Axe 5 : Governance, markets, territories, environment and diversities

The challenge in a constantly evolving society is to know which direction to take, particularly in the current context of socio-economic and political change in connection with the necessary ecological and energy transitions. This decision-making choice is far from obvious in view of the number and technical nature of the tools (technological, digital, legal, management, etc.), accentuated by natural and anthropogenic hazards and the risks associated with global changes (climate change, pollution, degradation of natural environments, non-native species and potential uses such as CO2 or waste capture, overexploitation, etc.) raising the question of the degree of resilience of ecosystems or markets.

Faced with this challenge, the research carried out within this axis focuses on the complex interactions between governance, markets, territories and organizations, considering a vast range of environments and diversities (gender, cultural, sociological, resources, milieus, environments, legal systems, public policies, etc.).

Within this axis, the aim is to understand and analyze the driving forces and influence of individual and organizational practices, legal norms and management/planning on various objects of study (e.g. public policies, markets, organizations, resources, biodiversity, etc.) from a risk prevention perspective.

This analysis focuses on the question of ecosystem services (assessment, maintenance, protection, etc.) and the notion of associated value, whether economic or anthropocentric or related to the common good, while taking into account various factors of variation and different temporal and spatial scales. This examination from these various perspectives is carried out with a view to assessing, maintaining and creating value, which can take different forms.

The work is carried out by adopting different levels of analysis (macro, meso and micro) and through nested scales ranging from the local to the international in a geographical field whose core is the Pyrenees-Mediterranean area. The different environments of the land-sea continuum (e. g. to test the influence of watershed degradation on the coastline) are also taken into consideration (terrestrial, continental aquatic, coastal, deep-sea environments) as well as the various environments (urban, rural, coastal, mountainous, marine) of this/our territory.

This axis is divided into 3 sub-axes according to the different levels of analysis:

• (MACRO): Standards, policies, markets and societies
• (MESO): Organizations: models, strategies, practices, transitions, innovation, entrepreneurship
• (MICRO): Actors and behaviors (consumption, way of life)