Presentation short abstract

This presentation discusses a saltpan restoration site in the Camargue, France: how it became known as an NbS, and its features of ‘infrastructural nature’. Using interviews and participant observation, it explores conflicting interests and processes of devaluation related to coastal infrastructure.

Presentation long abstract

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) have risen to prominence within the mainstream discourse of biodiversity conservation. How the concept is adopted and applied for specific projects remains relatively unexplored, however. This presentation discusses the case study of former industrial saltpans in the Camargue, France as an example of a restoration project that came to be described as an NbS given its characteristics relevant to climate change and sea-level rise. The research, drawing upon semi-structured interviews and participant observation, discusses why the concept was used, how it was selectively employed depending on the audience, the ambivalence about its adoption, and ultimately the politicisation of the concept by commercial actors in opposition to its implementation. Specifically, these contentions will be related to the maintenance of coastal protection infrastructure and the site’s historical and evolving value, as significant determinants of the project’s development and local popularity. Far from treating NbS as a self-evident signifier, the presentation will assess: what is being solved, how is the solution distributed, and which nature(s) this solution is based upon. In doing so, the research will bring the climate vulnerability experienced by local actors into conversation with place-based historical understandings of nature that shape the responsiveness to concepts like NbS. The extension of conceptual work around ‘infrastructural natures’ will be discussed in the presentation, particularly its implications for governance and capital accumulation. Finally, the post-industrial context of the site raises questions around processes of devaluation, offering a complementary lens compared to other work on NbS informed by economic valuation.