Discovering treasures of biodiversity around you
The objective is for everyone to be able to take ownership of their territory with a view to becoming involved in the collective management of biodiversity
Mon Village Espace de Biodiversité is developed in the south of the Deux-Sèvres in all the communes of the Zone Ateli.
“Concretely, the VILLAGE system seeks to bring together local stakeholders around actions whose objective is to raise citizens’ interest in observing the ordinary biodiversity of their territory through simple scientific protocols (beehives, insect shelters, garden fauna) derived from participatory science, encouraging them to develop a critical and curious mind (Cooper et al., 2007). The data collected by the inhabitants contribute to the co-production of knowledge on the territory, and the facilitated contact with researchers makes scientific controversy accessible, where critical opinion is encouraged to evolve common scientific representations. The actions proposed to citizens are inspired by an experiential learning model that aims to improve the relationship between the person/social group/environment, making learners aware of their needs in their environment (Pruneau, Chouinard, 1997).
The eight main actions of the scheme, in each municipality, are : 1/ the distribution of insect shelters for the garden (1,518 families), 2/ the creation of 23 collaborative works of art between schools, 4/ 33 adult education centres, 5/ the establishment of 23 communal educational apiaries and their participatory honey collection, 6/ support for two groups of citizens, 7/ workshops for the general public on local biodiversity (7,600 people), 8/ an annual meeting of all participants (3,000 people). The VILLAGE actions focus on ecosystem services related to the management of public green spaces and private gardens, chosen as the places most accessible to everyone in their socialization with nature. They are gradually deployed from school to the territory thanks to an initial partnership with the management of departmental services of the national education system. »
Extract HOUTE S., LORANT D., BECU N. 2020 The emancipation of inhabitants in the service of the application of environmental public policies: study of a pilot scheme for the construction of adaptive governance (to be published in the journal Participations)
Photos: Stéphane Ribrault
The Pedagogical Communal Apiary: a tool for citizen involvement
The communes Mon Village Espace de Biodiversité host a communal educational apiary. The Apiary is the means for citizens to become familiar with the presence of bees and then to understand the pollination service. As a place of convergence between citizens, the apiary allows the creation of new social relations and federates the actors of the commune around the collective management of the colonies thanks to the precious advice of beekeepers. It is made up of three hives, two of which are populated by a colony of honey bees and one remains empty to attract a natural swarm. Installed on a communal space, integrated into the landscape (users + environment), it becomes the support of animations for all. It provides a framework for initiating and encouraging participation and the transmission of know-how around local biodiversity.
Installation of the artwork created by the students of the Mon Village Espace de Biodiversité scheme, on the wall of the school in Secondigné-sur-Belle, in the presence of the mayor, the municipal official, teachers, parents and children.
The objective is to work in class on the notion of “territory” through an artistic approach: thus, from one village to another, these panels will offer themselves to the passer-by’s eye as the symbol of a commitment to biodiversity and a citizen link on the scale of the territory. This work is also the result of the investment of a large number of teachers who have taken this collaborative adventure to the 22 schools.
Indeed, between 2012 and 20117 , primary school students from the Zone Atelier Plaine and Val de Sèvre are working with Nicole Doray-Soulard who goes from school to school to accompany the student artists. Each school chose a symbol species for its municipality and created 22 ceramic plaques (22 schools) that were offered to the 21 other schools in the project. The 484 plaques were varnished and framed in a monumental structure erected in the centre of each commune.
