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The interdependency of socio-ecological systems and the increased reach of human activity have led to major political and scientific challenges in the governance of environmental resources. This chapter reviews the state of our knowledge on the matter. The chapter begins by discussing the specificity of global environmental challenges. Then it discusses three main issues. First, the chapter addresses the question of the optimal level of governance given that environmental goods have wide variation in scope and can be produced according to various aggregation technologies. Second, the chapter argues that the design of governance instruments and regulation should be based on a relevant conception of human motivation and rationality. Third, the chapter revisits the governance toolbox and considers benefits and costs of alternative modes of governing. The chapter concludes by discussing the potential of polycentric and networked governance as well as the need for more integration at the global level. polycentric governance; federalism; socioecological systems; resources depletion; systemic collapse; coalition; pro-social preferences; international conventions; incentives; inequalities

Environmental challenges, and the potential solutions to address them, have a direct effect on living standards, the organization of economies, major infrastructures, and modes of urbanization. Since the publication of path-breaking contributions on the governance of environmental resources in the early 1990s, many political initiatives have been taken, numerous governance experiments have been conducted, and a large multi-disciplinary field of research has opened up. This interdisciplinary book takes stock of the knowledge that has accumulated to date, and addresses new challenges in the provision of environmental goods. It focuses on three essential dimensions with respect to governance. First, it addresses the issue of designing governance solutions through analyzing systems of rules, and levels of organization, in the governance and management of environmental issues. Second, it draws renewed attention to the negotiation processes among stakeholders playing a crucial role in reaching agreements over issues and solutions, and in choosing and implementing particular policy instruments. Finally, it shows that compliance depends on a combination of formal rules, enforced by recognized authorities, and informal obligations, such as social and individual norms. The evolution of the research frontiers on environmental governance shows that more legitimate and informed processes of collective decision, and more subtle and effective ways of managing compliance, can contribute to more effective policy. However, this book also illustrates that more democratic and effective governance should rely on more direct and pluralistic forms of involvement of citizens and stakeholders in the collective decision making processes. Économie de lenvironnement; Politique de lenvironnement; Environmental economics; Environmental policy

Study for the implementation in Belgium of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing to the Convention on Biological Diversity, commissioned by the Federal Public Service for Health, Food Chain Safety and the Environment, Environment Directorate-General, Service for multilateral and strategic matters (SPSCAE; Bruxelles Environnement/Leefmilieu Brussel (IBGE-BIM); Vlaamse overheid, Departement Leefmilieu, Natuur en Energie (LNE); Service public de Wallonie, Direction générale opérationnelle Agriculture, Ressources naturelles et Environnement (DGARNE).

“Transdisciplinarity” is considered to be a crucial component of sustainability science. The term refers to the integration of knowledge from different academic disciplines as well as the knowledge of extra-academic stakeholders in the aim of solving societal problems. While the use of transdisciplinarity in research on sustainability has expanded in recent years, the research on transdisciplinarity itself is still emerging. Indeed, too often scholars and practitioners understand collaborative processes as “black boxes”, and they still too rarely study the dynamics, structures and methods of that constitute them. This thesis aims to contribute to filling this gap. I examine, more specifically, the way in which the participation of non-academic actors is organized and governed in transdisciplinary research and the effects that this has on its outcomes. In doing so, I “unpack” a number of research projects and delve into their design features, focusing on the inclusion of non-academic actors, the social learning which is generated by this participation and the empowerment that is fostered among actors. The heart of the thesis is composed of four research articles. The first one is a meta-analysis of 40 case studies of different transdisciplinary projects across the Globe. The analysis sought to link conceptions of sustainability adopted in the research projects to four design features: the inclusion of disadvantaged groups, the acknowledgement and countering of power relations, the heterogeneity of the project teams piloting the studies and the embeddedness of the project in long-term dynamics. In the second article, a distinction is made between the consultation of actors and the co-construction of knowledge in participatory poverty research. By comparing the design of two participatory research processes conducted two decades apart, the article analysed the extent to which participants were empowered throughout the research, whether alliances of poor and pro-poor groups were cultivated, whether power relations were revealed and/or countered and whether the research produced transformative results, challenging dominant narratives surrounding poverty. The third article linked the effects of five design features with social learning in transdisciplinary processes. More specifically, it analysed the extent to which the openness in the co-construction of the research question, the clarification of participants’ normative backgrounds, the degree of activity of the facilitation, the balancing of power relations and the presence of collective interest advocacy organizations fostered such social learning. The fourth and final article tested the results of the third article in a specific case study. It analysed the social learning and empowerment generated in an experience of transdisciplinary research on the topic of food assistance. Through the use of ex-ante¬¬ and ex-post interviews with the participants of the research process, it showed how the understanding of empirical policy beliefs and of individuals’ perception of their capacities to impact the policies and practices of food assistance evolved as a result of the transdisciplinary process. (POLS - Sciences politiques et sociales) -- UCL, 2021

