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Since the security of energy supply in Europe is at stake, the debate on energy sources prominently took hold on the agenda of European countries. Nuclear energy is one of the issues on this agenda. However, nuclear energy is discussed quite differently in Germany and France, although the two countries both experienced strong public protest in the 1970s and are similar in size, economy, industry and culture. By comparing the two, this article analyses the reasons for the different debates on nuclear energy existent in Germany and France. It argues that stances on nuclear energy form the core of social identities that prevent members of these groups to deviate from the group norm. The relevance of certain types of identities is a function of the institutions of the political system. To change the way energy sources are discussed, it is necessary to create or make salient different group identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Key to bridging knowing–doing gaps is analysis of the constraints binding interactions between decision-makers and conservation biologists to clarify the problems they address. We apply this analysis to decision situations in the Northern Vosges (France), which illustrate three kinds of constraints: governance, framework and initiative. We explore how conservation biologists can mitigate constraints so as to foster more ambitious conservation actions in each case. The first case explores attempts at reintroducing the lynx (Lynx lynx). In this case, we show that governance plays a key role, in the sense that conservation actions should focus on improving the acceptability of reintroductions to key stakeholders. The second case refers to water monitoring schemes. Here we show that framing is the dominant constraint. This means that conservation actions are tightly limited by the use of a restrictive scientific apparatus. The last case study, fish stock protection, is constrained by initiative. Here, decision-makers have too much leverage to implement solutions they favour, even if they are not the best options in conservation terms. Exploring how our framework relates to the existing literature allows us to highlight its usefulness for rationalizing conservation problem framing and for strengthening the ambitions of conservation actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the middle of the last century, the emergence of a new risk, the climate risk, was a sudden and largely unexpected phenomenon that has significantly changed our vision of environmental issues. Of course, the link between humans and nature is strong and ancient: a country like France has very few landscapes that have not been shaped by generations of builders, foresters or farmers. But climate change linked to greenhouse gas emissions has brought about a radically new problem, whose novelty results from its very nature. The risk of climate change was revealed by equations or very indirect observations, before it was even really observable. But the speed of its progression, with greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere which have so far never stopped increasing and accelerating their growth, has made a huge difference. Moreover, this evolution has developed in a context where it has been intimately intertwined with other rapidly changing issues: energy, environmental, social, political and demographic. However, despite the variety of warning signals put forward by the scientific community, despite the now widely shared recognition of the existence of strong climate challenges, the dynamics with which these changes have developed, very often remain underestimated and even misunderstood. Climate risk is still very often associated with a certain form of immobility, marked by the repetition of discourse that gives the impression that the stakes have changed little over the last few decades. This incomplete awareness is one of the most important brakes on the development of effective environmental policies, because it erases an essential dimension of current climate issues: we are facing a problem that is very advanced in its development and everything is no longer possible today. The future world will necessarily be marked by the need to arbitrate between partially contradictory issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental policy monitoring requires data with suitable spatial and temporal resolutions. We present a new method of spatialising pesticide sales in France to monitor environmental policies on a territorial scale. Data on pesticide sales in France are available yearly at a postal code resolution. Our spatialisation model combines parcel-scale land use data with information on pesticide types and applied doses, based on legal authorisations for pesticide use in France. We compared the performance of our new model with that of a simple surface fraction model in two distinct territories: Bourville (830 ha, Normandy), a small catchment composed of two small postal code fractions with available ground truth data about pesticide application, and Pleine-Fougères (12,007 ha, Britany), a larger area with a single postal code comprising seven municipalities with contrasting inter-municipal land uses and no ground truth information about pesticide application. For the Bourville site, due to homogeneous land use, the new model was no better than the simple model for global pesticide use, but it performed better when the results were analysed by crop type. For the Pleine-Fougères site, the new model was effective in distinguishing the use of pesticides by municipality, whereas the simple model was not. Our results demonstrate that our new model improves pesticide use