Environmental justice and sustainable protection of groundwater (PhD) J
Nature-based solutions (NBS) play an important role in the sustainable management of groundwater and the natural production of high-quality water. Beyond their technical effectiveness, however, the capacity of NBS to be socially just rather than generating negative effects and creating or exacerbating existing inequalities is still contested. This thesis, funded by the international research project BIO-JUST (BIODIVERSA+), aims to develop and apply a framework for analyzing groundwater protection programs based on NBS in relation to the three dimensions of environmental justice (procedural, distributive and recognition). The work is structured into three main sections: (1) How is the procedural justice dimension considered? ; (2) What are the environmental inequalities relative to the effects of the programs? What are the preferences for a fair/equitable distribution of effects? (3) What are the trade-offs or synergies between efficiency and equity? This thesis will mobilize different concepts and approaches from environmental economics, sustainability economics, as well as sociology. The thesis will contribute to improving the consideration of different dimensions of environmental justice in the design and evaluation of groundwater protection programs.