Contents
Editorial
Contents
Editorial
The IRD around the world (map)
p. 2
p. 3
Chapter 1
Research, training and consultancy
Earth and environment
Living resources
Health and society
Support and training
Expertise and consulting
Information and communication
p. 4
p. 6
p. 12
p. 18
p. 24
p. 26
p. 30
Chapter 2
The IRD and its partners
In mainland France
In the tropical French overseas dependencies
In Southern countries
Cooperation with the European Union
Cooperation with international agricultural research centers
p.
p.
p.
p.
p.
p.
34
36
38
41
45
45
Chapter 3
People and resources
Budget
Staff
Corporate plan for information systems
Applying the quality approach to research
p.
p.
p.
p.
p.
46
48
50
52
52
p.
p.
p.
p.
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55
56
57
58
Appendices
IRD decision structures
Structure of the IRD
The IRD in figures
IRD centres worldwide
The Research Units and Service Units
1
introduction
Editorial
The first year of the new century marked a new start for
the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement. The
research and service units (some 95 in all) began work on
1 January 2001, and during the year the final aspects of
the Institute’s new scientific organisation were completed. Other changes were the arrival of a new
Chairman on 1 October and the renewal of half the
management team. The scientific council elected its
chairman, and the nomination procedure began for the
chair of the consultative committee on professional conduct and ethics. So it is a good moment for all of us to
take stock of our strengths, our current challenges and
those we shall have to face.
The new structuring as research and service units, at the
initiative of researchers and based on the projects they
have suggested, has already demonstrated its value and
promise. It is enriched by partnerships with other
research bodies, since one-third of our units are involved
in joint research units (UMRs). The IRD is thus fully
engaged in the national and international network of
modern scientific research. It is essential that there be a
European development research space, and the IRD is
pushing hard in that direction.
In April 2001, a multi-year objectives contract was signed
with the French Ministries for research and foreign affairs.
This provides an essential framework for our relations
with our overseeing authorities and stipulates performance indicators for our work, which are currently being
devised. This contract commits both the government and
the Institute to accomplishing the IRD’s mandate.
The new scientific organisation is not quite complete, or
at any rate has not yet reached cruising speed. It will be
constantly monitored to ensure that it functions according to its founding principles.
The IRD also needs a form of management suited to the
complexity of its missions and the geographical and thematic diversity of its activities. This aim is an ambitious
one, but crucial. Scientific and administrative management need to be combined in varying doses. We have
high hopes of the administrative simplification and modernisation plan (PMSA), the service project examining
such issues as the role of research departments and their
directors, the frameworks for various types of convention, and the financial management structure. Also
involved is a master plan for information systems, the
SDSI, which will involve major financial investment. The
PMSA concerns all IRD people, whether they work in
Paris, Niamey or Nouméa, and combines all our concerns
and energies. It contributes to team work and the emergence of an institutional culture that both respects the
2
heritage of the past and unflinchingly faces the challenges of modern research. This ability to adapt and
change is one of our strengths as an institution.
With its new scientific organisation and effective management, the Institute’s prime task now is to demonstrate its capacities in research for development.
This is a challenge to be met with solutions from both
within the Institute and outside. It is a conceptual challenge in terms of defining the very nature of development research and of development itself. It is a daily
challenge to give our research a development content. It
is up to us to encourage new approaches. The preparations for the Johannesburg Summit on sustainable development are a contribution to this process.
We also need to adopt new practices in our partnerships
with scientific, social and political actors in the countries
of the South. Partnership with the South means sharing
our questions, our doubts and our ambitions from the
outset. Whatever the burdens of history, this means
respect for difference as a source of enrichment and
understanding.
Jean-François Girard
Chairman,
IRD Board of Trustees
The IRD around the world
Sweden
United Kingdom
Belgium
Switzerland
See page 37 for
IRD establishments
in France.
