The controlled anaerobic digestion of organic waste in a biogas facility aggregates advantages of waste treatment, energy recovery and nutrient recycling and is a promising technology to deal with contemporary issues of waste management and energy recovery. Small-scale biogas production units can be simply designed and successfully operated even in settings where means for advanced technology equipment are low and institutional capacities limited. In the country of Lebanon, landfilling and open dumping of solid waste is common practice and anaerobic treatment of waste is applied only sporadically and hence, not well-established. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of small-scale biogas production using organic waste, explore options for its application and propose a business model on how feedstock sourcing, facility operation and end product utilization could be realized in the research area. Research area was Ghazir village, a community within the urbanized coastal area in Lebanon. Methods were of both quantitative and qualitative nature.A techno-economic assessment served to quantify biogas and liquid digestate production rates, based on available resources of organic waste in the research area. Costs associated with installation, operation and maintenance of the proposed facility have been projected based on present examples of similar facilities in the country. Interviews with local stakeholders and a questionnaire survey among residents in the area of research allowed to identify suitable end use options for the produced biogas and served to explore communal acceptance of local biogas production. Results show that the produced biogas can be used for thermal feedstock treatment to supply local farmers with a fertilizer alternative, i.e. the liquid digestate. Organic waste that is subject to the anaerobic treatment in a digester can be provided by multiple point sources, i.e. households and a local food market in the form of source-sorted kitchen waste and unsold fruits and vegetables, respectively. Due to the current unfamiliarity with anaerobic treatment of organic waste in the research area, tests on the effects on crop yields are advised to take place before implementation of the proposed business model, as its communal benefits hinge on the suitability of the liquid digestate as a fertilizer. Economic calculations show low investment costs for the proposed facility as well as acceptable annual revenues in case the liquid digestate proves to be of interest for commercial acquisition by local farmers. The used methods and strategies in this feasibility assessment, i.e. waste quantification, yield and cost calculations, stakeholder interviews and questionnaire survey allow for replication of the taken investigation to eventually initiate small-scale biogas production using organic waste in other settings with similar conditions.

La guerre du Liban (1975-1990) a vu émerger dès son commencement une littérature féminine caractérisée par le décentrement du regard et de la représentation, qui inspira le nom donné par Miriam Cooke aux auteures femmes ayant écrit la guerre à Beyrouth : les "Beirut Decentrists". Ces dernières sont à l’origine d’un corpus prolifique et hétérogène, dont les œuvres, pour la grande majorité hybrides et polyphoniques, se rejoignent dans une interrogation sur l’espace urbain comme protagoniste, et sur la place occupée par l’auteure dans un paysage en perpétuel devenir. Ce travail de recherche, qui s’inscrit dans la géocritique, se propose d’explorer les espaces investis par ces femmes pendant la guerre. Que peuvent-ils nous apprendre sur la ville en guerre ? Surtout, quelles Beyrouth(s) possibles peuvent naître après la tentative organisée d’un urbicide par la société de milices qui a contrôlé la ville pendant quinze ans ? Le corpus couvre la totalité de la durée de la guerre, mais il comprend aussi des textes écrits dans les années qui ont suivi, indiquant la prégnance de la guerre dans le temps de l’après-conflit. En quoi le point de vue des "Beirut Decentrists" peut-il contribuer à la construction de la mémoire dans un pays qui cultive l’amnésie tout en croulant sous un « excès de mémoire » ? Ces territoires traversés et transgressés où ville, écriture et expérimentation poétique s’entrecroisent, nous permettent de mettre en perspective les notions de frontières et les considérations binaires de centre et de périphérie. En proposant une lecture géographique des textes des Beirut Decentrists, nous espérons renouveler la perspective sur la guerre, sur les femmes dans la guerre, sur la perception de la ville et la façon de faire avec la mémoire de celles-ci. / When the Lebanese war broke out in 1975, many women scattered in Beirut started writing about their feeling of being decentered. Miriam Cooke called them the "Beirut Decentrists". Their texts about the war in Beirut experiment with a variety of literary genres and devices such as hybridity and polyphony, yet all intersect around one interrogation: urban space as a protagonist and the woman writer’s role in this ever-changing landscape. This research inspired by geocriticism explores the spaces wandered by these women during the war. What can we learn about the war-torn city? Moreover, is it possible for new Beirut(s) to emerge from a fifteen-year militia-lead organized urbicide? Our corpus covers the entire war along with texts written during the postwar years. The latter giving us precious indications of how war still influences the conflict’s aftermath. What contribution can the "Beirut Decentrists" unique perspective bring to the construction of a collective memory in a country where amnesia and an excess of memory still coexist? Urban landscape, writing and poetic experimentation intersect and blend in these traveled and transgressed territories, thus allowing us to challenge the notion of border and binary narratives of center and periphery. Through a geographical reading of the Beirut Decentrists’ texts, we wish to renew the perspective on the war, on women in war, as well as the perception of the city and the ways to deal with memory.

