CEPEL

Thematic area No. 2 – Environment

The environment cluster is a continuation of the innovative "sustainable development" cluster launched during the previous five-year period. It aims to extend the work on the topics covered in this framework and builds on the various research contracts obtained in 2017 and 2018, while developing new projects. In the French scientific landscape, it stands out both for its subjects and its partnership-based approach, as well as for its methods, which combine analysis of public policy and behavior. For a long time, the environment has been a relatively neglected subject in political science in France, with the exception of a few notable works, including those of Pierre Lascoumes in particular. Environmental analysis has mainly developed in laboratories focused onscience and technology studies(LISIS), environmental sciences, or in geography laboratories importing critical American environmental approaches. Although there has been a sharp increase in the number of theses defended in recent years—suggesting a change in this field—there are still few political science researchers specializing in the environment. Those who do exist are often affiliated with technical schools (AgroparisTech) when they are teacher-researchers and are scattered across different laboratories.The Montpellier site has historically developed strong expertise in the fields of agriculture, food, and the environment, linked to the presence of EPSTs such as INRA, CIRAD, IRSTEA, IRD, IRC, etc., and Grandes Écoles in this field (SupAgro Montpellier, AgroParisTech, etc.), as well as France's largest and internationally renowned ecology research laboratory, CEFE, which enabled the University of Montpellier to achieve first place in ecology in the 2019 Shanghai ranking. This vast research ecosystem is grouped together in the Agropolis Cluster, benefits from the support of the Agropolis International Foundation, and also houses the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Initially focused on engineering sciences (agronomy, hydrology, ecology, etc.) or economics, the EPSTs (public scientific and technical establishments) of the Agropolis cluster have gradually developed work in the social sciences and, in recent years, have recruited researchers in political science and political sociology (mainly CIRAD and IRSTEA).CEPEL's new environmental focus will build on the various research partnerships that have been developed with these researchers over the past five years. These partnerships bring together political scientists and sociologists from CIRAD (UMR Art-Dev and MOISA), IRSTEA (UMR G-eau) and researchers (geographers and economists) from INRA (UMR Innovation, in which Laura Michel is an associate researcher). Many of them are already involved in scientific activities with CEPEL. The objective of the new environmental focus of the CEPEL project is to continue this momentum in order to bring together a community of researchers within the framework of collaborative research and scientific outreach programs and to attract new social science researchers specializing in the field of the environment (CNRS applications, doctorates, or post-docs). This project is part of the policy of I-Site MUSE – Montpellier University of Excellence, contributing to two of its three areas – " Feed (agriculture and food) and "Protect" (environment) – as well as their intersection. This axis develops a political sociology perspective on subjects considered technical and therefore rarely addressed by political science: the environmental challenges of agricultural and industrial policies, water management, coastal risks, etc. It questions the governance of environmental criticism, which will also be the subject of a post-doctoral thesis to be defended during this five-year period (Laura Michel).A first sub-axis addresses this question from a cross-cutting perspective (environmental democracy, behaviors, and opinions). A second sub-axis focuses on the potential for transformation of sectoral policies (agriculture, industry, etc.) under the influence of environmental criticism. A final sub-axis focuses on the territorialization of public policy responses to environmental issues.

Environmental democracy, behaviors, and opinions

A first set of studies will take a cross-disciplinary approach. One subset will focus on environmental democracy, building on previous work on the spread of participatory standards in the environmental field. We will look at the limits currently hindering its expansion, and even the phenomena of regression under the combined effect of three independent dynamics: academic criticism highlighting its aporias or the various ways in which participatory mechanisms are being exploited; the rise of economic actors in environmental negotiations who present themselves—and are recognized—as representatives of civil society; and finally, security discourses that can be used to justify a rollback of the new procedural rights of access to information and public participation enshrined in international law by the Aarhus Convention. This work will draw on Laura Michel's[1] participation as an observer in the Aarhus Convention and on the observation of a participatory approach—led by IRSTEA researchers—that aims to involve citizens in future coastal development projects, in which Laura Michel is collaborating (Cartodébat Project). A second sub-set will focus on opinions and behaviors regarding the environment. A questionnaire survey of electricity consumers (5,000 individuals and 500 small businesses) and four focus groups were conducted (Jean-Yves Dormagen, Laura Michel) in partnership with a producer of "green" electricity (wind, solar, hydro). It will be used to analyze behaviors in terms of green electricity consumption and their link to political positions. This work will also be informed by the BAROC project, led by Jean-Yves Dormagen (with Laura Michel and Emmanuelle Reungoat), in partnership with Science Po Toulouse (Occitanie Region call for projects, 2018-2020). Two quantitative surveys (spring 2019 and 2020) should enable us to understand (among other things) the perception of environmental risks and issues, particularly in the context of climate change (energy, agriculture and food, coastal risks) by the inhabitants of the Occitanie region, their knowledge of related regional policies, and their practices (consumption and "sustainable" behaviors). This data, cross-referenced with electoral behavior (participation, political orientations), will also enable us to develop a detailed sociology of ecological voting and, more generally, voting profiles based on environmental awareness.