Tunisia
China
United States
Lebanon
Morroco
Senegal
Senzgal
Mexico
Mali
Colombia
Martinique
Carribean
French
Guiana
Guinea
Ecuador
Brazil
Peru
India
Niger
Guadeloupe
Costa Rica
French
Polynesia
Egypt
Syria
Israel
Côte
d’Ivoire
d'Ivoire
Thailand
Burkina Ethiopia
Faso
Central
African Republic
Benin
Kenya
Sri Lanka
Togo
Congo
Seychelles
Indonesia
Vanuatu
Cameroon
Madagascar
Bolivia
Paraguay
La Réunion
Chile
Staff
South
Africa
200
Tenured staff
Senegal : Establishments
60
30
Local staff
United States: Other allocations
1
Staff breakdown at 31 December 2001
3
New
Caledonia
Chapter 1
Research, training and consultancy
■ Earth and environment
■ Living resources
■ Societies and health
■ Expertise and consulting
■ Support and training
■ Information and
4
communication
5
Chapter 1
The Earth and Environment department (DME: département milieux et environnement),
with its 23 research units and service units (URs and USs), encompasses a wide range of
disciplines and examines environmental problems from the standpoint of interactions
between atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. Its work covers a large part of the Earth’s
tropical zone.
Earth and environment
The process of opening up IRD research to French and
European partners continued in 2001. IRD teams joined
with other French teams in joint research units and
actions, submitting joint scientific projects to national
and European research programmes, purchasing analytical equipment for joint use, etc.
In the tropical belt, some of the physical and chemical
processes affecting the environment can no longer be
considered separately from biological and medical studies and socio-economic approaches. One illustration of
this trend is the acquisition, on a joint proposal from the
Earth and Environment department and the Living
Resources department, of a multi-beam sensor for
detailed mapping of the sea floor between 0 and
1000 metres’ depth, for the Institute’s oceanographic
vessel Alis. Use of the space facilities in French Guiana to
combine satellite remote sensing with epidemiology is
another example of the way research is changing.
Within the DME, the objective of all four research themes
is to enhance understanding of natural phenomena so as
to improve forecasting of the attendant hazards.
The earth’s crust:
processes and natural hazards
The processes that go on at the surface of the Earth
or deep beneath it, such as vertical and horizontal
movements of the earth’s crust, transfers of matter and
chemical processes, can generate earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The department has launched several
research projects in the tropical zone to work towards
forecasting the hazards caused by the movements of the
tectonic plates that form the Pacific ocean floor. The
processes studied are the speed at which these plates are
converging in the Southwest Pacific and the uplift and
erosion of mountain chains such as the Andes. Because
these are often the most rapid movements of their kind,
they help us to refine our models, especially as regards
the accumulation of mineral resources and transfers of
matter between the continental and oceanic plates. The
teams working in these regions cooperate with local
partners, training them where necessary so that they can
work independently and join other agencies developing
regional programmes.
Our approach to weathering and erosion in the tropical
belt is to examine both geochemical processes both at
two levels: mineral formation and landscape. First and
foremost this means quantifying and dating the deposition and weathering processes of surface formations,
especially laterite formations. Secondly we aim to
improve understanding of the biogeochemical cycle of
elements at the interface between plant and soil. And
lastly, our approach can enable us to locate economically
usable minerals and develop methods for rehabilitating
old mine sites.
6
Continental, coastal and marine
environments
To make sustainable development a feasible proposition,
research into continental, coastal and marine environments is now focusing on quantitative modelling of the
relations between populations and their particular environments. This work, which is conducted in response to
social demands addressed to the Institute’s partners, will
in the long run produce decision tools that encompass
environmental, social and economic parameters.
This is the purpose of the department’s research into the
impact of human activities on resources in arid and semiarid zones. To assess water resources, we are working to
determine the parameters needed to describe exchanges
of mass and transfers of energy between biosphere and
atmosphere.
In coastal oceanography, two URs are examining the
effects of human inputs on water fertility and ecological
balance in the Indo-Pacific (New Caledonia’s big lagoon,
Fiji, French Polynesia, Réunion and the Mozambique
Channel). Because these are environments where all
kinds of factors interact, such research has to be multidisciplinary, ranging from hydrodynamics to molecular
biology.
Chapter 1
Earth and environment
Climate variability and impact
Several programmes are under way in the tropical
Atlantic and Pacific to study climatic variations at all
scales – season to season, year to year and in terms of
palaeoclimates. The tropical oceans play a special part in
the climate change we are now going through, and the
huge impact of El Niño events on ecosystems around the
Pacific is now a proven fact. As climate change has direct
consequences for the region, six French research bodies
have joined forces to launch the Mercator project, which
is to run an operational oceanographic system and
disseminate practical applications.
To quantitatively reconstruct the climate over recent
centuries, Andean glaciers and Pacific corals provide
markers. From these it has been shown, for example,
that the southwestern tropical Pacific cooled by 2°C
between 1720 and 1740. In Brazil, continental markers
such as speleothems are being used to reconstitute
climate patterns as far back as 6000 years.
