Seventy-year chronology of Salinas in southern France: coastal surfaces managed for salt production and conservation issues for abandoned sites

Abstract After World War II, twenty-nine coastal Salinas (122 km 2 ), located in the vicinity of coastal lagoons and in deltas, were exploited along the Mediterranean coastlines in South France. Today, only five of these are still actively producing salt, currently representing 175 km 2 . Concomitant with the abandonment of many of the smaller Salinas, the larger Salinas in the Rhone delta (Camargue) strongly increased their surfaces at the expense of natural ecosystems, of which a part has also been abandoned after 2009. This paper documents these changes in landscape use by chronological GIS mapping and describes the fate of the 91 km 2 of abandoned Salina surfaces. The majority of this area (88 km 2 ) is included in the Natura 2000 network, among which most (74 km 2 ) has been acquired by the French coastal protection agency (Conservatoire du Littoral) to be designated as Protected Areas. Only a very minor part (