quantification at a territorial level and can provide valid support for monitoring public policies regarding water quality and pesticide use over time and space. [Display omitted] • We propose a new spatialisation model of pesticide sales for France. • We apply the new model to two study areas and compare it with the model currently in use. • The results from the new model were consistent with the ground truth by land use type. • The new model helps to differentiate contrasting areas of pesticide use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agri-environmental schemes (AES) are a central component of the European environmental policy, but few of these schemes have been carefully evaluated and doubts are often expressed about their effectiveness. We use original data collected from winegrowers who participated in an AES targeting non-point source pollution from herbicides in 2011 and 2012 in the South region of France. Using the variation in the implementation of the scheme across time and space and a matching approach, we show that the quantity of herbicides used by participants in the scheme in 2011 ranges from 38 to 53% below what they would have used without the scheme and this percentage is between 42 and 50% in 2012. Further, our results suggest that least demanding AES options are effective in avoiding pollution peaks when weed pressure is high, whereas more demanding AES options guarantee an overall reduction in herbicide use, even during relatively easy farming years in which less weed pressure is experienced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2015 Paris Agreement represents a historic deal in the form of a strong international response to address climate change. This outcome came as a surprise for some, as several controversial issues had been postponed from previous conferences, and were expected to complicate the talks in Paris. One related to the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage (L&D), and potential legal remedies for L&D in the form of compensation payments. This issue had been particularly contentious with some developing countries advocating ideas for climate damage liability, which developed countries were unwilling to include in an agreement. Although the negotiations on L&D secured many positive outcomes, Decision 1/CP.21 adopting the Paris Agreement notes that there is no possibility of claiming liability and financial compensation for developing countries. This article, however, argues that, rather than triggering endless compensation claims disputes, a liability mechanism could actually serve as a commitment and reciprocity device, ultimately increasing global policy ambition. In this regard, this article reports the results of two experiments testing the effects of liability rules on the climate policy investment decisions of two players that differ in wealth and vulnerability. Results show that liability rules imposing a responsibility for precaution on both parties increase cooperation significantly, consequentially minimizing risk of L&D occurrence in the first place. Liability rules could thus not only help to address future losses, but also to drive global mitigation and adaptation ambition. POLICY RELEVANCE The research results presented in this paper suggest that policymakers would be well advised to further intensify negotiations on a climate-related compensation mechanism beyond that already committed to in the Paris Agreement. Our findings show that a compensation mechanism that implements a rather simple negligence rule makes climate cooperation more attractive and rewarding, potentially leading rich and poor nations to boost their investments in mitigation and adaptation for climate protection. Thus, far from opening up a Pandora’s box of endless compensation claims towards industrialized countries, a liability mechanism could make global climate cooperation more effective, and in the longer run also less costly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interaction between mitigation and adaptation is a key question for the design of climate policies. In this paper, we study how land use adaptation to climate change impacts land use competition in the agriculture, forest and other land use (AFOLU) sector and how a mitigation policy in agriculture might affect this competition. We use for this purpose two sector-specific bio-economic models of agriculture and forest combined with an econometric land use shares model to simulate the impacts of two climate change scenarios (A2 and B1, 2100 horizon), and a greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture policy consisting of a tax of between 0 and 200 €/tCO 2 equivalent. Our results show that both climate change scenarios lead to an increase in the area devoted to agriculture at the expense of forest which could have a negative impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change. The mitigation policy would curtail agricultural expansion, and thus could counteract the effects of land use adaptation to climate change. In other words, accounting for land use competition results in a reduction of the abatement costs of the mitigation policy in the agricultural sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents recent notifications to the European Commission under Directive (EU) 2015/1535. They include a notification on the adoption of veterinary and hygiene requirements for certain food business operators handling animal products in the Czech Republic. Another is an order that extends the framework of the Inter-branch Association of the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Industry in France. Also included is a notification on environmental protection product charges in Hungary.

