The sustainable development of the canal from Nantes to Brest

Résumé du document

The Canal de Nantes à Brest is a French canal that links the two cities of Nantes and Brest through Brittany. This canal, which is an artificial navigable waterway, links the above two cities and is believed to have originated in the 16th century. There is no doubt that the Canal is historically a very important and majestic monument and is a classified monument to the world heritage of humanity. Its total length is 385 km with 328 locks along its path and there are about 45 locks each 4km.

Extraits

[...] The main theme of these activities is adventure for all seasons. We can add that the “chemins de halage”, which were paths alongside the Canal in order that horses were able to pull barges, are allowed for riding horses or bikes in the respect of the nature. Thus, the “Tourismekreizbreizh[13]” which is a kind of tourist home organises each year a long fluvial hiking on the Canal during several days. But also the “Rand'eau vive” which is an initiation to sports and nature activities in family like climb, horse-drawn carriage walk, pony races, etc. [...]

[...] The aim of this sustainable development is the preservation of this heritage and the keeping of the navigable waterways. At the same time the touristy activities have to be in adequacy with a sustainable development, with the respect of environment and more precisely the existing ecosystem There is no doubt that to involve the Canal into a more sustainable development, the suppression of locks and the come back to a natural river of the Canal do not go in the direction of protecting the linked environment. [...]

[...] The first danger is the presence of nitrate in the waters of the canal[3]. Since 1970 the association Eau & Rivières warns about the danger of nitrate in the Canal and today the entire waters of the canal are classified vulnerable area against nitrates from farming origin For 30 years, the average pollution of the Canal has been multiplied by 7 as you can see on appendix 3. Nitrates come from the using of fertilizer and liquid manure from pigs and poultry farming. [...]

[...] Thus, many manifestations linked to the life of the Canal are carried out. We can quote for example the visit of maison du patrimoine” which tells the history around the Canal since its creation but it does not exist a kind of ecomuseum with the concrete history in picture and movies of the canal as well various old pieces of this one. Moreover many lock houses, which were the lock keepers houses during 200 years and today uninhabited for 9 months per year, remain unused. [...]

[...] The development of playful activities 8 C. A life on and around the Canal 9 Conclusion 10 Appendices 11 Bibliography 12 A wildlife to protect There is no doubt that the Canal is in danger because of the multiplication of threats. In this first part, we are going to reference all measures and problems that we have to take in consideration because the ecosystem is threatened. At the same time, we are going to see several actions which have been taken for the preservation of the canal. [...]