Participation du public et planification de la gestion de l'eau : nouveaux enjeux et éléments de méthode

Abstract

In response to an increasing demand for public participation in policy making, the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) imposes that citizen be consulted during the design of river basin management plans. In this paper, we suggest that the consultation of the public should be initiated in parallel with the characterisation of river districts as required under article 5 and that it be conducted at a relatively local scale corresponding to water bodies. A practical method is proposed to collect and analyse stakeholders' view points. The method is then applied to the Herault watershed located in southern France.