National audience ; Dans le domaine des inondations, il est de plus en plus prôné des politiques affichant de fait une coexistence des enjeux avec le risque. Le pari de ces politiques reposent sur la possibilité d'adapter efficacement les enjeux situés en zone inondable, plutôt que de les soustraire à l'inondation. Dans un contexte où il est demandé aux gestionnaires d'évaluer l'efficience des projets pour lesquels ils demandent des subventions à différents échelons (locaux, nationaux voire européens) par le biais d'analyse de type coût-bénéfice, ces politiques nécessitent un développement méthodologique pour analyser la vulnérabilité des enjeux et quantifier ainsi, en terme de dommages évités, les bienfaits de leur adaptation. Ces politiques, notamment celles de « restauration des zones d'expansion de crues » ou de « réduction de la vulnérabilité » concernent plus particulièrement le secteur agricole. C'est par exemple le cas sur la basse vallée du Rhône. Nous avons développé, en lien avec les gestionnaires du Rhône, le modèle EVA permettant de répondre à ces exigences pour les exploitations agricoles. Nous montrons comment cette modélisation systémique des exploitations agricoles permet d'estimer plusieurs sources de dommages. Premièrement, cette modélisation permet de tenir compte de ce qui est classiquement considéré, c'est-à-dire les dommages directement en lien avec l'endommagement des composantes physiques de l'exploitation (bâtiments, outils, stocks, parcelles etc.). Elle permet également de tenir compte des conséquences induites sur l'activité de l'exploitation du fait de la perturbation de son organisation interne comme de ses liens avec son environnement (filières amont et aval, marché du travail). Cette possibilité ouvre la possibilité de considérer l'évaluation des politiques dites de « réduction de la vulnérabilité » qui visent à modifier l'organisation des exploitations pour les rendre plus adaptées aux inondations.
National audience ; Dans le domaine des inondations, il est de plus en plus prôné des politiques affichant de fait une coexistence des enjeux avec le risque. Le pari de ces politiques reposent sur la possibilité d'adapter efficacement les enjeux situés en zone inondable, plutôt que de les soustraire à l'inondation. Dans un contexte où il est demandé aux gestionnaires d'évaluer l'efficience des projets pour lesquels ils demandent des subventions à différents échelons (locaux, nationaux voire européens) par le biais d'analyse de type coût-bénéfice, ces politiques nécessitent un développement méthodologique pour analyser la vulnérabilité des enjeux et quantifier ainsi, en terme de dommages évités, les bienfaits de leur adaptation. Ces politiques, notamment celles de « restauration des zones d'expansion de crues » ou de « réduction de la vulnérabilité » concernent plus particulièrement le secteur agricole. C'est par exemple le cas sur la basse vallée du Rhône. Nous avons développé, en lien avec les gestionnaires du Rhône, le modèle EVA permettant de répondre à ces exigences pour les exploitations agricoles. Nous montrons comment cette modélisation systémique des exploitations agricoles permet d'estimer plusieurs sources de dommages. Premièrement, cette modélisation permet de tenir compte de ce qui est classiquement considéré, c'est-à-dire les dommages directement en lien avec l'endommagement des composantes physiques de l'exploitation (bâtiments, outils, stocks, parcelles etc.). Elle permet également de tenir compte des conséquences induites sur l'activité de l'exploitation du fait de la perturbation de son organisation interne comme de ses liens avec son environnement (filières amont et aval, marché du travail). Cette possibilité ouvre la possibilité de considérer l'évaluation des politiques dites de « réduction de la vulnérabilité » qui visent à modifier l'organisation des exploitations pour les rendre plus adaptées aux inondations.
