Ce mémoire s’intéresse à la crise environnementale, prenant place de manière globale et exponentielle dans le monde. L’objectif est de chercher, à travers ses causes historiques, quelles peuvent être les solutions possibles. Le travail débute par l’exposition d’un lien de causalité entre crise environnementale et colonisation occidentale. Nous verrons aussi que les deux phénomènes sont empreints d’une épistémologie patriarcale ayant déréglé le rapport humain à la nature. Plutôt que de prôner l’interdépendance, les humains en sont venus à favoriser la séparation et la domination des entités les unes sur les autres, endommageant ainsi les écosystèmes. Dans un deuxième temps, nous proposerons une piste de solution à ce problème : la pensée éthique d’Emmanuel Lévinas. Si ce penseur prêche un retour du souci de l’altérité, son éthique demeure néanmoins porteuse de limites occidentales la rendant ineffective dans le cadre d’une révolution environnementale. Finalement, des solutions seront plutôt recherchées du côté de penseurs décoloniaux, autochtones et écoféministes. Ceux-ci ont en commun de proposer un renversement épistémique des schèmes de pensée dominants, afin de modifier le rapport éthique à l’environnement. Une ouverture à l’existence de pluralités culturelles et la mise en place de coopérations à travers la différence sont des stratégies politiques revendiquées par ces penseurs pour résoudre la crise écologique. / This thesis is about the environmental crisis, taking place in the world in a global and exponential way. The objective is to understand the historical causes of this crisis, so we can create some possible solutions. The work begins by demonstrating a causal link between the environmental crisis and Western colonialism. We argue that both phenomena are rooted in a patriarchal epistemology which modified the human connection with nature. Rather than promoting interdependence, humans acted towards separation and domination of some entities over the others, which leaded to the destruction and depletion of ecosystems. Secondly, we propose a possible solution to the problem: the ethical philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas. Levinas argues in favour of caring for otherness, though his ethics is limited by some Western traditions, making it ineffective for an environmental revolution. This thesis concludes with solutions from decolonial, native, and ecofeminist thinkers. These philosophies share a vision in which dominant schemes should go through subversive epistemic changes, so we can modify the ethical link to the environment. Acknowledging the existence of cultural pluralities and cooperating through differences are political strategies claimed by these ideologies to resolve the ecological crisis.

Nature-based solutions (NbS) are becoming increasingly popular in cities around the world; however, such efforts have not been widely incorporated into analyses of urban flood vulnerability nor the total population and property loss of flooding to date, except for a few studies that examined the effectiveness of green infrastructure or only wetlands in flood regulation. The proposed research sought to understand if the existing pattern and composition of NbS can mitigate flood vulnerability and loss of flooding in one of the fastest urbanizing regions in the United States, the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area. This research made key contributions to our understanding of how urban areas can grow without exacerbating flooding and inequity.First, a systematic mapping was conducted to reveal the most common spatial metrics of NbS that mitigate urban flooding in countries around the world. These findings identified important research areas for urban geographers, policymakers, planners, and civil engineers. This review indicated that the effectiveness of NbS varies spatially based on land use/land cover, climatic, and other contextual factors. The results indicated that the location, distribution, and arrangement of NbS may have different impacts on runoff mitigation and flood loss. Also, flood hydrology was the most common topic addressed, and the spatial configuration of NbS, especially connectivity was consistently identified as an important factor in flood regulation. Second, the potential of NbS as a flood loss mitigation tool in one of the fastest-growing and flood-prone counties of Pennsylvania, Montgomery County, using the Generalized Linear Model (GLR) and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) techniques was examined. The findings partially contradicted previous research by revealing an unexpected relationship between NbS quantity in floodplains and expected annual loss. Findings also demonstrated that lower-sized and disconnected patches of NbS in floodplains in some dense urban areas effectively reduce total losses from flood events. Third, the spatial coincidence between the density of NbS and flood vulnerability within eight neighboring urbanizing regions situated in Montgomery County was analyzed by using the Local Indicator of Spatial Association (LISA). The results of LISA identified regions of concern characterized by elevated flood vulnerability scores and reduced concentrations of two tree canopy types as well as shrubs and grasses. Taken together, these results emphasize the significance of strategically integrating and improving NbS, especially in areas grappling with distinct flood-related issues. It also emphasized the potential for significant enhancements in flood resilience and mitigation policies thoughtful urban planning and the adoption of NbS. / Geography

