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Titre L'évolution de la géographie des océans et des littoraux face aux perspectives du développement durable au XXIe siècle. Quelles hypothèses envisager?//The geography of coasts and seas facing sustainable development: what could be the future?
Auteur A. Miossec
Mir@bel Revue Annales de géographie
Numéro no 621, 2001
Rubrique / Thématique
Articles
Page 509-526
Résumé Que sera l'avenir des océans et des zones côtières ? C'est à la lumière du passé qu'il faut comprendre les évolutions futures. L'actuelle phase de mondialisation des échanges, qui exprime le triomphe du libéralisme sous toutes ses formes a d'évidentes conséquences sur les littoraux où la pression s'accentue. Elle apporte avec elle une compétition plus forte pour l'espace et menace la qualité globale de l'environnement marin et côtier. On peut prévoir que ces phénomènes vont se poursuivre mais on sait également que la communauté internationale s'est inquiétée, depuis le sommet de la terre de Rio de Janeiro en 1992, des conséquences d'un essor mal maîtrisé. Le Chapitre 17 de l'Agenda 21 met en avant divers principes, à partir d'ailleurs de politiques plus ou moins efficaces élaborées par exemple en France et aux États-Unis : on n'entre pas dans le millénaire à l'aveugle et bien des incertitudes subsistent, qui mobiliseront les géographes du monde entier. Parmi elles, l'élévation contemporaine du niveau des mers menace les biens et les personnes trop exposés mais elle invite chacun à la sagesse et à une gestion précautionneuse de l'environnement maritime et côtier.
Source : Éditeur (via Persée)
Résumé anglais The increasing movement of economic growth within the last 50'years has had major spatial effects. In the developed countries, the coastal activities has been more and more important as they were in the past two centuries: ports and touristic areas has suffered a high pressure of men and activities which need large areas to be built. As a consequence, the quality of life in the coastal zone began questionable. In an other hand, in a large part of countries which have chosen a planified way, pressure was higher inside the boundaries and, except some Windows on the sea, the major areas of economic development took plance inland. Since a few years, things are quickly moving. A new deal give way to a major era of economic growth in the coastal zone and nowhere in the world it can be found a territory really out of the movement. Singapour is now the main port ofthe world and a lot of Asian places are also on the coast. All that situation has important geographic effects at all scales of study. As the coastal zone is limited, the increasing movement for the best places on the sea explain a lot of alteration for the environment. During the seventies, some developed countries have experimented local solutions, within the Coastal Zone Management Act in the USA but also in France where a moving policy toward more conservation and protection took place. As exspected by the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992, the world is now facing a lot of challenges, especially for the coastal zone and the oceans, as agenda 21 shows. It highlights a new step with the milestone of an exspected integrated coastal management. According to the new era opened a few years ago, what is the future for oceans and the coastal zone. What do whe know and what are we ignoring at this time? The natural perspectives are dominated by the sea level rise and the communities as the states to mind the future as a management of the sea level rise. As they do according to the climate global change, taking tessons from El Niño as scientific proofs are really convaincing. The technology will also give new possibilities on the good way for a more sustainable development: it depends however of the opportunity to give a large way to integrated coastal and ocean management. That is better to explain on the paper than to train on the field, as geographical studies will take attention for forthcoming years.
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Article en ligne http://www.persee.fr/doc/geo_0003-4010_2001_num_110_621_1718