00_abstract_IRD62_abstract54.qxd 22/12/11 12:41 Page1
Le journal de l'IRD
n° 62 november-december 2011
Translator: Nicholas Flay
p. 2 News
Modoki,
from future to past
S
cience is like that. Sometimes the
results from one day contradict
those announced the day before. Not
long ago in these very columns we talked about a new climatic event called
Modoki, a variation of El Niño. At the
time we said that IRD scientists supposed
the phenomenon to be directly associated with global warming. Now however,
the same research team, following up its
research, is qualifying the conclusions it
initially made. Modoki, is not a recent
phenomenon, as might have been supposed after the repeated occurrences
over the past decade. French, Peruvian
and Chilean scientist have just found traces of the event in climate records covering the past 120 years.
T
his autumn 2011’s floods in Bangkok (Thailand) are classified as an
extreme event by hydrologists. They
appear to be the result of an exceptional monsoon coupled with high
equinoctial tides which have raised
the level of the great river and slowed down its flow towards the sea. However, human
activities are partly responsible. These include reduction in area of the flood plain owing
to urbanization and ground level subsidence induced by excessive pumping from the
water table. The fact is that one third of the city lies below sea level. This extreme rise in
water level is the highest for 50 years and is affecting the whole country with consequences in various sectors. In the face of this natural disaster, local people have demonstrated their strong solidarity. Adaptation is the word that characterizes the Thai people,
who regularly find themselves confronted with floods during several months of the year.
Integrated pest control
© IRD / O. Dangles
T
© CNES/PHOTON/REGY Michel, 2011
T
he striking success of Nollywood’s
film productions has strongly
aroused the interest of anthropologists. Since the end of the 1980s, Nigeria’s recently developed art and cultural
form, named by analogy to the Indian
Bollywood industry (itself Bombay’s
Hollywood), has made a strong impact
in West Africa’s English speaking countries. The arrival of this cinema is jostling an African media scene in the
midst of a severe crisis.
M
arine ecosystems are made vulnerable by climate change but
also by overexploitation of certain
species like the forage fish which are
food for a large proportion of the
marine predators, from large fish to
marine mammals and birds. IRD scientists and their research partners from the South
have recently made major scientific advances concerning the relations between the
different components of the marine ecosystems. The results, obtained from ecological
field data and models, provide the support for promoting ecosystem-based fisheries
management.
W
p. 5 Partners
he farmers of the Bolivian Antiplano and of the Sub-Saharan zone
in Africa have a challenge in common:
to develop integrated crop protection
strategies in extreme environmental
conditions.
Appropriate tools can be envisaged
that can be transferred between these
regions of the world. As highlighted
recently in Quito at an international
workshop dedicated to pest control in
the countries of the South.
p. 5 Partners
Megha-Tropiques satellite
launched
W
ho or what are Madras, Saphir,
Rosa and Scarab? Four special
instruments fixed aboard the FrancoIndian satellite Megha-Tropiques and
which make it a powerful tracker of
atmospheric water in all its forms. It was launched in October 2011 from the space centre in Sriharikota (India) and sweeps over the tropical belt six times a day. The mission
objectives are to measure the water and energy balances in the tropics, study the life-cycle
of tropical storms and provide forecasts on cyclones and other intense hydrological and
meteorological events. The Megha-Tropiques mission is run with the support of its network of partners, the infrastructure and several programmes of the IRD.
evastating floods, coastal erosion, destruction of wetlands, salinization of
groundwater and surfaces: the general increase in sea level is already threatening coastal
areas, home to a quarter of the world’s population. This rise has been accelerating for the
past 20 years. It is essentially linked to global
climate change. However, in some areas it can be amplified or balanced by local climatic,
geophysical or anthropogenic factors.
Marine ecosystems
under strain
Niamey Conference
hat connection is there between Brazil, the Sahel in Africa
and France? None at all at first glance.