L’objectif central de cette thèse est de comprendre les raisons pour lesquelles la corruption est tolérée dans certaines sociétés. Dans cette perspective, il s’avère indispensable de délimiter le concept de corruption qui ne peut être étudié indépendamment du cadre socioculturel de chaque pays, de la qualité des institutions et de la performance de l’État. Face à la défaillance de l’action collective et au coût des politiques étatiques de lutte, une norme sociale de tolérance de la corruption peut émerger dans une société, réfutant ainsi toute intervention publique. Un modèle proposé en théorie des jeux stipule qu’il est irrationnel de ne pas être corrompu dans une société où la corruption est largement répandue. Une corruption défensive, allant de l’acte individuel de paiement d’un pot-de-vin à la pression organisée des groupes d’intérêt, semble être une réaction rationnelle, un sous-produit de l’usage illégitime et répressif du pouvoir étatique. C’est la tolérance à cette corruption défensive, souvent caractérisée par des effets bénéfiques sur le bien-être social,que l’on propose comme réponse rationnelle à la corruption offensive du pouvoir. Le cas emblématique du multi-confessionnalisme au Liban montre que la corruption est acceptée dans les pratiques quotidiennes des libanais car elle se développe comme une contre-stratégie qui permet de contrecarrer la défaillance des institutions publiques et de contourner la fragmentation religieuse et confessionnelle du partage des ressources. Une enquête personnelle sera menée pour justifier l’émergence d’une « culture de cadeaux » et d’une norme sociale de tolérance vis-à-vis de la corruption. / This thesis attempts to explain the question why corruption is tolerated in some societies. At first, it is essential to define the concept of corruption which cannot be studied independently of the social and cultural context of each country, its religious and confessional fragmentation, the quality of its institutions and the performance of its state. Faced with the failure of collective action and the high cost of public policies, a norm of tolerance of corruption can emerge in a society, thus refuting any public intervention. A game theory model proves that it is irrational not to be corrupt in a society where corruption is widespread. A defensive corruption, ranging from paying bribes, to pressure groups, to buying votes, becomes a rational reaction, a byproduct of the repressive and illegitimate use of state power, especially when corruption has beneficial effects on social welfare. It is this defensive corruption that we consider tolerated, in opposition to offensive corruption.The study of the emblematic case of Lebanon shows that corruption in its various forms is accepted in the daily practices of the Lebanese, and it is used against the failure of public institutions and multi-confessional society. A survey has been conducted to justify the emergence of a "gift culture" and a norm of tolerance vis-à-vis of corruption.

