ETHOS is a pilot research project supported by the radiation protection research program of the European Commission (DG XII). The project provides an alternative approach to the rehabilitation of living conditions in the contaminated territories of the CIS in the post-accident context of Chernobyl. Initiated at the beginning of 1996, this 3-y project is currently being implemented in the Republic of Belarus. The ETHOS project involves an interdisciplinary team of European researchers from the following institutions: the Centre d'etude sur l'Evaluation de la Protection dans le domaine Nucleaire CEPN (radiological protection, economics), the Institute National d'Agronomie de Paris-Grignon INAPG (agronomy, nature & life management), the Compiegne University of Technology (technological and industrial safety, social trust), and the Mutadis Research Group (sociology, social risk management), which is in charge of the scientific co-ordination of the project. The Belarussian partners in the ETHOS project include the Ministry of Emergencies of Belarus as well as the various local authorities involved with the implementation site. The ETHOS project relies on a strong involvement of the local population in the rehabilitation process. Its main goal is to create conditions for the inhabitants of the contaminated territories to reconstruct their overall quality of life. This reconstruction deals with all the day-to-day aspects that have been affected or threatened by the contamination. The project aims at creating a dynamic process whereby acceptable living conditions can be rebuilt. Radiological security is developed in the ETHOS project as part of a general improvement in the quality of life. The approach does not dissociate the social and the technical dimensions of post-accident management. This is so as to avoid radiological risk assessment and management being reduced purely to a problem for scientific experts, from which local people are excluded, and to take into consideration the problems of acceptability of decisions and the distrust of the population towards experts. These cannot be solved merely by a better communication strategy. This paper presents the main features of the methodological approach of the ETHOS project. It also explains how it is being implemented in the village of Olmany in the district of Stolyn (Brest region) in Belarus since March 1996, as well as its initial achievements.

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Agriculture tends to be marginalized in reflection on development in the Greater Paris region. Studies on several areas of the green belt with a large proportion of agricultural land suggest this should not be the case and provide other outlooks. This article reviews historical development plans for the Paris region and distinguishes four periods in the relationship between Paris and its agricultural hinterland. It then discusses the results of over six hundred interviews with people living in agricultural areas. Their attachment to agricultural spaces in the green belt is significant yet undervalued, and cannot be explained by a NIMBY reaction. Instead, practical and identity issues account for this strong attachment. Lastly, the article argues that open agricultural spaces of the green belt help give meaning and identity to large portions of the greater Paris region, and can be critical assets for designing sound sustainable development plans. Résumé La réflexion ouverte par les autorités publiques autour du Grand Paris n'accorde qu'une place mineure à l'agriculture. Des travaux entrepris dans plusieurs espaces à forte composante agricole de la ceinture verte suggèrent une autre réalité et d'autres perspectives. En analysant les différents documents de planification et d'aménagement de la région francilienne, l'article distingue quatre périodes dans l'histoire des relations entre Paris et sa périphérie agricole. Après cette lecture à dires d'experts, la parole est donnée aux acteurs de terrain. Leur attachement aux espaces agricoles de la ceinture verte s'avère aussi considérable qu'il est méconnu. Des raisons motivées le fondent, aussi bien utilitaires qu'identitaires-et non seulement un prétendu réflexe Nimby. Finalement, les espaces ouverts agricoles de la ceinture verte se révèlent stratégiques pour redonner sens, identité et projet à de vastes portions de l'agglomération parisienne. Keywords Île-de-France metropolitan area; Greater Paris; green belt; urban spaces; open spaces ; attachment to agriculture; multifunctionality; identity; inter-community collaboration Mots-clés Métropole francilienne ; Grand Paris ; ceinture verte ; espaces urbanisés-espaces ouverts ; multifonctionnalité ; attachement à l'agriculture ; identité ; territoires de synergies.

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