Rivages Normands 2100: transdisciplinary co-constructed knowledge for land-use adaptation to groundwater rise along Normandy coastline
Abstract
Low-lying coastal areas may be subject to groundwater rise (GWR) phenomena, which can lead to significant flooding. These phenomena, linked to precipitation, land use, and the subsurface environment, are characteristic of the critical zone and are therefore particularly sensitive to human development and climate change. GWRs often remain invisible but can cause social, economic, and environmental damage. To minimize the impacts of GWRs, coordinated management must be conducted among different fields: researchers, local actors from the affected sites, and environmental institutions. The Rivages Normands 2100 program has established connections among these stakeholders to initiate the co-construction of adaptation scenarios for GWR in several territories of Normandy coastline. We show that the evolution of impacts on buildings, buried networks, and agricultural plots are 13%, 10%, and 11% respectively on average across the studied sites, by 2100. This article presents the transdisciplinary approach implemented within the program, from hydrogeological modeling of the sites to the production of risk maps, the socio-economic impact study, and workshops for co-constructing adaptation scenarios. At each of these stages, we discuss the challenges related to the program's transdisciplinary nature and the co-construction conducted between researchers and local actors. A discussion is conducted on the central role of maps in bringing a new issue into public debate, as well as the scientist-stakeholder-institution relationships in renaturation and resilience projects. Introduction Analyzing groundwater-rise processes and modeling coastal aquifers --- Study sites and instrumentation --- Modeling strategy --- Climatic and hydrological data --- Interactions with local authorities Integrating local knowledge and identifying territorial stakes --- Groundwater-rise local knowledge integration --- Identification of social and physical vulnerabilities --- Combining hazards and elements at risk to produce risk maps Supporting decision-makers and informing citizens --- Risk maps as a mediation tool between researchers and local authorities --- Mutual acculturation of researchers and decision makers --- Initiation of land-use adaptation scenarios --- Production of multimedia outreach tools Discussion --- Adaptation of models to the co-construction approach --- Challenges and benefits of the transdisciplinary coconstruction approach --- Land renaturation and resiliency projects need a strong scientists-stakeholders-institutions cooperation Conclusion
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BibTeX
@article{mesnil2026rivages,
title = {{Rivages Normands 2100: transdisciplinary co-constructed knowledge for land-use adaptation to groundwater rise along Normandy coastline}},
author = {Martin Le Mesnil and Florence Poirier and Luc Aquilina and Salomé de Foville and Alexandre Gauvain and Frédéric Gresselin and Frédérick Lemarchand and Cyrille Harpet and Florent Guibert and Jean-Raynald de Dreuzy},
journal = {Sustainability Science},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1007/s11625-026-01896-8},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05743010v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Rivages Normands 2100: transdisciplinary co-constructed knowledge for land-use adaptation to groundwater rise along Normandy coastline
AU - Martin Le Mesnil
AU - Florence Poirier
AU - Luc Aquilina
AU - Salomé de Foville
AU - Alexandre Gauvain
AU - Frédéric Gresselin
AU - Frédérick Lemarchand
AU - Cyrille Harpet
AU - Florent Guibert
AU - Jean-Raynald de Dreuzy
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/08
JO - Sustainability Science
DO - 10.1007/s11625-026-01896-8
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05743010v1
AB - Low-lying coastal areas may be subject to groundwater rise (GWR) phenomena, which can lead to significant flooding. These phenomena, linked to precipitation, land use, and the subsurface environment, are characteristic of the critical zone and are therefore particularly sensitive to human development and climate change. GWRs often remain invisible but can cause social, economic, and environmental damage. To minimize the impacts of GWRs, coordinated management must be conducted among different fields: researchers, local actors from the affected sites, and environmental institutions. The Rivages Normands 2100 program has established connections among these stakeholders to initiate the co-construction of adaptation scenarios for GWR in several territories of Normandy coastline. We show that the evolution of impacts on buildings, buried networks, and agricultural plots are 13%, 10%, and 11% respectively on average across the studied sites, by 2100. This article presents the transdisciplinary approach implemented within the program, from hydrogeological modeling of the sites to the production of risk maps, the socio-economic impact study, and workshops for co-constructing adaptation scenarios. At each of these stages, we discuss the challenges related to the program's transdisciplinary nature and the co-construction conducted between researchers and local actors. A discussion is conducted on the central role of maps in bringing a new issue into public debate, as well as the scientist-stakeholder-institution relationships in renaturation and resilience projects. Introduction Analyzing groundwater-rise processes and modeling coastal aquifers --- Study sites and instrumentation --- Modeling strategy --- Climatic and hydrological data --- Interactions with local authorities Integrating local knowledge and identifying territorial stakes --- Groundwater-rise local knowledge integration --- Identification of social and physical vulnerabilities --- Combining hazards and elements at risk to produce risk maps Supporting decision-makers and informing citizens --- Risk maps as a mediation tool between researchers and local authorities --- Mutual acculturation of researchers and decision makers --- Initiation of land-use adaptation scenarios --- Production of multimedia outreach tools Discussion --- Adaptation of models to the co-construction approach --- Challenges and benefits of the transdisciplinary coconstruction approach --- Land renaturation and resiliency projects need a strong scientists-stakeholders-institutions cooperation Conclusion
SN - 1862-4065
SN - 1862-4057
ER -