In this thesis I investigate the impact of donor organizations on NGOs’ efforts to foster local community participation in environmental projects, by analyzing how conditions on project funding affect a sample of South African NGOs. Numerous NGOs take environmental justice as a key tenet of their work. Yet, promoting environmental justice is not an easy task to perform. Aside from cultural, political and social contingencies peculiar to specific contexts, there are external constraints that can help or hinder NGOs’ efforts, among which resource-dependency dynamics stand out as particularly relevant. In fact, donors hold power over NGOs, who must stick to specific conditions to secure their support. My aim is to understand what conditions and what type of donors facilitate or hinder community participation —a basic condition for achieving environmental justice— in environmental projects, where hindrances are exemplified by the presence of NGOization dynamics. I analyze donors’ guiding principles, eligibility criteria and monitoring and evaluation standards, delving into the provisions of five different funders that financially support local environmental projects in South Africa, classified according to their core values and organizational settings. Data are collected, coded, and analyzed with the help of NVIVO through a content analysis of calls for grants, project proposals, project reports, and semi-structured interviews to donors and NGO professionals. In this study, I argue that donor organizations can facilitate community participation and avoid NGOization dynamics by acknowledging the existence of unequal power relations between them and the NGOs they fund and by taking measures to respond to NGOs demands. This study highlights the importance of long-term engagement and a relationship based on trust between donors and NGOs as key to creating alternative funding models that help secure the goals that local communities define. Moreover, this study also claims that donors’ upward accountability has a weight in determining conditions on funds and eligibility criteria, and that many of the donors’ virtuous practices originate from their independence from upward accountability measures.

As the 1960s Environmental movement has grown, sustainability and justice discourses have come to the fore of the movement. While environmental justice discourse considers the unequal effects of environmental burdens, the language that frames "sustainability" is often socially and politically neutral. This thesis critically examines sustainability initiatives and practices of an urban farming organization in Florida. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in 2017, I explore the extent to which these initiatives incorporate race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic class when working to provide sustainably grown food in diverse communities. I argue that the organization's focus on justice for the environment, rather than for communities, and education as a barrier in low-income, food desert neighborhoods neglects to integrate experiences of those living on the margins into their initiatives. This research raises awareness of the need for a critical examination of sustainability in practice and a politically aware incorporation of environmental justice themes into sustainability agendas.

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Malmö strives to become an attractive and sustainable city by 2030. Continued population growth is a major reason for the need to densify within the existing urban structures. But more inhabitants will also increase pressure on usage and demand for green spaces in the city. Green space is of importance for human well-being and health, especially in urban environments. However the importance of green space is being marginalised in current debate and urban planning, due to the intensive focus on densification. The relevance of green space as an environmental quality has neither been recognised sufficiently in discussions on environmental justice. Previous policy and research has not integrated the socioeconomic dimension when assessing green space distribution. Hence this case study aimed to investigate the socio-spatial distribution of green areas in Malmö. A theoretical framework was compiled including concepts on environmental justice, i.e. the equal distribution of environmental qualities among different social groups. Moreover concepts regarding access (public/private), distance (walkability) and size (utilisation) of green areas were considered. A quantitative analysis was conducted with secondary data. As no comprehensive data set covered more recent years, census data and spatial data from 2005 was used for further analysis. The data was processed and analysed with the help of a geographic information system (GIS). With this approach green space and green areas could be identified. Green areas were categorised according to the level of public access, the size and the respective recommended distances to homes. In addition several socioeconomic factors were extracted from the census data and visualised in GIS. Thus the least advantaged neighbourhoods that lacked various public green areas could be located. On the city level it could be identified that only 13% of the total land area were covered with public green areas, resulting in 46 sq m per inhabitant in 2005. In April 2011 the population of Malmö passed the threshold of 300 000. Assuming that the amount of green areas had not changed since 2005 (unlikely), every inhabitant would have had 38 sq m of public green area in 2011. Considering these numbers in a Swedish context reveals that Malmö is on the bottom line of green area provision. On the neighbourhood level the greatest deficit was found in the eastern parts of central Malmö (e.g. Ostervärn), covering a network of neighbourhoods further south (Norra Sofielund, Södra Sofielund, Almhög, Gullviksborg). In total 32 neighbourhoods were characterised by above average percentage of children, elderly, foreign born or population density. Moreover almost all neighbourhoods lacking green areas were characterised by below average income. The results showed evidence for inequalities in the distribution of green areas between different social groups. This poses an incentive for further investigations in the field of environmental justice and sustainable urban development. Issues like actual walking distance, barriers and safety, qualities of green spaces and user experiences should be investigated in future research. Noting that the data used in this study was from 2005, it is crucial to update and determine shifts in socio-spatial distribution of green areas in the city today. Whilst the population is still increasing, it is likely that even more green space has vanished in the 7 years since 2005. All these issues are essential for a good knowledge based planning of the green and just future of Malmö.