Le génocide perpétré contre les Tutsi au Rwanda en 1994 a engendré une situation de profonde crise multiforme, et notamment en matière de justice. Après l’échec de la justice pénale classique, face à l’ampleur des atrocités commises, le gouvernement rwandais post-génocide a mis en place la justice traditionnelle Gacaca réformée. Son objectif consistait à juger tous les auteurs de ce crime. C’est cette justice qui constitue l’objet de notre d’étude. En effet, notre travail de recherche part d’une problématique centrale, celle de l’inadéquation du droit positiviste par rapport aux réalités sociojuridiques en Afrique et particulièrement au Rwanda. Ce questionnement nous conduit à proposer l’élaboration d’un modèle de droit et de justice pouvant permettre d’asseoir des bases juridiques adéquates et contextuelles, susceptibles de résoudre les multiples défis de justice dans ce continent. Le modèle en question est celui de Gacaca, doté de sources et de méthodes juridiques qui lui permettent de parvenir à ces objectifs. Notre thématique s’inscrit dans le domaine du pluralisme juridique. Ce domaine intègre une diversité de systèmes et de théories juridiques susceptibles de fournir des éléments de réponse aux questions sociopolitiques et juridiques multiples. La méthodologie que nous mettons en œuvre est d’ordre multidisciplinaire. Elle est constituée par : la description des faits socio-historiques et juridiques de la société rwandaise et africaine en général, l’herméneutique des faits de la culture et l’analyse critique des faits décrits. Le cadre théorique qui nous permet de mener cette étude est celui de la théorie juridico-philosophique de Ronald Dworkin. Cette théorie comprend des objets juridiques constitués d’une part des sources formelles du droit et des principes moraux et d’autre part de la méthode herméneutique constructive. En outre, la théorie juridique dworkinenne d’intégrité nous permet, d’abord, de critiquer le positivisme juridique, notamment celui de la version de Hans Kelsen. Ensuite, elle nous aide à creuser le fond de la culture rwandaise en vue d’y puiser les sources du droit et de la justice traditionnelle. Enfin, cette théorie nous permet d’édifier un nouveau modèle. Le modèle élaboré à partir des sources plurielles et de la méthode herméneutique et pragmatique, de visée téléologique, est à la fois un modèle de justice et un paradigme de recherche juridique, pertinent pour le continent africain. (ISP - Institut supérieur de philosophie) -- UCL, 2017

Food, a life enabler and a cultural cornerstone, is a natural product with multiple meanings and different valuations for societies and individuals. Throughout history and geographies, food has shaped morals and norms, triggered enjoyment and social life, substantiated art and culture, justify commons-based systems and affected traditions and identity. More importantly, food has been closely related to power and the interaction between society and nature. From the industrial revolution to present days, food has been increasingly valued for its commodity dimension: food as a mono-dimensional commodity produced and distributed in a global market of mass consumption. In this research, the progressive commodification of food as a vital resource is presented as a social construction, informed by an academic theoretical background, which shapes specific food policy options and blocks or discard other policies grounded in different valuations of food. As such, the value of food cannot be fully expressed by application of a value-in-exchange approach, since this value derives less from the market price than from its multiple dimensions relevant to humans and therefore cannot be either quantified (E.g. essentialness for human survival) or sold (E.g. food as a right). In opposition to the dominant paradigm, an alternative valuation of “food as a commons” is discussed, which has been barely explored in academic and political circles. This is based on the innovative idea of the six dimensions of food that is introduced in the present work: food as an essential life enabler, a natural resource, a human right, a cultural determinant, a tradeable good and a public good, cannot be reduced to the mono-dimensional valuation of food as a commodity. Those dimensions seem to align better with the multiple values-in-use food enjoys across the world. In light of this, the objective of this thesis is to trace the genealogy of the meaning making and policy implications of the two conflicting narratives of “food as a commodity” and “food as a commons”. In order to achieve this result, it focuses on the “Food Narratives of Agents in Transition” using two theoretical frames (Discourse Analysis and Transition Theory) and adopting three methodological approaches, including the combination of quantitative and qualitative tools. The work is divided into three sections, that correspond to the three approaches undertaken (systematic, heuristic and governance), and eight chapters (two per section plus the introduction and the conclusions). In the first part, the work presents a genealogy of meanings of commons and food by using a systematic approach to schools of thought plus a research on academic literature where food is discussed either as a commons or as commodity. Notwithstanding the different interpretations, the economists’ framing as private good and commodity prevailed. This framing was rather ontological (“food is a commodity”) thus preventing other phenomenological meanings (“food as…”) to unfold and become politically relevant. The second part adopts a heuristic approach and contains two case studies that investigate the relevance that the two narratives had in influencing individual and relational agency in food systems in transition. That includes a case study with food-related professionals working in the food system at different levels and another one with members of the food buying groups in Belgium as innovative niches of transition that nurture shared transformational narratives through conviviality, networking and social learning. Part three introduces the central issue of governance and navigates the policy arena with the use of a case study on how the absolute dominance of the tradeable dimension of food in the political stance of some important players (the US and EU) obscures other non-economic dimensions such as the consideration of food as a human need or human right. In response to the monolithic approach of governments, this part also contains a prospective chapter where different governing arrangements based on the narrative of food as a commons are proposed, with specific policy measures suggested. Finally, the conclusion chapter is structured as a synthesis of those approaches, and formulates a normative theory of food as a commons, with particular attention to different policy and legal options that should inform and justify institutional arrangements radically different from the business-as-usual proposals to reform the industrial food system. As discussed through the thesis, the consideration of food as a commons rests upon its essentialness as human life enabler, the multiple-dimensions of food that are relevant to individuals and societies, and the multiplicity of governing arrangements that have been set up across the world, now and before, to produce and consume food outside market mechanisms. As a social construct based on the “instituting power of commoning”, food can be valued and governed as a commons. Once the narrative is shifted, the governing mechanisms and legal frameworks will gradually be molded to implement that vision. A regime based on food as a commons would construct an essentially democratic food system (food democracy) based on the proper valuation of the multiple dimensions of food, sustainable agricultural practices (agro-ecology) and emancipatory politics (food sovereignty). That regime would also support the consideration of open-source knowledge (E.g. cuisine recipes, traditional agricultural knowledge or public research), food-producing resources (E.g. seeds, fish stocks, land, forests or water) and services (E.g. transboundary food safety regulations, public nutrition) as commons. (AGRO - Sciences agronomiques et ingénierie biologique) -- UCL, 2017

