L’évolution diachronique des concepts environnementaux des deux rives de l’atlantique. La construction du concept de riparia comme un patrimoine culturel

Water management is conceived of as a cultural heritage through the filter of its history deeply intertwined with waterside ecosystems identified by the Riparia concept. The definition of the latter as an environmental concept in search of a systemic analysis method is rooted in the diachronic evolution of environmental concepts on both sides of the Atlantic. Two parallel approaches – a North American and a French one – to the definition of the following environmental concepts - natural environment, ecosystem, and environmental risk – have cleared the way for the operational application of the approach of the interactions between society and the natural environment which presently enjoys a broad consensus regarding natural resources management. The confrontation of the two approaches allows identifying the mechanism of this process rooted in in the elaboration by environmental managers of the concepts of ecosystem and integrated management, while integrating contributions of human (environmental history) and social sciences (broadening of the meaning of geographical notions of the environment – space, landscape, territory - by adopting the approach of the interactions between society and the natural environment). This interdisciplinary approach has guided the endeavors aimed at defining and classifying the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity