Qu’y a-t-il de politique dans les indicateurs écologiques?

Ecological indicators are widely used to support public action. Their proliferation requires critical appraisal of their normative framing. This article deploys a conceptual framework to reveal their underlying assumptions and worldviews through the critical exploration of the controversies raised d...

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Main Authors: Gabrielle Bouleau, Philippe Deuffic
Format: Article
Language:fra
Published: Éditions en environnement VertigO 2016-09-01
Series:VertigO
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/vertigo/17581
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author Gabrielle Bouleau
Philippe Deuffic
author_facet Gabrielle Bouleau
Philippe Deuffic
author_sort Gabrielle Bouleau
collection DOAJ
description Ecological indicators are widely used to support public action. Their proliferation requires critical appraisal of their normative framing. This article deploys a conceptual framework to reveal their underlying assumptions and worldviews through the critical exploration of the controversies raised during their making and use. It consists in focusing on processes of categorizing and quantifying the environment. Ecological indicators are simplified representations of reality. As such, they constitute social conventions which unite environmental realities existing in specific time and places, while excluding others. We study how they align or confront political constructions of territories or advocacy coalitions in relation to the causal relations they support and the scale at which they are built. We assess whether their ecological framing has become a resource for political framing. We question how far financial considerations and practical use have constrained the making and the use of indicators, with specific attention paid to path dependence from existing data. This article concludes by introducing the other contributions of this volume, by specifying how each one relates to the political appropriation of one or more designing steps of an ecological indicator, to the advantage of existing indicators, and to the effects of ecological indicators in policies.
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institution Kabale University
issn 1492-8442
language fra
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publisher Éditions en environnement VertigO
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spelling doaj-art-1445c6dc7fa74e4c96f42da2e194fd2b2025-01-09T12:40:16ZfraÉditions en environnement VertigOVertigO1492-84422016-09-0116210.4000/vertigo.17581Qu’y a-t-il de politique dans les indicateurs écologiques?Gabrielle BouleauPhilippe DeufficEcological indicators are widely used to support public action. Their proliferation requires critical appraisal of their normative framing. This article deploys a conceptual framework to reveal their underlying assumptions and worldviews through the critical exploration of the controversies raised during their making and use. It consists in focusing on processes of categorizing and quantifying the environment. Ecological indicators are simplified representations of reality. As such, they constitute social conventions which unite environmental realities existing in specific time and places, while excluding others. We study how they align or confront political constructions of territories or advocacy coalitions in relation to the causal relations they support and the scale at which they are built. We assess whether their ecological framing has become a resource for political framing. We question how far financial considerations and practical use have constrained the making and the use of indicators, with specific attention paid to path dependence from existing data. This article concludes by introducing the other contributions of this volume, by specifying how each one relates to the political appropriation of one or more designing steps of an ecological indicator, to the advantage of existing indicators, and to the effects of ecological indicators in policies.https://journals.openedition.org/vertigo/17581indicatorspolicyecologypublic actionecological indicatorbiotic indicators
spellingShingle Gabrielle Bouleau
Philippe Deuffic
Qu’y a-t-il de politique dans les indicateurs écologiques?
VertigO
indicators
policy
ecology
public action
ecological indicator
biotic indicators
title Qu’y a-t-il de politique dans les indicateurs écologiques?
title_full Qu’y a-t-il de politique dans les indicateurs écologiques?
title_fullStr Qu’y a-t-il de politique dans les indicateurs écologiques?
title_full_unstemmed Qu’y a-t-il de politique dans les indicateurs écologiques?
title_short Qu’y a-t-il de politique dans les indicateurs écologiques?
title_sort qu y a t il de politique dans les indicateurs ecologiques
topic indicators
policy
ecology
public action
ecological indicator
biotic indicators
url https://journals.openedition.org/vertigo/17581
work_keys_str_mv AT gabriellebouleau quyatildepolitiquedanslesindicateursecologiques
AT philippedeuffic quyatildepolitiquedanslesindicateursecologiques