Laurent Mermet

For years now, actions for protecting wild fauna and flora and preserving natural sites have, in France, run up against two arguments that, in the guise of humanism, fiercely try to discredit them. The first one presents conservation efforts as choices in favor of "little flowers and birds" to the detriment of humanity. The second blames bureaucratic, centralizing authorities in Paris or Brussel for wanting to stifle local, rural, traditional societies. These arguments do not usually hold up to scrutiny. In the textbook case of protecting bears in the Pyrenees, the argumentation used to condemn the antihumanism and centralism of the parties who want to save the bears is shown to be flimsy. Analyzing this case brings to light another determinant, the line-up of forces representing social and economic interests whose hostility to conservation tends to divert attention.
 

Saving energy in China

Paul-Henri Bourrelier

Will China’s impressive prospects for growth steeply increase emissions of greenhouse gases? Unfortunately, yes, given that its major source of energy is coal. An assessment of happenings in the field and the results of an underway program supported by the French World Environment Fund show, however, that China has a wider range of possibilities than developed countries. An appropriate methodology of cooperation, which seems to have proven effective, must be consistently applied; and ambitions must measure up to the challenges. This is the case of the plans now under study. Increased funding should be granted for this sort of program in the framework of multilateral cooperation.
 

Michel Matheu

Should a costly tunnel for rail transportation be built given that putting it in operation will significantly reduce pollution in several valleys in the Alps? Given the disadvantages of gas and of the atom as sources of energy, how should we produce electricity? Should a vaccination campaign be launched that might cause healthy persons to fall seriously ill? These three questions have a common point: to back up the answers, it is necessary to look for a monetary equivalent to possibly resulting damages — an equivalent and not a price, since there is no marketplace where demand crosses supply. Ultimately, a value has to be assigned to something that has no price. The calculations for doing this use quite varied procedures in a context of incomplete knowledge. They require agreements to which objections are raised, whence lively debates. Are the stakes — effective, legitimate decisions — worth the risks of error and injustice? A wise answer might start by examining the difficulties to overcome and the range of scientific procedures for doing so. The overall impression is one of many contrasts: the difficulties of calculations are immense; but in most cases, the stakes are important enough for making the effort to overcome them.

The well-being of animals: How to coproduce knowledge and frameworks of action ?

Pierre-Benoît Joly

The question of animal well-being is drawing more attention in various EU countries, even though it is still not satisfactorily handled. This inadequate handling can be set down to the use of a traditional framework characterized, on the one hand, by the classical distinction between facts and values and, on the other, by the opinions voiced by groups that do not reckon with the everyday experiences of professionals and 

California’s water market, a model for the world or a peculiarity of the arid American West ?

Bernard Barraqué

In pursuit of a debate opened by Pierre Strosser and Marielle Montginoul’s article "Toward water markets in France?" in a previous issue, questions are raised about applying the term "market" to policies for more flexibly distributing this resource and managing demand. Such policies seem more a matter of how a community manages a common good. An interpretative hypothesis is advanced in opposition to the water market approach: the defenders of the common good, of customary international law and of sustainable management are opposing what can be called a "liberal-statist" coalition. The question does not reduce to the choice between "the law or the marketplace"; but rather: what type of legal system? and how to make it compatible with economic methods? California, the place in the United States where the notion of a water market came into practice, thus becomes a special case. Should we not rather try to understand the peculiar situation that fueled this debate so as to see whether the solution can be generalized? After a description of laws about the water supply in the arid American West, the history of disputes about sharing water from the Colorado River serves to illustrate trends toward more flexible water distribution.