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The European Union (EU) Blue Growth Strategy, or Blue Economy Growth, aims to mobilize the unexploited potential of European oceans, seas and coasts to generate jobs and growth (European Commission, 2012a). In this context, seas and oceans are perceived as economic and innovation drivers that could boost long-term growth and create jobs in the European Union (EU). Blue growth is linked to the Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP), which is an EU initiative aiming at providing a more coherence approach to marine issues (European Commission, 2012b). It is also a part of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive for the sustainable use of biodiversity and the marine environment (MSFD, 2008/56/EC). The activities targeted by the Blue Growth Strategy provide a political windfall as they contribute to the general interest of Member States.
France could become a key player in blue growth, as its Exclusive Economic Zone is the second largest in the world. Among the range of activities concerned by blue growth, marine renewable energies and aquaculture are two sectors that France has considerable interest in developing (e.g. Bylaw 2017-222 of 23 February 2017 on the National Strategy for the Sea and Coast). However, the development of these two economic sectors is hindered by local resistance and opposition movements resulting in delays and even the abandonment of projects. The establishment of such movements together with their actions at the community level have been associated with the NIMBY phenomenon (“not in my backyard”)…

Abstract

English

Blue growth is a European strategy that aims to develop the economy by tapping the potential of unexploited oceans, seas and coastal areas. The political agenda of blue growth focuses on the development of several economic sectors, such as marine renewable energy and aquaculture. In France, the development of these two sectors is impeded by the resistance of citizen movement within the communities in which such projects are planned. These citizens’ movements question the legitimacy of the state to implement economic developments that are deemed beneficial to communities and seek greater participation in this decision-making process. Nowadays, citizens’ involvement during the implementation phase of the projects, called participatory democracy, is encouraged in order to prevent conflicts of interest. This article shows how participatory democracy can help kick-start the discussion and decision-making process to achieve consensus among the different parties. With examples from four projects, one from the offshore wind farm sector and three projects from the aquaculture sector in Brittany, the article analyzes different stakeholder discourses focusing on social acceptability as well as how the participatory democracy works in the consultative phase of these projects.

  • participatory democracy
  • social acceptability
  • marine renewable energy
  • aquaculture
  • blue growth
Français

La croissance bleue à l’épreuve des contestations citoyennes : analyse des processus de démocratie participative à partir de quatre cas d’étude bretons (France)

La stratégie européenne de développement économique appelée croissance bleue est axée sur le potentiel inexploité des océans, des mers et du littoral. La mise à l’agenda politique de la croissance bleue se concrétise par le développement de différents secteurs économiques parmi lesquels les énergies marines renouvelables et l’aquaculture. En France, le développement de ces deux secteurs peine à se concrétiser, lié en partie aux mouvements de résistance et d’oppositions générés à l’échelle des territoires dans lesquels les projets de croissance bleue sont planifiés. Ces mouvements mettent directement en cause la légitimité de l’État à définir ce qu’est l’intérêt général et cherchent à faire valoir les intérêts territoriaux. L’implication des citoyens dans la phase de mise en place des projets, décrit sous le terme de démocratie participative, est aujourd’hui largement encouragée, voire imposée, pour prévenir et désamorcer les conflits d’intérêts. Cet article cherche à montrer comment des processus de démocratie participative aux structures différentes, catalysent et font émerger des contestations communes. Pour cela, il se base sur une description et une analyse des instances de démocratie participative réalisée à l’échelle d’un projet de parc éolien en mer (à travers le débat public) et de trois projets de développement aquacole (à travers l’enquête publique), tous situés sur le littoral breton. Notre analyse met en évidence une remise en cause, par certains citoyens, de la démocratie participative telle que déployée sur le terrain. Au-delà de ce résultat, les spécificités liées au territoire breton sont discutées.

  • démocratie participative
  • acceptabilité sociale
  • énergies marines renouvelables
  • aquaculture
  • croissance bleue

Outline

  1. 1 - Introduction
  2. 2 - Blue growth and participatory democracy processes: issues and implementation
    1. 2.1 - Development of MREs
      1. 2.1.1 - Development stakes
      2. 2.1.2 - Public debate at the heart of participatory democracy
    3. 2.2 - Development of new aquaculture units
      1. 2.2.1 - Development stakes
      2. 2.2.2 - Public inquiry
      3. 2.2.3 - Implementation of three aquaculture projects
  4. 3 - Case studies and methodologies
    1. 3.1 - Blue growth projects in Brittany
    2. 3.2 - Textual and content analysis
  6. 4 - Analysis of participatory democracy processes
    1. 4.1 - Wind farm project in the Bay of Saint-Brieuc
      1. 4.1.1 - Common discourse questioning the general interest of the project
      2. 4.1.2 - The participatory democracy model contested
    3. 4.2 - Aquaculture projects
  8. 5 - Discussion
    1. 5.1 - Differences and similarities in the nature of the claims
    2. 5.2 - Specific features of the Breton territory
    3. 5.3 - Challenge to participatory democracy in the field

Authors

Charlène Kermagoret [1]
Charlène KERMAGORET has a PhD in economics from the university of Brest. Her scientific research focuses on the field of ecological economics. In particular, she aims to account for the pluralism of values associated with biodiversity and ecosystem services in order to improve our fundamental knowledge of the relationship between biodiversity and human societies, but also to improve the way biodiversity is taken into account in public policies. This second point has led her to work on tools for internalizing externalities and participatory democracy processes by questioning their effectiveness, efficiency and acceptability. Her interdisciplinary academic (ecology, geography and economics) and professional background has led her to specialize in the study of marine and coastal socio-ecosystems.
Ifremer, Univ Brest, CNRS, UMR 6308, AMURE, Unité d’Economie Maritime, IUEM
  • [1]
    The authors thank the IDEALG Project funded by the French National Research Agency: Biotechnologies and Bioresources Investment Programme (No. ANR-2010-BTBR-04) as well as Fondation France programme “What coastlines for tomorrow?” for funding this research. We also thank Laure Zakrewski and Sybill Henry for their time.
Katia Frangoudes
Katia FRANGOUDES has a PhD in political science from the University of Paris VIII. She is a researcher at the UMR 6308 AMURE a research center at the Université de Bretagne Occidentale. Her main research areas are gender equality and governance issues in fisheries and aquaculture in the European Union. She is also interested in the social dimension of fisheries and aquaculture and the introduction of social indicators in the Common Fisheries Policy. Recently, together with Siri Gerrard and Danika Kleiber, she edited two special issues of the journal Maritimes Studies (MAST) on gender in coastal communities.
Univ. Brest, Ifremer, CNRS, UMR 6308, AMURE, IUEM
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