This research aims to investigate the extent to which Omani women can contribute towards the national food security of Oman with respect to their households by answering to the need of filling the gap in research and literature available in Oman and in countries in the Gulf region. The focus of this research was mainly on the utilissation aspect of food and the awareness of women in two regions of Oman. This was investigated using a combination of methods that included face-to-face interviews, online discussion groups and self-completion questionnaires to explore the social beliefs, practices and attitudes women adopt in relation to food purchase, storage, preparation and consumption which were considered as important parts of the food system, and to identify the range of support systems/services available to women from public/ private bodies. The findings of this research demonstrate that women play a major role in ensuring the food security of their households and that they have a high level of willingness to improve the safety and nutrition status of the food served to their families. It was observed that respondents of different age groups and income levels had similar tendencies to follow habits and customs as opposed to acquiring new knowledge or information. The findings also confirm the positive effect of women’s education and empowerment on the overall improvement and sustainability of household and national food security.

Assessment of non-dietary, human exposure to pesticides is an integral part of pesticide authorisation at the EU level. In this thesis, models were used to predict exposure of vulnerable human sub-populations to pesticides and thus to assess risks to health. Two high-quality pesticide usage datasets previously collected by Fera Science Ltd. and for EFSA were analysed. Trends in pesticide usage and major drivers of exposure and thus risk were identified, including any implications for regulatory procedures over the period investigated. Residential exposure of pregnant women living at 100 and 1000 m downwind of treated orchards indicated improving fate (vapour pressure) and hazard profiles (reproductive/developmental toxicities) of pesticides applied in England and Wales over a 25-year period (1987, 1996, 2004 and 2012). Overall, results reflected the influence of changing policies during the 1990s and the ongoing review programme at national level. Assessment of 50 agricultural professional operators across five cropping systems in Greece, Lithuania and the UK indicated a range of applications with potential for risk. Estimated exposure was significantly influenced by variations in agricultural practices and working behaviours involving the use of personal protective measures, including the extensive use of wettable powder formulations in Greece and large areas of land treated per day in Lithuania and the UK. The 50 selected professional operators handled a range of active substances and/or co-formulants with known/possible endocrine disrupting activity during single spray days. At maximum, one operator handled five such active substances and ten such co-formulants in a single day. Thus, higher risk is expected in mixture than that predicted for single active substances. Although the use of models in risk assessment has inherent uncertainties, these results add to the existing body of knowledge and allow a holistic assessment of the pesticide regulatory procedures over the period investigated.

The interactions between biotic and abiotic factors driving savanna vegetation structure are complex that a combination of resource-based and disturbance-based theories are used to explain the coexistence between trees and grasses. Human impact further complicates these interactions and consequently, the structure of wildlife populations. As human development is linked to environmental sustainability, understanding the impact of the interactions between changing climates and land use patterns on savanna ecology requires an interdisciplinary approach that integrates social and natural factors. In this thesis, the importance of rainfall variability in driving woody vegetation biomass, production and turnover across Kenyan savannas is first assessed. It is established that woody biomass and production increases with rainfall while turnover rates decrease with rainfall. Secondly, to explore the history of land use changes, perceptions from community elders in two savanna ecosystems in southern Kenya (Amboseli and Mara) are collated using a semi-structured questionnaire. The elders from Amboseli regarded rainfall variability as key in shaping land use change decisions while those in Mara regarded socio-economic factors and conservation initiatives as important determinants of land use types. Thirdly, to explore the impact of climate and land use change, an agent based model that used grass biomass data, simulated by a dynamic global vegetation model, as input data is developed. Development of the model incorporated natural and social factors by using insights from the vegetation survey and from the community elders. The model showed that provision of conservation subsidies, up to 200 $ yr-1 for 1 km2 grazing land, is key in driving livestock and wildlife densities and further increases in conservation subsidies maintains the density of livestock and wildlife. The interdisciplinary nature of this thesis highlights the value of integrating local community perspectives and science-based interventions to address the sustainability of savannas, particularly sub-arable savannas. It also highlights the value of conservation subsidies in promoting wildlife numbers and pastoral well-being.

