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The ordinary political work involved in the creation of a French national park, during the World Heritage inscription process and by its governance, leads the actors to manage with conflicting frames of knowledge, and with conceptions of their land and social relations in opposition. This work is based on “mediations” distributed at various scales: local, national and international. The field work was conducted between 2011 and 2014 among members of the French National Park of Reunion Island, inhabitants of the core area, and members of the French National Forest Office who are also inhabitants of the core area.

Keywords: parcs nationaux, Office National des Forêts, ONF, UNESCO, patrimoine naturel, participation, La Réunion, savoirs locaux, universalisme, médiations, gouvernance, national parks, UNESCO, natural heritage, local knowledge, universalism, Reunion island, ONF, French National Forest Office participation, mediations, governance

This article accounts for the slow unveiling of the importance of female work on the farms. It aims at understanding why the work of women on the farms has generally been denied and has remained invisible, and why it may become visible in certain situations. It contends that the invisibilization as well as the visibilization of female work on the farm result largely from the way women gain access to this profession and from how the organization of the work on the farm. The article investigates the work of thirty women farmers of two French regions, Britanny and Aquitaine. It first examines their professional careers. Then it analyzes how these female farmers organize their work. Finally it highlights the consequences of their ways of working on the ways they define their professional identity.

Keywords: travail, métier, identité, genre, agriculture, work, labour, professional identity, gender, agriculture

In order to access to paternity in Quebec, gay male couples resort to surrogacy. However, this assisted procreation mechanism raises many issues, one of them being the legal framework in which it takes place. Relying on an analysis of positive law and on fieldwork with gay fathers who chose surrogacy to create their families, this article shows how the uncertainty surrounding this practice in law complicates the interactions gay fathers have with two state authorities, namely the Registrar of civil status (Directeur de l'état civil) and Québec Parental Insurance Plan (Régime québécois d'assurance parentale). After review, it appears to us that to ease these interactions Quebec should include in its laws a separate procedural vehicle addressing surrogacy. We add our voice in support of those pressing, for some time now, for legal reform.

Keywords: Adoption, filiation, gestation pour autrui, homopaternité, mère porteuse, Adoption, filiation, surrogacy, gay fatherhood, third-party reproduction

After the failure of Copenhagen in 2009, doctrine has talked about a multilateralism in crisis. This multilateralism characterized by state equality, reciprocity and continuity has appeared utterly incapable of bringing good cooperation between States so as to reach the adoption of a binding agreement to organize the fight against climate warming. This multilateralism is usually opposed to alliances occasionally formed and characterised by a geopolitical logic of power, of selectivity. The Copenhagen failure has brought forward this tough geopolitical logic (hard gaps were created between developed and developing States, emerging economies) revealing a very weak climate governance that was striving to cope with an already very complex and multiscale issue. As numerous political scientists have proposed other suggestions, many States have preferred the very limited structure of clubs. The COP 21 and the Paris agreement have put back on track the UN process that was gridlocked even if the oppositions of viewpoints have not vanished and the coalitions of interests are remaining. The solution of multilateralism that enables a balance and flexible solution between unilateralism and the partly binding character of the agreement explains this success as well as the increase involvement of civil society.

Keywords: multilatéralisme, gouvernance climatique, ONU, minilatéralisme, États, société civile, accords contraignants, multilateralism, climate governance, UN, minilateralism, States, civil society, binding agreements

Hurricanes are common in the French West Indies and particularly on the island of Saint Martin. One can question the inability of society to face up to and recover from the consequences of these events. In this study, we show that between 1954 and 2017 (before Hurricane Irma), Saint Martin had to adapt to numerous constraints, some of which were far more important than hurricanes. In almost 70 years, the population density of the French part of Saint Martin increased from 75 inhab/km² to 668 inhab/km². The majority of this increase occurred in a five years period following the Pons law of 1986 which favoured tax breaks for real estate investment. More than 12 000 buildings were constructed in Saint Martin to welcome the new inhabitants of the island as well as tourists. Many neighbourhoods experienced significant growth which started in the late 1980's. However we observe differences in urban planning, a result of social and territorial segregation which exists on the island. On the one hand, there are private residences in affluent neighbourhoods, on the other hand working-class neighbourhoods with vulnerable dwellings. The effect of hurricanes on this society, which has been highly unequal since the 1960's up to the 1980's, is to reinforce inequalities. The fragile habitats of the poorest populations have been more deeply affected than the richest parts of the population which have been financially supported for reconstruction.

