Yves Souchon – Emeritus Research Director, former head of the Quantitative Hydroecology Laboratory, INRAE (testimonial from the dossier “Science and the Water Framework Directive – 20 years of hydrobiology research for the good ecological status of aquatic environments” – 2021)
“A multidisciplinary research-study centre was set up in Lyon in 2008, bringing together ecologists, geomorphologists, geographers, statisticians, database managers and operators of geographic information systems. In this type of group, uncommon in academic research organisations, the basic rule was to share information and questions in real time between all the members of the cluster. In the end, it was this system, based on collaboration with a shared ambition and non-hierarchical relationships, that enabled us to establish strong cohesion.
To ensure that science supports public policy, the role of the research institute remains essential. It needs to present its activities as a mission in its own right, complementary and just as noble as fundamental research: playing the same note over and over won’t make a symphony. We must not forget the rest of the spectrum, or that publication is not the sole purpose of research. This system also makes it possible to provide training that draws on a range of skills, training that is essential to support innovative public policy. Secondly, if collaboration with sponsors is to work well, it is vital that everyone respects the tasks assigned to them in a climate of trust. The WFD mobilises a multiplicity of players, the State and its decentralised departments, the national office, water agencies and scientists, each of whom must exercise their competences. The more complex, sensitive and new a method is, the more difficult it is to apply it to public policy and to have it adopted. So we have to find the right balance between scientific requirements and operational support: the scientists have to propose the tools, and the managers have to devise a strategy for using and integrating them in view of national issues and European reporting.”
Testimonial from our thematic dossier
Thematic dossier
Science and the Water Framework Directive 20 years of hydrobiology research to achieve good ecological status in aquatic environments
In 2000, the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) set Member States the challenge of restoring European water bodies to good ecological status within twenty years. At the time, knowledge was lacking to implement the directive, so in 2007 the Ministry of the Environment’s Directorate for Water and Biodiversity (DEB) and the National Office for Water and Aquatic Environments (Onema) entered into a major collaboration with a number of research bodies. Cemagref/Irstea and INRA (now INRAE) were among the first partners to join forces, with research being carried out in hydrology, biology and ecology. While work is continuing to achieve the objective of good ecological status, the contributions of science to the implementation of this innovative and ambitious public environmental policy are already significant. A look back at 20 years of collaboration between French research and government departments.
