RGP Cycle 5 Grantees and Projects
Principal Investigator: Mohamed Hadeid, University of Oran 2
Co-Investigator: Sid Ahmed Bellal, University of Oran 2
Co-Investigator: Ouassini Habib Dari, University of Oran 2
Country: Algeria
Type of Grant: Team Project Grant
Project Title: Social Technologies and Forms of Adaptation to Environmental Degradation: Multi-Criteria Analysis of Arid Algerian Regions
For more than a century, the Algerian Saharan environment has been witnessing significant social and spatial changes. Admittedly, the objectives were different, but economic and territorial integration and appropriation initiated during the colonial period were accelerated and reinforced during the post-independence period due to proactive, state-led interventions. Since then, Saharan territories were deeply reconfigured, leading to the emergence of multifaceted tensions, thus disrupting traditional functions and equilibriums as they were linked to environmental, economic, and social aspects in these territories. Zoning and management policies designed to develop these areas have not been able to prevent the creation of visible spatial inequalities, despite sizable investments made to open up this vast and restrictive land. These policies reproduced the same exclusions, which had led to the marginalization of a number of sectors in the past, and subsequently, a part of the population. The oasis community of Adrar maintained, as much as possible, its traditional practices, some of which are informal, only adapting them in the face of the shortcomings of State interventions. Local ecosystems were thus compromised. Through a geographical approach supported by a social vision, we plan to see if the oasis population really uses social technologies in order to answer needs unmet by public policies, or if it is merely the adaptation of a community to a situation of crisis in the face of the decline of the State in the management of these arid and hostile environments. The outputs of the project will not be limited to the publication of scientific articles. An Atlas of the oasis will also be published, in addition to the deepening of educational programs in our university.
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Mohamed Hadeid is professor of geography at the University of Oran (Algeria) and the University of Franche-Comté (France). He is currently a Professor at the Department of Geography of University of Oran 2 and an associate researcher at CRASC since 1999. Hadeid is the author of a book titled The Algerian Western Steppe: From Nomadism to Sedentary Life and several national and international publications on the development and planning of urban and rural areas in Algeria. His current research interests focus on urban and rural dynamics in Algerian arid and semiarid areas (steppe and Sahara). His articles have been published in a number of outlets, including Insaniyat, Vertigo, Sustainable Development & Territories, and Cahiers de Géographie du Québec. He has also led several national research projects that revolve around the concept of spatial and social dynamics of different areas.
Sid Ahmed Bellal is a lecturer at the Department of Geography and Land Planning at the University of Oran 2. He holds a PhD in Geography. His research interests focus on the issue of access to water, and aim to identify actors and usage conflicts related to how water resources are used. He is also a professor-researcher at Espace Géographique et Aménagement du Territoire (EGEAT), where he is leading a research team on water and the environment in arid environments. He is the author of Resources, Users, and Managers of Water in Semi-Arid Areas, a book published by the European University Press. He is the chair of the Scientific Committee of the Department of Geography, and a member of the Scientific and Editorial Committee of the journal, Cahiers Géographiques de l'Ouest.
Ouassini Habib Dari has been a professor-researcher in the Department of Geography and Regional Planning at the University of Oran 2, Algeria, since 1994. He has a bachelor’s degree (1990) and a master’s degree in engineering (1997). He defended his PhD thesis titled “Integration of Census Data and Remote Sensing to Measure Socio-Economic and Environmental change in Urban Areas: the Case of the City of Sherbrooke (1981-2006)” at the Department of Applied Geomatics at the University of Sherbrooke (Canada). He currently teaches geographic information systems, remote sensing, socio-economic surveys, and natural and anthropogenic risks and their impacts on the environment at the undergraduate and master's levels at the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Oran 2. His research interests include socio-economic studies, environmental studies, and geographic environments.