L’ambition première de cette thèse est de mettre au jour toute la potentialité de la théorie évaluative deweyenne pour la philosophie contemporaine. Dans les premiers chapitres de la thèse, nous examinons la stratégie fondationnelle offerte par Jürgen Habermas. Nous critiquons, à partir de la théorie de la perception de Charles Sanders Peirce, l’analogie que trace Habermas entre vérité assertorique et validité morale dans son livre Vérité et justification (1999). Cette étude nous mène à mettre en doute le cognitivisme universaliste à la base de l’épistémologie morale habermassienne (le fait que nos jugements moraux soient susceptibles de transcender leur contexte d’énonciation). Afin de proposer une alternative à la position habermassienne, nous opérons un examen approfondi du concept « d’évaluation » que défend le pragmatiste John Dewey. Après avoir clarifié les grandes lignes de cette conception – en la comparant à l’autre grande tradition anglo-saxonne du début du XXe siècle : le positivisme logique – nous avançons une hypothèse interprétative novatrice : celle selon laquelle la théorie de l’évaluation que propose Dewey constitue une forme précoce de constructivisme métaévaluatif (la théorie selon laquelle la validité de nos jugements moraux dépend avant tout d’un « point de vue pratique »). À la lumière des écrits de Sharon Street, nous soutenons que l’approche de Dewey contient tous les éléments cruciaux à une telle qualification et offre des bases avant-gardistes pour une théorie évaluative convaincante. Une question épistémologique cruciale reste néanmoins en suspens chez Dewey : de quelles manières pouvons-nous mettre en doute la vérité – ou la validité – d’un jugement évaluatif ? L’objectif des chapitres finaux est de lier l’éthique de la discussion habermassienne et le constructivisme de Dewey. Notre hypothèse est que toute théorie évaluative à saveur normative se doit d’intégrer, en son sein, la force conceptuelle de l’argumentation pratique. (FILO - Philosophie) -- UCL, 2017

The overall goals of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture are food security and sustainable agriculture. The Treaty entered into force in 2004 and rules on the conservation, sustainable use, and access and benefit-sharing of seeds for food and agriculture. Due to the “special nature” of plant genetic resource for food and agriculture, Contracting Parties to the Treaty consider seed management as a “common concern of all countries”, which necessitates a multilateral regime approach. To this end, they created the multilateral system of access and benefit-sharing of the Treaty. This dissertation analyses the common management system of seeds within the Treaty in order to evaluate if and how the Treaty reaches its set objectives. The research methodology is inspired from transdisciplinarity, and contains three steps. First, a historical and contextual analysis of the international seed management rules is carried out. Second, the treaty is studied in detail following two methods: a legal and a stakeholder analysis of the Treaty and of its implementation instruments. This second step leads to the identification of specific conceptual constraints impeding an effective implementation of the treaty to reach its objectives. Third, following this double reading of the Treaty, the research results are analyzed in light of the theory of the commons, with the aim to assess if and how the literature on the commons can contribute to help Contracting Parties reach the overall goals of the Treaty: food security and sustainable agriculture by improving what was qualified as a Global Seed Commons. This last step allowed formulating solutions to the identified constraints. The two main outputs of the thesis are put forward. First, the Treaty lies on a dual discourse where there is a clear will to design an effective global seed commons where seeds would be accessible for all its stakeholders, including smallholder farmers, in order to reach food security and sustainable agriculture, but where practice shows that the seed commons is only effective for researchers and breeders. Second, there is a clear contradiction within the Treaty, between its objectives and the designed obligations to reach them, in particular regarding the limited recognition of Farmers’ Rights at the international level. As it does not mitigate the imbalance of rights opposing smallholder farmers and big agro-chemical multinationals on the issue of the appropriation of seeds and their related knowledge, the Treaty is not able to reach its objectives. Building on these results, I identify specific underlying principles from the analysis of the global seed commons. These underlying principles should be better expressed in the rules and procedures of the global seed commons in order to mitigate the identified conceptual constraints and contribute to the realization of the Treaty’s overall goals. I plea for a deeper and true global seed commons for all its stakeholders in order to face major social challenges such as producing sufficient and quality food in times of climate changes and persisting world hunger and poverty. Summary Table of Contents i List of Tables and Figures iii List of Acronyms and Abbreviations v Acknowledgements vii Chapter 1 Introduction ‒ Harvesting the Benefits of the Commons to Grow a Food Secure World 1 Section 1. Research approach 9 Section 2. Research map 11 Section 3. Theoretical framework – the theory of the commons 19 Section 4. Research motivation 25 Section 5. Contextual analysis 26 Section 6. Scope of the research 28 Section 7. Contribution to the state of the art 34 PART I PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE MANAGEMENT: DIGGING THE SOIL TO REVEAL FERTILTY FOR COLLABORATION 37 Chapter 2 A History of the Seed International Regulatory Setting 39 Section 1. The birth of agriculture and its developments 40 Section 2. The loss of biological diversity: wide collection and international ex situ conservation programmes as a response 41 Section 3. The rise of the breeding industry, modern biotechnology and IPRs: genetic resources gain economic value 47 Section 4. The International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources: a failed attempt to keep resources in the public domain 51 Section 5. The CBDs contractual approach to access genetic resources: the rise of States’ sovereign rights 58 Section 6. UPOV 1991 and the TRIPS Agreement: reinforcing PGRFA appropriation 64 Conclusion 69 Chapter 3 Challenges in the Exchange of PGRFA to Reward the Custodians of Agro-biodiversity and Promote Innovation 71 Section 1. The tension between “public seeds” and IPRs: ownership as a factor of rights imbalance 73 Section 2. The tension between advancements in biotechnology led by mega-agri-businesses and small-scale farmers: raising an economic imbalance 81 Section 3. The tension between “informal” exchange networks and “over-regulation” on seeds: raising a social sharing disruption 86 Section 4. The North / South divide: a political stake 89 Conclusion 92 PART II THE PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE REGIME: AN ASSESSMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL TREATY 93 Chapter 4 The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture: A Legal Analysis 95 Section 1. Sustainable agriculture and food security as Treaty overall goals 100 Section 2. Scope of the Treaty 123 Section 3. Farmers’ Rights 149 Section 4. Facilitated access to PGRFA 167 Section 5. Benefit-sharing, the Benefit-sharing Fund and the touchy issue of money 192 Section 6. Information and knowledge related to PGRFA 205 Section 7. Legal rules and procedures supporting compliance with the Treaty 215 Section 8. Treaty governance and stakeholders’ participation 229 Conclusion 241 Chapter 5 Seeds and People : A Stakeholders’ Analysis of the Treaty 245 Section 1. A description of Treaty stakeholders 249 Section 2. List of Treaty constraints identified by stakeholders 276 Conclusion 281 PART III PLANTING THE COMMONS: TOWARDS REDESIGNING THE GLOBAL SEED COMMONS 283 Chapter 6 Feeding an Effective Plant Treaty with the Commons Theory 287 Section 1. A brief history of the theory of the commons 290 Section 2. The commons: useful underlying principles for the Global Seed Commons 304 Section 3. Redesigning the global seed commons 317 Conclusion 339 Overall conclusion and further developments 343 Bibliography 349 Detailed Table of Contents 411 status: published

