The professionalization of consultants for biodiversity offsetting: Translations and legitimation issues
Petitimbert, Rémy
The professionalization of consultants for biodiversity offsetting: Translations and legitimation issues - 2018.
10
Since the 1960’s, public action has embraced the canon of performance to drive and optimize the efficacy of public policies. In this context, calling on consultants is increasingly frequent. Subject to the pressure of competition, these consultants are submitted to the dictate of “results.” This is the case in the field of environmental policies for which private firms are regularly consulted whenever compensation measures in urban planning are needed. A 2016 law on the “reconquest of biodiversity” has rehabilitated an “Avoid-Reduce-Compensate” doctrine, but the translation of these principles into public action tools remains diverse and heterogeneous depending on the consultants hired to do the job. This paper therefore questions the different translations applied by consultants involved in the implementation processes of public policies and who contribute to the shaping of these “offsetting” instruments. They participate in outlining a specific perception of biodiversity within public policies and focus the debate on technical standards, thus brushing aside its political dimensions.
The professionalization of consultants for biodiversity offsetting: Translations and legitimation issues - 2018.
10
Since the 1960’s, public action has embraced the canon of performance to drive and optimize the efficacy of public policies. In this context, calling on consultants is increasingly frequent. Subject to the pressure of competition, these consultants are submitted to the dictate of “results.” This is the case in the field of environmental policies for which private firms are regularly consulted whenever compensation measures in urban planning are needed. A 2016 law on the “reconquest of biodiversity” has rehabilitated an “Avoid-Reduce-Compensate” doctrine, but the translation of these principles into public action tools remains diverse and heterogeneous depending on the consultants hired to do the job. This paper therefore questions the different translations applied by consultants involved in the implementation processes of public policies and who contribute to the shaping of these “offsetting” instruments. They participate in outlining a specific perception of biodiversity within public policies and focus the debate on technical standards, thus brushing aside its political dimensions.
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