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In twenty-five years, sustainable development has not delivered the expected outcomes in terms of structural and institutional changes as well as scientific changes. Regarding scientific changes, since the first introduction of the concept of sustainable development by the Brundtland commission in 1987, new scientific fields of interdisciplinary reasearch in social sciences have emerged producing new conceptual tools, proposing new methodologies and asserting certain ethical principles. From the one hand, the thesis is interested in the field of Human Development which is structured around the work of Amartya Sen (the Capability Approach) and Manfred Max-Neef (the Fundamental Needs approach). On the other hand, the thesis is interested in the field of Ecological Economics from which emerges a strong conception of sustainability as well as the concepts of ecosystem functions and services. The thesis aims to establish a link between these two fields of research to shift from sustainable development, a relatively ambiguous concept, to responsible human development clearly rooted in strong sustainability and social justice. This articulation is carried out in a transdisciplinary perspective. In the first place, this articulation enables to provide a sound conceptual framework that could help to strengthen the epistemology of geography for studying Nature-Society interactions. In addition, this articulation could help to promote a responsible land planning. This new conceptual framework is tested in two peri-urban biosphere reserves in France (Biosphere Reserve Fontainebleau -Gâtinais ) and Chile (Biosphere Reserve La Campana - Peñuelas)., En plus de vingt-cinq d'existence, le développement durable n'a pas produit les changements escomptés sur le plan structurel, institutionnel ou même scientifique. En ce qui concerne le plan scientifique, depuis la première formulation du concept en 1987, de nouveaux courants interdisciplinaires en sciences sociales ont émergé produisant de nouveaux concepts, proposant de nouvelles méthodologies et affirmant certains principes éthiques. La thèse s'intéresse tout particulièrement au courant du développement humain articulé autour des travaux d'Amartya Sen (approche par les capabilités) et de Manfred Max-Neef (approche par les besoins) et à celui de l'économie écologique duquel émerge une conception forte de la soutenabilité ainsi que les concepts de fonctions et de services écosystémiques. Une articulation entre ces deux courants ainsi qu'une réflexion sur l'éthique de la responsabilité et la justice permettent de re-conceptualiser le développement durable, concept relativement mal défini et ambigu, sous la forme d'un développement humain responsable ancré dans la soutenabilité forte et la justice sociale. Cette articulation, réalisée dans une perspective transdisciplinaire, permet de proposer un nouveau cadre conceptuel qui pourrait d'une part, favoriser un aménagement responsable du territoire et, d'autre part, renforcer l'épistémologie de la géographie pour qu'elle puisse pleinement assumer son rôle d'étude des interactions Nature-Société. La réflexion théorique est mise en pratique au sein de deux réserves de biosphère périurbaines, l'une en France (Réserve de Biosphère de Fontainebleau-Gâtinais) et l'autre au Chili (Réserve de biosphère de La Campana-Peñuelas).

International audience; In recent years, several studies have attempted to combine the capabilities approach with sustainable development. However, critics have pointed out that although the capability approach takes the environment into account, it has its shortcomings for not being a complete ethical theory. Our article attempts to go beyond these criticisms, and show that the capabilities approach provides a good analytical framework for an environmental justice approach.

International audience; The purpose of this paper is to address three major shortcomings of Sen's capability approach with regard to sustainability: (i) First, the weakness of the ecological dimension of the capability framework. This can be overcome by devising a place where it is possible to relate the intrinsic and instrumental values of Nature; (ii) Second, the issue of responsibility, which is only considered from a consequentialist viewpoint by Sen (i.e. ex-post responsibility). Such a restrictive view can be extended by adding the ex-ante dimension of responsibility; (iii) Third, the relationship between the individual and collective levels. This can be overcome by introducing the idea of collective agency. Overcoming these limitations makes it possible to fully integrate the ecological dimension into an extended vision of the capability approach which makes it consistent with strong sustainability, and which leads to a new definition of the agent as a responsible person acting so as to generate sustainable human development.

Since the adoption of the Seville Strategy and Statutory Framework (1995) Biosphere Reserves of the UNESCO MAB (Man and Biosphere) program are expected to achieve the integration of nature conservation, human development and logistic support to the world network of reserves. Those three functions, have to be linked to space through three specific zones (core zone, buffer zone and transition zone). The La Campana- Peñuelas biosphere reserve(Chile), and approved by the UNESCO in 2009 highlights the sectoral, administrative and stakeholders issues raised in the implementation of a regional sustainable development project., Les réserves de biosphère du programme Man and Biosphere de l'Unesco doivent répondre au triple objectif de conservation, de développement et d'appui logistique au sein du réseau mondial des réserves. Ces trois fonctions s'inscrivent dans un zonage spécifique (zone de conservation, zone tampon et de coopération). L'étude territoriale de la mise en place de la réserve La Campana-Peñuelas (Chili central), dont le zonage a été validé en 2009, permet de comprendre les problèmes sectoriels et administratifs et les tensions entre acteurs qui se manifestent lors de la mise en place d'un projet de développement durable régional.

International audience; Sen's Capability Approach has radically re-oriented the vision of development, from the obsession of an aggregate, ill-defined level of wealth towards a rigorously defined notion of freedom that builds on the ideals of social justice and human dignity. His recent book on the Idea of Justice (2009) opens new insight on how to integrate environmental concern in the Capability Approach, going further than his previous writings and speeches (Sen 2000). However, it still suffers from several weaknesses related to the definition of sustainability. This paper is a proposal to fill this gap and build a clear concern regarding the integration of the ecological dimension within the Capability Approach

International audience; Pour les auteurs de l'ouvrage, les multiples définitions du développement durable en ont discrédité l'objectif politique original, et compliqué les discussions scientifiques. Aussi, se proposent-ils de rediscuter les concepts de 'besoins', de 'capabilités' et de 'bien-être' afin de recentrer la définition du développement durable sur l'héritage grec d'Aristote l'oikonomia'.

National audience; La réserve de biosphère de Fontainebleau et du Gâtinais, dans la région Ile-de-France, et celle de La Campana-Peñuelas, dans la macro-région métropolitaine de Santiago-du-Chili/Valparaiso, sont des exemples intéressants pour montrer le rôle que les réserves de biosphère ont à jouer dans la construction d'une durabilité métropolitaine.

International audience; More than 20 years after the Brundtland report, the human development debate is weakly present in Ecological Economics and the environmental debate is weakly present in discussions around Sen's capability approach. In this paper, we try to build a bridge between the two by crossing Sen's capability approach with the Critical Natural Capital (CNC) theory. fisrt we demonstrate How to make Sen capability approach more comprehensive to the environment. In a second part, we start from the side of the EE and CNC theory and try to show how Sen's capability approach could light the issue of the definition of what is critical and for whom . We assume that crossing Sen's capability approach and the CNC theory would provide integrated theoretical foundations to foster Sustainable Human Development Research.