Les digues littorales à l’heure de la GEMAPI : une opportunité de gestion intégrée face au risque de submersion ? Le cas de l’estuaire de la Dives et de la Baie des Veys

Abstract

The delegation of management of aquatic environments and flood prevention to public inter-municipal cooperation establishments to January 1, 2018 resulted in a deep recomposition of the system of actors in charge of the dikes, and a questioning of coastal dike management policies. On the Normandy coast, a series of semi-structured interviews with institutional actors, associations and users was conducted between 2018 and 2021. This investigation highlights, on the one hand, a multiplicity of uncoordinated former managers and, on the other hand, a relative abandonment of several protective dikes that calls into question their very future. In view of the uncertainties linked to the transfer of competencies, the vulnerability of these mostly agricultural territories, the concerns of all actors towards the risk of submersion and salinization, several contrasting orientations are proposed by the institutional actors or by former managers. These proposals range from hard defense (strengthening of dikes) to softer management (partial depolderization, retreat of dikes).

Keywords

• dikes
• coastal risks
• vulnerabilities