“Fifty years after its creation, the Conservatoire du littoral is in turmoil”

Fifty years ago , concerned about the urbanization and privatization of our coasts, visionary minds created the Conservatoire du littoral to accomplish a superb objective: to safeguard the "natural coastal third" . A public service mission that can be summed up in three verbs: "protect, enhance, share" . A mode of action based from the outset on a strong and unwavering partnership with local authorities. Two key principles, land acquisition and the inalienability of sites, inscribe their action in the long term. A culture of dialogue and a desire to involve local stakeholders, to open sites to visitors and to welcome, wherever possible, economic or leisure activities, while respecting ecological balances, the integrity of natural sites and associated cultural assets.

Today, 80 million visits are recorded each year at the 840 sites of the Conservatoire du Littoral, offering visitors this common good and its amenities, including free access to exceptional coastlines. All this thanks to 340 organizations that manage these sites and employ more than 900 coastal guards. In France and overseas, 19% of the coasts of seas, oceans, and large lakes are inalienably protected.

Praised by the public, the work of the Coastal Conservatory is scrutinized with envy by many countries that are experiencing major pressure on their coastlines without having public land management tools or the capacity for dialogue at the territorial level to organize collective action.

Supported by its scientific council, the Conservatoire has long anticipated the major challenges facing coasts, between unbridled artificialization, overcrowding, and the onslaught of the climate crisis. How can we manage a coastline nearly half of which is already prey to erosion, a coastline that is no longer a line on a map, but a shifting space enclosed within an increasingly urbanized matrix?

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