Sustainability and multi-level governance of territories classified as protected areas in France: the Morvan regional park case

This paper draws on recent debates on the multi-level governance of sustainable development to approach territories classified as protected areas. Based on original fieldwork carried out in the Parc naturel régional du Morvan, the paper examines the main governance challenges arising from the coexistence of natural areas and various embedded politico-administrative territories that have flourished in France in the last few decades. Considering spatio-temporal scalar articulation as a precondition for sustainable governance, it is argued that the mismatch observed between natural areas and inter-territorial institutions, situated at various spatial scales, incarnates a complex territorial mosaic whose pieces lack the necessary articulation required to foster sustainability.