The environmental risk of pesticides is routinely assessed in single-species tests. Multi-species systems are only employed once effect concentrations (divided by safety factors) compared to predicted environmental concentrations give reason for concern. However, direct chemical effects at the individual level often don’t directly translate into impacts observed at higher levels of organization because species interactions play an important role in mediating indirect chemical effects. In this thesis, I aimed to develop a tool that combines the advantages of single-species tests (repeatability, interpretability) and multi-species tests (ecological realism) for the repeatable study of indirect chemical effects mediated by ecological interactions. I show the standardization and testing of a tri-trophic laboratory scale microcosm (Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata, Ceriodaphnia dubia, Hydra viridissima) to better understand and quantify the effects of multiple stressors (e.g. chemicals, food availability and predation) on organisms and their interactions. We found close repeatability of system dynamics in the short term indicating the system’s ability to detect small pesticide effects and bottom-up and top-down effect propagation. Yet, inter-experimental differences between dynamics in controls were found in the long term. An investigation of the influences of a variety of experimental factors showed that deviations from standardized population dynamics were likely caused by medium related factors that acted on algal populations and led to bottom up effects. These likely masked the effects of a herbicide in exposure experiments and I did not gain conclusive results on direct and possibly indirect herbicide effects on grazer and predator populations. My findings demonstrate that considerable consistency and in-depth understanding of the characteristics of all system components are required to achieve repeatability even in apparently simple multi-species systems. My work illustrates possible pitfalls of tools aimed at the generation of repeatable effect data on ecologically relevant endpoints and identifies future research needs to achieve repeatable dynamics in the tri-trophic microcosm and to enhance its applicability.

Pilot projects are used as tools to test new solutions to global environment and development concerns including climate change and natural resource management. They are framed as mechanisms that provide evidence of 'what works' in order to improve policy and practice. However, despite the widespread use of pilot projects, their dynamics, impacts and implications are not well studied. Drawing on political ecology, social anthropology, science and technology studies, social justice theory, and policy studies literature, this thesis critically explores the phenomenon of pilot projects using a case study of REDD+ in Tanzania. An interpretivist-constructivist, actor-based approach to research is taken, using ethnographic data that includes over 150 narrative interviews with conservation and development professionals and actors involved in district and village-level pilot projects. Findings are presented in three analytical chapters. The first unpacks the relationship between pilot projects, policy and practice. A contradiction is identified between the design of the pilot projects as experimental and outside of the constraints of existing institutions, and the ability of the projects to have meaningful, longer-term influence. The second analytical chapter explores the complex dynamics and implications of expectations in pilot projects, identifying a trade-off between fully piloting new initiatives and raising expectations. The final analytical chapter uses a recognition justice lens to explore pilot project evaluations, finding that the ways of knowing, values and perspectives of some actors are discursively reproduced through the process, excluding and delegitimizing alternative perspectives. These results contribute to critical debates on international environment and development policy and practice by arguing that rather than delivering innovation and learning, pilot projects reproduce and reinforce the status quo. As such, this thesis reconceptualises pilot projects as agents of social change that cannot be contained within project objectives and timelines. This has significant implications for the continued use of pilot projects and raises questions about responsibility and accountability for their outcomes.

Environmental hazards and adverse socioeconomic conditions have negative impacts on people's health and are linked with both communicable and non-communicable diseases. Disproportionate exposure of vulnerable groups to environmental hazards can exacerbate environmental and health inequalities. Existing research has highlighted evidence of environmental and health inequalities, but gaps in understanding remain. This thesis addresses three areas of policy interest: the spatio-temporal dynamics of inequalities; the long-term impact of natural disasters on health inequalities; and the interaction between exposure to hazards and other determinants in affecting health outcomes. Using a multi-method, econometric approach that addresses spatial and temporal structure in the underlying datasets, I first analyses the distribution of air pollution in Mexico City. I show that the elderly and children, and neighborhoods with more deprived economic conditions, experience higher levels of air pollution compared with other age groups and neighborhoods. Second, I focus on how socioeconomic conditions affect health impacts in children, exploring the factors affecting the occurrence of low birth weight. My analysis shows hotspots of low birth weight across the greater Mexico City area and highlights lower education as a key risk factor. Finally, I examine health inequalities in vulnerable groups in relation to exposure to natural disasters such as floods and droughts across Mexico. My findings illustrate worsening morbidity and incapacity in children and the elderly following exposure to such events. This research has revealed new insights into the environmental and health inequalities experienced by vulnerable groups in relation to exposure to air pollution, natural disasters and adverse socioeconomic conditions. Policy action to reduce these inequalities requires the implementation of social programmes that focus on reinforcing community resilience after exposure to environmental hazards, regulating emissions of pollutants, monitoring adverse health outcomes, and extending public facilities and healthcare to the most vulnerable groups, especially children and the elderly.