Sustainable management
of water resources
As a result of climate change and population pressure,
water has become a key issue. IRD scientists are studying
the dynamics of this precious resource, which depend
primarily on climate processes, soil types and management methods. France’s national hydrology research programme, the PNRH, is based on observation systems that
now cover most of Africa and some major river basins
such as the Amazon, and continuous updating of the
related data banks. The purpose is to identify relevant
standardised indicators for monitoring the state of water
resources. To achieve more quantitative models, there
are programmes studying some of the factors in the variability of the African and South American monsoons:
rainfall zones, the life cycle of convection systems, the
water cycle, etc.
7
Impact of the Garafiri dam
The Garafiri dam was built to supply part of Guinea with electricity. Located on the
Konkouré river in the foothills of the Fouta Djallon, it controls an area of 2460 km2
– 14% of the Konkouré basin (roughly 17,250 km2).
Reservoir filling began in April 1999 and was completed
in September 1999. The hydro-electric turbines were
installed in early 2000 and the facility is now fully operational. The artificial lake, when full, covers 79 km2, a
maximum depth of 55 metres and a mean depth of
20 metres. This is quite a large reservoir, and has an
impact on the environment.
In 1998, while the dam was being built, Guinea’s natural
resources and energy ministry and the Entreprise
Nationale d’Electricité de Guinée at Garafiri asked the
IRD for a scientific survey. The IRD, Bas-Rhône Languedoc
Ingénieurie (BRLi) and the Société Française d’Ingénieurie
(BCEOM) were jointly commissioned to monitor the dam’s impact on the Konkouré
river basin and estuary. The Agence Française de Développement provided 1 million
euros to finance the work.
Since 1998 more than ten consultants (including independent consultants) have
been to Guinea to work. On the Guinean side, thirteen researchers and technicians
are taking part. They are from the Conakry research centre CERESCOR, the national
fisheries sciences centre in Boussoura, the Direction nationale de l’hydraulique and
the national meteorology office.
The purpose of the study is to observe a set of physical, chemical and biological variables so as to measure changes occurring during construction, impoundment and operation of the dam. This will allow a
better assessment of the structure’s impact on the environment downstream and provide the authorities
with information for decision making for management of the dam, the reservoir and the area affected
by the dam.
Establishing comparative records of the state of the Konkouré before and after impoundment of the dam
means gathering many different kinds of data in the Konkouré basin and estuary, around the dam and
in inshore waters. These field observations, which have to be processed for the four years of the study,
concern rainfall, inland and estuarine hydrometry, the physico-chemical characteristics of the water,
suspended solids transport, aquatic life and the morphology and sedimentology of the estuary.
After three years’ work, the first results confirm that water in the catchment is particularly diluted (10, to
25 µS/cm). They also show stratification in the reservoir, with an anoxic layer at the bottom, which thins
during the cool season. The building of the dam and the start-up of the Garafiri hydroelectric facility have
significantly altered flow rates in the Konkouré. In the estuary, because low-water flow has increased,
salinity has retreated downstream and the distribution of mangrove oysters and fish has been altered.
One of the IRD units working on the impact study is the service unit “Dynamics, impact and utilisation
of water engineering structures” (US048 Divha). The information gathered on the Konkouré basin and
estuary are being used to test the methods and generic modelling environment Divha is developing. The
models of catchment management and water quality management in a tropical reservoir worked out for
Konkouré will be transferred to the Guinean authorities. They will also be available for feasibility studies
for other dams in the tropics.
Contacts: Luc Ferry - ferryluc@yahoo.fr
Patrick Le Goulven - Patrick.LeGoulven@mpl.ird.fr
8
> example
CDP number
The Ecuador-Colombia margin, where the Nazca plate is subducting at a rate of some 6 centimetres a
year under the South American plate, is an exceptionally active region. Six major subduction quakes of
7.8 to 8.8 magnitude occurred in this margin in the 20th century. The biggest, in 1906, showed a
rupture zone 500 km long, which was partly reactivated by three big quakes in 1942, 1958 and 1979.
Segmented and greatly deformed, this margin involves the subduction of several structural domains of
the Nazca plate, including the roughly 200 km wide Carnegie volcanic ridge.