National audience ; Dans le domaine des inondations, il est de plus en plus prôné des politiques affichant de fait une coexistence des enjeux avec le risque. Le pari de ces politiques reposent sur la possibilité d'adapter efficacement les enjeux situés en zone inondable, plutôt que de les soustraire à l'inondation. Dans un contexte où il est demandé aux gestionnaires d'évaluer l'efficience des projets pour lesquels ils demandent des subventions à différents échelons (locaux, nationaux voire européens) par le biais d'analyse de type coût-bénéfice, ces politiques nécessitent un développement méthodologique pour analyser la vulnérabilité des enjeux et quantifier ainsi, en terme de dommages évités, les bienfaits de leur adaptation. Ces politiques, notamment celles de « restauration des zones d'expansion de crues » ou de « réduction de la vulnérabilité » concernent plus particulièrement le secteur agricole. C'est par exemple le cas sur la basse vallée du Rhône. Nous avons développé, en lien avec les gestionnaires du Rhône, le modèle EVA permettant de répondre à ces exigences pour les exploitations agricoles. Nous montrons comment cette modélisation systémique des exploitations agricoles permet d'estimer plusieurs sources de dommages. Premièrement, cette modélisation permet de tenir compte de ce qui est classiquement considéré, c'est-à-dire les dommages directement en lien avec l'endommagement des composantes physiques de l'exploitation (bâtiments, outils, stocks, parcelles etc.). Elle permet également de tenir compte des conséquences induites sur l'activité de l'exploitation du fait de la perturbation de son organisation interne comme de ses liens avec son environnement (filières amont et aval, marché du travail). Cette possibilité ouvre la possibilité de considérer l'évaluation des politiques dites de « réduction de la vulnérabilité » qui visent à modifier l'organisation des exploitations pour les rendre plus adaptées aux inondations.
International audience ; After major floods occurred in 2003 on the Rhône River (France), the State and local authorities created a new institution at river level, in order to tackle flood issues at a supposedly more functional scale. Called Plan Rhône, this new partnership combined several policy sectors and several administrative levels, with the aim of developing the river territory and preserving floodplain retention capacity. The plan included a floodplain restoration project. However, after five years of negotiation, the project was finally abandoned. In this article, we analyze the drivers behind the failure to preserve floodplain retention capacity by focusing on scale issues, using two theoretical frameworks: the concept of "functional fit" between the scale of ecological issues and that of the institutions in charge of those issues, and the concept of "politics of scale" in which scale results from historical processes. We conclude that the scaling of an issue results from history. It legitimates a specific point of view and hampers alternative ways of seeing reality at other scales.
International audience ; After major floods occurred in 2003 on the Rhône River (France), the State and local authorities created a new institution at river level, in order to tackle flood issues at a supposedly more functional scale. Called Plan Rhône, this new partnership combined several policy sectors and several administrative levels, with the aim of developing the river territory and preserving floodplain retention capacity. The plan included a floodplain restoration project. However, after five years of negotiation, the project was finally abandoned. In this article, we analyze the drivers behind the failure to preserve floodplain retention capacity by focusing on scale issues, using two theoretical frameworks: the concept of "functional fit" between the scale of ecological issues and that of the institutions in charge of those issues, and the concept of "politics of scale" in which scale results from historical processes. We conclude that the scaling of an issue results from history. It legitimates a specific point of view and hampers alternative ways of seeing reality at other scales.
International audience ; After major floods occurred in 2003 on the Rhône River (France), the State and local authorities created a new institution at river level, in order to tackle flood issues at a supposedly more functional scale. Called Plan Rhône, this new partnership combined several policy sectors and several administrative levels, with the aim of developing the river territory and preserving floodplain retention capacity. The plan included a floodplain restoration project. However, after five years of negotiation, the project was finally abandoned. In this article, we analyze the drivers behind the failure to preserve floodplain retention capacity by focusing on scale issues, using two theoretical frameworks: the concept of "functional fit" between the scale of ecological issues and that of the institutions in charge of those issues, and the concept of "politics of scale" in which scale results from historical processes. We conclude that the scaling of an issue results from history. It legitimates a specific point of view and hampers alternative ways of seeing reality at other scales.
Abstract. In Europe, economic evaluation of flood management projects is increasingly used to help decision making. At the same time, the management of flood risk is shifting towards new concepts such as giving more room to water by restoring floodplains. Agricultural areas are particularly targeted by projects following those concepts since they are frequently located in floodplain areas and since the potential damage to such areas is expected to be lower than to cities or industries for example. Additional or avoided damage to agriculture may have a major influence on decisions concerning these projects and the economic evaluation of flood damage to agriculture is thus an issue that needs to be tackled. The question of flood damage to agriculture can be addressed in different ways. This paper reviews and analyzes existing studies which have developed or used damage functions for agriculture in the framework of an economic appraisal of flood management projects. A conceptual framework of damage categories is proposed for the agricultural sector. The damage categories were used to structure the review. Then, a total of 42 studies are described, with a detailed review of 26 of them, based on the following criteria: types of damage considered, the influential flood parameters chosen, and monetized damage indicators used. The main recommendations resulting from this review are that even if existing methods have already focused on damage to crops, still some improvement is needed for crop damage functions. There is also a need to develop damage functions for other agricultural damage categories, including farm buildings and their contents. Finally, to cover all possible agricultural damage, and in particular loss of activity, a farm scale approach needs to be used.
