s.