The objective of this article is to show that, along with the concepts of common property and common-pool resources, the concept of common patrimony can be relevant for analyzing collective natural resource management. We proceed in three steps. First, we present the concept of common patrimony and we distinguish it from common property and common-pool resources. We show that the notion of common patrimony allows identity, historical, territorial and institutional dimensions to be taken into account as it places social dimension at the center of the analysis. Second, we illustrate the common patrimony concept by using the case of water management policy in France. Third, we place common patrimony within the framework of social ecological economics and we identify links with other approaches addressing institutional dimensions of water resource management. We outline some research questions that can be developed to contribute to a better understanding of collective natural resource management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For meadow bird conservation in Europe, promoting specific farming models in their remaining strongholds could be a necessary complement to the ongoing agri-environmental policy. This study aims at understanding the main drivers of meadow passerine density in the objective of guiding conservation policies. The data were collected in 56 lowland hay-meadow regions important for grassland bird breeding in France. The objective was to explain, using GLMMs, the variation in meadow passerine density, measured annually in 490 12-ha plots during the period 2006–2010 by the count point method. Explanatory variables enabled us to describe farming management, sward structure and habitat size. Passerine density (all species except the skylark Alauda arvensis ) depended on the extent of habitat available and on the percentage of meadow already mown on June 20. More specifically, the skylark was attracted to low, floristically rich and early mown swards, the whinchat Saxicola rubetra and the yellow wagtail Motacilla flava to large areas of favourable habitat, and the corn bunting Emberiza calandra to floristically rich meadows mown later than June 20. Extensive farming models based on late mowing in the largest habitat units should therefore be a target for meadow passerine conservation. The skylark was an exception. Because of its apparent tendency to use early mown grasslands, we recommend to rather invest on alternative habitats for sustaining the demography of this species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the link between carbon dioxide (C O 2 ) emissions and income inequality in France over 1980–2018, focusing on the choice of income inequality indicators in use. To do so, we use a new source of data on net (post-tax and transfer) income inequality indicators using net Gini and Atkinson indexes. We also use market (pre-tax and transfer) income inequality indicators utilizing the market Gini index and share of market income earned by the richest 10% of the population. Using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, we find that income inequality has a different impact on C O 2 emissions, depending on the income definition used for estimated disparities. Furthermore, the ARDL test shows that the market inequality coefficients are non-significant. However, net inequality indicators reduce C O 2 emissions, and these results are consistent with the marginal propensity to emit theories, where some inequality could remain necessary to environmental quality. • Investigate the relationship between income inequality and C O 2 emissions in France, using alternative income inequality indicators. • We apply the method of ARDL for estimations. • We find that the relationship between income inequality and C O 2 emissions varies with income inequality measure. • Empirical findings suggest ensuring environmental policies besides income redistribution policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European Union environmental policy has created a unique regulatory framework to favour aquatic ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation across European countries. Identifying the spatial structure of freshwater fish population dynamics is crucial to define region-specific management and conservation planning. To implement evidence-driven management and conservation decisions at a regional scale we assessed spatial heterogeneity in common freshwater fish population dynamics in France with a focus on trends in River Basin Districts (RBDs). The abundance and biomass growth rates of 18 common European freshwater fish species were estimated with state-space models on 546 sites distributed across the 5 main RBDs sampled in France between 1990 and 2011. Anguilla anguilla , Rutilus rutilus , Salmo trutta fario and Esox spp. exhibited large scale decline in abundance and/or biomass in several RBDs. The other species showed spatial heterogeneity in population growth rates. The main declines were observed in the Adour-Garonne and Loire-Bretagne RBDs, where management and conservation measures are urgently needed to halt the erosion of freshwater fish populations. In each of the 5 investigated RBDs, our results highlight areas where most of the common species we studied exhibited negative population growth rates. Freshwater fish surveys provide the fundamental information necessary to inform the European environmental policies and local environmental management needed to restore freshwater biodiversity. The next steps are to identify the main drivers of freshwater biodiversity erosion in the areas where we demonstrated major declines and to define the most cost-effective restoration measures. • Population dynamic analyses at the regional scale provide crucial information. • Two main River Basin Districts in France exhibit major fish decline. • Four common European freshwater fish species decline at a large scale. • Intra-River Basin District variability in fish population dynamics request local management. • Population dynamic analyses provide complementary information to ecological indexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A framework and an associated modeling tool to perform life cycle assessment (LCA) of urban water system, namely the WaLA model, has been recently developed. In this paper, the WaLA model is applied to a real case study: the urban water system of the Paris suburban area, in France. It aims to verify the capacity of the model to provide environmental insights to stakeholder's issues related to future trends influencing the system (e.g., evolution of water demand, increasing water scarcity) or policy responses (e.g., choices of water resources and technologies). This is achieved by evaluating a baseline scenario for 2012 and several forecasting scenarios for 2022 and 2050. The scenarios are designed through the modeling tool WaLA, which is implemented in Simulink/Matlab: it combines components representing the different technologies, users and resources of the UWS. The life cycle inventories of the technologies and users components include water quantity and quality changes, specific operation (electricity, chemicals) and infrastructures data (construction materials). The methods selected for the LCIA are midpoint ILCD, midpoint water deprivation impacts at the sub-river basin scale, and endpoint Impact 2002+. The results of the baseline scenario show that wastewater treatment plants have the highest impacts compared to drinking water production and distribution, as traditionally encountered in LCA of UWS. The results of the forecasting scenarios show important changes in water deprivation impacts due to water management choices or effects of climate change. They