En France, peu de travaux ont été consacrés à la caractérisation de la vulnérabilité des zones agricoles exposées aux inondations, encore moins à son utilisation dans le cadre d'une évaluation économique de politique de gestion des inondations. Nous proposons dans cet article un modèle conceptuel de la vulnérabilité agricole pouvant servir à une telle évaluation, lorsque les politiques visent à une modification de l'événement physique à l'origine de l'inondation ou à une modification de la vulnérabilité des enjeux exposés à cet événement. / Flood management policies promoted by French government impact agriculture land in two ways. Firstly, they may be designated as potential areas for flood expansion. Secondly, since the 2003 law, local authorities have the right to flood these areas more than those which have been deemed to be more vulnerable (urban areas). Meanwhile, policy-driven appraisals of flood management projects are becoming commonplace in France. This highlights the need to better understand agricultural vulnerability and to develop methods for quantifying it. To introduce our approach, we first present the research conducted by Plan Loire which marks a shift away from existing practices of agriculture vulnerability assessment by considering vulnerability at the farm scale rather than at the plot scale. Based on ex-post flood damage assessment and the results of stakeholders questionnaires in the agricultural sector, forty seven determinants of farm vulnerability to flooding were identified and classified. These determinants were used to draft a guide for farmers. This guide aims to highlight the impacts their farm activities could face in case of flooding and to identify measures to mitigate their vulnerability. At the present, this guide is used along the Rhone River and will be probably used along the Loire River in the future. The current application of these guides to mitigate vulnerability of farms revealed the need for further research which is partly presented here. By focusing on the farming ...
En France, peu de travaux ont été consacrés à la caractérisation de la vulnérabilité des zones agricoles exposées aux inondations, encore moins à son utilisation dans le cadre d'une évaluation économique de politique de gestion des inondations. Nous proposons dans cet article un modèle conceptuel de la vulnérabilité agricole pouvant servir à une telle évaluation, lorsque les politiques visent à une modification de l'événement physique à l'origine de l'inondation ou à une modification de la vulnérabilité des enjeux exposés à cet événement. / Flood management policies promoted by French government impact agriculture land in two ways. Firstly, they may be designated as potential areas for flood expansion. Secondly, since the 2003 law, local authorities have the right to flood these areas more than those which have been deemed to be more vulnerable (urban areas). Meanwhile, policy-driven appraisals of flood management projects are becoming commonplace in France. This highlights the need to better understand agricultural vulnerability and to develop methods for quantifying it. To introduce our approach, we first present the research conducted by Plan Loire which marks a shift away from existing practices of agriculture vulnerability assessment by considering vulnerability at the farm scale rather than at the plot scale. Based on ex-post flood damage assessment and the results of stakeholders questionnaires in the agricultural sector, forty seven determinants of farm vulnerability to flooding were identified and classified. These determinants were used to draft a guide for farmers. This guide aims to highlight the impacts their farm activities could face in case of flooding and to identify measures to mitigate their vulnerability. At the present, this guide is used along the Rhone River and will be probably used along the Loire River in the future. The current application of these guides to mitigate vulnerability of farms revealed the need for further research which is partly presented here. By focusing on the farming system, we aimed at providing a framework to economically assess agricultural vulnerability to flooding. Firstly, we identified flood effects at the farming system scale including possible interactions with the territorial scale, in order to propose a conceptual model which provides a framework for economic assessment. Finally, we discuss the implications for projects economic appraisal. The provided framework for agricultural vulnerability assessment would enable a selection of most efficient measures to mitigate farm vulnerability using a ratio depending on the agricultural context. It would also help to prioritize projects to reduce vulnerability by economic appraisal at a wider spatial scale such as water basin.
