Participation, strategies and ethics: roles of people in wetland management

Abstract Biologists and environmentalists tend to be concerned with water, plants, animals and landscape. They observe the degradation of these natural elements, and become advocates of better wetland management. The paper concentrates first on a needed clarification of the concept of “managing” ecosystems. Generally, no one manager is in command of the evolution of a given wetland; on the other hand management results from the activities and purposes of various actors with diverging intentions and unequal means. For progress to be made in the management of wetlands, a careful diagnosis of who is playing what part in the game and how, is a crucial element. It should in particular replace established concepts of who are the “good” people, and who the “villains”, in wetland management. Among all the actors involved in the evolution of a wetland, only some are concerned with the management of the wetland as such, i.e. by environmental values, or sustainability. Their activity is not really managerial in an administrative or economic sense. It consists largely of strategic promotion of propositions about the role people should play and about environmental values, propositions which have both a practical and an ethical basis. Several techniques have been proposed to enhance the role of people in wetland management, such as public participation and environmental mediation. The success of such techniques is largely dependent on their appropriateness to local and national contexts. Research and experience have shown, for instance, that environmental mediation techniques are not well suited to French realities. The Audit Patrimonial, an approach more adapted to national decision-making systems, has been developed at the initiative of the French Ministries of Agriculture and Environment. It is largely a methodology for reaching an informal consensus gradually, likely to be backed by administrative authorities.