Environment and sector governance

This axis examines the potential transformative effect of environmental criticism on sectoral policies, as well as sectoral strategies for channeling criticism, through three areas of study. We propose to continue our work on the rise of local agricultural and food policies that are part of agroecological transition projects. We question their potential to challenge the productivist model at the territorial level. Our hypothesis is that actors in the agricultural sector are deploying strategies of resistance to alternative models, but not only that. Their partial appropriation of criticism is also a means of strengthening the place of agriculture on the urban agenda in the face of the dominant urban planning/residential framework in cities (agricultural land as reserves for urbanization). The rise of urban food and agricultural policies that are more oriented towards a multifunctional and agroecological framework also raises the question of their coexistence with liberal and productivist frameworks that remain in place at the national and especially European levels (CAP) and continue to guide the major instruments of agricultural policy: financing and regulation. This work will continue in partnership with the UNESCO Chair in World Food Systems (CIRAD). A project has been submitted and shortlisted, led by INRA (UMR Innovation in Montpellier and UMR AGIR in Toulouse): GATO (Territorialized Food Governance in Occitanie). The following two areas are part of a new project launched in 2017 on climate change adaptation policies. The first focuses on the problematization of climate change as a lever for taking coastal risks into account bythe port industry and tourism industry(outdoor accommodation, real estate development). We are adopting a comparative perspective between these two sectors. Our work in partnership with researchers from the Agropolis cluster is based on four ongoing research contracts on climate change adaptation policies in coastal risk management (with S. Barone, IRSTEA): the first focuses on the Gulf of Lion coastline (Fondation de France), the second on "Metropolization and coastal risk management" (POPSU). Two others, in partnership with political scientists and sociologists from CIRAD (Gilles Massardier, Marie Hrabranski, Denis Pesche, Pierre-Louis Mayaux) (Tackling CC 2017 and Typoclim 2018 projects), winners of the MUSE program (Montpellier University of Excellence), are developing a comparative perspective between sectors (agriculture/coastal) and countries (North/South).The second field of research, which addresses the issue of climate change as a factor of transformation, focuses on the green electricity sector, which will allow us to examine an example of how the market has responded to environmental and climate criticism. We are basing our research on the survey mentioned above, which will be supplemented by semi-structured interviews with stakeholders in the sector, both on the industrial side and among public actors (involved in the development of this new sector and its regulations).

Environment and Territorial Governance

Anglo-Saxon literature on environmental policies—and climate policies in particular—emphasizes the fact that their implementation at the national and local levels represents a real challenge. Implementation requires an integrated approach that necessitates coordination between instruments (financing, market-based, nature-based,planning, development, risk management, etc.), sectors (agriculture, urban planning/housing, environment, industry, etc.), actors (administrations, elected officials, industries, businesses, "civil society," etc.), and levels of action (international, national, territorial). Furthermore, national and international policies often have vague or even contradictory principles, which at the territorial level can lead to potential conflicts in their implementation. This issue raises the question of the territorial governance of environmental policies. It will be addressed through water policies, coastal risk policies, and agroecological policies. The work in progress should enable us to shed light on the restructuring taking place in the relationships between all actors in the territory, including government departments, around the ecological issues specific to these policies. In the field of agricultural and food policies, we will test the hypothesis of a shift to the territories of agroecology and multifunctionality issues. In the field of water, Claire Dedieu's thesis will analyze the impact of territorial government reform on the quality of water resource protection. A comparative thesis on water stress management (Ophélie Traché) has also just begun under the supervision of Emmanuel Négrier (co-supervised by Sylvain Barone, IRSTEA). In the field of coastal risks, the territorial state is also less directly involved, pushing local actors to take on new responsibilities while seeking to govern remotely through risk regulation or doctrines of adaptation to coastal erosion. Between contradictory injunctions and a shortage of resources, we will examine the ongoing restructuring around metropolitan areas—now in charge of GEMAPI—and regions. This sub-axis will be based on the partnerships and research contracts mentioned above.In addition, the issue of coastal risk governance and water stress in a climate change context will be the focus of an international comparison with the United States, which we will develop throughout the five-year period. To this end, we have entered into collaborations with the University of California Davis (UC Davis). Comparative research is underway on coastal risks in the Gulf of Lion and San Francisco Bay in California. Laura Michel has also been awarded a mobility grant for the University of California Davis (three research stays: October 2018, May 2019, and fall 2019), which will enable her to conduct field research in California and develop a comparative analysis grid with our partner's team (Mark Lubell, Director of the Center for Environmental Policy and Behavior, UC Davis).All of the work in this area, as well as the partnerships formed with researchers from the Agropolis cluster, will feed into the "Environment and Politics" seminar for the bilingual Master 2 program in Comparative Politics and Public Policy.

We will also continue our involvement in various local, national, and international networks:

  • RECO (Network of expertise on climate change in Occitanie, member of the steering committee)
  • KIM (Key Initiative MUSE) Sea and coastline
  • Guarantors of consultation (CNDP, National Commission for Public Debate)
  • ICPC (Institute for Consultation and Citizen Participation)
  • Coastal Ambition
  • Climate Change Policy/2CP International Network

It is clear that this area requires further development in terms of human resources. It will involve one full-time lecturer-researcher (Laura Michel) and two doctoral students (Claire Dedieu and Ophélie Traché), as well as one part-time CNRS researcher (Emmanuel Négrier) and one lecturer-researcher (Jean-Yves Dormagen). The challenge is to develop partnerships with Montpellier's public scientific and technical establishments (EPST) to position CEPEL at the crossroads of multiple collaborations within the framework of MUSE's site policy. Welcoming new CNRS researchers would be a valuable support. For the time being, obtaining a place within the CNRS delegation will help to initiate this dynamic.