En France, peu de travaux ont été consacrés à la caractérisation de la vulnérabilité des zones agricoles exposées aux inondations, encore moins à son utilisation dans le cadre d'une évaluation économique de politique de gestion des inondations. Nous proposons dans cet article un modèle conceptuel de la vulnérabilité agricole pouvant servir à une telle évaluation, lorsque les politiques visent à une modification de l'événement physique à l'origine de l'inondation ou à une modification de la vulnérabilité des enjeux exposés à cet événement. / Flood management policies promoted by French government impact agriculture land in two ways. Firstly, they may be designated as potential areas for flood expansion. Secondly, since the 2003 law, local authorities have the right to flood these areas more than those which have been deemed to be more vulnerable (urban areas). Meanwhile, policy-driven appraisals of flood management projects are becoming commonplace in France. This highlights the need to better understand agricultural vulnerability and to develop methods for quantifying it. To introduce our approach, we first present the research conducted by Plan Loire which marks a shift away from existing practices of agriculture vulnerability assessment by considering vulnerability at the farm scale rather than at the plot scale. Based on ex-post flood damage assessment and the results of stakeholders questionnaires in the agricultural sector, forty seven determinants of farm vulnerability to flooding were identified and classified. These determinants were used to draft a guide for farmers. This guide aims to highlight the impacts their farm activities could face in case of flooding and to identify measures to mitigate their vulnerability. At the present, this guide is used along the Rhone River and will be probably used along the Loire River in the future. The current application of these guides to mitigate vulnerability of farms revealed the need for further research which is partly presented here. By focusing on the farming system, we aimed at providing a framework to economically assess agricultural vulnerability to flooding. Firstly, we identified flood effects at the farming system scale including possible interactions with the territorial scale, in order to propose a conceptual model which provides a framework for economic assessment. Finally, we discuss the implications for projects economic appraisal. The provided framework for agricultural vulnerability assessment would enable a selection of most efficient measures to mitigate farm vulnerability using a ratio depending on the agricultural context. It would also help to prioritize projects to reduce vulnerability by economic appraisal at a wider spatial scale such as water basin.
International audience ; Recent catastrophic flood events such as Elbe in 2002 or Rhône in 2003 have shown limits of flood management policies relying on dykes protection: worsening of flood impacts downstream, increased damage by dykes rupture. Those events, among others, contributes to radical changes on the philosophy of flood prevention, with the promotion of new orientations for mitigating flood exposition. Two new trends may have a significant impact on rural areas: floodplain restoration and vulnerability mitigation. The Rhône River program, which is an contract of objectives signed between French Government and local collectivites,is highly illustrative of these new trends and their impact on agricultural sector. In this program, it appears that areas to be concerned by floodplain restoration are agricultural ones, because their supposed vulnerability to flood is expected to be less important to urban areas. As a consequence, agricultural sector is particularly concerned by planned actions on mitigation of assets vulnerability, an important part of the program (financial support of European Union of 7.5 Million euros). Mitigation of agricultural assets vulnerability reveals particularly interesting for two following reasons. Firstly, it is a way to maintain agricultural activities in floodplains yet existing, without promoting flood protection. Secondly, in case of floodplain restoration, vulnerability mitigation is a way for local authorities to compensate over-flooding impacts. In practice, local authorities may financially support farmers for implementing measures to mitigate their farm vulnerability. On the Rhône River, an important work has already been done to identify farm vulnerability to flooding, and propose measures to mitigate it. More than 3 000 farms exposed to flood risk have been identified representing 88 690 ha of agricultural areas which is estimated to generate damage between 400 and 800 Million euros depending on the season of occurrence for a catastrophic flood. In the case of farm ...
