LABEX DRIIHM
The OHM Vallée du Rhône is part of the Interdisciplinary Research Unit on Human-Milieu Interactions (DRIIHM) of the Ecology and Environment Institute (INEE) of the CNRS. The DRIIHM is a winner of the Laboratory of Excellence (LabEx) call for projects supported by the programme « Investissements d’avenir ». The network brings together 13 Human-Environment Observatories in France and abroad.
L’OHM Fessenheim
The announced closure of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant is the result of a national and even international political debate on the role of nuclear power and energy. It will have major socio-economic repercussions in central Alsace and will pose significant environmental challenges during the decommissioning phase. The location of this socio-ecosystem, on the borders of Germany and Switzerland, in a heavily industrialized region along the Rhine, makes it a unique subject of study, comprehensive from a socio-environmental perspective, emblematic in terms of energy policies and their ongoing transitions, and complex due to the European and international aspects that are de facto involved in understanding it.
L’OHMi
Patagonia-Bahia Exploradores
About 300 km south of the city of Coyhaique, the Bahia Exploradores station is located at the mouth of the Exploradores River and the Pacific fjords. Far from any urban development, the area is mountainous and mainly covered with supposedly virgin forests and lakes. An exceptional territory, the entire area is subject to protective measures marked by the presence of several national parks (Laguna San Rafael National Park, Biosphere Reserve).
This territory offers an ideal setting for observing the transformations generated by the development of a tourism and productive economy (forestry, pastoralism, intensive aquaculture, mining) associated with the development of land and sea access routes, whose impact on a previously preserved ecosystem will be increasing.
L’OHM Bassin Minier de Provence
The former coal basin of Provence, also known as the Gardanne mining basin, is located between Marseille and Aix-en-Provence. For nearly two centuries, this area’s unity was forged around lignite mining and the industrialization it brought about. This area is characteristic of the peri-urban and industrial dynamics of the Mediterranean region.
These dynamics, which are often contradictory, were particularly influenced by the end of mining in the early 2000s. The region is now undergoing a transition phase and must adapt to the environmental, social, economic, political, and energy consequences of the end of coal mining.
These dynamics, which are often contradictory, were particularly influenced by the end of mining in the early 2000s. The region is now undergoing a transition phase and must adapt to the environmental, social, economic, political, and energy consequences of the end of coal mining.
L’OHM Haut Vicdessos
We consider mountains to be a spatial system that promotes interdisciplinary approaches. On the one hand, they offer an easy way to interpret and analyze society-environment interactions, both in terms of global changes (climate) and local changes (socio-economic dynamics, public policy). On the other hand, they pose the challenge of integrating the diverse temporalities of nature and societies, an epistemological and methodological challenge that is all the greater when we seek to combine the natural sciences and social sciences.
To this end, the Pyrenees have the advantage of having historically been the site of the development of various scientific reference models (geology, phytogeography), but also of having served in recent decades as an interdisciplinary laboratory for numerous programs focusing on environmental history and dynamics.
L’OHM Littoral méditer-ranéen
The observation and research carried out as part of this OHM concern the Mediterranean coastline of France, studied through three sites comprising a broad gradient of urbanization and anthropogenic pressure. From the most urbanized to the least subject to human pressures, these sites are: the greater Marseille metropolitan area, from the port basins of Fos-sur-Mer in the west to La Ciotat in the east; the Gulf of Aigues-Mortes, from Sète to Le Grau-du-Roi, including the coastal lagoons and associated watersheds; the shores of Balagne and the southern outskirts of Bastia, in Haute-Corse. The areas and environments studied correspond to the interface between the marine and terrestrial domains, i.e., the shoreline but also the terrestrial and marine areas that influence each other on both sides of the coastline, in ecological, hydrological, and societal terms.
L’OHM Nunavik
The Nunavik International Human-Environment Observatory was created in 2012 under the joint auspices of its supervisory bodies: the CNRS Institute of Ecology and Environment, the Centre for Northern Studies, and the Kativik Regional Association. The structuring factor studied is established by the climatic, ecological, social, and cultural context of the Arctic and the desire of resident communities to control their development and take charge of the management of their resources and territory. The founding event consists of the cumulative impacts of global change and the launch in 2011 of a vast economic development program for the Far North.
