The Villa Noailles overlooking the city of Hyéres, France, hosted the CAMP Var (France) final conference on 6 October 2017. The event brought together more than 80 actors involved in the conservation and development of the coastal and marine areas in the Var, in the French part of the Mediterranean, as well as in other coastal areas of the Mediterranean Basin.
This rich day was opened by Mr. JP. Giran, Mayor of Hyères, Mr F. Roux, 4th Vice-President of the Var Department, Mr. JP. Blanc, Director of the Villa Noailles, Mr. F. Bernard, Chairman of the CAMP Var Steering Committee (the French Coastal Agency - Conservatoire du littoral) and Ms. Z. Skaricic, PAP/RAC Director. After a review of the genesis of the project, three sessions, focusing on the three main axis of work that marked the life of the project, illustrated how local actors live: (i) the land-sea interactions within harbour and navigation basins; (ii) the management of the risks of erosion and marine submersion; and (iii) the archipelagos of excellence. The study of land boat parks, the Mocomed platform and the short movies on the promotion of small islands have also been presented.
The project team presented the study of the coastal and marine management policies in the Var, which has been ongoing during the last two years of the project. Following the presentations of the main method and conclusions, the Rhone-Mediterranean-Corsica Water Agency announced that it would encourage this dynamic and support technically and financially, alongside with PAP/RAC and the French Coastal Agency, the development and implementation of a methodology to evaluate the efficiency of these policies. This work will probably be carried out in the following Var territories: Toulon-Provence-Méditerranée and the Community of Communes of the Golf of St-Tropez. The agency may eventually finance the actions that will be recommended by such an evaluation.
The role of the civil society and the general contributions of the CAMP Var have been commented by the Bandol littoral association. Finally, the challenges of the evaluation of the efficiency of the policies were addressed by the partners in the framework of the Mediterranean cooperation, with a reflection to be carried out in the framework of the CAMP projects’ network. Before gathering at a cocktail and visiting the Villa Noailles, the representatives of the project partner organizations and institutions shared their commitments so that the actions implemented during the last three years of the CAMP Var may be continued beyond the life of the project, in the long term!