International audience ; Recent catastrophic flood events such as Elbe in 2002 or Rhône in 2003 have shown limits of flood management policies relying on dykes protection: worsening of flood impacts downstream, increased damage by dykes rupture. Those events, among others, contributes to radical changes on the philosophy of flood prevention, with the promotion of new orientations for mitigating flood exposition. Two new trends may have a significant impact on rural areas: floodplain restoration and vulnerability mitigation. The Rhône River program, which is an contract of objectives signed between French Government and local collectivites,is highly illustrative of these new trends and their impact on agricultural sector. In this program, it appears that areas to be concerned by floodplain restoration are agricultural ones, because their supposed vulnerability to flood is expected to be less important to urban areas. As a consequence, agricultural sector is particularly concerned by planned actions on mitigation of assets vulnerability, an important part of the program (financial support of European Union of 7.5 Million euros). Mitigation of agricultural assets vulnerability reveals particularly interesting for two following reasons. Firstly, it is a way to maintain agricultural activities in floodplains yet existing, without promoting flood protection. Secondly, in case of floodplain restoration, vulnerability mitigation is a way for local authorities to compensate over-flooding impacts. In practice, local authorities may financially support farmers for implementing measures to mitigate their farm vulnerability. On the Rhône River, an important work has already been done to identify farm vulnerability to flooding, and propose measures to mitigate it. More than 3 000 farms exposed to flood risk have been identified representing 88 690 ha of agricultural areas which is estimated to generate damage between 400 and 800 Million euros depending on the season of occurrence for a catastrophic flood. In the case of farm activities, vulnerability mitigation consists in implementing measures which can be: physical (equipment or electric power system elevation), organizational (emergency or recovery plan) or financial (insurance). These measures aim at decreasing the total damage incurred by farmers in case of flooding. For instance, if equipment is elevated, it will not suffer direct damage such as degradation. As a consequence, equipment will be available to continue production or recovery tasks, thus, avoiding indirect damage such as delays, indebtedness. . . The effects of these policies on farms, in particular vulnerability mitigation cannot be appraised using current methodologies mainly because they do not consider farm as a whole and focus on direct damage at the land plot scale (loss of yield). Moreover, since vulnerability mitigation policies are quite recent, few examples of implementation exist and no feedback experience can be processed. Meanwhile, decision makers and financial actors require more justification of the efficiency of public fund by economic appraisal of the projects. On the Rhône River, decision makers asked for an economic evaluation of the program of farm vulnerability mitigation they plan to implement. This implies to identify the effects of the measures to mitigate farm vulnerability, and to classify them by comparing their efficacy (avoided damage) and their cost of implementation. In this presentation, we propose and discuss a conceptual model of vulnerability at the farm scale. The modelling,in Unified Modelling Language, enabled to represent the ties between spatial, organizational and temporal dimensions,which are central to understanding of farm vulnerability and resilience to flooding. Through this modelling,we encompass three goals: To improve the comprehension of farm vulnerability and create a framework that allow discussion with experts of different disciplines as well as with local farmers; To identify data which are needed to implement the model and to collect them, specifically using the focus group method; Based on the conceptual model, to program a mathematical model which will be used to simulate damage (direct and indirect) on farm due to flood. This last objective should enable us to appraise policy to mitigate vulnerability which is planned to be implemented on Rhône River at the individual and regional scale. Finally, we discuss the ossibility to use the UML modelling to develop a multi-agent system approach which could be interesting to take into account ties between farmers (solidarity, loan of equipment) or systemic effects due to the damage incurred by economic partners (loss of market share).
National audience ; Les politiques publiques de gestion des inondations s'orientent vers la restauration des champs d'expansion de crue et de réduction de la vulnérabilité, qui auront un impact important sur les exploitations agricoles. L'évaluation des effets de ces politiques sur les exploitations agricoles n'est pas envisageable avec les méthodologies actuelles et le retour d'expérience quasiment inexistant. Il était donc nécessaire de développer un modèle de simulation des dommages directs et induits en prenant en compte la dimension systémique de l'exploitation agricole. Pour cela, nous proposons un modèle conceptuel de la vulnérabilité à l'échelle de l'exploitation agricole et montrons comment il nous a permis de mettre en évidence l'importance des stratégies de gestion post-inondation pour la modélisation des dommages. Nous présentons ensuite les résultats des enquêtes réalisées sur les exploitations arboricoles de la zone aval du Rhône pour la caractérisation de ces stratégies. Enfin, nous montrons comment nous avons intégré dans le modèle de simulation des dommages, les données recueillies par enquêtes. Les premiers résultats de simulation des dommages confirment l'importance de prendre en compte les effets induits de l'inondation sur le système " exploitation agricole ". En perspective, l'utilisation du modèle de simulation des dommages dans le cadre d'une évaluation économique des politiques de réduction de la vulnérabilité des exploitations agricoles sur la zone aval du Rhône est discutée.