L’OHM Oyapock
The Oyapock Human-Environment Observatory, created by the CNRS in 2008, aims to conduct long-term monitoring of human-environment relations in the Oyapock Valley, a river bordering French Guiana and Brazil.
Its establishment is linked to the construction of the bridge connecting the French and Brazilian banks of the river between the municipalities of Saint-Georges de l’Oyapock on the French side and Oiapoque on the Brazilian side. Its purpose is to understand the parameters that influence the human population and the environment in relation to this event, and thus to assist in decision-making and public action.
L’OHM Estarreja
Located in northern Portugal, the municipality of Estarreja, in the district of Aveiro, is the territory studied by this OHM. Its originality stems from the presence of the country’s second largest chemical industry complex (producing mainly ammonium sulfate, nitric acid, and ammonium nitrate, but also synthetic resins) and its location near Portugal’s largest brackish water lagoon, the Ria de Aveiro. Subject to intense industrial pollution since the early 1950s, this area has suffered the simultaneous effects of solid, liquid, and gaseous discharges into the environment, which have affected certain plant and animal organisms and raised questions about the health of local populations.
L’OHM Pays de Bitche
Located in the northeast of the Moselle department, the Pays de Bitche is a rural, landlocked border region bordered to the north by Germany (Rhineland-Palatinate) and to the south by the Bas-Rhin department. The territory has just under 35,000 inhabitants in 46 municipalities. Structured for several centuries by a strong military presence, the gradual withdrawal of the army has had a profound effect on the territory over the last twenty years. The Pays de Bitche is thus undergoing profound changes as a result of widespread decline (industrial, rail, agricultural, etc.), the dynamics of which need to be studied in relation to social phenomena and ecosystems.
L’OHMi Téssékéré
Located in Ferlo, a region in northern Senegal, the territory studied by OHM.I Tessékéré is characteristic of the African Sahel. This vast bioclimatic transition zone, between the Saharan domain to the north and the Sudanese savannas to the south, is prone to ecological and human crises resulting from the droughts that have affected Africa for several decades. The region covered by the Observatory has all the characteristics typical of the Sahel (rainfall deficit, anthropogenic pressure on the environment, changes in major ecological balances) and the particularity of being at the heart of a very important pan-African development and reforestation program called the Great Green Wall.
L’OHMi Pima County
The founding element of the Pima County OHM. The mineral reserves, estimated at 2.7 billion tons of copper, representing more than 10% of US production, are to be exploited using “new environmental techniques” for water treatment and recycling. A comparative approach will be carried out with different mining sites in the same region in order to analyze: (1) the ecological effects on groundwater, biodiversity, land use, air quality, etc.; and (2) the health, economic, and social impact on neighboring populations (residential communities, expanding urban peripheries, Indian reservations). The objective is to shed light on the interactions and dynamics at the heart of the socio-ecological and socio-economic systems that make up the research subject.
L’OHM Littoral
Caraïbe
Following its creation in 2012, the Grand Port Maritime (GPM) of Guadeloupe has implemented a project to expand the Jarry-Baie Mahault terminal, which aims in particular to adapt to the continuous growth of maritime transport and the widening of the Panama Canal. This expansion includes dredging, filling, servicing, and construction of new quays. These developments, which aim to create a regional and international transshipment port in the Southern Caribbean, will enable the development and diversification of maritime activities while structuring networks and promoting the competitiveness of the GPMs in the French overseas departments.
The expansion of the GPM into the small marine cul-de-sac and around the city of Pointe-à-Pitre raises questions of acceptability in Guadeloupe’s socio-cultural landscape, particularly among local residents and the fishing industry. The OHM Port-Caraïbe proposes to observe and analyze human-environment interactions, landscape transformations, and socio-economic and ecological innovation issues within this island territory. The issue of preserving and restoring certain coastal ecosystems is also central.