This study intends to settle a context-sensitive and realistic account of Kuhn’s notion of incommensurability. Originally, Kuhn employed this notion to question positivist understandings of science as a cumulative enterprise guided by a universal method – that mobilizes the allegedly neutral ground of empirical observation – and teleologically geared toward the elucidation of reality’s fundamental ontology. Kuhn opposed to this view a contextualized picture of science as irreducibly relying on socially, culturally and historically situated paradigms (providing notably taxonomies and standards for theory assessment). According to Kuhn, the evolution of science is punctuated by crisis and revolutions during which new paradigms override ancient ones. More recently, renewed attention has been granted to incommensurability with the growth of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research attempts gathering many different systems of categories and methodologies. Nonetheless, the notion of incommensurability has been intensively debated and its epistemological and philosophical consequences remain problematic. Therefore, refined insights about topics such as realism, truth or meaning and reference are required to establish a context-sensitive and realistic account. In this respect, Putnam’s philosophical work is mobilized. His intellectual trajectory from metaphysical realism to commonsense or pragmatic realism (through the intermediate internalist period) is carefully analyzed. Important continuities and ruptures are evidenced with, in particular, the crucial step constituted by the criticism of interfacial understandings of conception and perception as leading to a kind of antinomy of realism. A synthesis of Putnam’s late positions about realism, truth and reference is then provided under the label ‘Putnam’s pragmatist theory of knowledge’. It includes two important features. First, mind-independent reality is reconsidered according to a second naiveté leading to recognize it is many different ways along differently situated points of view. Second, semantic processes involved in the establishment of knowledge claims, theories or conceptual schemes and mechanisms at stake in their rational acceptance are pictured as context-sensitive. On the ground of Putnam’s pragmatist theory of knowledge, a global pragmatist approach of rational inquiry doing justice to indispensable and irreducible influence of contexts is developed. In this framework, contextual influences have two types of consequences. Differently contextualized rational inquiries can tune to different domains of investigation (that is to say, they can focus on different pools of real entities being particular ways along specific sets of points of view). In addition, differently contextualized rational inquiry can possess different systems of rational acceptability and establish differently featured conceptual schemes. According to this global picture of rational inquiries as context-sensitive processes of knowledge production, phenomena of incommensurability are reconstructed as standing between differently contextualized investigations that, under the guidance of incompatible systems of rational acceptability, settle differently featured (possibly incompatible and even taxonomically incommensurable) conceptual schemes hosting same terms. A context-sensitive and realistic account is then developed in which such phenomena are interpretable either in competing perspectives as cognitive imperfections (when standing between inquiries tuned to same or overlapping domains of investigation) or in non-competing perspectives as legitimate and significant (when standing between inquiries tuned to different domains of investigation). This account is eventually mobilized to reconcile incommensurability and scientific realism. Ce travail vise à proposer une interprétation de la notion d’incommensurabilité (telle que développée par Kuhn) qui fasse droit tant à la sensibilité au contexte qu’au réalisme. Initialement, Kuhn a déployé cette notion afin de critiquer les approches positivistes, selon lesquelles la science est comprise comme une entreprise cumulative visant le dévoilement de l’ontologie fondamentale de la réalité, entreprise guidée par une méthode universelle – qui mobilise uniquement la logique et les données prétendument neutres de l’observation empirique. Kuhn oppose à ce type d’approche une image contextualisée de la science. Pour lui, la science repose, de façon irréductible, sur des paradigmes socialement, culturellement et historiquement situés (fournissant notamment les systèmes de catégories conceptuelles ainsi que les standards pour l’évaluation des théories). Selon Kuhn, l’évolution de la science est ponctuée de crises et révolutions au cours desquelles de nouveaux paradigmes prennent la place de leurs prédécesseurs. Plus récemment, un regain d’attention a été accordé à la notion d’incommensurabilité avec l’essor des recherches inter- et trans-disciplinaires qui conduisent à rapprocher différents systèmes de catégories et différentes méthodologies. Néanmoins, la notion d’incommensurabilité est l’objet d’intenses débats et ses conséquences philosophiques et épistémologiques demeurent controversées. En particulier, l’élaboration d’une interprétation réaliste bien que sensible au contexte de l’incommensurabilité requiert un approfondissement de questions telles que celles du réalisme, de la vérité ou encore de la signification et de la référence des termes langagiers. Dans cette perspective, l’approche proposée fait appel au travail philosophique de Putnam. Sa trajectoire intellectuelle, partant du réalisme métaphysique pour arriver au réalisme pragmatique ou réalisme du sens commun (en passant par la période intermédiaire du réalisme interne) est examinée en détail. D’importantes continuités et ruptures sont mises en évidence avec, notamment, l’étape cruciale constituée par la critique de la compréhension interfaciale de la conception et de la perception (qui conduit à une sorte d’antinomie du réalisme). Les positions récentes de Putnam concernant le réalisme, la vérité et la référence sont ensuite synthétisées pour construire ce que nous appelons ‘la théorie pragmatiste de la connaissance de Putnam’. Cette théorie de la connaissance intègre deux caractéristiques importantes. Premièrement, la réalité (indépendante de l’esprit) y est reconsidérée à travers une seconde naïveté. La réalité peut alors être reconnue comme étant de nombreuses manières différentes selon des points de vue différemment situés. Deuxièmement, la théorie pragmatiste de la connaissance de Putnam fait droit à la sensibilité au contexte qui est à l’œuvre au sein des processus sémantiques mobilisés dans l’élaboration des discours rationnels. Sur la base de cette théorie de la connaissance, une approche pragmatiste de l’enquête rationnelle est développée en insistant sur le rôle irréductible et indispensable joué par les influences contextuelles. Il est alors montré que ce rôle est double. Tout d’abord, des enquêtes rationnelles enracinées dans différents contextes peuvent se focaliser sur différents domaines d’investigations (c’est-à-dire sur différents groupes d’entités réelles étant de manières spécifiques selon des points de vue situés). De plus, ces enquêtes rationnelles peuvent admettre différentes méthodologies (ou différents systèmes stipulant les caractéristiques que doit posséder tout discours rationnellement admissible), et donc produire des discours divergents. A partir de cette image générale de l’enquête rationnelle comme processus de production de connaissance sensible au contexte, les phénomènes d’incommensurabilité peuvent être reconstruits comme se tenant entre des investigations enracinées dans différents contextes qui, sous la direction de méthodologies incompatibles, produisent des discours divergents (et potentiellement incompatibles) à partir de termes et expressions partagés. Une approche sensible au contexte et néanmoins réaliste est alors développée au sein de laquelle de tels phénomènes d’incommensurabilité peuvent être interprétés soit dans une perspective « conflictuelle » comme des imperfections cognitives (lorsque les enquêtes sont focalisées sur les mêmes domaines d’investigation), soit dans une perspective « complémentaire » comme légitimes et significatifs (lorsque les enquêtes sont focalisées sur différents domaines d’investigation). Cette approche est finalement déployée pour réconcilier incommensurabilité et réalisme scientifique. (FILO - Philosophie) -- UCL, 2016

