Cécile Hérivaux

Cécile is a sustainability economics researcher at BRGM. Her initial training was as an agronomic engineer at AgroParisTech, specializing in economic and social sciences (master’s degree in agricultural development economics). Over time, she enhanced her education with a master’s degree in environmental and natural resource economics, followed by a PhD in sustainability economics. She has 20 years of experience contributing to and coordinating the economic aspects of applied research projects at local, national, and European levels.
Her research focuses primarily on addressing issues related to groundwater protection, in connection with ecosystems and biodiversity. She uses a variety of economic approaches: conceptual frameworks that explore the links between human societies, ecosystems, and aquifers through the lens of ecosystem services; integrated geo-prospective approaches to consider long-term developments; coupling hydrogeological models with economic methods to conduct cost-effectiveness analyses; and stated preference methods to assess the benefits of protection measures. She has developed and applied these approaches with three main objectives: (i) adapting them to the specific characteristics of groundwater and aquifers, (ii) ensuring a strong field-based connection to reflect the unique features of different territories, and (iii) embedding them within an ethical perspective of strong sustainability.
Currently, her research focuses on exploring the relevance of Nature-Based Solutions in aquifer recharge zones for sustainable groundwater management, understanding the environmental inequalities that may arise from groundwater protection, and examining the pluralism of values associated with nature and ecosystems.