This dissertation brings together a study of French and Arabic literature and the cultural history of post-independence Lebanon (1943—1975). It is intended first as a contribution to post-colonial criticism and historical literature on decolonization. Second, as a contribution to literary and historical research on multilingualism, as it undergoes various changes to recover “sub-national” narratives, gestures and behaviours that subvert ideas about homogenous national identities. It begins with a set of questions about language: in the context of multi-ethnic and multi-religious societies, such as Lebanon, what is the place of language in configurations of diversity, and what is its relationship with religion? What relationships do minorities seek or preserve with the national language at or after decolonization, and how does this affect their relationship with the state? Why do some collectives assert linguistic homogeneity and why do others promote more room? Finally, can language acquire indigeneity? While multilingualism in modern-day Lebanon is a wide-spread social practice, it is far from simple. I argue that in the aftermath of independence in 1943, a forgotten and eventually failed project of bilingualism was promoted by a conservative, nationalist and mainly Christian Maronite network of intellectuals, writers and academics attached to the Francophone university in Beirut. The project raised red flags for partisans of Arabic in Lebanon who argued that bilingualism was nothing more than a conceptual “fig leaf” for maintaining a colonial tie with France as well as an established cultural and political status quo that worked in favor of Lebanon’s Maronites. The project therefore failed to be adopted by a wider, national collective. Well before the start of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975, the project was dropped even by those who had initially rallied to its cause. This work analyzes bilingualism at the encounter of literature, law and the social sciences, both as disciplinary approaches and respective local discourses. In this way, I examine how descriptive, prescriptive and imaginary genres converge in the discourse of nation-building. Through a constellation of readings of debates over the place of bilingualism in legal education, cultural anthropology, and the literary field, and a close reading of French and Arabic literary works, this study asks how the strategic use of language by newly independent citizens casts a light on bilingualism as a multidimensional social and discursive reality and not a purely linguist or literary phenomenon as is often considered. My theoretical point of departure, therefore, is to study how language can play a role in constructing a knowledge-based discourse that incorporates law, literature, and the social sciences. There are two crucial aspects of this story that run throughout the histories and texts I engage with in this project. The first is that the project of bilingualism was part of a wider interest in making national identity defined by bilingualism. In so doing, it diluted the radical alterity nominally attached to multilingualism in the national setting. Yet the bilingual project might also be considered a radical one. In part, it setting out to enforce the re-signification of bilingualism in a postcolonial era, it sought, to an extent, to attenuate the centrality of the confessional structures of state. The project therefore draws our attention to the kinds of thought experiments that developed in the process of decolonization and the early years of the Cold War, a mode of creative thinking that was dropped and replaced by more hegemonic structures. But its failure indicates why, when this idea was deployed, it became the price to pay for the expected unity of the national collective. Ultimately, the bilingual project was vulnerable to critique and the failure of its re-signification was due to it being slated as an elite postcolonial project legitimizing Christian power in “cultural” terms. A second crucial aspect of this story is that the project, while representing a failure, is nevertheless conceptually critical for several reasons. This project of linguistic diversity engendered a new politics of interpretation of text and society that led intellectuals, academics, writers and politicians to articulate the cultural stakes of the new nation-state. Indeed what we risk missing in the representation of bilingualism —as elite, conservative, confessional and colonial— is that the project generated a culture of textual critique based on the language of diversity and difference in law, the social sciences and literature. The bilingual project demonstrates the extent to which the disciplines of law, social sciences and literature in Lebanon co-constituted one another after independence. The failure of bilingualism therefore produced new forms of cultural knowledge, and is a small but important feature of post-independence Lebanon.