Justice concerns are at the core of struggles and conflicts brought about by the ineluctable trade-offs related to agrobiodiversity conservation. This work’s point of departure lies in trying to understand how these concerns find support in bottom-up conservation initiatives in Western Europe; and how this relates to conservation outcomes. I argue that rights-based governance approaches (i.e. approaches involving themselves with social and environmental justice) to agrobiodiversity conservation are not only compatible with effective conservation and farming outcomes, but that they are a condition to their long-term success. To study these rights-based approaches, this work adopts a critical theory perspective, albeit one that involves itself heavily with environmental concerns. In the context of agrobiodiversity conservation, an environmental critical theory requires thinking of conservation not only as the management of a socio-ecological system, which may or may not be effective, but as a broader socio-political process, in which forces of cultural, economic and political domination are at play. More in particular, I look at a series of bottom-up agrobiodiversity conservation cases in Western Europe and explore their justice-relevant governance arrangements. First, following recent work on environmental justice and drawing on Nancy Fraser’s conception of justice as ‘parity of participation’, a three-dimensional justice framework is used to understand how different rights find support in the cases. Second, drawing on the literature on participatory governance and citizenship developed in the environmental and development studies, I ask under which conditions these rights-based governance arrangements have led to effective conservation outcomes. Third, I focus on one of the dimensions of justice, i.e. cultural recognition, by exploring its meaning and specificity in the context of the agrobiodiversity conservation. This leads to a deepening of the issue of recognition by looking explicitly at its epistemic dimension in the context of agrobiodiversity conservation, using insights from decolonial thought. It appears that agrobiodiversity conservation is not simply an environmental or agricultural matter. In the different cases studied in this work it is an instrument for a broader struggle; a struggle for justice. In their efforts to conserve agrobiodiversity, farming organizations redefine the conditions under which their members participate in society. Governance arrangements for the conservation of agrobiodiversity are used to redistribute or communalize available resources; to oppose institutional threats to farmer’s culture, knowledge and livelihoods; to (re)build a common rural identity and citizenship; and to encourage self-determination and foster empowerment. Under the banner of peasant, local and/or organic agriculture, through the reintroduction of traditional varieties, the creation of new varieties using farm-based knowledge, and the redesign of innovation models, individual farmers are connected to collective movements demanding justice and a more efficient agricultural model. It is the combination of injustice and inefficiency of the current farming model that spurs the emergence of movements of resistance, such as those studied in this work. An effective agrobiodiversity conservation strategy hence will need to address both dimensions simultaneously. Movements adopting such an approach are key for the reinvention and the sustainable transformation of European agriculture and the conservation of agricultural biodiversity. (POLS - Sciences politiques et sociales) -- UCL, 2016

