Courtiers de l’environnement et mobilisations « à bas bruit »

Abstract

Considered as a “strategic” resource for both local communities and extra-local public authorities, Lake Guiers is subject to a variety of practices and uses (agricultural, industrial, fish farming and domestic) that currently impact its ecological quality. This article analyses the “low-noise mobilisations”, developed on the fringes of the institutional mechanism, with the aim of preserving the water resource and its uses. We explain their organization, evolution, and functioning, trying to demonstrate how these actors (as policy brokers) co-construct an ideal of ecological action, use social, cultural, political and economical resources, form alliances, and fit into a larger institutional framework. We also analyze the socio-economic, ecological and political motivations of the actors involved with the communities in the mobilisations for the preservation of Lake Guiers.

Keywords

• Senegal
• Guiers Lake
• environmental brokers
• “low noise” mobilisations
• governance from below
• pragmatism