Noémie Nojaroff, Project Manager at the Tour du Valat, answers our questions about the deployment of the Natur’Adapt method on 13 sites in the Southern Region, including the Tour du Valat Regional Nature Reserve.
1) The Natur’Adapt methodology will be deployed throughout the Southern Region on 13 nature reserves. Why did you decide to implement the approach on several sites at the same time ? What is your role as project manager ?
The idea of a joint project emerged at the LIFE [1] Natur’Adapt project results session at the French National Nature Reserves (RNF) Congress in May 2023, where several of the region’s protected area managers were present. Momentum built quickly to implement this method in the short to medium term on their respective sites, generating a collective movement. The project was able to get off the ground thanks to support from the Regional Directorate for Environment, Planning and Housing (DREAL) and the Southern Region.
There are several advantages of working simultaneously on several sites. It allows us to pool our resources for certain often time-consuming project management tasks, as well as bibliographic research, data analysis, and writing. In addition, we can compile the information already collected by each team member, particularly on similar sites. Finally, for protected area managers, I feel that this collaboration offers invaluable support during the process, showing them that they are not alone in facing these stressful challenges and that they all share the same desire to tackle them.
As project manager, my role is to coordinate the entire project at the regional scale, after overseeing its set-up and the fundraising activities. I ensure that the project runs smoothly by supporting the project heads and acting as a link between the site managers and technical and financial partners. I’m also in charge of deploying the method on the three reserves in the Camargue: the Camargue National Nature Reserve, the Vigueirat Marshes National Nature Reserve, and the Tour du Valat Regional Nature Reserve.
2) During the test phase of the Life Natur’Adapt project, you helped implement the approach on the Bagnas National Nature Reserve, located on the Mediterranean coast in Occitanie. Can you give me your feedback and general impressions of how the Natur’Adapt method was applied ?
What I find interesting is that there were as many, if not more, intangible results as tangible ones. Over and above the data collected and documents produced, the approach enabled the nature reserve manager to become concretely aware of climate change, its temporality, and its potential impact on the site’s habitats, management, and activities. It has also fostered a stimulating dynamic and initiated in-depth discussions, both within the reserve and with several local stakeholders.
3) In your opinion, what are the prospects after the implementation of such an approach ?
The Natur’Adapt approach is a process of ongoing adaptation to climate change: it is neither comprehensive nor static. It can be adjusted and enriched in function of subsequent studies and observations. In addition, we now know that climate change will be with us for centuries to come: adaptation will have to gradually become a routine process, fully integrated into the management of any protected area.
An interesting challenge would be to open up the debate to a more global scale than that of each protected area, in order to ensure consistency and synergy between and with the various adaptation plans and policies being deployed in the region.
It is conceivable that our experience could serve as an example to encourage other managers to adopt this approach. The experience gained by the Tour du Valat on this project could also help support other management partners throughout the Mediterranean Basin. In the Southern Region, other sites outside the reserves, such as those managed by the Bouches-du-Rhône Departmental Council (as fragile natural areas), or by managers associated with the Mediterranean Lagoons Transfer Unit Consortium, have also shown an interest in this approach. To be continued…
Contact
Noémie Nojaroff, Project Manager “Natur’Adapt Sud : Adapting Southern Region’s nature reserves to climate change”
[1] LIFE: the European Commission’s financial program that supports innovative private and public projects in the environmental and climate fields.