also enable to identify tradeoffs with other impact categories and to compare several scenarios. It suggests the capacity of the model to deliver information for decision making about future policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a chronological account of the eventful adoption of France's first law on shale gas. This governance issue calls into question the implementation of environmental principles, such as the principles of prevention, public information and participation, which were constitutionalized in the 2005 Environmental Charter. The hesitations of the French government illustrate the management difficulties at the state level with regards to new unconventional hydrocarbons that have a particular impact on the environment. On 13th July 2011, the legislator adopted a law that prohibited the use of hydraulic fracturing for the prospection of shale gas and oil. Although this represents a world first, it was designed hastily and has failed to satisfy any of the stakeholders involved. We examine the chronology of events, with particular focus on the chaotic governmental and legislative responses to public pressure on an unprecedented scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the mitigation hierarchy, which is designed to achieve no net loss of biodiversity, is being adopted in many countries, comprehensive evidence of its effectiveness at a national scale is lacking. Only a few major development projects covering specific natural habitats or a limited geographical scale are used as illustrative cases. There is a critical need for nationwide, up-to-date datasets to assess the scope of the implementation of mitigation hierarchy. In this study, we used a national database consisting of 2588 development projects to assess how this policy is implemented in France. We found that the objective of no net loss is primarily targeted through reduction measures implemented during the construction phase of development projects or through compensation measures, and that both of these are mainly based on technical solutions rather than geographical or temporals solutions. When offsets are required, these tend to be dispersed over many small sites and are mainly implemented in agricultural and natural areas, including areas of high ecological interest (~50%). These results suggest that ecological and financial additionality to other environmental policies may not be achieved. The findings also highlight significant differences in the treatment of small and large development projects, reflecting that the extent of this policy is uneven. These results demonstrate the importance of the availability of national data in providing an overall vision of the implementation of the hierarchy. However, a precise definition of stakeholders' roles and responsibilities is imperative to ensure information is entered into the database effectively and to allow the long-term monitoring of the achievement of no net loss at a national scale. • 75% of biodiversity offsets <3.6 ha, whereas the projects they mitigate are larger. • 85% of offsets overlap agricultural/natural areas compared to 8% in artificial areas. • Transport projects represent 11% of the number of offsets, but 42% of offset surface area. • Most mitigation measures are planned to occur during the project construction phase. • Offsets do not always offer true additionality to other environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of environmental criteria in public procurement is now an integral part of the environmental policy portfolio at the EU level and in Germany. There is great potential to utilise the award of public contracts as a means of supporting environmental and climate goals. If all public purchasing were to favour energy-efficient and low-carbon technologies, the German public sector's CO2 emissions could be reduced by as much as 30 % within 10-12 years. European and national public procurement legislation has created the legal security that is required for coupling the award of public contracts to fulfilment of environmental criteria. However, policy- makers must ensure that the available opportunities are used in practice and that the remaining obstacles in procurement practice are removed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on an empirical study of environmental policies in Manchester (UK) and Saint-Etienne (France), this article attempts to provide a periodization of the evolution of the management of urban environmental issues. The periodization traces the shift in discourse from a focus on ‘local environment’ to ‘sustainable urban development’. Three main sequences are identified corresponding to three different ways of tackling environmental issues covering a period from the late 1970s up to the present. The aim of this article is twofold. First, it will use environmental policies as a tool to understand the transformations of urban governance, and in particular the transformations of the actors involved in policy-making. Second, it will show how sustainable development policies are used by local elites to neutralize urban conflicts by excluding environmental grassroots movements from the management of environmental issues. Finally, the article will discuss how this marginalization should be considered as a sign of the emergence of a post-democratic era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Most of the recent framework directives and environmental policies argue for the development and the use of indicators – notably trophodynamic indicators – that should be able to follow ecosystems’ evolution in space and time, particularly under anthropogenic perturbations. In the last decades, the use of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes ratios has increased exponentially, particularly in studies of marine ecosystems’ trophic structure and functioning. This method is principally based on the assumption that the isotopic composition of a consumer directly reflects that of its food. Nevertheless, few studies have attempted to define the limits of this tool, before using it and drawing ecological conclusions from isotopic analysis. This study aimed to assess the importance of considering spatio-temporal variations in isotopic signatures of consumers when using δ 13C and especially δ 15N values in open ecosystems with complex food webs, using the Bay of Biscay (North-East Atlantic) as a case study. To this end, more than 140 species from this marine ecosystem were analysed for the isotopic signatures in their muscle tissue. They were sampled from coastal to oceanic and deep-sea areas and at different latitudes, to evaluate spatial variations of isotopic signatures. Selected species were also sampled over several years and in two seasons to account for inter-annual and seasonal variations. In the Bay of Biscay temperate ecosystem, which is subject to both coastal and oceanic influences – two main river inputs and upwelling areas – , δ 13C and δ 15N values significantly decreased from inshore to offshore species, and to a lesser extent from benthic to pelagic organisms. River discharges appeared to be the first factor influencing δ 13C and δ 15N values in consumers. From the important spatial variations detected in δ 15N values in particular, we suggest that in such contrasted ecosystem, nitrogen isotopic ratios may also be revisited as an indicator of the feeding area. Moreover, we demonstrate that several baselines should be used when calculating trophic levels from δ 15N values. From the temporal variations detected, we recommend concentrating on a short time scale for the sampling most organisms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The time evolution of heavy metal contamination in the Seine River