On the Mediterranean coast, risks linked to the sea and floods are underestimated

Stretching over nearly 1.700 km, or a third of the French metropolitan coastline, the Mediterranean coastline is home to 3,3 million inhabitants, a population that is expected to grow by 13% between 2013 and 2050, according to this report, the result of a survey conducted jointly by the regional audit chambers of Corsica, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (Paca) and Occitanie.

But this "coveted space" (...) "can prove formidable" because of "its exposure to hazards and risks linked to the sea and flooding", as well as coastal erosion, phenomena that climate change will make more intense and frequent, he believes.

"The (Mediterranean) coastline concentrates the risks because we have a concentration of the population, human activities, overconsumption of space and artificialization of the soil," explained Valérie Renet, president of the Regional Chamber of Accounts of Occitanie, during a press conference.

"However, we see that the developments that exist, in terms of activity and urban planning, are being carried out in areas that are already exposed," she added.

The court points out that more than a third of the 35 territories listed as "at significant risk of flooding" in metropolitan France are located on the Mediterranean coast and that by 2100, more than 55.000 homes would be threatened by the retreat of the coastline, including almost half in Occitanie, according to the Centre for Studies and Expertise on Risks, Mobility and Development (Cerema).

Thus the annual burden on insurers between 2020 and 2050 to compensate for natural hazards would be, according to their projections, "nearly 500 million euros, covering only floods and storms, not even marine submersion", according to Valérie Renet, for whom the insurance system could ultimately find itself "at an impasse".

Because these risks, which "cannot be avoided" but whose "harmful consequences can be reduced", are not sufficiently taken into account - or even aggravated - by the planning policies of local authorities, which nevertheless have the main planning tools.

"The feeling of exposure to the threat of coastal residents, as sometimes that of elected officials, remains insufficient", notes the Court, for which "the evaluation of the cost of the impact of these dangers on buildings, networks, infrastructures, populations and its economic repercussions remains imprecise".

"Faced with their vulnerability, the communities of the Mediterranean coast have reacted in a scattered manner, often minimizing the effects, giving priority to immediate interests without thinking about the long term, without relating development choices to a future spatial recomposition", notes the regional audit office of Occitanie.

Deploring the lack of regional adaptation of the national coastal management strategy, Valérie Brenet called on municipalities to better map the areas exposed to this coastal erosion, while considering that the relevant level for taking these natural risks into account could be the inter-municipal authority, which is already competent in matters of climate planning.

It is necessary to "develop cooperation between territories and in particular involve the hinterland", where it may be necessary to relocate certain activities, according to her.