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Dauvin, J.-C. (2026). The ‘CôTe Des Havres’, Cotentin Peninsula (France): Controversy over the Future of a Much-Appreciated Coastal Area Faced with Climatic Hazards. Journal of Environment and Ecosystems, 1(1), 0002. https://ojs.sgsci.org/journals/jee/article/view/591
Volume 1, Issue 1

The ‘CôTe Des Havres’, Cotentin Peninsula (France): Controversy over the Future of a Much-Appreciated Coastal Area Faced with Climatic Hazards

The coast of ‘Les Havres’ (Cotentin), bordering the western basin of the English Channel, extends from Cap de Carteret in the north to Cap de Granville in the south and includes eight havres, unique morphological features along the French coasts with a high common natural heritage interest. The human footprint is ancient and rich in local activities. Today, the development of shellfish farming, tourism and land use requirements has profoundly transformed the territory. While the coast of ‘Les Havres’ forms a unique geographical and morphological entity, its historical and economic development concerns the whole of a territory that has a shared common interest vulnerable to coastal erosion and the risk of submersion. Due to administrative divisions, coastal protection projects against the risks of submersion and erosion are carried out in a very sectoral manner without an overall vision. The area suffers from structural fragmentation at all levels (geographical, morphological, sedimentological, demographic, economic and political), without leadership capable of mobilizing a proactive and innovative development of the territory. Above all, the issues at stake are represented in a highly diverse manner. This study aims to show that the coast of ‘Les Havres’ has a territorial cohesion linked to its past and that it should share an integrated vision of its future that goes beyond the barriers of current administrative and local development divisions. Such problems are exacerbated by associations making demands against the State. This situation is not unique at the scale of the English Channel; a coastal sea shared between the United Kingdom and France. A Satoumi management approach would be well adapted to the coast of ‘Les Havres’; such an initiative seems essential today.

estuary governance coastal management fragmentation English Channel

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Supporting Agencies

  1. Funding: This research received no external funding.