catchment is documented through the analysis of sediment cores sampled at three different sites: in upstream Seine River where agricultural activity is predominant, in the Oise River (a tributary of the Seine River) characterized by intensive industrial activity, and downstream Seine River where various kinds of activities (agricultural, industrial and urban activities) are mixed. The chronology of the cores is obtained through 137Cs and 210Pb dating. Only cores with a clear dating are selected for the study. Concentrations of Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, Cr, As, Sb and Hg are analyzed by neutron activation, inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry and atomic absorption spectroscopy after sediment dissolution. The maximum of pollution is registered during the 1960–1970 decade in the Oise River site, and 10years later in the downstream Seine River. The sites are compared, showing some specific signatures. The different occurrence of every metal at each site is discussed. The present level of pollution is lower in the Oise River, compared to that of the downstream site. The decrease of the metallic pollution is discussed in each site considering its origins and history, as well as recent French and EU environmental policy implementation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Procedure for Institutional Compatibility Assessment (PICA) has been developed as a formalised methodology to predict the compatibility between a policy option and the institutional context of its implementation. As a first empirical test of the tool, PICA was applied to the implementation of the EUNitrate Directive in Auvergne, France. Valuable insights were acquired on thecombination of experts and stakeholders' perspectives and the choice of qualitative methods for the collection of the information needed at each step ofthe assessment. Further, this procedure proved to be a valuable tool for the ex-ante identification of institutional factors affecting the implementation of policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the UN Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, preserving biodiversity has become a sine qua non of environmental management and part of official policy. The EC Habitats Directive (HD) was adopted in the same year, with the aim of creating a European network of sites rich in biodiversity, under the name Natura 2000. Following a period of controversy that in 1996 led to its application in France being frozen, the Ministry for the Environment opted for a process of consultation and discussion to determine how each site was to be managed. The resulting instrument, called the 'document of objectives' (Docob), appears to be an example of procedural policy-making that provides a framework within which agreement between the various actors involved at local level may be achieved. Its aim is to encourage local actors to take upon themselves the task of preserving biodiversity. This article follows closely the interactions among the various participants, in those spaces for debate, or 'local settings' or 'stages'. The thinking thus developed foregrounds the study of a policy 'in progress'; it tries to characterize the status of local settings and to explain how they can be understood from a sociological point of view. It shows that provisionality and proliferation of procedures are necessary conditions for implementing this directive, and indicates a number of specific features of environmental politics. Lastly, it asks questions about establishing a new way of mana-ging the natural environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environment and sustainable development show how policies are becoming ever more complex and ambiguous. This trend calls for new evaluation approaches. They need to be more clearly focused on specific, explicit concerns. They must be driven by a strategic concept of use to overcome the vulnerability to manipulation of many integrative, essentially procedural, approaches to policy making and evaluation. This article presents a conceptual framework for such evaluations and a four-step approach: defining the focal concern; developing criteria and synthesizing observations on the extent to which the focal concern is met; identifying and assessing all policies contributing to this outcome; and complementing this with the evaluation of policies specifically aimed at meeting the focal concern. Examples are taken essentially from wetland-related policies in France and Senegal. The article discusses how this approach tackles some crucial issues in evaluation research and practice and advocates closer connections between evaluation and critical research on policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2007 France has been systematically renovating government policy under the banner of sustainable development. This process, called the Grenelle de l'environnement, extends the official role given to environmental associations in certain of the State's advisory bodies. The institutional roots of the Grenelle are located in various precedents for consultative environmental practice in French administration. The role of Nicolas Hulot's 2006 ecological pact in making democratised environmental policy a higher presidential priority is then reviewed. At a procedural level, the Grenelle is shown to take France's meso-corporatist practices in the direction of deliberative democracy. Its newly adopted Energy-Climate tax shows how environmental groups can use discursive power to shape environmental legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sociotecimical infrastructure required to implement environmental policies has a definite political content: it frames and influences public action, most often in an implicit way. In this paper we take a normative stance on democratic governance, which raises the need for making this infrastructure debatable. We focus on the specific case of drought management in France, which has developed an infrastructure that consists of zoning, measurement networks and threshold definition for critical flows in order to be able to assess a current hydrological situation in any place and to associate it to a specific crisis level. First we identify the various criticisms voiced by stakeholders in drought commit- tees such as challenging the infrastructure's technical validity setting out its inadequacy to a specific context, disqualifying its use due to the gap between science and the existing practice. We then suggest introducing a tool borrowed from the anthropology of techniques : the operational chain. We propose to use it to render explicit and debatable the infrastructure, its structure and content and on top of that the “regulatory science” which it stems from. This tool entails overcoming the various forms of criticism observed as well as dealing collectively with the tension between principles of justice and adaptation to local conditions. We argue that it may also provide a medium to associate lay people in the development or the revision of the infrastructure itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes French public perception of climate change, environmental policy development, and environmental performance in the wake of a deadly heat-wave in France in August of 2003. It is suggested that the French are among the most concerned about the problem of climate change in the European Union and are committed to emissions mitigation. The challenges facing public policy designed to achieve a fourfold reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 are assessed. The impact the global economic crisis will have on building legal and national consensus in regard to climate change in France is discussed.

