Scientific Strategy 2023-2032 of the Parc National de Port-Cros (Provence, France)

The Scientific Strategy of the Port-Cros National Park (PCNP), a terrestrial and marine protected area located in the north-west Mediterranean sea, is a framework document to provide the scientific requirements and priorities for all disciplines for 2023-2032, targeting a long-term perspective. It promotes the ethical principle of 'evocentricity' that insists on the maintenance of ecological functions and the dynamics of change.

The humans are a component within the ecosystem; contributing, as for the other species that constitute the ecosystems, to the functions of predator, disturbing element, and also receiver of information and services from other living species, as manager, protector, vector of knowledge, etc. All species - including humans - play a role in the evolution process. The scientific goal of the PCNP is to understand these underlying processes, to identify their tangible manifestations and to endeavour to guarantee their functioning.

Human occupation has shaped landscapes for thousands of years, and rare are the ecosystems that have evolved free of anthropogenic pressure for a long period. About 60 years after its creation, the PCNP is becoming a life-sized laboratory, a reference space for the expression of dynamics of change that are less influenced by humans. These rare sites are exceptional and specific since they are the only places where, for example, processes may fully develop up to reaching the phases of the ageing, death and degradation of the vegetation. The PCNP’s integral reserves, spaces free of direct human impact, also contribute to ecological solidarity by leaving room for the expression of other components of the ecosystem within the territory and contributing to the ecological networks.

Part of the research carried out at the PCNP aims at finding answers to management issues. In the context of a peri-urban national park, decisions regarding actions that might have a greater or lesser impact should be discussed in the light of the moral and patrimonial responsibility of the PCNP for endangered habitats and species at local, national or even international scale, and also with regard to the irreplaceable nature of elements with high conservation priority. This requires first the formulation of a prior diagnosis to determine the priority sites for intervention, then to tailor or adapt the management measures and methods to the local context, and finally to assess the pertinence and effectiveness of the measures deployed (or the effects they may have had). Adaptive management should also better integrate the recommendations derived from the humanities and social sciences and examine the relationships that humans may have with other species. A better co-existence and co-evolution between human societies and their environment, taking into account biological, ecological and societal components, should be the ultimate goal that will allow human societies to preserve their local natural heritage and raise awareness to associate each and everyone of us.