Keywords: risque naturel, urbanisme, adaptation, tourisme, Saint-Martin, natural hazard, urban planning, adaptation, tourism, Saint Martin

The degradation and preservation of natural resources are often sources of tensions and conflicts between stakeholders in territories. The ecosystem service (ES) framework has been widely used to analyse these processes and design more effective governance arrangements. In this contribution, we develop the non-conventional idea that integrating the contested concept of ecosystem disservice (EDS), which refers to the nuisances associated with ecosystems, improves the understanding of these processes, and may eventually help towards more environmental justice. We focus on three case studies where environmental issues provide both ES and EDS: wild boar in the Mont Lozère (France), farm trees in the coteaux de Gascogne (France), and elephant in Hwange (Zimbabwe). In total, 119 semi-structured interviews or anonymous essays were conducted and analysed through two axes: i) people's representations and practices around E(D)S, and ii) E(D)S governance. Our results show that the concept of EDS, associated with ES, helps reveal the complexity and ambivalence of stakeholders' representations. It also allows to assess the role of practices in reinforcing or mitigating ecological nuisances that are not necessarily linked with ecological dynamics. This concept also enriches the understanding of stakeholders' positions and governance issues, for example in revealing contradictions and side effects of certain environmental policies. Despite the existent controversies around it, the concept of EDS seems promising for rethinking environmental governance in territories.

Keywords: conflits humains-faune, gestion des ressources naturelles, coexistence, paysages multifonctionnels, aires protégées, relations nature-sociétés, gouvernance, human-wildlife conflicts, natural resource management, coexistence, multifunctional landscapes, protected areas, human-nature relations, governance

A crisis of global significance, the COVID 19 pandemic has led to a slowdown in civil society, economic and justice activities. Faced with general uncertainty, courts around the world have been slowed down, if not paralyzed, in addition to having to establish emergency justice through hybrid or special processes. In such a context, the search for effective measures becomes vital. This article therefore contributes to the reflection undertaken on the effectiveness of the judicial system in times of a pandemic. The health crisis seems to have encouraged rapid changes in the organization of judicial services. Will this development give way to a lasting and profound transformation of civil justice? This article will report on measures and good practices established in Quebec, and elsewhere in Canada and North America, aimed at promoting the efficiency of the administration of justice and adjudication of disputes, and at reducing judicial delays. Specifically, three categories of measures and practices will be discussed: effective case management measures (Part I), private dispute resolution methods integrated into the activity of state courts (Part II) and technological measures (Part III). We will see that judicial systems seek a delicate balance between fundamental procedural guarantees, the quality of justice, and the efficiency of justice. We will conclude the article by asking what the contours of efficient and accessible civil justice are.

Writing without writing: from language to the digital age is a patchwork of essays by the conceptual poet Kenneth Goldsmith dealing with artistic and literary creation in a digital world. The thirteen chapters of this French translation by François Bon attempts to illustrate such concepts as non-original genius, re-appropriation and recycling through examples drawn from art and literature : Lawrence Weiner, Henri Chopin, Tan Lin, the Flarf Collective, Christian Bök, Cervantes and Walter Benjamin, among others. In the following lines, we will put forward Goldsmith’s central question : the impermanence of language, or of any form of identification of the symbol to its meaning. In the digital age, if words appear as undifferentiated garbage meant to be reused again and again in other contexts, then we can assert that this recycling processus is necessary for the emergence of the unpremeditated beauty of the “protocol literature” as advocated by Goldsmith.