Cooperation Offer

Ecosystems and crops management/conservation with brackish waters in a littoral area

Offer name: 
Ecosystems and crops management/conservation with brackish waters in a littoral area
Expiry date: 
01/10/2019
Offering LAG: 
GAL du Pays de Coutances
Country:
  • France

Looking to cooperate with

Type of partner: 

All EU LAGS located both on lands and on the seaside.

Country(ies):
  • Unia Europejska
Region: 
Normandie

Project idea

Project type:
    • Cooperation within the country
    • Across regions
    • Cooperation within the country
    • Within the same region
    • Transnational cooperation
    • Cross - border cooperation
    • Transnational cooperation
    • With other MSs (no shared border)
    • Sea basin cooperation
    • Mediterranean
    • Sea basin cooperation
    • Baltic
    • Sea basin cooperation
    • North Sea
    • Sea basin cooperation
    • Atlantic
Project topic:
    • Research & Development
    • Knowledge transfer / education / training activities
    • Agriculture & Farming
    • Small farms
    • Fisheries and aquaculture
    • Fisheries
    • Fisheries and aquaculture
    • Aquaculture
Context: 

Brackish waters are less salty than sea water, which is formed by the confluence between fresh and salty water bodies. Brackish waters can also arise from minerals and rock dissolutions. This growing phenomenon, affected by rising sea levels, interferes with vegetable growing/crops management, due to raised groundwater levels. With climate change, this phenomenon will be increasingly recurring and the Pays de Coutances area would be particularly affected.

Project idea summary: 

The “Pays de Coutances” LAG, located both on lands and on the seaside, is currently anticipating climate change consequences and evolutions in relation with its area. Partners of several significant projects, the LAG has adopted a sustainable management strategy of its coastline.
The LAG would like to launch a cooperation project on brackish water / groundwater salinisation located next to a coastline, where we can find several low and wet areas (polders), behind sand dunes. This phenomenon « salt water intrusion » is likely to become much more important, due to rising sea levels. The vegetable growing activities are encountering or will encounter this phenomenon which impacts the local ecosystem and jeopardizes the crops gardening conditions. The near coastal agricultural crops are already affected (in Creances’ town) : the agricultural plots by water salinisation and clean water catchments used for crops irrigation. It would be interesting to cooperate with other LAGs who are impacted by brackish waters, or who are willing to implement preventive measures. Research and experiments on crops which can bear brackish water seem to be poorly developped in France. This cooperation project would be very valuable for the « Pays de Coutances » area who seeks to develop knowledge in order to adapt its sector (from Lingreville’s area to Surville’s haven, around 50km).

Objectives: 

Project objectives :
- Experiments conducted on brackish water use for crops, how we could cultivate with.
- To conduct a survey on lands strategic retreat / feasibility evolution, impacts, changing operations and agricultural lands management.
- To conduct a survey on competition and on the space sharing in a restrictive area.
- To raise inhabitants and elected representatives awareness that tools and solutions could be implemented in order to tackle climate changes issues.
- To collect all feedbacks and to get inspired by every partners’ projects/suggestions.
- Exchanges of good practices to handle with climate changes’ adaptation on littoral’s shoreline.

Target audience :
Elected representatives, associations, project partners from « Notre littoral pour demain » (« Our shoreline for tomorrow »), coastal inhabitants, DREAL Normandie (Regional Environment Agency), SILEBAN, Chamber of Agriculture, and OSUR laboratory from the University of Rennes for « Rivages 2100 » (« Shoreline 2100 ») study.

Activities:
- Study trip for elected representatives and programming committee members to exchange on experiences and current achievements.
- Dissemination of the knowledges acquired and the data gathered for other representatives, local authorities and inhabitants.
- A benchmark development about areas which are dealing with the same ecosystems evolutions – a survey undertaken on these territories about potential solutions.