13000
12000
11000
10000
9000
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
landslip
accretion wedge
eroded margin
Nazca océanic Plate
interplate contact
Multichannel seismic reflection profile cutting vertically through the Ecuador margin in the Gulf of Guayaquil (Sisteur
campaign). The Nazca plate (blue) is forcing its way under the Ecuador margin (green) at ~ 6 cm a year, taking pelagic
sediment (yellow) with it. Sediment deposited in the trench (orange) is caught by the margin front (green) and pushed
up, forming an accretion wedge. Subduction quakes occur along the interface between the two plates (red line), which
reaches a depth of ~ 20 km on the right of the profile.
According to the initial observations, there is a 700-km stretch where the margin has suffered tectonic
erosion throughout, which favours subsidence of the continental plateau and localised retreat of the
coastline. The products of this erosion and the undersea sediment layers on the Nazca plate are drawn
into fault zone between the plates. This zone has been acoustically imaged to a depth of about 20 km,
revealing structural and geometrical complexities that may be linked to seismic ruptures. No terrigenous
deposits have been found in the Ecuador trench where it intersects with the Carnegie ridge; the structure
of the margin shows massive collapses and impacts left by seamounts that have subducted. These observations mean that the margin is extremely unstable, susceptible to seismic shocks and capable of generating tsunamis. The North Ecuador trench, on the other hand, has terrigenous sediments up to 3 km thick,
originating from glacial stripping of the Andes. Only a tiny proportion of these deposits is squeezed
against the margin where the plates meet. This situation, unstable in the long run, reflects a deep-lying
structural complexity in the inter-plate fault which may have been responsible for the great 1979 quake.
Scientists on the programme have also identified several major transverse faults. Three of these coincide
with the boundaries between the rupture zones of major subduction quakes. This correlation also shows
that transverse crustal faults acts as barriers to the propagation of seismic ruptures.
Lastly, researchers have modelled a deep geological layer discovered near the inter-plate fault in Ecuador;
the model shows that seismic waves propagate fairly slowly in that layer. This may make it possible to
establish the link between this deep layer and the generation of subduction quakes. These new data add
to our understanding of lithosphere deformation processes and should help in assessing coastal seismic
hazards in Ecuador and Colombia.
> example
14000
Ecuador trench
The Sisteur programme, led by the Géosciences Azur joint research unit (UR082) in cooperation with
Ecuadorian, Colombian, German and Canadian partners, is adding to our knowledge of the lithospheric
faults whose rupture produces major subduction quakes and tidal waves. Two oceanographic surveys
were run in 2000 and 2001, using modern seismic imaging techniques to locate these structures and
study the physical properties of the margin’s rocks. These were the Sisteur survey, conducted on board
Ifremer’s Nadir and the Ecuadorian navy’s Orion, and the Franco-German Salieri survey conducted in
Ecuador from the vessel Sonne. From the data gathered, the scientists were able to establish a link
between the structural context and the characteristics of the main seismic rupture zones.
Contact: Jean-Yves Collot - collot@obs-vlfr.fr
15000
fore-arc sedimentary basin
Seconds Two way Travel time
Earthquakes beneath the Ecuador-Colombia margin
16000
The lithospheric plates that form the Earth’s ocean floors migrate slowly across
the globe and are carried down beneath the edges of the continental plates,
along huge ocean trenches. This meeting of plates generates the intense
tectonic deformations characteristic of active margins. Ninety percent of the
planet’s seismic energy is released along mega-faults between plates, fragile
surfaces inclined at angles of 20° to 45° beneath the continent. As yet we have
only fragmentary knowledge of the seismogenic zone, the part of this surface
where seismic ruptures occur, causing major natural disasters. Its mechanical
behaviour is greatly influenced by the thermal structure of the margin. However, shear stress and the
effective friction coefficient along the fault are extremely slight, which seems to be in contradiction
with the strength of the quakes (M > 8). The structure of these faults, which act as barriers to the
propagation of the rupture, and the physical nature of the seismological asperities (parts of the fault
where co-seismic displacement is greatest) are not yet known.
9
Freons as oceanic tracers
Ocean currents, at the surface and at depth, play a vital part in climate
processes. Oceans absorb heat from the sun (mainly in the tropics) and currents
transport and distribute that heat to different parts of the world.
Some of the problems we currently encounter in forecasting climate change are
due to our lack of understanding of ocean circulation. This lack is particularly
acute for the Atlantic, which has a direct influence on climate and weather in
Africa, Brazil, Europe and northeastern America.
