Observing social and environmental change in a large regulated river: the Rhône Valley Human-Environment Observatory

Following the major floods of the early 2000s, the Rhône river has been the focus of an integrated management plan, the Plan Rhône . This plan advocates a new way of managing the river from a sustainable development perspective. The Rhône Valley Human-Environment Observatory (OHM VR) was set up in 2010 with sustainable development as a foundation applied to the scale of the river. The scientific objectives of the OHM VR have been to monitor the effects of this new management approach in a perspective of a highly anthropised socio-ecosystem, by studying the socio-environmental responses and adaptations in the Rhône corridor following a change in the mode of river management. Priority scientific themes were developed with the aim of covering most of the questions raised by this new mode of management: to achieve a better understanding of the geo-historical trajectory of the river to situate temporally the crisis events and their consequences; to provide insight into the new modes of management from a socio-political point of view and their reception by the local populations; to study the socio-economic processes in a context of ecological restoration actions; to analyse the environmental risks, in particular pollution; and to develop new tools to support the research works and the diffusion of scientific results. Interdisciplinarity and relations with local stakeholders provide the framework for these investigations. This article provides an overview of the activities of the OHM VR and their evolution since its creation, with a particular focus on two interdisciplinary case studies that have shaped collective scientific thinking in recent years.