Paper short abstract:

An educational marine area is a coastal maritime zone managed by primary school pupils that are designed to raise awareness among the younger generations in order to protect the marine environment.This paper will explore two case studies one from the Reunion Island and the other one from Madagascar.

Paper long abstract:

An Educational Marine Area (EMA) is a relatively new environmental educational tool established in 2012 in the Marquesas Islands (French Polynesia) and implemented subsequently in mainland France and outermost regions witnessing a great success. Within the EMAs, the main actors are children who actively participate in educational projects set up locally by teachers in connection with the French national education programs with the aim of educating children about the marine environment and making them responsible for their future actions. Three main topics are at the very heart of the EMAs: getting to know the sea, exchanging with professionals and managing the coastal zone. This presentation builds on the research results of AQUAMARINE project and will mainly focus on the Reunion Island and Madagascar case study. The qualitative research methods employed during the research process were used not only to understand and analyze « what » people, children, teachers, environment officers, politicians think about EMAs but also « why » they think in that particular way and for what reasons they are actively implied in the management of an educational marine area. Are EMAs a new way of “re-connecting” children to the marine environment, to fight 'environmental generational amnesia" or a new way of “empowering” children to engage with the ocean?