Droit et Cultures (Dec 2014)
Polices de l’eau et ordre public écologique, valeurs exprimées, valeurs protégées
Abstract
It takes time for an idea to become a valued principle. This is particularly true of the idea that our biodiversity needs to be preserved. Interviews conducted in 2007 as part of a study on the judicial and administrative monitoring of offences against by-laws restricting the use of water in the Département of Côte d’Or voiced the views of both reported and prosecuted offenders and the by-law enforcers. The research was based on the premise that legal sanctions and effective enforcement of by-laws are indicative of the value acknowledged by our society to protect interests endangered by environmental offenders. When reviewing the 2007 interviews and after interviewing further key enforcers who were cracking down on infringements of environmental by-laws, it clearly appeared that in the rare cases where it was reported, neither the offender nor the enforcer understood the purpose of the by-laws. In an attempt to avoid clashes with various stakeholders (mayors, industrialists, farmers irrigating, golf club owners and individuals), local authority by-laws restricting the use of water became subject to negotiation, division and subdivision on the ground, varied according to the hours of the day and became subject to many dispensations instead of being applied uniformly all over a Department - as they were originally. The French Civil Service sees them as a bargaining tool with a view to obtaining a site remediation. Prosecutors feel manipulated when important water consumers benefit from dispensations. Only environmental organisations seem concerned about nature but, apart from angling societies, they rarely resort to civil prosecution for want of financial and human resources. Biodiversity preservation cannot be a principle shared by the general public unless the enforcement of by-laws by the authorities is applied to all citizens in a general and absolute way.