Les sulfonamides sont parmi les antibiotiques les plus couramment utilisés en élevage. Ils peuvent en effet, si leur utilisation n’est pas conduite de manière raisonnable, être une source de nombreux risques pour la santé publique. Au Liban, il n’existe pas à l’heure actuelle de règlementation fixant les limites de résidus des sulfonamides dans les tissus d'origine animale. En outre, aucune investigation sur la présence des résidus des sulfonamides sous leurs formes actives ou métabolisée dans les denrées animales n’a été menée. L'analyse d'une matrice complexe telle que la viande a nécessité la mise en œuvre d’une préparation d'échantillon rigoureuse afin obtenir une analyse reproductible, et suffisamment sensible pour atteindre les limites de détection requises. Cette thèse décrit le développement de deux méthodes analytiques pour la détermination de sulfonamides et de leurs métabolites à l’état de traces dans les tissus d’origine animale (bœuf, volaille, porc…). Elles sont basées sur une étape d'extraction utilisant la méthode QuEChERS (Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged and Safe) suivie d'une analyse par HPLC couplée à un analyseur triple quadripôle MS/MS ou LTQ-Orbitrap Velos. Les performances analytiques de ces méthodes ont été évaluées et comparées. Les méthodes d’analyse ont été validées suivant les recommandations de la décision de l’UE (2002/657/EC) et lors d’une étude de validation inter-laboratoires organisée par FAPAS (Food Analysis Performance Assessment Scheme). Au vu des performances obtenues, une étude de contrôle a été réalisée sur les résidus des sulfonamides et de leurs métabolites dans plus de 300 échantillons de différents tissus d’origine animale dérivant de poulets de chair, bœufs, brebis et porcs collectés dans différentes régions d’élevage libanaises / Sulfonamides are amongst the most commonly used veterinary antibiotics. The uncontrolled exposure to sulfonamides upon consumption of meat products can be harmful to human health. In Lebanon, there are no current regulations that specify the safe levels of sulfonamides in animal products. In addition, no studies describing the presence of sulfonamides residues in their active or metabolized form in animal tissues exist. The analysis of residues at trace levels in complex matrices such as meat required the implementation of a rigorous sample preparation and analytical protocol that yields reproducible results at very low concentration levels. This thesis describes the development of two analytical methods for the determination of sulfonamides and their metabolites in animal tissues (e.g. poultry, sheep, pork) at trace levels. They are both based on an extraction step using QuEChERS extraction (Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged and Safe) followed by HPLC. In terms of mass analysers the use of LTQ-Orbitrap Velos and triple quadrupole MS/MS was optimized and the figures of merit were compared. The analytical methods were validated according to the EU decision (2002/657 / EC) criteria and by the participation in an inter-laboratory validation study organized by FAPAS (Food Analysis Performance Assessment Scheme). The methods were applied to carry out a monitoring study to detect and quantify residues of sulfonamides and their metabolites in more than 300 different samples of animal tissues derived from poultry, beef, sheep and pork collected from different regions of Lebanon..

La question de l’enseignement/apprentissage des langues se pose avec acuité en bien des régions du monde, notamment la région du Moyen-Orient et plus particulièrement le contexte libanais. Le français est l’une des deux langues principales de scolarisation dans les écoles publiques et privées dans le pays. L’apprentissage du français à l’école continue à suivre les méthodologies et pratiques d’enseignement du français langue maternelle ou seconde. Or, ce choix ne correspond plus à la réalité actuelle ni ne prépare les jeunes Libanais à la réussite dans leurs études supérieures en français (dans les universités francophones), et surtout dans les écrits universitaires.La question des écrits universitaires se pose donc de plus en plus là où les étudiants libanais allophones optent pour un parcours universitaire francophone. La maîtrise de l’écrit figure en tête des objectifs de l’école et de l’université, mais enseigner la production écrite est souvent problématique. Rares sont les méthodes qui aident les étudiants à développer une véritable compétence discursive dans le contexte universitaire. Cela d’autant que ceux-ci ne perçoivent guère la nécessité de ces apprentissages avant leur toute dernière année, quand il est presque trop tard.La situation des étudiants de l’Université Antonine (UA) nous a poussée à approfondir la réflexion méthodologique sur le problème de l’écrit universitaire chez les étudiants en Master2 en sciences de l’Ingénieur. À la fin de leur parcours, ces étudiants doivent rédiger un écrit long et normé, le Projet de Fin d’Études (PFE). Cet écrit leur permet de communiquer et mettre en valeur une innovation scientifique dans le domaine de télécommunication. Mais encore faut-il qu’ils le réussissent.Notre souci premier, trouver la méthodologie la plus adaptée à notre public pour accomplir les activités universitaires, nous a poussée à questionner la Perspective actionnelle dans toutes ses dimensions. Ce que nous appelons la Perspective Actionnelle Consolidée