The consequences of the retreat of the coastline are, in France, “insufficiently anticipated”, estimates the Court of Auditors, pointing out a series of dysfunctions and unpreparedness.
In its annual public report published this Tuesday, March 12, the financial jurisdiction examines the adaptation of public action to climate change and takes a long look at marine erosion.
“In France, 20% of the coasts would be affected,” recalls the Court of Auditors, citing figures from CEREMA, the Center for studies and expertise on risks, the environment, mobility and development.
According to this public establishment, Charente-Maritime lost an area of 5.35 km2 between 1960 and 2010, the equivalent of 749 football fields in 50 years.
In France, only the Gironde has suffered even more marine erosion (5.59 km2).
During this same period, Vendée located further north would have only lost an area equivalent to 0.72 km2.
" Caution "
Since then, the retreat of the coastline has continued to increase in Charente-Maritime, particularly in the Royan region and on the island of Oléron where the “average annual retreat rate” can reach up to 15 meters. , recalls the Court of Auditors.
In 2050, up to 125 economic activities and 190 homes could be threatened by marine erosion for a value ranging between 80 and 140 million euros.
These figures are taken from the work of the GIP Littoral de Nouvelle-Aquitaine, a public interest group dedicated to the preservation, development and management of coastal areas.
Nicolas Castray, its director, is nevertheless reassuring and recalls that the public authorities of Nouvelle-Aquitaine have largely taken up the subject in recent years unlike other French regions.
“The retreat of the coastline has become a real subject of concern for the territories, everyone here is in working order,” he believes.
According to Nicolas Castray, the annual report of the Court of Auditors would serve as a “warning on a national scale” regarding the consequences of marine erosion.
New Aquitaine would be “shown as an example”.
A regional strategy has emerged since 2012 and has since been translated into local coastal management strategies.
One of the priorities, agrees Nicolas Castray, now consists of better informing populations in the face of the inevitable decline of the coastline coupled with the rise in ocean levels.
The Court of Auditors, for its part, calls for “moving away from the logic of experimentation […] to plan the necessary spatial recompositions”.