Participation in a hydrosocial territory: between imperative and reality. The case of the French Bande rhénane

Abstract

Participation is currently a central issue, if not an imperative, in the academic, political and institutional spheres relating to nature conservation and, more specifically, to the management of hydrosocial territories. This article examines the role of participation in the hydrosocial territory of the French “Bande rhénane”, based on an analysis of the approaches and mechanisms used to implement participatory processes in this territory. To this end, the management documents were examined and semi-directive interviews were conducted with stakeholders involved in the management of this territory. The results show that, although management programmes at “Bande rhénane” and European level promote participation, it is not fully integrated into practice by the players on the ground. In fact, there are very few approaches that integrate the various stakeholders, and most of them do not guarantee that the stakeholders have an influence on decision-making. In addition, so-called "participatory" approaches are mainly adopted in order to avoid "blocking" projects, revealing a tendency to instrumentalise participation. Finally, some approaches include stakeholders but only in the implementation phase and not in the decision-making phases, which can lead to a poor understanding of the issues and decisions that are less suited to the Rhineland context. Based on an identification of the main difficulties encountered by stakeholders in the field in terms of participation, ideas will be put forward for the implementation of participatory processes in the Rhine context and, more broadly, in hydrosocial territories.