The Equalant programme1, which the IRD has been leading since 1999, is
mainly designed to improve knowledge of the dynamics of deep currents, focusing particularly on determining the circulation of one of the main components of circulation in the Atlantic, the Deep Western
Boundary Current (DWBC) which carries the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) from the seas off
Labrador, Norway and Greenland down the East coast of America to the coast of French Guiana and
Brazil in the southern hemisphere, before part of the current turns east along the Equator.
Oceanographic surveys in 1999 and 2000 covered the entire equatorial strip from the coast of Brazil to
the edge of the Gulf of Guinea. Measurements were taken of physical, hydrological and chemical
parameters (current speed, temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, nutrient salts and freons, CO2, etc.),
as well as weather parameters, along several meridional radials. The data have improved our
understanding of deep Equatorial circulation.
Analysis of freon concentrations2 has established beyond doubt the rapid zonal bifurcation of deep water
flows reaching the eastern equatorial basin. The most innovative results are from the study of variability
over time in the characteristics of the deep waters on the Equator, in response to the variability of the
North Atlantic. A first series of measurements of mean freon concentrations was taken at intervals
between 1990 and 1999, along sections at 35°W (between 4°S and 4°N). From this time series, we were
able to reconstitute a ten year history of the two distinct water masses that make up the NADW, one
originating in the Labrador Sea and the other, denser mass flowing from the Straits of Denmark.
Another application for the freon measurements is as a new way of monitoring the new form of Labrador
Sea Water formed by a surge in convection in the Labrador basin in 1988: thanks to the freons, this water
mass has been identified all the way to the tropics, in 1996 at 7°N at the heart of the DWBC and then
on the Equator at 23°W during the Equalant 1999 survey and at 0°E during Equalant 2000. From this
work, researchers estimate that it takes oceanic anomalies less than ten years to travel between high
latitudes in the northern hemisphere and the tropics.
This shows how valuable these approaches can be for monitoring the impact of global climate change,
particularly around the tropics, where water masses undergo transformations that have a major impact
on the tropical climate, as deep water becomes intermediate water and then surface water.
Contact: Chantal Andrié - Chantal.Andrie@lodyc.jussieu.fr
(1) Equalant is part of the Eclat programme (Etudes climatiques en Atlantique tropicale), a strand of the French
national climate study programme (PNEDC), which in turn is the French contribution to CLIVAR, the international
Climate Variability and Predictability programme. The Equalant surveys, headed by the IRD (the dynamic
oceanography and climatology laboratory LODYC and the IRD Centre in Brittany), also involved Météo France, the
CNRS, the Paris-VI University, the IUEM and the Universities of Saõ Paolo (Brazil) and Cocody (Côte d’Ivoire).
(2) Freons (CFCs or chlorofluoromethanes) are synthetic compounds which have been manufactured and released
into the atmosphere since 1940. Convection carried them down into northern seas, where they move with
the currents. They can be used as ocean tracers to track the movement of cold waters down to the southern
hemisphere.
10
> example
Lagoon system equilibrium
The recent spread of urbanisation, farming, industry and tourism in the island States of the Pacific have
caused major and lasting degradation of their lagoon and reef ecosystems. In New Caledonia, the main
sources of the problem are urban growth and mining. The main objective of the Camélia research unit
(UR103) is to determine and model the transport and transformation mechanisms of the main inputs to
lagoon systems, both natural terrigenous inputs and those due to human activity, and to analyse the
impact of these inputs on the lagoon system’s functioning. The team focuses particularly on particles,
nutrients and metals, which can cause over-sedimentation, eutrophication and toxicity respectively.
Divided into several research tasks – circulation and transport, biological functioning, historical sedimentary archives and bio-accumulation of metals in living things – the project has already produced some
major information items. A highlight of 2001 was the team’s modelling work on particle transport.
What becomes of inputs reaching coastal waters depends mainly on water circulation. Modelling is the
only tool that allows researchers to advance from individual measurements taken in the field to a predictive synoptic representation of circulation. From several years’ work in New Caledonia’s southwestern
lagoon, we have now made a simulation of circulation under different climate regimes. At present the
team is using a 3-D model that takes account of tidal currents and wind. Based on this work, the hydrodynamic models were coupled in two stages with a particle transport model. A first computer model of
transport was developed for cohesive sediments (i.e. mud), and the model’s sensitivity and calibration
were tested so as to obtain a preliminary estimation of the main parameters involved in the process of
transport, sedimentation in the water column and erosion/deposition at the water-sediment interface.