National audience ; Les politiques publiques de gestion des inondations s'orientent vers la restauration des champs d'expansion de crue et de réduction de la vulnérabilité, qui auront un impact important sur les exploitations agricoles. L'évaluation des effets de ces politiques sur les exploitations agricoles n'est pas envisageable avec les méthodologies actuelles et le retour d'expérience quasiment inexistant. Il était donc nécessaire de développer un modèle de simulation des dommages directs et induits en prenant en compte la dimension systémique de l'exploitation agricole. Pour cela, nous proposons un modèle conceptuel de la vulnérabilité à l'échelle de l'exploitation agricole et montrons comment il nous a permis de mettre en évidence l'importance des stratégies de gestion post-inondation pour la modélisation des dommages. Nous présentons ensuite les résultats des enquêtes réalisées sur les exploitations arboricoles de la zone aval du Rhône pour la caractérisation de ces stratégies. Enfin, nous montrons comment nous avons intégré dans le modèle de simulation des dommages, les données recueillies par enquêtes. Les premiers résultats de simulation des dommages confirment l'importance de prendre en compte les effets induits de l'inondation sur le système " exploitation agricole ". En perspective, l'utilisation du modèle de simulation des dommages dans le cadre d'une évaluation économique des politiques de réduction de la vulnérabilité des exploitations agricoles sur la zone aval du Rhône est discutée.
International audience ; Recent catastrophic flood events such as Elbe in 2002 or Rhône in 2003 have shown limits of flood management policies relying on dykes protection: worsening of flood impacts downstream, increased damage by dykes rupture. Those events, among others, contributes to radical changes on the philosophy of flood prevention, with the promotion of new orientations for mitigating flood exposition. Two new trends may have a significant impact on rural areas: floodplain restoration and vulnerability mitigation. The Rhône River program, which is an contract of objectives signed between French Government and local collectivites,is highly illustrative of these new trends and their impact on agricultural sector. In this program, it appears that areas to be concerned by floodplain restoration are agricultural ones, because their supposed vulnerability to flood is expected to be less important to urban areas. As a consequence, agricultural sector is particularly concerned by planned actions on mitigation of assets vulnerability, an important part of the program (financial support of European Union of 7.5 Million euros). Mitigation of agricultural assets vulnerability reveals particularly interesting for two following reasons. Firstly, it is a way to maintain agricultural activities in floodplains yet existing, without promoting flood protection. Secondly, in case of floodplain restoration, vulnerability mitigation is a way for local authorities to compensate over-flooding impacts. In practice, local authorities may financially support farmers for implementing measures to mitigate their farm vulnerability. On the Rhône River, an important work has already been done to identify farm vulnerability to flooding, and propose measures to mitigate it. More than 3 000 farms exposed to flood risk have been identified representing 88 690 ha of agricultural areas which is estimated to generate damage between 400 and 800 Million euros depending on the season of occurrence for a catastrophic flood. In the case of farm activities, vulnerability mitigation consists in implementing measures which can be: physical (equipment or electric power system elevation), organizational (emergency or recovery plan) or financial (insurance). These measures aim at decreasing the total damage incurred by farmers in case of flooding. For instance, if equipment is elevated, it will not suffer direct damage such as degradation. As a consequence, equipment will be available to continue production or recovery tasks, thus, avoiding indirect damage such as delays, indebtedness. . . The effects of these policies on farms, in particular vulnerability mitigation cannot be appraised using current methodologies mainly because they do not consider farm as a whole and focus on direct damage at the land plot scale (loss of yield). Moreover, since vulnerability mitigation policies are quite recent, few examples of implementation exist and no feedback experience can be processed. Meanwhile, decision makers and financial actors require more justification of the efficiency of public fund by economic appraisal of the projects. On the Rhône River, decision makers asked for an economic evaluation of the program of farm vulnerability mitigation they plan to implement. This implies to identify the effects of the measures to mitigate farm vulnerability, and to classify them by comparing their efficacy (avoided damage) and their cost of implementation. In this presentation, we propose and discuss a conceptual model of vulnerability at the farm scale. The modelling,in Unified Modelling Language, enabled to represent the ties between spatial, organizational and temporal dimensions,which are central to understanding of farm vulnerability and resilience to flooding. Through this modelling,we encompass three goals: To improve the comprehension of farm vulnerability and create a framework that allow discussion with experts of different disciplines as well as with local farmers; To identify data which are needed to implement the model and to collect them, specifically using the focus group method; Based on the conceptual model, to program a mathematical model which will be used to simulate damage (direct and indirect) on farm due to flood. This last objective should enable us to appraise policy to mitigate vulnerability which is planned to be implemented on Rhône River at the individual and regional scale. Finally, we discuss the ossibility to use the UML modelling to develop a multi-agent system approach which could be interesting to take into account ties between farmers (solidarity, loan of equipment) or systemic effects due to the damage incurred by economic partners (loss of market share).