How does an organisation gain autonomy from the context in which it developed its activities? In contrast with the rest of the environmental movement in France, two organisations have experienced significant growth: Ligue de protection des oiseaux (LPO) and Greenpeace France. The evolution of these two key cases is examined, the analysis focusing on processes and effects of institutionalisation to underscore how both environmental movement organisations (EMOs) succeed in reconciling resource mobilisation and advocacy activities. Both organisations choose strategically which activities to undertake and which public to target in order to ensure the continuity of their organisations. Their enhanced 'capacity for action', relying as it does on resource mobilisation and policy-oriented activities, has further geared up their contribution to their respective international NGO networks as well as to public policy processes, including European policy issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selective fishing pressure on more highly valued marine living resources is one of the key factors proposed to explain changes occurring in fish communities and associated landings of commercial fisheries. The aim of this paper is to establish the nature of changes in the landings of French fishing fleets operating in the Bay of Biscay in the period 1973-2002, and whether these changes could be related to the relative economic attractiveness of different fish species. The analysis focuses on trends observed in the landings of all commercial fish species over the last three decades. It is based on data of annual quantities landed and ex-vessel prices compiled from official French landings records, and on bio-geographical descriptors of these species derived from published data. Using simple index numbers and multivariate analysis, we examined changes in total landings in terms of their volume and value, as well as changes in their composition. We show that the composition of landings significantly changed over the study period, with an increase in the proportion of pelagic species, of lower economic value. The average ex-vessel price of production by the fleets tended to decrease from the late 1980s; partly due to a cross-species drop in prices, occurring mainly after 1993, but also to the increased proportion of low-priced species in the landings. This caused a significant drop in the total gross value of production in the second half of the study period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the first national study on environmental inequalities in France. It applies the Anglo-American concept of environmental justice, focusing on the distribution of environmental burdens, to the French setting and tests the hypothesis that poor and immigrant communities are disproportionately exposed to environmental risks. The location of eight types of hazardous sites (industrial and nuclear sites, incinerators, waste management facilities) and the socio-economic characteristics of populations are associated at the commune, or town, level for all 36 600 French towns. The analysis, descriptive and multivariate, uses simple and spatial regression techniques. It shows that towns with high proportions of immigrants tend to host more hazardous sites, even controlling for population size, income, degree of industrialization of the town and region. The study establishes the presence of environmental inequities in France and raises new public policy questions. However, it does not investigate the mechanisms that may explain inequities, which could include procedural injustices, land market dynamics and historical patterns of industrial and urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

France amended its constitution in 2005 to include a Charter for the Environment. The Charter lays out France's commitment to supporting the right to a 'balanced environment'. This article first traces the Charter's origins to a legacy-building presidential initiative. Jacques Chirac decided to invest in a neglected policy domain in which his own majority had shown little interest. He was obliged to intervene repeatedly in order to bring this project to a successful conclusion. In doing so, he staked out environmental affairs as an area of potential presidential supremacy. Next, the content of the Charter is examined. In this document, French traditions of universalism come together with an international movement for anticipatory environmental protection. This is reflected in the constitutionalisation of the precautionary principle, which emerged as the most controversial part of the Charter. The debates this provoked tended to caricature a risk-management principle whose meaning has been carefully refined to forestall objections. Finally, the Charter's potential efficacy is analysed. The post-Charter record of legislative and judicial activity concerning the environment is meagre, but not wholly inauspicious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All advanced industrialized societies face the problem of air pollution produced by motor vehicles. In spite of striking improvements in internal combustion engine technology, air pollution in most urban areas is still measured at levels determined to be harmful to human health. Throughout the 1990s and beyond, California and France both chose to improve air quality by means of technological innovation, adopting legislation that promoted clean vehicles, prominently among them, electric vehicles (EVs). In California, policymakers chose a technology-forcing approach, setting ambitious goals (e.g., zero emission vehicles), establishing strict deadlines and issuing penalties for non-compliance. The policy process in California called for substantial participation from the public, the media, the academic community and the interest groups affected by the regulation. The automobile and oil industries bitterly contested the regulation, in public and in the courts. In contrast, in France the policy process was non-adversarial, with minimal public participation and negligible debate in academic circles. We argue that California's stringent regulation spurred the development of innovative hybrid and fuel