Atlas cartographiques du droit de l’environnement marin en Afrique de l’Ouest. Méthodologie et usage pour la planification spatiale

In the marine environment, positive law generates multiple zones and regulatory limits that overlap in space, justifying a cartographic representation as a relevant approach to promote understanding (synthetic vision), analysis (highlighting legal anomalies, inconsistencies and redundancies), dissemination and communication to different audiences (awareness-raising). The article presents a methodology leading to the mapping of marine and coastal environmental law in West Africa, using a geographic information base to produce static or interactive cartographic representations via a Geographic Data Infrastructure (GDI). It shows the contribution of this type of mapping to a transversal approach in a multi-activity, multi-sectoral and multi-scale context. A series of interviews with Senegalese stakeholders, mainly State services, is carried out in order to assess the practices, expectations and limitations of this atlas of marine environmental law. Even if its use currently remains limited, the interest of the atlas is underlined by stakeholders who are facing growing challenges (preservation of resources and biodiversity, development of new activities, conflicts of use...) and who need to initiate a marine spatial planning process. Recommendations can now be put forward to promote the use of environmental law atlases to help implement an implementation of an operational strategy for integrated management of the sea and coast.