s’inscrit donc dans une logique qui lie la langue à l’action. C’est l’ingénierie pédagogique qui permet l’élaboration didactique des genres particuliers en prenant appui sur l’ensemble notionnel méthodologique constitué par les compétences, la tâche et les stratégies.La particularité de notre démarche réside dans le choix de son inscription dans le cadre d’une recherche-action. Ce type de recherche nous a permis, à la fois, d’analyser le problème et de proposer une solution. Le choix de la Perspective Actionnelle Consolidée a donné sens à l’enseignement du/en français aux yeux des étudiants, mais également a mobilisé leurs compétences. Le recours à la notion de genre de discours nous a permis de dégager les caractéristiques de ce genre universitaire normé, qu’est le PFE pour ensuite élaborer des activités adaptées à l’aide de supports authentiques. Les conclusions découlant de l’analyse de nos choix ouvriront la possibilité à un nouveau curriculum des tâches universitaires de se constituer. / The issue of language teaching / learning is acute in many parts of the world. It is in the Middle East region and more particularly in the Lebanese context. French is one of the two main languages of schooling in the country. Learning French at school continues to follow the methodologies for teaching French as a mother tongue or second language. This choice no longer corresponds to reality or prepares young Lebanese for the success of higher education andunivers especially academic writing (in francophone universities).The question of academic writing is increasingly raised where allophone students opt for a francophone university course. The mastery of the written word is at the top of the objectives of the school and the university. Teaching written production is often problematic. Few methods help students develop true discursive competence in the academic context.The situation of the students of the Université Antonine (UA) pushed us to deepen the methodological reflection on the problem of the university writing in the students in Master 2 ( sciences of the Engineer). At the end of their course, these students must write a long and standardized writing, the Projet de Fin d’Études (PFE). This writing allows them to communicate and showcase a scientific innovation in the field of telecommunication.Our first concern, being to find the most suitable methodology for our audience to carry out university activities, led us to question the Action Perspective in all its dimensions. What we call the Perspective Actionnelle Consolidée is therefore a logic that links language to action. The PAC is the pedagogical engineering that allows the didactic development of particular genres by building on the methodological notional set of skills, tasks and strategies.The particularity of our approach lies in the choice of its inscription as part of an Action-research. This type of research allowed us to both analyze the problem and propose a solution. The choice of the Perspective Actionnelle Consolidée gave meaning to the teaching of French in the eyes of students, but also mobilized their skills. The use of the notion of discourse genre has allowed us to identify the characteristics of this standardized academic genre, the PFE, and then to develop adapted activities using authentic media. The findings from the analysis of our choices will open up the possibility for a new curriculum of academic tasks to be formed.

This thesis is an inquiry into the challenges to the role of civic organisations in political reform during and after political transitions. The major question this research addresses is: How do institutions and institutional dynamics constrain political reform during a transition? The thesis examines how demands for reform by non-governmental organisations in Lebanon and Libya were not translated into concrete political decisions taken by regimes during a transition period. The thesis suggests that the combination of weak states and power-sharing agreements marginalizes civic organisations, and poses institutional constraints on the likelihood of reform. The thesis is based on contemporary research on events and reform trajectories in Lebanon and Libya, with a focus on the demands and strategies employed by activists during periods of transition. Lebanon between 2005 and 2010 and Libya between 2011 and 2013 underwent critical political events but subsequently did not adopt political reforms despite demands by civic organisations in two main areas: the electoral system in Lebanon and the constitutional process in Libya. A study of these two reform campaigns reveals deeply entrenched historical patterns and elements of continuity that led to path dependent outcomes during transition. By utilising theory and concepts from the perspective of historical institutionalism, the thesis identifies the factors behind path dependent outcomes in Lebanon and Libya. I argue that the transitions in Lebanon and Libya were a result of only ‘partially' critical junctures. The thesis builds on the approach of path dependence by offering insights as to how historically inherited institutional dynamics from the previous regime can cause junctures to be only ‘partially' critical for the broader political order. The main source of data comes from participant observations, interviews and focus groups with two organisations that tried to advance electoral reform and constitutional development.