However, for several years some scientific relations have been bringing them
together, around the thorny question
of desertification and the combat
against it. Scientists and decisionmakers from the three continents recently met at a conference in Niamey to discuss the
problem. Some regions of the South American giant and of West Africa have in common
the same semi-arid environmental conditions and such areas have long been studied by
French specialists of the tropics. The major issue at stake, the very basis for this exceptional tripartite partnership, is the survival and development of the communities of these arid
zones. And the question is becoming even more urgent now that climate changes are
making water resources more scarce. The conference in Niger had a dual objective for the
participants in this joint effort, initiated by the South. Firstly, to identify scientific priorities
for meeting the needs of the people of these regions. Secondly, to promote the fight
against desertification, up to now always the poor relation of international rallying efforts
for the environment. Research teams present in the Niger capital worked to compare and
exchange their experience, share knowledge and ideas and identify ways for working
together on the three vital themes. These are the safeguarding of water resources, conservation of soils and improvement of plants. Other than the fields strictly related to these
themes, emphasis was placed on the form of regional and integrative organization which
the research should take. The partners intend to develop regional research programmes,
incorporating the physical aspects of the environment and resources and issues linked to
socio-economic impacts.
In order to defend this common cause, the institutional and political actors in the conference closely examined the technical elements to draw up the Niamey Declaration. This
aims to bring desertification control to the forefront as one of the priorities for the Rio
Summit +20, alongside global warming and biodiversity conservation.
D
p. 8 and 9 Research
p. 4 Partners
p. 3 News
Anthropological reverse
shot on Nollywood
© IRD / V. Ballu
The sea is rising…
© IRD - Ifremer / Fadio / M. Taquet
n Kenya, research teams are showing some truly machiavellian
talents in control strategies against the
moth Busseola fusca, or maize stalk
borer. They trap males by enticing
them with chemical substances imitating pheromone compounds females
emit to attract a mate. On arrival ready
for his date, the male does not find
the partner he expected, but a pathogenic fungus which gives him an
infection! He is contaminated on contact with that agent’s spores. Through
mating each female is infected in her
turn, then passes the fungal infection
on to its eggs and hence to the larvae.
This young stage is the one responsible for the tunnels bored into the
plants’ stems. With these authoritative
results the researchers can assert that
such assisted auto-dissemination
using pheromones is more effective
than non-targeted spraying with biological agents.
© IRD / O. Barrière
I
Thailand faced
with rising waters
p. 10 Research
A tale of hosts and parasites
M
alaria parasites or viruses infecting
plants may well be among life’s most
rudimentary forms. But some prove to be
parasites that do their utmost to outdo their
hosts by manipulation, thereby fulfilling
their needs –to reproduce and spread– to
the maximum. As for hosts, the monarch
butterfly for instance is incapable of getting
rid of its parasite, yet can select medicinal plants to help its offspring treat themselves.
p. 11 Valorization
"Green" biotechnology
for development
«
Green» biotechnologies developed by IRD scientists and
their research partners are showing great promise for the countries of the South. They can be
harnessed to control pests, make
good use of invasive species,
produce therapeutic substances at less expense. In Senegal, Mexico and Burkina Faso,
the results of these investigations and their applications already put in concrete form,
presage the future role of improved plants in the service of societies and development.
p. 12 Earth
Indian Ocean’s heritage highlighted
T
he promotion and conservation of heritage,
essential for collective memory and the identity
of human groups, can be a force for development
whether in social, economic or sustainability terms.
On the strength of this principle, around 30 researchers, architects and conservation specialists met in
a symposium in Réunion Island this autumn to look
into heritage issues in the towns and cities of the
Indian Ocean Basin. In this the symposium’s first
edition, case studies and comparative analyses from
16 countries or territories highlighted the wealth of
exchanges that have taken place between the different shores of the Indian Ocean.
These exchanges find their roots in the dhow trade that has plied the ocean since the
mediaeval era. The urban heritage has cultural, architectural and non-material dimensions. It is the legacy of the different civilizations which have contributed to its diversity. In the framework of cooperation with the National Museums of Kenya, three
Kenyan researchers presented their work on the challenges of the conservation of
Lamu, an ancient Swahili town classified on the Unesco World Heritage list, on the
issues around the memory of slavery or on the sculptured Swahili and Indo-Arab doors.
These vestiges are highly concrete, symbolic examples of the circulation of humans and
ideas in this region of the world.
Consult the articles in full on the IRD Internet site: http://www.ird.fr
© IRD / I. Perraud-Gaime
Cunning traps for moths
mean saved harvests
p. 7 Research
© National Museum of Kenya / O. Ashikoye
p. 2 News
p. 3 News
© IRD / N. Rahola
© IRD / P.-A. Calatayud
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