cell vehicles more effectively than the French approach. However, in spite of the differences, both California and France have been unable to put a substantial number of EVs on the road. Our comparison offers some broad lessons about how policy developments within a culture influence both the development of technology and the impact of humans on the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many different approaches for national sustainable development strategies (NSDS) have been proposed since 1992, with some components common to all. A country's national strategy should be designed to help mainstream environmental concerns into policy. More broadly, it should coordinate local policy with global concerns, as well as integrate scientific knowledge into policy and development planning. The peer review mechanism for national strategies was piloted by France, and also involved representatives of countries from the North and the South as well as stakeholders. The peer review process allows countries to share their experience and information, and can assist them in identifying their own path to sustainable development. The business community can also contribute to sustainable development through provision of local and global public goods. Another input to sustainable development could come from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and its Guidance Standard on Social Responsibility (ISO 26000), as a coordinating mechanism between voluntary initiatives and binding obligations (such as international conventions). ISO standards and guidelines should therefore be integrated with national sustainable development strategies and local Agenda 21 frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In France, freshwater recreational fishing management does not sufficiently satisfy anglers. Fishing effort is too high creating congestion costs and environmental quality is low while there is a positive willingness-to-pay for improvements. These inefficiencies are explained by three phenomena. First, private property rights are attenuated under institutional pressure. Second, recreational fishing is managed as an open access resource over the whole territory. Finally, halieutic policies focus on the protection of environmental resources and are inefficient at maximizing the social rent provided by recreational fisheries. Fishing effort regulation and environmental services provision following the beneficiary-pays principle could improve collective welfare. Social pricing could ensure equity in access to the resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traces the emergence and transformation of differing environmental sensibilities in France from the mid-19th century to the Second World War. Indication that environmental concerns in the form of landscape protection did not follow a linear path into the second half of the 20th century; Importance of the French colonial encounter in shaping two distinct sets of ideas regarding the protection of the natural world; Differences between conservationism and preservationism.

The paper will draw on the experience of Greater Lyons (France) in the development and implementation of air quality indicators in the framework of an environmental monitoring body, created in 1992. The analysis shows a patent discrepancy between the strength of the political support enjoyed by the monitoring body at its creation and its gradual confinement within the administrative structure of Greater Lyons. In fact, developing and using indicators raises not only technical issues but also political and bureaucratic stakes. The experience provides food for thought as regards the emergence of sustainable development issues within large and complex structures such as that of Greater Lyons. The paper points out that if indicators are hybrid objects, monitoring bodies, which are supposed to devise and promote them, are hybrid as well: their management, in terms of aims, means and position within the administrative body, is at least as important as their so-called 'technical' function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on environmental issues that influenced the 2002 presidential and legislative elections in France. Intention of the Socialists party to develop public transportation; Details of environmental campaigns in 2002; Status of environmental policy under the leadership of President Jacques Chirac.

Describes the new environmental policy instruments (NEPI) in France as of March 2003. Characterization of environmental policy styles; Discussion on policy structures; Reasons for the adoption of NEPI.

What states can and cannot do under conditions of globalization remains an important question in current studies of public policy. Some stress that states are increasingly limited in the types of policies they can deploy, while others argue that states remain active and important players, but in different ways. This article argues that 'transformative capacity' rooted in links between the state and societal actors will be crucial for determining what options are available to governments. This argument is addressed by examining the evolution of agricultural structural policy in France over the past forty years. Globalization, regional economic integration, as well as environmental and social issues posed new challenges for policy-makers in agriculture beginning in the early 1980s, forcing a reconstitution of state-society relations, first vertically and then horizontally, as a basis for transformative capacity. In the process, the state has shifted from a reliance on rather closed bipartite corporatist policy networks to more open multipartite corporatism. These reconstructed relations with the agri-food sector are now permitting the French state to pursue a new approach to agricultural structural policy that adjusts to globalization on its own terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details the operations of the Seine Centre sewage disposal plants in Paris, France. Ranges of flow rates; Development of innovative configurations for meeting discharge standards; Conformation to the priorities of environmental standards; Preservation of the quality of immediate environment.