This study was designed to determine (a) the extent of the coverage in total wordage; (b) the direction and intensity of the articles; and (c) the impression conveyed by each newspaper toward the two main parties of the war. The findings show that (a) The New York Times devoted nearly twice as many words to the war as The Times of London; (b) the majority of the articles were neutral; (c) The New York Times was more favorable to the leftists and was as favorable to the rightists as The Times of London; and (d) the two newspapers were consistent in direction, and all deviation from neutrality remained within the limits of mild intensity.

Au lendemain de la défaite de 1967 appelée la naksa, une génération d’intellectuels syriens, égyptiens et libanais s’engagent dans l’écriture et l’illustration pour les enfants. Ce faisant ils se racontent et dessinent leur avenir idéalisé. La création arabe en littérature pour la jeunesse qui se développe dans les années 1970 est profondément animée par le souffle idéologique de son temps. Elle pose les jalons structurels, thématiques et graphiques qui inspirent la production contemporaine. Les auteurs, illustrateurs et éditeurs entendent parler à l’enfant arabe du monde dans lequel il grandit. Ils mènent une réflexion sur les thématiques, sur les niveaux de langue arabe, sur l’image figurative, ses héritages, sa structure et ses codes. Leur quête est littéraire, artistique et identitaire : ils sont les initiateurs d’une renaissance, une nahda pour les enfants. Ces questionnements sont les pierres d’angle de notre recherche. Celle-ci se concentre sur le mouvement avant-gardiste de création arabe en littérature pour la jeunesse des années 1970 à nos jours, elle ambitionne d’en étudier les rouages et les ouvrages, d’observer l’articulation entre l’œuvre, son intention, son mode de production et son message. Il s’agit d’une part d’archiver les mémoires et les histoires collectives et individuelles, d’élucider les héritages et les filiations de ces créateurs, de suivre l’évolution de leurs motivations idéologiques, artistiques, économiques. Il s’agit d’autre part de faire une lecture au plus prés de notre corpus, une étude de l’évolution des thématiques au fil du temps mais aussi une analyse des albums eux-mêmes, dans leur structure linguistique et graphique. / After the defeat of 1967, known as the naksa, a generation of Syrian, Egyptian and Lebanese intellectuals began writing and illustrating children's books. In doing so they gave form to an idealized future. Children's literature that developed in the Arab world during the 1970s was greatly influenced by the ideological climate of the time. It laid the structural, thematic and graphical foundations on which today's work is based. The goal of authors, illustrators and publishers was to produce works for Arab children which described the world in which they were growing up. Their work was centered on themes, on the different levels of Arabic, on the figurative image, its heritage, its structure and its codes and conventions. Their objective was literary, artistic, and a quest for cultural identity. They were the vanguard of a renaissance, a nahda for children.These questions form the basis of this research. It concentrates on the avant-guard movement in children's literature from the 1970s to the present day. It attempts to study the way it worked and what was published, to observe the connections between the work itself, its aims, the way it was produced and its message. The research involves, on the one hand, documenting recollections and stories, both collective and individual, tracing the heritage and interconnections among of those involved, to follow the development of their ideological, artistic and economic motivation. It will also involve a detailed study of illustrated books for children, an examination of the thematic evolution over time, as well as a semiological reading of the books themselves, with reference to their linguistic and graphic structure.

