Tourisme littoral, préservation des espaces naturels et gestion intégrée de la zone côtière en France : le cas de la Côte d'Opale

Abstract

This article provides a review of the relation between coastal tourism and natural heritage with focuses to the French coastline and in particular on the Nord-Pas-de-Calais coastline. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the French policy of coastal planning and coastal management is linked with integrated coastal zone management (ICZM). ICZM is the main policy issue for French coastal management strategy : many reports and commissions prepare the implementation of a national ICZM strategy such as the last audit of the Agency for Territorial Management and Regional Policy (DATAR). The study of the different audits about the French policy and the renovation of the different instruments for coastal planning and management. The exemple of the Côte d'Opale (the coastline of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Region) shows success and failure of the differents instruments used to preserve the natural heritage. The article then notes the manner in which tourism is a component of integrated approaches towards coastal management and some of the strategies that are used to manage tourism in a sustainable way : «Opération Grand Site», «Eco-station», Master Plan of sustainable tourism development.