The Shoreline between Nature and Society, a Changing Heritage - Vulnerability of Coastal Ecosystems and Adaptation - page 175

finally, why we should leave all the wiser. This is an inspiring
example of coastal natural heritage management.
This long preface situates this chapter within the ambivalence of
environments and landscapes and in the choices of societies that here
decide to open a space up to the public, where other societies would
rather fence it off. This situation arises as on this narrow strip of
shoreline, conflicting interests clash and the result can be brutal for the
environment in question. Between degradation and promotion, the
game is on and the stakes are high in terms of protection, conservation
and restoration. It is the outcome of a long story, sometimes guided by
a top-down approach and taken over by a bottom-up strategy on the
ground or, on the contrary, inspired by a range of local initiatives,
which then have to be coordinated. It is the scene of diverging logics,
as the societies involved are different, even, and especially, in a
globalized world whether they operate through centralized
management or in the context of a more rooted decision-making
process. On the one hand, we have the French tradition and, on the
other hand, the federal State model of the United States, two models
that are more similar than we tend to think. They have been developed
in parallel for 40 years through, on the one side, the implementation of
the Coastal Management Act, and, on the other side, a very
prescriptive approach which, over time, shows the perseverance of the
State in spite of recurring criticisms. These are the stakes in a world
where people worry too much about their seas and coasts and develop
a pessimistic vision of their future.
Implementing policies for the protection of coastal (and marine)
environments is merely the consequence of a triple realization. On the
one hand, the growing pressure of man on coastal zones, and on the
other hand, the need for a healthier and more sustainable resource
management, as we would term it after the Earth Summit in Rio de
Janeiro in 1992, that is not only spatial (the coastal space), but also
biological, due to the high productivity of interface or coastal
environments. Finally, it is also the realization of the fragility of the
coastline itself subject to natural hazards, and coastal erosion, which
can be insignificant in some places and considerable in others that are