Petit Etat du Proche-Orient, situé entre la Syrie et Israël, le Liban, 10 452 km2, s’étend sur 225 km de côtes méditerranéennes et s’élargit jusqu’à 50 kilomètres à l’intérieur des terres. Sa diversité religieuse et culturelle est forte de 17 ou 18 communautés qui cohabitent bon gré mal gré. Ancrée et exprimée dans un contexte géographique de contrastes et de morcellement, cette pluralité religieuse et culturelle a connu une histoire contemporaine particulièrement sanglante. Le système politique confessionnel mis en place à la naissance du pays a interdit la construction d’une identité libanaise au bénéfice tout relatif d’un communautarisme primaire. Alors que la plupart des messages politiques ont échoué à proposer un projet sociétal commun, nous posons l’hypothèse que l’environnement durable offrirait l’embryon d’un contrat social autour duquel pourraient se regrouper les communautés. Durant l’été 2006, à la suite des bombardements de la station d’électricité deJiyeh au Sud Liban, une marée noire toucha la plupart des régions, chrétiennes et musulmanes. La pollution et la dégradation de l’environnement, longtemps restées de l’ordre du virtuel, acquièrent dès lors une dimension concrète. D’autres dégradations, récurrentes dans la vie quotidienne des Libanais, sévissent depuis de nombreuses décennies :l’accumulation des déchets, la déforestation, la pollution de l’air et de l’eau n’épargnent aucune région, aucune communauté. Alors même que la mémoire de l’histoire et la politique divisent les Libanais, ces communautés qui ont échoué jusqu’à présent à édifier une nation seraient-elles capables de préserver un territoire en voie de détérioration ? La mémoire géographique collective pourrait être un moteur de construction d’un présent autour du développement durable. La jeune génération, au centre de la problématique de cette thèse du fait qu’elle participe à la recherche de ce tronc écologique commun, est enquêtée par un questionnaire, soumis à 1 434 élèves d’écoles publiques et privées, L’objectif est de mesurer son degré de sensibilisation aux questions de l’environnement et de la pollution de cet environnement, puis de proposer un programme d’éducation qui prenne en compte les indicateurs psychologiques, sources et référents essentiels pour tout programme éducatif dédié à la sensibilisation à l’environnement. Les résultats du traitement des données d’une part, le projet applicatif de village écologique type, entamé en parallèle de cette recherche d’autre part, ont validé notre hypothèse de départ et les conclusions de ce travail estompent l’utopie qui pouvait se rattacher à une telle hypothèse. Le territoire est un ! / Lebanon is a Small country situated between Syria and Israel, it’s surface of 10 452km2 with 225 km of Mediterranean coastline and an average of 50 km of width inland. It is acountry of cultural and religious diversity with 18 religious communities fated to coexisttogether in a geographical environment that is as diverse and full of contrast. Its contemporaryhistory has been particularly violent with a fifteen year civil war dominating the country’simage and reputation. The confessional political system based on power-sharing between thecommunities institutionalised the sectarian divisions and prevented the emergence of aLebanese national identity. While most party political programmes emphasise the separateidentities and fails to suggest a common social project, we propose that an issue likesustainable environment could be the basis of a social contract, which will federate and bringtogether the interests of the various communities. Environmental pollution and degradationbecame a concrete reality in the summer of 2006, after the Israeli bombardment of the powerplant at Jiyeh in south Lebanon. The Oil Spill resulting from that spread all over the regionand did not spare any community. While history memory and politics divide the Lebanesealong communal lines, will these communities who failed to build a nation be capable to savea deteriorated environment? This common Geographical collective memory and the instinct topreserve it could be the engine to build a future based on sustainable development. The newgeneration is at the centre of this research. Analysis of the results of the 1434 questionnairesdistributed to primary students in both public and private school is the tool to measure thesensitivity of the young generation towards the issues of environment and pollution. One ofthe objectives of this study is to develop and implement an awareness raising program ofenvironmental education in schools. The program would be elaborated taking intoconsideration key psychological indicators. The results of the survey and the ecologicalvillage project which was started in parallel with the thesis have validated the hypothesis andthe findings of this work. In spite of the Utopian charachter of the hypothesis it is clearlydemonstrated here that while the people are many, the territory is one!