Mise à jour le 13 January 2022

Raising public awareness via walking trails

Mobilization of stakeholders

Background

Numerous infrastructure projects aimed at improving water quality are badly received or poorly understood by local residents. The consultations are not always sufficient to convince all the stakeholders in the area. Issues related to aquatic environments are little understood. To resolve these issues, walking trails beside watercourses can be used as a vehicle for raising awareness and improving knowledge. The walking trail along the Sèvre Nantaise and its principal tributaries is particularly suitable for this action because of the large number of visitors it receives. Its paths are used by a large number of people: families, walking groups, nature lovers, sports people, etc. Mobilisation of the general public, who currently have little involvement, could act as a decisive lever for the recovery of good water status.

Schedule & Location

1st quarter 2021 / 4th quarter 2022
The water bodies of the Sèvre Nantaise river basin crossed by long hiking trails

Objective

This action aims to set up 5 permanent facilities along walking trails to:
– Raise public awareness, involve local communities more and encourage everyone to express their views and talk about water issues.
– Improve access to information- Enhance the identity of the Sèvre Nantaise area, and in particular the inter-relationship between the upstream and downstream sectors of the area.

Description of the action

This action is broken down into several sections :

1- Validation of 5 preselected sites and work

The action takes the form of 5 permanent landscape and educational facilities, developed over the five loops of the GRP (interdepartmental long-distance hiking route). For each site, it will involve defining the themes and fine-tuning the features installed.

2- Inauguration of developments and communication

The platforms should be usable by summer 2022 and inaugurated before the end of the tourist season. The facilities will offer ramblers sensory, fun, informative and participative experiences around watercourses. This will enable them to better understand the notion of river basin, how rivers work and water concerns.

Main results expected

5 features to raise awareness on walking trails

Raise awareness of 10% of residents in the river basin

All stakeholder mobilisation actions
All the actions