The scope of this thesis consists in the radicalization of the discourse about emancipation occurring in the social and political context of post-soviet Moldavia. The work of Michel Foucault was the central reference point of our approach. The use of theoretical instruments elaborated in The order of things and The archaeology of knowledge is important to understand the discursive conditions of existence of knowledge about language with respect to the relationship the latter stand with political power. In this thesis, the analysis of knowledge about language is not exhausted by the realm of discursive practice. It is simultaneously situated at the level of the action of subjects. In this particular point of view, the foucaldian genealogy opens a new field of analysis insofar it is not limited to the description of the functioning of social institutions. This new kind of analysis consists in the conceptualizing of power as action upon the action of others. The emancipation, in this perspective, is to be understood as the creation of concepts responding to the blockages that impede the deployment of the action upon the action of others. Through an analysis of the nature of the relationship that can be established between archaeology and genealogy, this thesis explores the structure of the discourse about emancipation in post-soviet Moldavia and proposes a new interpretation of Michel Foucault’s work. Cette thèse relève d’une tentative de radicalisation du discours sur l’émancipation situé dans la conjoncture sociale de la Moldavie d’après la chute de l’Union Soviétique. Ce sont les ouvrages de Michel Foucault qui ont été le point de repère central pour nous orienter dans cette démarche. L’usage des instruments théoriques forgés par Foucault dans Les mots et les choses et dans L’archéologie du savoir s’avère important pour mieux comprendre les conditions d’existence archéologique du savoir sur la langue dans son rapport avec le pouvoir politique. Dans cette thèse, l’analyse du discours sur l’émancipation ne s’épuise pas sur le niveau du savoir sur la langue en tant qu’il est l’effet historique d’une pratique discursive. Elle se situe simultanément sur le niveau de l’action des sujets. Sur ce point, la généalogie foucaldienne du pouvoir ouvre un champ nouveau d’analyse dans la mesure où elle ne se contente pas de problématiser le fonctionnement des institutions dans une société donnée. Ce champ nouveau consiste dans l’analyse du pouvoir en tant qu’action sur l’action des autres. L’émancipation, selon cette perspective, consiste dans la création des concepts comme tout autant de réponses à la singularité des blocages qui empêchent le déploiement de l’action sur l’action des autres. En thématisant la nature du lien que l’on peut établir entre l’archéologie et la généalogie, l’effort de cette thèse consiste à la fois dans l’approfondissement du discours sur l’émancipation dans la Moldavie Soviétique et dans une nouvelle interprétation de l’œuvre foucaldienne. (FILO - Philosophie) -- UCL, 2015

Ocean acidification caused by the increased uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide by the oceans is likely to have serious impacts on marine organisms that make shells and exoskeletons from calcium carbonate. The consequences for the provision of marine ecosystem services such as fisheries and services generated by coral reefs are uncertain but potentially severe. In this chapter we set out a framework for the economic assessment of impacts from ocean acidification. We review the existing economic literature on ocean acidification, which is nascent and sparse. To date only a partial set of the potentially impacted ecosystem services have been assessed with a focus on the direct use values that can be more easily addressed. Gaps in the current knowledge are identified and avenues for future research are discussed. Comparing the existing impact estimates for ocean acidification with those for climate change show them to be an order of magnitude lower. Due to the relatively proximate impacts of ocean acidification, however, the implications for optimal mitigation of carbon dioxide emissions may be substantial.

Intellectual property rights, mostly in the form of patents and plant variety protection, have increasingly become an integral part of plant improvement efforts. With the advent of the TRIPS Agreement and the dominant interpretative implementation of its minimum standards, actors who use, conserve and improve agricultural biodiversity are faced with a strong property rights paradigm, which has been thoroughly criticised in the doctrine. However, these critics have not created the advocated regulatory shift. The dissertation defends that this is due to the lack of socio-technological contextualisation of applicable laws and judicial interpretation. Indeed, the intellectual property paradigm applies to very different innovation contexts and confronts plant improvement actors stretching from mass selectors, small-scaled private conventional plant breeders, public molecular researchers, specialised start-ups and integrated biotechnology giants. By applying the paradigm to such contexts, the thesis wishes to identify the specific shortcomings of intellectual property rights vis-a-vis each actor of agrobiodiversity improvement. Building on these findings, it also attempts to look for existing examples of social innovation that attempt to redress identified challenges within each context. This leads to an assessment of potential regulatory and institutional solutions that majoritarily reclaim the public domain and that could either conflict with each other, or on the contrary reinforce one another. It provides an array of tools available to national legislators to ensure that the property regime of plant agrovbiodiversity is more sustainable and equitable in the long run. (DROI - Sciences juridiques) -- UCL, 2014

