Sessions > Session M

Session M.

Education about and by Territories. The Case of French Regional Nature Parks and Protected Natural Areas

Co-chairs: Romain LAJARGE (AE&CC / ENSA Grenoble) & François MITTEAULT (Inspection générale de l’administration du développement durable – CORP / FPNRF)

Like many protected natural areas (national parks, nature or biological reserves, natural marine parks, protected and listed sites, conservancies, APPB,  Natura 2000, etc.), French Regional Nature Parks (PNR) have a long experience in the area of environmental and territorial education.

These territorial organisations are seeking to increase public awareness of the fragility and richness of our natural heritage through information, education and a range of practical initiatives aimed at a variety of audiences. They believe that it is necessary to be informed in order to act, to be educated in order to conserve, and to learn in order to develop environmentally responsible practices. Together with primary and secondary school teachers and universities, with the CPIE  and CAUE,  the PNRs, like other protected natural areas and other schemes such as the ENS,  carry out a great deal of educational work in and about specific territories. The considerable diversity of these territorial strategies is in keeping with objectives 4 and 7 of the French National Protected Areas Strategy adopted in 2021.

This practical work carried out by experts, technical staff, elected representatives and the various partners of these territories is accompanied by scientific research, often conducted by scientific committees comprising a wide range of disciplines (ecology, environment, social and human sciences, law, economics, information science, education, etc.). The CORP  has been entrusted by the FPNRF  with the task of supporting this goal of learning from territories and of widely disseminating scientific knowledge about them.

The aim of this session is to promote dialogue between scientific institutions and experts in order to discuss the issues involved in territorial education: what the territories teach researchers and stakeholders (advisors and experts); what the interaction between researchers and stakeholders provides to the territories.

Selected Bibliographical References

Allie L., Bryant C.-R., 2003, “Les parcs naturels régionaux français : un modèle de gouvernance et de planification spatiale pour le milieu péri-urbain ?”, Canadian Journal of Regional Science, 26(2-3), p. 447-466.
Baron N., Lajarge R. [2016] 2017, Les Parcs naturels régionaux. Des territoires en expériences, éd. Quaé [2nd ed.].
Bertrand F., Fouqueray T., 2017, “Un parc naturel régional en apprentissage : enseignements d’une démarche d’adaptation aux changements climatiques des actions en faveur de la biodiversité”, Norois, no. 245, p. 47-61.
Blanc-Maximin S., 2021, Partenariats d’éducation au patrimoine entre professeurs et intervenants d’un parc naturel régional : de la compétence d’un collectif à une compétence collective, ISTE OpenScience.
Carlier E., Lajarge R., to be published in 2022, “Articuler territorialement les instruments de protection et de gestion des ressources naturelles. Étude comparée des Parcs naturels régionaux et des Espaces naturels sensibles français”, Vertigo [selected paper].
Kohlmann E., 2017, “Gérer / aimer. Communication et nature dans le parc régional du Pilat”, Questions de communication, 32(2), p. 51-74.
Lajarge R., Pisot A., 2017, Valeurs spécifiques de l’action des parcs naturels régionaux, Paris, FPNRF.
Panossian D., 2019, “Transmettre le patrimoine comme un tout – une initiative dans le parc naturel régional des Caps et Marais d’Opale”, Développement durable et territoires, 10(1).
Pouthier F., 2021, “Les parcs naturels régionaux, générateurs de ‘communs’ dans les territoires”, Nectart, 12(1), p. 114-125.
Zwang A., 2019, “Web Communication of French Geoparks in Education: The Expression of Their Legitimacy”, in Y. Girault (ed.), Unesco Global Geoparks. Tension Between Territorial Development and Heritage Enhancement, p. 199 213.