This article examines the impact of Europeanization on French politics. More specifically, three theories, two belonging to international relations and one to comparative public policy, are tested against the contribution of Europe to the development of an environmental policy for agriculture in France. This sector was selected because of the difficulties that French policy - makers face in addressing environmental problems related to agricultural practices. The article shows that Europe helped French policymakers to meet the challenge of adopting stringent environmental regulations for agriculture. However, it also shows that the domestic corporatist setting prevailing in agriculture had a significant impact on the policy outcome. Therefore, it is argued that international relations theories and comparative public policy theories are more powerful when combined. Ways of achieving such a combination are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides information on the influence of neo-corporatism on the environmental policy in France. Discussion on the French context of neo-corporatism; Information on the policies for several environmental issues; Effect of the changes and innovations in policy effectiveness.

Since 2012, France has been engaged in its energy and environmental policy transformation. The legislative framework for this change is the Energy transition for green growth Act. The policy on energy transition and sustainable development is carried out at the local level by the regions which rely on their territories. This paper aims to provide a useful tool to policy-makers in order to monitor sustainable development and energy transition policies in Norman territories. This first part of the research provides the evaluation's framework through an Energy Transition and Sustainable Development Index. The methodological strategy is based on a systematic literature survey on both academic work related to energy transition and sustainable development and the Normady's sustainable development and energy transition policies. Based on literature review, the study identified six policy-packages in which policy-makers may act: The "environment and resources use", the "sustainable territories and mobility", the "energy security and transition", the "economic dynamics", the "governance dimension" and the "social dimension". The index is built using the budget allocation process approach. Strengths and weaknesses of the index are clearly identified and highlighted in order to warn future users of the tool the cautions they should take in the implementation of the index, including challenges to make data available for such an implementation. • The paper evaluates France's energy transition Policy at the Normandy region level. • A local index of energy transition and sustainable development is constructed. • Three profiles of territories are identified: Leading, intermediate and timid transition territories. • Six policy-packages in which policy-makers may act are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opinion. Presents the speech delivered by French President Jacques Chirac supporting the environmental goals of the United Nations Environmental Program. Chirac's concern regarding global environmental pollution issues; Call on developing countries to invent a clean mode of development.

Presents a study which examined the use of the environmental agreement as a tool of environmental law and policy in France. Basis for the application of public participation in the environmental decision-making process; Conclusion.

As part of the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, agro-environmental measures are introducing a social control on agricultural practices in several European countries. Focusing chiefly on the French case, but with cross-national comparisons, this paper analyses the development of ambiguous social concern about environmental degradation linked to farming activities. Several causes are examined: the crisis of the productive agricultural model, renewed urban pressure on countryside uses and overall development of environmental anxieties. The article stresses the fact that farmers are given the ambivalent part of being at the same time damaging and managing the environmental qualities of the countryside. In conclusion, it questions the durability of public support to a policy based on local compromises and leading to greater territorial differentiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past the environment did not figure among agricultural problems in France. Now the uncovering of negligent farming methods is set to bring out a relationship between the two where until now, there has been a gulf between not only the representations of agriculture and environment but also institutional practices. Indeed, for the farmer to acquire an image of polluter, a shock was needed to change the popular image of the rural world. The article sets out the role played by public condemnation of affairs such as the spread of genetically modified organisms (1987) - one of the first serious cracks in the image of agronomic research - and the water crisis (1990) which enabled the Minister for the Environment to break the taboo and publicly and specifically accuse farmers of being responsible for water pollution. By his iconoclastic outburst, he forced political decision-makers to recognize for the first time the necessity of taking account of the environment in agricultural policy and made it possible to begin discussion of a possible contribution by farmers along polluter-payer lines. Will this new environmental factor help to create a widening social and spatial gap between farmers or be the spearhead of a more equitable agricultural policy founded on solidarity? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Talks about the entry of eight candidates of the ecological movement to the French Parliament. Right-Left dilemma; Ecological debt; Electoral returns; Ecology and socialism; Necessity of a socialist ecology movement; Precarious victory of the ecologists.