The European automotive sector faces a number of sustainability challenges including the consumption of significant amounts of raw materials. The use of bio-based materials, i.e. those made from living organisms, as opposed to metals or plastics from non-renewable fossil fuels, has been hailed as one mode of addressing this challenge due to their lightweight structure and renewable supply. The increased adoption of biomaterials is however shaped and constrained by existing legislative frameworks. Of particular note are the EU's emissions regulation, (EC, 2009) governing car emissions, the End of life vehicle directive (EC, 2000) covering car disposal and the Circular Economy (CE) package (EC, 2014) which seeks to encourage reuse and recycling rather than disposal. This thesis analyses EU policies and their application and effect at the UK level to establish if and how they facilitate or block the uptake of biomaterials within the European automotive sector. The thesis draws upon expert interviews and documentary analysis to make an empirical and methodological contribution to broader sustainability transitions theory by examining the impact of extant legislation upon sustainable innovation. The thesis suggests that the multi-level perspective, which has been used to explain the adoption of new sustainable technologies, should be amended to take the legislative regime more explicitly into account. Specifically the analysis shows that whilst emissions legislation has been largely neutral in its effects, the ELV and CE packages present potential barriers to the increased adoption of biomaterials in this sector. There are also inconsistencies between the legislation which hamper their effective implementation. The analysis implies that the promotion of sustainable material innovation in the car industry requires particular attention at the supranational legislative level to prevent unsustainable path dependency and permit legislators to strategically manage the regime of automotive legislation.

There is increasing evidence that the natural environment is beneficial to human health and well-being. An initial scoping review indicated that studies have considered a range of health measures but generally treat the environment homogeneously, concentrating on green space, indicating a lack of integration of an ecological perspective. This thesis has used a mixed method approach to consider the role of the environment in benefiting human health and well-being and the potential to derive co-benefits from this relationship. At a national level, the benefits associated with a single environment type, blue space, were investigated. The majority of people derived psychological and social benefits from visiting blue spaces; nature was important in mediating the psychological benefits of these visits. At a local level, the role of nature, specifically ecological health, was considered, by evaluating the success of an ecological restoration project. An improvement in ecological health was seen as a result of the restoration whilst from a social perspective, users viewed the restoration positively and discussed obtaining psychological benefits from urban natural spaces. The use of qualitative methods allowed identification of issues surrounding place attachment which was disrupted by the restoration. A comparison of the views of local users, providers, and commentators further explored opinions regarding the management of urban natural spaces. Although providers and commentators were generally aware of the needs and preferences of local users, a mismatch was revealed regarding preferences for formal or wild natural spaces, with local users favouring a range of management regimes including wild spaces which providers believed they would find undesirable. The implications of these findings for planning and policy are considered as they indicate that the conservation and management of the natural environment offers opportunities to deliver co-benefits for the environment and health.

Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) has evolved as a response to the accelerating pressure from the expansion of various coastal activities on coastal zones worldwide. Issue identification and assessment is the first but crucial phase of ICZM, involving the development of a “Coastal Profile” that combines environmental and socioeconomic information. This thesis evaluates the usefulness of a participatory mapping approach to develop a coastal profile using a Participatory Geographic Information System (PGIS). It focuses on ICZM implementation in Aqaba, the only coastal city in Jordan, where an initial assessment of ICZM challenges using semi-structured interviews showed a clear need to capture spatial knowledge and enhance the role of non-officials in the decision-making process. The participatory mapping processes allow acquiring a rich and unique qualitative and spatial knowledge.

Air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions affect health, climate and agriculture. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) air quality monitoring is underdeveloped which leads to uncertainty in the understanding of air pollution concentrations. However, studies that have been conducted in SSA show that ambient air pollution generally exceeds World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. These studies show particularly high concentrations in urban areas such as Nairobi, Kenya. One of the key reasons is due to emissions from transport. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis is to quantify transport related emissions, set within the context of emissions from other sectors, using Nairobi, Kenya as a case study. Thus, this thesis has developed a methodology and framework at different scales (individual vehicle, city and national) to improve our understanding of transport-related emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gas (GHG) to help guide policy making on future mitigation plans. Road transport emissions were investigated at multiple scales; at the finest scale, particulate matter (PM) emissions from the tailpipe were measured for a few vehicles using a novel multiplexed portable measurement system. At the urban scale, a model for fuel economy was constructed for a fleet from data collected in the field. Finally, at the national scale, available data gathered on fuel economy, vehicle activity and emissions were integrated to provide a country-level assessment of air pollution and GHG emissions from road transport, including evaluation of transport policies to reduce air pollution and GHGs.