La perception des changements environnementaux : le cas de la collectivité côtière de Shippagan (Nouveau-Brunswick, Canada)

In order to support coastal communities in the process of establishing attenuation and adaptation strategies to environmental changes, it is essential to understand how people perceive these changes. The aim of this study is to verify to what extent people’s perception of environmental changes matches quantitative data computed for the area of interest. Semi-directive interviews were conducted with residents of Shippagan (NB, Canada). A focus group was subsequently organized. Six main topics were discussed : climatic changes, sea level changes, erosion, aquatic pollution, biodiversity and drinking water resources. We also searched databases from government agencies and non government organizations to build time series of environmental variables depicting the aforementioned topics. We were able to gather both local knowledge and quantitative data for eleven variables. The temporal tendencies observed by local people were consistent with quantitative data for six variables. In some of the remaining cases, the apparent discrepancy between the quantitative data and local knowledge might have resulted from the different time frames covered by theses two sources. This correspondence between local knowledge and quantitative environmental data could be translated into incentives for taking concrete actions that would ameliorate the communities’ resilience

La perception des changements environnementaux : le cas de la collectivité côtière de Shippagan (Nouveau-Brunswick, Canada)

Dans un contexte d’accompagnement des communautés côtières visant à mettre en place des stratégies d’atténuation et d’adaptation aux changements environnementaux, il nous paraît capital de comprendre la perception de ces changements par les membres de la collectivité. Le but de notre étude est de vérifier dans quelle mesure une description des changements environnementaux recueillie auprès d’une communauté côtière correspond aux données quantitatives compilées pour la région d’intérêt. Nous avons mené des entrevues semi-dirigées et animé un focus group avec des résidents du territoire de Shippagan (NB, Canada). La discussion ciblait six thèmes généraux (changements climatiques, variation du niveau marin, érosion, pollution du milieu marin, biodiversité, ressources en eau potable). En parallèle, nous avons compilé les données environnementales et climatiques pour la zone de Shippagan, en utilisant les archives de divers ministères et d’organismes non gouvernementaux. Nous avons pu obtenir à la fois des données quantifiées et des informations issues du savoir local pour onze variables environnementales ou climatiques. Les tendances temporelles rapportées par le savoir local concordent avec les données quantitatives pour six variables. Certains cas où les séries chronologiques semblent différer du savoir local pourraient découler d’un décalage entre les échelles temporelles des deux sources de données. En termes de gestion, ces recoupements entre savoir local et séries chronologiques quantifiées pourraient se traduire en motifs d’action et favoriser la mobilisation de la communauté pour la prise en charge de la qualité environnementale et la mise en place de stratégies d’adaptation aux changements climatiques.In order to support coastal communities in the process of establishing attenuation and adaptation strategies to environmental changes, it is essential to understand how people perceive these changes. The aim of this study is to verify to what extent people’s perception of environmental changes matches quantitative data computed for the area of interest. Semi-directive interviews were conducted with residents of Shippagan (NB, Canada). A focus group was subsequently organized. Six main topics were discussed : climatic changes, sea level changes, erosion, aquatic pollution, biodiversity and drinking water resources. We also searched databases from government agencies and non government organizations to build time series of environmental variables depicting the aforementioned topics. We were able to gather both local knowledge and quantitative data for eleven variables. The temporal tendencies observed by local people were consistent with quantitative data for six variables. In some of the remaining cases, the apparent discrepancy between the quantitative data and local knowledge might have resulted from the different time frames covered by theses two sources. This correspondence between local knowledge and quantitative environmental data could be translated into incentives for taking concrete actions that would ameliorate the communities’ resilience

La perception des changements environnementaux : le cas de la collectivité côtière de Shippagan (Nouveau-Brunswick, Canada)

In order to support coastal communities in the process of establishing attenuation and adaptation strategies to environmental changes, it is essential to understand how people perceive these changes. The aim of this study is to verify to what extent people’s perception of environmental changes matches quantitative data computed for the area of interest. Semi-directive interviews were conducted with residents of Shippagan (NB, Canada). A focus group was subsequently organized. Six main topics were discussed : climatic changes, sea level changes, erosion, aquatic pollution, biodiversity and drinking water resources. We also searched databases from government agencies and non government organizations to build time series of environmental variables depicting the aforementioned topics. We were able to gather both local knowledge and quantitative data for eleven variables. The temporal tendencies observed by local people were consistent with quantitative data for six variables. In some of the remaining cases, the apparent discrepancy between the quantitative data and local knowledge might have resulted from the different time frames covered by theses two sources. This correspondence between local knowledge and quantitative environmental data could be translated into incentives for taking concrete actions that would ameliorate the communities’ resilience