Written by Un an pour la Planète - Published on 19/04/2011 by 20minutes.fr

Médoc marshes: where preservation and dialogue are in harmony

The bus ride from Bordeaux – over two hours and 100km – allows one to immediately grasp the isolation of Verdon-sur-Mer. It's a godsend for the preservation of the Médoc wetlands, but an economic obstacle. For an environmental organisation, it would be easy to remain out of touch with this reality. But Curuma understood the vital link between the protection of the marshes and local growth.

An area wrought by man

The Verdon marshes are located at the crossroads of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gironde estuary. Dug in the twelfth century, they evolved as agricultural uses evolved. At the same time, the blending of freshwater and brackish water rewarded both landowners and the environmental biodiversity.

During the 70s, the Verdon oil terminal accelerated its development. Urbanisation isolated the estuary's wetlands while traditional activities and the upkeep of the marshes were gradually abandoned. Ten years later, after the local petrochemical activities went out of business, the decline of the historical and biological heritage was already well underway. In 2000, the state of the marshes was alarming.

The effectiveness of dialogue and long-term management

When Curuma contacted the GPMB (Grand Maritime Port of Bordeaux) and communities to get everyone to meet together to save the marshes, everyone's interests seem to be very different. But Patrick Lapouyade, director of the association, was convinced of the merits of his efforts.

In terms of its surrounding environment, the GPMB deals with flooding risks and the numerous environmental regulations. Julien Mas, head of the GPMB's environmental department, explains: "If we pass tons of legislation without thinking things through, we can't reach the best compromise and it is difficult to act." For Verdon's elected officials, preserving the natural patrimony while stimulating employment is a real puzzle. Gérard Barbé, the elected official in charge of sustainable development, commented: "We need to avoid two extremes: destructive productivism and placing natural areas within a protective bubble, which impedes development." Both the city and the GPMB consider Curuma to be a constructive ally.

The association's mediation efforts ended up paying off, and a marsh management and hydraulic restoration plan resulted from this cooperation. Launched in 2006 for a five-year period, it aimed to restore the marshes, coordinate the waters' stakeholders, monitor the habitats and pass along hydraulic knowledge. In the end, many victories were celebrated! Several dry areas have once again become wetlands and the hydraulic structures are being managed in a sustainable manner. The well coordinated effort even allowed them to limit the mosquito control chemical treatments, resulting in significant economic and environmental benefits.

An uncertain future?

This example of dialogue between stakeholders deserves to serve as a model. But this "success story" must not cause us to forget about the uncertainties that hover over civil society initiatives!

First of all, the lack of dialogue between institutions is a threat to associative action. Moreover, subsidies are dwindling and the financing of non-profit areas of our society remains a fundamental issue. Curuma's added value is indeed indisputable, but it isn't recognised by standard economic indicators. Here, the agreements reached with the GPMB have enabled the management plan to be funded. But with each new project, the fear of not finding funding remains!

So let's bet on – and hope! – that associations like Curuma keep helping us invent the socio-economic plans of the future.

Curuma

Context and background

The marshes of the Medoc

The marshes of the Médoc were dug in the twelfth century after the inhabitants of Médoc Point decided to take advantage of their floodplains. The 800 hectares of floodplains stretch out across a territory consisting of 11 communes. This juxtaposition of natural environments has led to an explosion of life: although freshwater from aquifers can favour great reed beds, brackish water routed from the Gironde through a channel favours samphires, a coastal plant that is fleshy and delicious, very good when crystallised in vinegar. As for plants, irises and statices grow alongside asters and maritime artemisias. The fauna is just as varied: you can run into pond turtles, insects with thousands of colours and avocets, which are black and white birds with long curved beaks.

The local economy

Over the centuries, the economic exploitation of the wetlands has been crucial for the community's development: salt production, aquaculture (shrimp, oysters...), reed growing, grazing... But its unique location, where the Atlantic Ocean and the mouth of the Gironde meet, has always led to marine-related activities. In 1933, Verdon, which initially was a sheltered harbour that was well known since the Middle Ages, hosted Bordeaux's outer harbour, where hundreds of ships were docked until its destruction by the Germans in 1944. An oil terminal equipped with three hydrocarbon tanks was erected over its ruins. During the 1970s, the terminal boosted the area's economic development and attracted new residents. However, ten years later, the Gironde district's oil activities came to a halt. Despite the progressive development of tourism, Verdon is still looking for a new source of economic growth. In 2007, the establishment of a methane terminal was considered. Meetings were inconclusive and the subject quickly became controversial, leading to the population's massive rejection of the project.

The Curuma association

The Curuma association got its name from Kuruma ebi, an imperial Japanese shrimp that has been bred in the marshes since the early 1990s. It was founded in 1993 after the creation of another association that tests the potential for breeding in Médoc Point's marshes. This line of valuation remains one of the association's activities. The association later added environmental education and ecotourism to its operations. In the early 2000s, Curuma's monitoring of the silting up of the marshes led to an alarming conclusion: the diversity of aquatic species was decreasing; the oxygen content of the water was falling; the silted swamps were no longer fulfilling their hydrological functions and heavy rains and high tides were starting to create floods. The rehabilitation and mediation required to coordinate the marshes' various stakeholders then became leading priorities for the association, leading to the marshes' management and hydraulic restoration plan.

