[Defence of thesis] 28/11/2025 - Marc-Antoine RACICOT: "Towards a more effective law for the conservation of wetlands and water environments in Canada: from an Avoid-Reduce-Compensate sequence to a conservation sequence" (UPR JPEG)

Mr Marc-Antoine RACICOT will publicly defend his thesis entitled: "Towards a more effective law for the conservation of wetlands and water environments in Canada: from an Avoid-Reduce-Compensate sequence to a conservation sequence", directed by Mr Samuel Jacques PRISO-ESSAWE and Ms Paule HALLEY, under joint supervision with Laval University (Canada), on Friday 28 November 2025.

Laboratory

UPR 3788 -JPEG - Legal, Political, Economic and Management Sciences Laboratory

Composition of the jury

Mr Samuel Jacques PRISO-ESSAWE	Avignon University	Thesis co-director
Mrs Paule HALLEY	Laval University	Thesis co-director
Ms Marthe LUCAS	Avignon University	Thesis co-supervisor
Ms Alexandra LANGLAIS	CNRS	Rapporteur
Mr Hugo TREMBLAY	University of Montreal	Rapporteur
Ms Isabelle DOUSSAN	INRAE	Examiner
Mr Antoine PELLERIN	Laval University	Examiner

Summary

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 generally prove insufficient to achieve this objective, due to a lack of effectiveness observed at each of the three stages making up this 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 include land-use planning and development, as well as other types of environment such as wildlife habitats, woodlands, watersheds, agricultural or industrial wasteland, forest corridors and roads, 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.

Keywords law, conservation, biodiversity