© Photo : site APIEME, Impluvium Evian Les Bains

This PhD thesis, led by BRGM and funded by the BIO-JUST international research project (BIODIVERSA+), aims to develop a framework for analyzing groundwater protection programs based on NBS in relation to the three dimensions of environmental justice (procedural, distributive and recognition).

The work will be organized into three main questions:

• What level of relevance should be given to the dimension of procedural justice, which is linked to stakeholders’ involvement in the design and implementation of the programs?;
• What are the environmental inequalities relative to the effects of programs? What are the preferences for a fair distribution of protection program effects?;
• What are the relationships between programs’ efficiency, associated with resource allocation choices, and effectiveness?

© Photo : Ivan Borisov, La Palma - Cumbre Vieja

Thanks to the partnerships with Danone and the University of La Laguna, the PhD thesis will focus on the cases of the Evian impluvium and the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands archipelago. To carry out this work, a combination of concepts, approaches and methods from environmental and natural resource economics, sustainability economics and sociology will be mobilized.

The PhD thesis will contribute to improving the way in which the three dimensions of environmental justice are addressed in the design and evaluation of groundwater protection programs.

Key words: Environmental justice, groundwater, economics, preferences, participation