Les interactions entre sociétés humaines et environnement constituent un défi majeur pour l’avenir de la planète. Les conférences internationales (Rio, Kyoto, Johannesburg, etc.) montrent toute l’ambiguïté et tous les enjeux économiques et politiques nationaux qui s’y expriment. Dans ce contexte hautement politique, comment créer des convergences qui répondent aux besoins des populations et à une gestion environnementale appropriée ? C’est bien là toute la difficulté du développement durable. L’une des réponses qu’apporte ce livre passe par la nécessité de renouveler en profondeur les problématiques scientifiques et par l’importance de développer des études au niveau local ; car c’est là où se trouvent confrontées les stratégies des sociétés et les réponses qu’elles apportent aux multiples contraintes auxquelles elles ont à faire face. Connaître et faire connaître, dans les processus de prise de décision, les capacités d’adaptation et d’innovation des sociétés locales, cerner de nouveaux modes de régulation pour l’usage des ressources naturelles, proposer des stratégies alternatives de développement durable : tels sont les enjeux fondamentaux des études développées dans ce livre, à partir d’exemples contrastés pris dans la zone bioclimatique méditerranéenne.

Vous avez dit rural ? Mais en Allemagne, Belgique, Espagne, France, Grande-Bretagne, Grèce, Portugal, quel sens donner à ce vocable ? Car s'il évoque partout une sensibilité grandissante aux questions environnementales et certaines aspirations d'une société postindustrielle, le mot traduit aussi un espace polymorphe marqué par l'histoire économique, sociale et politique de chacune des nations. Néanmoins il est certain que l'Union Européenne marque, de son sceau ce domaine de réflexion et produit à son niveau une certaine homogénéité de pratiques au travers de ses réglementations. Un rural européen commence-t-il à se dessiner ?

This book is a reference work about the study of oases in the context of globalization. It is based on selected papers presented at the international colloquium entitled Oases in the Globalization, Ruptures and Continuities in Paris (December 16-17th, 2013). The main issue was to understand how oases have been excluded from or included into the process of globalization. In this context, the present book proposes firstly a discussion about the definition(s) of oasis and secondly several case studies analysing socio-spatial mutations in the oasis structure. The third part deals with the compelling globalization at different spatial scales, using two entries: the water management and local impacts of external control.

The monoculture systems that have been encouraged by governments since the 1960s have led to major socio-economic and environmental crises. Now the diversification of tree crop systems is advancing throughout the tropics. Why and when does diversification take place? What categories of farmers diversify? What obstacles do they have to overcome, and how do public and private policies interfere in this process? How do land use systems and landscapes evolve as a result of this diversification? According to the authors of this volume, diversification is certainly a response to market risks, but also to the depletion of environmental resources. Ecological changes such as declining soil fertility and increasing pressure from pests, diseases and weeds intensify at the end of monoculture cycles, driving crop change and diversification of farming systems. Through 15 case studies from Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Pacific, the authors provide us with in-depth insights into the economy and ecology of family agriculture and its recent developments.

Long before Mexico, Colombia, and Afghanistan became notorious for their contributions to the global drug traffic, Lebanon was a special target of U.S. drug agents for harboring the world's greatest single transit port in the international traffic in narcotics. In the words of one American official, "certain of the largest traffickers are so influential politically, and certain highly placed officials so deeply involved in the narcotic traffic, that one might well state that the Lebanese Government is in the narcotics business." Using previously secret government records, The Lebanese Connection uncovers for the first time the story of how Lebanon's economy and political system were corrupted by drug profits—and how, by financing its many ruthless militia, Lebanon's drug trade contributed to the country's greatest catastrophe, its fifteen-year civil war from 1975 to 1990. In so doing, this book sheds new light on the dangerous role of vast criminal enterprises in the collapse of states and the creation of war economies that thrive in the midst of civil conflicts. Taking a regional approach to the drug issue, Jonathan Marshall assesses the culpability of Syria, Israel, and of Palestinian factions and other groups that used Lebanon as their battleground. On the international level, he documents Lebanon's contribution to the hard drug problem of major consuming countries, from the days of the "French Connection" through the "Pizza Connection," as well as Lebanon's unrivaled place in the global hashish market.