More about the management plan (French only).

Team

The association is managed by a board of six individuals, chaired by Bertrand Iung, a fish farmer, and by associate members representing three colleges (experts, member entities and public entities). Their various backgrounds demonstrate the organisation's open-mindedness: notable members include the Grand Maritime Port of Bordeaux, the Gironde Hunters' Federation and the City of Verdon-sur-Mer.

The employed team – Patrick, Berenice, Eric, Stephanie, Alicia, Christine, Magali and Emilie – is young, dynamic and qualified. Patrick Lapouyade has been running it since 1999.

Outlook

The marshes' management and hydraulic restoration plan: episode II

In terms of the marshes' management and hydraulic restoration plan, one of the challenges will be to extend the Grand Maritime Port of Bordeaux experience to the wetlands located near the many wineries that are the Médoc's hallmark. The Curuma team has been preparing the stage for several months now by fostering dialogue, as is always the case.

Follow-up of the Territorial Coherence Plan (SCOT)

Curuma knows that environmental hazards are often a consequence of weak territorial planning. The association is therefore very interested in the developments of Médoc Point's SCOT plan. However, the plan doesn't seem to express much concern for the need for dialogue. The SCOT plan is nevertheless the key element required for the development of a territory. To be continued...

CAPITALISING ON EXPERIENCE

According to Patrick Lapouyade, "the wetlands are an area for technical and human experimentation". Curuma hopes that its experience will be useful to other organisations which, in turn, will also share their successes and failures. The association has therefore joined two networks which promote the sharing of experience.

The CPIE network

The CPIE (Permanent Centres for Environmental Initiatives) network includes approximately 80 French associations (located on the mainland and overseas), and 16 regional unions. Curuma is one of six CPIEs located in the Aquitaine region. The CPIE's efforts towards sustainable development entail educating as many people as possible on the environment and assisting territories with their projects and public policies. The network's foundation rests upon a shared vision of the environment, and is based on common values: humanism, promoting civic commitment, participatory efforts and dialogue, as well as respect for scientific knowledge.

The Foundation for Nature and Mankind's partner associations

The FNH (Foundation for Nature and Mankind) network of partner associations saw the light when the FNH, created by Nicolas Hulot in 1990, teamed up with associations present in the field which shared a convergent approach on how to build a sustainable society based on solidarity. It provides a frontline presence for the FNH, which is sometimes lacking in large organisations, while contributing to a sustained strengthening of partner associations, eight of which are currently active.

Wetlands

Wetlands are areas where water is the main factor that influences the biotope (the environment) and its biota (living organisms). Floods, the salinity of the water (fresh, brackish, salty) and the nutrient composition can vary greatly, which explains the multiple definitions assigned to these environments. For example, the French environmental code is more specific in its definition than is the Ramsar Convention (Convention on the conservation and proper use of wetlands and their resources), which proposed an international definition in 1971. Despite the wide range of available definitions, the importance of the functions fulfilled by wetlands and their resulting biological, hydrological and socio-economic value are unanimously agreed upon:

- From a biological standpoint, wetlands are genuine reservoirs of biodiversity. The ecosystems are rich and many species depend on them for survival. In metropolitan France, they cover less than 3% of the territory, but they are home to over half of the bird species, as well as one third of remarkable or threatened plant species and they are essential for the reproduction of amphibians and most fish.

- From a hydrological standpoint, wetlands have a regulatory role. They can store huge amounts of water and then gradually release them, thereby avoiding flooding, preventing floods and adding to the ground water and surface water supplies.

- From a socio-economic standpoint, wetlands are a real service provider. First of all, of course, they preserve the quality of water, the "blue gold" that mankind depends on. Second of all, water contributes to many economic activities: crustacean and fish breeding as well as salt and wicker production. Lastly, wetlands provide a setting for many recreational activities such as boating, fishing and hunting.

Nowadays, the majority of the world's population still lives in areas where water is everywhere. However, the destruction of wetlands has been continual throughout the history of mankind. At first seen as unsanitary, their difficult access and the inability to build cities on them led mankind to drain, dry or fill them. These areas have gradually been fragmented and then polluted by nearby human activity. In 1994, the analytical public policy report on wetlands estimated that approximately 50% of wetlands have disappeared in 30 years. In 2000, over 50% of the remaining French wetlands were thought to be under strong pressure due to human activities (French Institute of the Environment). Currently, they continue to disappear at the rate of 10,000 hectares a year.

More about wetlands.

The sun is rising on Bordeaux's outer harbour (view from the marshes).

The Conseiller marsh.

The Logit marsh.

Aquacole farming in the Conseiller Marsh.