The primary aim of this thesis is to show how Heidegger's critique of modern technology is derived from his fundamental ontology, namely, the question of Being; and to go beyond this metaphysical understanding into a more pragmatic approach that is contemporaneous with the present technological predicaments facing modern society—the question of technology and ethical responsibility and the call for reflexivity towards technology. In this presentation, we discovered that technology, as Heidegger sees it, has become the crucial way of our dealing with the world. That said, we took seriously Heidegger’s claim that a certain destining is at work at the heart of modern technology. But this way of posing the question of technology is today criticized by authors influenced by the new sociology of sciences and the so called science studies. Their critique try to show how the substantial perspective of Heidegger is closing the door to a more pragmatic approach to technology where the central problem would be that of learning how to act within the frame of a technological society. Our conclusion is that technology is not out of control as Heidegger might insinuate. What should change is the form of control and how technology development is played out. The goal is to anticipate negative consequences earlier and more frequently, to set up design processes to stimulate reflexivity and learning, and thus to create greater scope for experimentation. Our proposal is for constructive, practical and responsible experimentation. Technology needs to be nurtured, but in a design that allows different actors to become engaged. L'objectif principal de cette thèse est de démontrer comment la critique Heideggérienne de la technologie moderne est dérivé de son ontologie fondamentale, c'est-à-dire, la question de l'être; et de passer au-delà de cette compréhension métaphysique dans une approche plus pragmatique qui est contemporaine des situations difficiles technologiques récentes posent à la société modern—la question de la technologie et de la responsabilité éthique et l'appel à la réflexivité vers la technologie. Dans cette présentation, nous avons découvert que la technologie, comme Heidegger le perçoit, est devenu le moyen essentiel de notre rapports avec le monde. Cela dit, nous avons pris au sérieux réclamation Heidegger laquelle un certain destiner est à l'œuvre au cœur de la technologie moderne. Mais cette façon de poser la question de la technologie est aujourd'hui critiqué par des auteurs influencés par la nouvelle sociologie des sciences et des études en sciences. Leur critique tenter de montrer comment la perspective substantielle de Heidegger est de fermer la porte à une approche plus pragmatique de la technologie où le problème central serait que d'apprendre à agir dans le cadre d'une société technologique. Notre conclusion est que la technologie n'est pas hors de contrôle comme Heidegger pourrait insinuer. Ce qui devrait changer c’est la forme de contrôle et la façon dont le développement technologique est joué. L'objectif est d'anticiper les conséquences négatives tôt et plus fréquemment, de mettre en place des processus de conception afin de stimuler la réflexivité et de l'apprentissage, et donc de créer davantage de possibilités d'expérimentation. Notre proposition est d'expérimentation constructive, pratique et responsable. La technologie doit être nourrie, mais dans une conception qui permet aux différents acteurs de se engagé. (ISP 3) -- UCL, 2013

The general objective of this research is contextual and philosophical analysis of the notion geoculture in thinking of Argentine Rodolfo Kusch. Within this analysis will gradually revealing the historical interpretation of American, which can lift a hypothesis regarding the reconfiguration of the historicity, based on a consideration of the very popular Indian and Latin American culture, in contrast to an imposition of certain geopolitical cultural models, which, taken uncritically the binomial civilization / barbarism, generate social "souffrance" which Kusch called "drama mestizo", and which attempts to answer the geoculture as made ​​evident as proposed reconfiguration. El objetivo general de esta investigación es un análisis contextual y filosófico de la noción geocultura en el pensamiento del argentino Rodolfo Kusch. Dentro de este análisis se va revelando paulatinamente una interpretación de la historicidad latinoamericana, que permite levantar una hipótesis respecto a la reconfiguración de dicha historicidad, con base en una consideración de la propia cultura latinoamericana indígena y popular, en contraste con una imposición geopolítica de determinados modelos culturales, que, tomados acríticamente del binomio civilización/barbarie, generan una souffrance social que Kusch denomina "drama mestizo", y a la cual la geocultura intenta responder como puesta en evidencia y como propuesta de reconfiguración. (ISP 3) -- UCL, 2013

