During the last two decades Oman has experienced rapid economic development but this has been accompanied by environmental problems. Although agriculture in Oman is not usually considered a major component of the oil-dominated economy, government policy has been directed towards diversification of national income and as a result there has been an increasing emphasis on revenue from agriculture and an enhancement of production via the use of irrigation, machinery and inputs such as pesticides. In recent years this has been tempered with a range of interventions to encourage more sustainable production. Certain pesticides have been prohibited; there has been a promotion of organic agriculture and an emphasis on education and awareness programs for farmers. The last point is of especial relevance given the nature of the farm labour market in Oman and a reliance on expatriate and frequently untrained labour. The research described here examines the process through which agricultural policy is developed by the upper levels of the government executive within a centralised system, including' support for international agreements and protocols, and the mechanisms by which these policies are intended to be implemented. Using semi-structured interview techniques a group of key informants helped identify the key aspects of, and problems with, government support for agriculture. They provided insights on the current role of agriculture in Omani society and the barriers to future expansion. They also identified a number of problems associated with the current state of the industry, including the nature of the expatriate work force, the profligate use of natural resources and the excessive use of pesticides. They also identified a possible counterbalancing influence in the emerging Farmers' Association. The research also explored the state of knowledge at farm-level regarding the safe use of pesticides and what factors could enhance or indeed operate against the spread and implementation of that knowledge. The effectiveness of the existing extension services in relation to pesticide safety was explored through a detailed survey of current pesticide use, labour awareness of pesticide regulation and transfer of knowledge between farmers. From these results the potential for development of farmer-lead knowledge diffusion models is explored.

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There have been increasing concerns about predicted climate change and a growing emphasis by governing bodies, such as the EU, on a multidisciplinary, integrated approach to technology development, which encourages and facilitates the active participation of end-users. STAMINA was an EU funded research project, which was developed to assess and model the risks and adaptation capacity of farming systems in hilly arable areas. An essential goal of the project was to establish dialogue with potential users of the new STAMINA technology, i.e. farmers, and include their perceptions in the production of a computer support tool aimed to aid decision making processes. This thesis was designed to facilitate this goal by developing a better understanding of farmers and scientists and the different types of knowledge that each 'ould contribute. The broad aim was to identify the constraints to the successful development, as well as the subsequent uptake and adoption, of the STAMINA inology in upland, arable areas of the UK.

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Cette thèse aborde la notion de résilience en contexte post-conflit, à l’échelle des organisations locales. L’émergence de différents foyers de conflit a mis en exergue l’incapacité de certains Etats à assurer à leurs populations l’accès à des infrastructures et services fondamentaux. Les financements extérieurs n’étant pas en mesure de couvrir tous les besoins, ce sont alors les mécanismes de solidarité locaux qui sont promus. Après des chocs de grande ampleur, les dynamiques collectives sont perçues comme les moyens du relèvement. Il s’agit pour nous d’évaluer ces collectifs, c’est dire d’analyser les processus de structuration qui conduisent à l’action collective mais aussi les fonctions qui leur sont attribuées par leurs membres afin de comprendre leurs trajectoires. La mise à l’agenda de la notion de résilience pour penser le relèvement au sein des institutions internationales se heurtent à deux principaux écueils, premièrement celui de sa conceptualisation et deuxièmement celui de son opérationnalisation, écueils que nous tentons de dépasser dans ce travail. Comprise comme un processus, la résilience peut être articulée d’une part avec la notion de soutenabilité sociale, et d’autre part avec l’approche par les capabilités. Au travers d’une analyse menée sur trois terrains de recherche affectés par de graves crises socio-politiques, nous proposons d’identifier les fondements de la résilience collective socialement soutenable à l’échelle des organisations locales. / This thesis addresses the notion of resilience in post-conflict context, at the level of local organizations. The emergence of different focus of conflict has highlighted the inability of some states to provide their populations with access to basic infrastructure and services. As external funding is not able to cover all the needs, it is then the local solidarity mechanisms that are promoted. After large-scale shocks, collective dynamics are seen as a means of recovery. In order to evaluate these collectives, we analyze the structuring processes that lead to collective action but also the functions attributed to them by their members as well as their pathways. The emergence of the notion of resilience in the political agenda of international institutions in order to think about recovery comes up against two main difficulties : first of all its conceptualization, and secondly its operationalization. It is those pitfalls that we try to overcome in this work. Understood as a process, resilience can be articulated on the one hand with the notion of social sustainability, and on the other hand with the capability approach. Through an analysis conducted on three research fields affected by serious socio-political crisis, we propose to identify the foundations of socially sustainable collective resilience at the level of local organizations.