Marc-Antoine RACICOT's thesis: «Towards a more effective right to wetland and water conservation in Canada: from an Avoid-Reduce-Compensate sequence to a conservation sequence».»

Mr Marc-Antoine RACICOT, doctoral student at JPEG laboratory, co-supervised by Marthe Lucas (IMBE, EECAR team) in co-tutorship with Université Laval (Canada) will publicly defend his thesis work on Friday 28 November 2025 at 3 pm in remote.

In front of a jury made up of :

• PRISO-ESSAWE Samuel Jacques (University Professor, Avignon University), Co-Director
•  Ms HALLEY Paule (University Professor, Université de Laval), Co-Director
•  Ms LUCAS Marthe (Senior Lecturer, Avignon University), Co-supervisor
•  Ms LANGLAIS Alexandra (CNRS Research Fellow, University of Rennes), Rapporteur
•  Mr. TREMBLAY Hugo (University Professor, Université de Montréal), Rapporteur
•  Ms Isabelle Doussan (Research Director, INRAE), Examiner
•  Mr PELLERIN Antoine (University Professor, Université de Laval) Examiner

Summary of work:

The «Avoid-Reduce-Compensate» (ERC) mitigation sequence has been introduced in many countries to help conserve wetlands, such as ponds, peat bogs, marshes and swamps. Its use in environmental authorisation procedures issued by environment ministries is promoted to help achieve the objective of no net loss of area, ecological functions and/or biodiversity of these environments. However, these measures are generally insufficient to achieve this objective, due to a lack of effectiveness at each of the three stages in the sequence.

To remedy this situation, more and more researchers are agreeing that the sequence should be strengthened by broadening its scope of application, in particular to territorial planning, land-use planning and other types of environment such as wildlife habitats, woodlands, watersheds, agricultural or industrial wastelands, forest corridors and paths, edges, etc. From a legal point of view, an extended framework for the ERC sequence presupposes that it meets several conditions of effectiveness, including quality, relevance, coherence, strategy, effectiveness and reflexivity. This thesis proposes to assess these criteria through an in-depth analysis of Canadian law, examining the legal systems that already use the ERC sequence or that offer potential for strengthening it. It focuses in particular on the fields of environmental law, land use planning, natural resource management, agriculture and forestry. This overview shows that the law functions as an interconnected system, the effects of which depend on the structures, interactions and aims that it organises. In this sense, only a systemic approach based on strong sustainability would enable the objective of no net loss to be made effective and coherent, particularly where wetlands and water environments are concerned.