Since the publication of the ground-breaking work on global public goods by Inge Kaul et al. a decade ago many political initiatives have been launched, a wide number of governance experiments have been run, and much research has been carried out at the interface of economic, political and environmental sciences. This interdisciplinary book addresses the new challenges in the governance of global public goods in fields of environmental concern and new/emerging global issues such as global health, food security and technological risks. It takes stock of the knowledge that has been accumulated over the years and develops novel perspectives for understanding and designing governance of global public goods. The argument presented in this book acknowledges that the traditional public-economy theory of public good provision is oversimplified as it is fundamentally state-centered (both at the national and international level) and fiscally focused, and therefore fails to consider the broader politics of multi-stakeholder and transnational public good provision. As a consequence, global public good concepts as used today are not sufficiently aligned with the specific understandings and the incentives of the various actors that play a role in their provision. What is more, most traditional approaches underestimate the fact that the knowledge of the actors about environmental issues and about governance matters is bounded, resulting in the need to share and generate knowledge thanks to appropriate governance solutions. To overcome these limitations, this book develops an interdisciplinary approach by exploring new developments at the research frontier of economics and political science. With a particular focus on reflexive processes of learning and knowledge generation, the book attempts to bridge the gap between governance arrangements and actors’ incentives and understandings, and applies the resulting insights to problems of global public goods provision in various fields such as global environmental issues, global food security and development assistance. For example, within economics, the analysis highlights the need to examine the interplay between economic incentives and spontaneous contributions to public goods. Similarly, within political science, it is shown that the tragedy of the commons in bargaining between states should be revisited in light of the role of peer pressure, public opinion, and local or transnational communities. By examining economic and political science approaches from this common perspective the book also enriches the existing analysis of important trade-offs in governance such as the combination of public deliberation and expert consultation, or centralized and decentralized modes of public good provision. The authors collectively show that effective governance of global public goods needs to be democratic, reflexive, and knowledge-based. To examine these implications, the volume is organized in five parts that present new theoretical concepts and related empirical research. Starting out from the challenges of reflexive governance in the field of global public goods, this book studies the complex impact of incentives, compliance problems in international treaties and transnational advocacy movements, stakeholder involvement in environmental decision making, and the specific coordination needs of generating knowledge on global public goods. --Introduction Eric Brousseau, Tom Dedeurwaerdere, and Bernd Siebenhüner Introduction to Part I. The Challenges in Governing Global Public Goods 1. Global Public Goods: the Participatory Governance Challenges Eric Brousseau and Tom Dedeurwaerdere 2. Rethinking Public Goods and Global Public Goods Inge Kaul 3. New Face of Development Assistance: Public Goods and Changing Ethics Todd Sandler and Daniel G. Arce --Introduction to Part II. Designing Complex Incentives Schemes 4. Crowding Out and Crowding in of Intrinsic Preferences Bruno Frey 5. Regulatory Reform and Reflexive Regulation: Beyond Command and Control Neil Gunningham 6. Governance of the R&D Sector for Bio-­--Technology: Intellectual Property Rights and Bio-­--Prospecting Mare Sarr and Tim Swanson --Introduction to Part III. Compliance: From Legal Tools to Moral Norms 7. Managing Global Risks Through “Proportionate” Precaution: Collective Preferences and States Sovereignty in the Balance Olivier Godard 8. Sub-National Climate-Friendly Governance Initiatives in the Developing World: A Case Study of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil Kamyla Borges Cunha, Arnaldo César Walter and Fernando Rei 9. Reflexive Governance and Multi-Level Decision-Making in Agricultural Policy: Conceptual Reflections and Empirical Evidence Peter Feindt --Introduction to Part IV. Multistakeholder Coordination: How to Manage Heterogeneity 10. Participatory Governance and Sustainability: Early Findings of a Meta-Analysis of Stakeholder Involvement in Environmental Decision-Making Oliver Fritsch and Jens Newig 11. Social Learning in the Governance of Forest Ecosystem Services Tom Dedeurwaerdere 12. Value Articulating Institutions and Changing Collective Preferences Sigrid Stagl --Introduction to Part V. Knowledge Generation on Global Issues 13. Knowledge Matters: Institutional Frameworks to Govern the Provision of Global Public Goods Eric Brousseau, Tom Dedeurwaerdere and Bernd Siebenhüner 14. Revising the UK Biodiversity Action Plan: Is Change Enforced, Experiential or Reflexive? Anna Lawrence and Star Molteno 15. Reflexive Governance and the Importance of Indivivual Competencies: The Case of Adaptation to Climate Change in Germany Torsten Grothmann and Bernd Siebenhüner --Conclusion Tom Dedeurwaerdere, Eric Brousseau and Bernd Siebenhüner

Nous menons, dans le cadre de la grammaire générative chomskienne, une analyse formelle des énoncés ramifiés du langage naturel ( " La plupart des linguistes et la plupart des philosophes s'apprécient "). Ces énoncés présentent des quantificateurs non linéairement dépendants, qui doivent être traités " en parallèle ", alors que leur ordre d'apparition en surface est nécessairement linéaire. Ce phénomène est connu en logique sous le nom de ramification (‘branching quantification') ; en grammaire générative il se traduit par des exigences contradictoires au niveau de la relation de c-commande : symétrie par l'absence de c-commande entre constituants quantifiés au niveau de la forme logique (‘LF') et antisymétrie par la relation de c commande asymétrique au niveau de la forme de surface (en acceptant l'axiome de correspondance linéaire ‘LCA' de Kayne). Pour sortir de cette impasse nous introduisons un nouveau type d'objets que nous avons nommés objets doubles. Les objets doubles créent localement des îlots non linéaires qui permettent d'obtenir la linéarité recherchée en surface sans induire de dépendance au niveau de la forme logique. Leur introduction est justifiée par ailleurs par le traitement qu'ils permettent de la coordination, un phénomène étroitement lié à la ramification. Grâce aux objets doubles tous les types de ramification, avec ou sans coordination, reçoivent une représentation adéquate, menant à une interprétation correcte. Nous résultats trouvent également une application en logique modale épistémique, et pour la représentation de l'interrogation multiple. / We carry out, within the framework of Chomskian generative grammar, a formal analysis of branching sentences in natural language ("Most linguists and most philosophers appreciate each other"). These sentences present quantifiers that are not linearly dependent, which must be treated "in parallel", whereas their surface order is necessarily linear. This phenomenon is known in logic as branching quantification. In generative grammar, branching quantification leads to contradictory requirements on the c-command relation: on the one hand, because of the absence of c-command between quantified constituents, one should have symmetry at LF; on the other hand, accepting Kayne's Linear Correspondence Axiom LCA, one should have antisymmetry of c-command at PF. To leave this dead end we introduce a new type of objects which we named twin objects (‘objets doubles' in French). Twin objects locally create nonlinear islands which make it possible to obtain the expected linearity at the surface without inducing dependence at the level of Logical Form. Their introduction is moreover justified by the treatment of coordination they allow, a phenomenon closely related to branching. Thanks to twin objects all types of branching, with or without coordination, receive an adequate representation, leading to a correct interpretation. Our results also find applications in epistemic modal logic and in the representation of multiple wh-questions. (ISP 3)--UCL, 2005