TOUR DU VALAT

A research centre for the conservation of Mediterranean wetlands

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Participative management and multi-uses of Camargue marshes: the Verdier

Horses belonging to the villagers grazing on the site

Project leader: Nicolas BECK (See the CV)

Team:

Coralie Hermeloup, Nicole Yavercovski

Set up in 2003, the aim of the �Verdier� project is to develop multi-use management on the part of the estate nearest the village of Le Sambuc (120 ha) by means of a participative approach bringing together the residents of Le Sambuc and the Tour du Valat.

The project is organised around four essential points:

To preserve the significant ecological value of the site
To conceive a territory that is at the service of its inhabitants
To reconcile different practices within the site
To prioritise group projects rather than individual projects.

The 2006-2010 programme aims to:

Continue with the co-development and application of regulations for multi-use management (grazing, hunting, fishing, walking)
Ensure that the practices are appropriate by setting up monitoring and evaluation
Make use of the site to promote the participative approach and the work of the Tour du Valat relating to wetland management.

Issues :

In the Camargue, the multiple uses of wetland zones are often contradictory and result in conflicts among the users, whose ways of representing these wetlands differ. Today, the practices are subject to socio-economic negotiations in which farming practices are balanced with ecological, cynegetic, touristic, and recreational practices. From this situation results a dynamic of practices characterised by a transformation of ecosystems under the effect of development with an ultimate loss of biodiversity. The idea here is to favour rationalised operations of a marsh on the basis of a common desire to take action. The social appropriation of all of the issues therefore requires the best possible circulation of information among the users and scientists, the only way likely to result in the preservation of the wetland zones and their diversity.

Activities:

Major directions for the management and activities to be developed on the site were formulated and validated by the villagers at the end of 2004. These propositions have been summarised in a planning document: the management plan of the Marais du Verdier (2005-2008). (faire un lien vers le pdf �plandegestion_verdier.pdf�).
In addition, since the beginning of the project, a team of volunteers has been striving to implement the objectives during infrastructure building projects. These operations have resulted in the site being equipped with infrastructure linked to the welcoming of the general public (a footbridge for access, a bird-watching observatory, etc.), the maintenance of the hydraulic machinery needed for the management of water, the building of fences and equipment enabling a herd of Camargue cattle to be kept in view of stockbreeding activity.

The following may be cited among the other main results:

The site is now open to free access for the visitors (on foot, bicycle or horse)
The welcoming on the site of horses belonging to villagers and local breeders
The welcoming of a herd of cows during the summer
The implementation of exemplary cynegetic activity
Reed farming in one of the basins.

Any activity set up on the site is monitored by volunteers under the guidance of scientists from the Tour du Valat.
In August 2004, an association �Les marais du Verdier� (Verdier marshes) was created to handle site and project management. A framework agreement with the owner specifies the obligations of the two parties. In addition, this association organises other activities relating to the site and various events (movies, meals, visits, etc.).
A Letter from the Marshes, �La Lettre du Verdier� is distributed quarterly to all of the villagers. All of the activities and monitoring reports are presented every year in an Annual Report.