The work revealed two important points:
- the influence of the wind predominates in the erosion-sedimentation process in shallow areas, with a
more direct effect on erosion in waters less than 20 metres deep;
- the tide, a permanent feature, largely controls particle transport, vertical mixing in the water column
and deposition in areas where the wind’s influence is weak.
This model was then adapted to discovering more about the transport of non-cohesive suspended particles (i.e. sand), simulating transport under the combined effects of tide and wind. Transport of a population of particles ranging widely in size can be processed by simultaneous resolution of as many transport equations as there are particle size classes representing all the particles. The first simulations of suspended transport of non-cohesive particles in the southwestern lagoon show that the erosion zones correspond to those where the coarse fraction is predominant.
In the medium term, this model can be used to simulate paroxysmal events such as hurricanes, which
would have profiles even further from equilibrium.
Contact: Renaud Fichez - fichez@noumea.ird.nc
11
> example
Chapter 1
The Living Resources department (DRV, département des ressources vivantes) had eight new
research units in 2001, making a total of 37 units, several of which are joint research units.
The new units have strengthened and formalised research projects on tropical forest dynamics (in French Guiana particularly), on the response mechanisms of reef and lagoon coral
ecosystems to human interference, on protected areas and conservation biology, and on
developing biological pest control methods for crops and cultivated plants.
Living resources
The southern countries’ first concern is to feed their fastgrowing populations. This concern will become a major
problem over the next twenty years. The reasons for the
expected food shortage are many: uncontrolled population growth, limited water resources, environmental
degradation, over-exploited resources, climate change.
The combined result is food shortage, and the department’s work is geared to this problem.
Fishery and aquaculture
Wild aquatic resources are being exploited at maximum
potential or above. In a few marine or freshwater situations some increase in resources may be hoped for, but
this would be only a marginal increase. The IRD teams,
along with the best teams and researchers from Europe,
North America and the South, and with the support of
the European Union, the Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO) and Unesco, are looking for precise,
practical “ecosystem indicators”. These indicators are
functions combining several parameters, which can be
used for continuous monitoring of the general state of
health of a marine ecosystem in the face of human
exploitation and pollution. Identifying such indicators,
especially indicators that are precise and easy to use, is a
real challenge given the complexity of the interactions
between a marine ecosystem and its exploitation.
Aquaculture is a promising avenue for significantly
increasing food production. But the benefits will come
too late, since it requires many technical developments
that take time to achieve, and in developing countries it
also requires the cultural and technical conditions for
adopting practices and transferring technology.
Agricultural research
It is therefore agriculture that will have to meet the dramatic increase in food requirements. As the world’s farmland cannot be much increased in area, yields on existing
farmland must be increased. Broadly speaking, intensifying production in sustainable conditions can be achieved
in two ways: crop variety improvement, and optimising
cropping methods and practices. These are the two main
themes of the department’s agricultural research.
Research to increase the resistance of crops to parasites,
pesticides or heat, reduce their water requirements,
increase grain or fruit size or improve nutritional quality
involves genomics and molecular biology.
Our scientists, often in partnership with private enterprise, explore the genetic mechanisms that determine
the characteristics, properties and behaviour of a plant
with a view to rapid application in agriculture.
That is why, although systematic productive use of
genetically modified crops is as yet premature, research
12
that may produce GM varieties that are better than existing ones while presenting no danger to humans or the
environment, is a vital necessity. Furthermore, this type
of research using biotechnology greatly accelerates the
acquisition of knowledge for plant breeding without
genetic modification: for example, the selection process
is much faster with the use of genetic markers.
Plant physiology and cell biology research are also helping to speed up plant breeding by providing more
detailed knowledge of how cultivated plants function.
Generally speaking, in the countries of the North, Europe
and North America particularly, and apart from work in
molecular biology and genomics, agronomists have
focused on production systems. Taking the view that
intensification can be achieved more by improving the
organisation of production than by improved production
per se, they propose major, rapid progress in productivity
at every stage of the cropping cycle.
Chapter 1
Living resources
Although this line of research has fallen
somewhat out of favour, the IRD will be focusing on it at
least as much as on genomics and plant breeding.
Without importing new techniques or costly technology,
the production systems approach can increase yields and
cut the cost of massive and increasing use of bought-in
pesticides and fertilisers or imported seed. IRD research
to adapt cropping practices while emphasising respect
for cultural practices and the environment (using
biological and ecosystem pest control among other
approaches) has three goals: to increase productivity,
economise on resources and create a sustainable system.
An approach that looks particularly promising for developing countries.
13
Viable development of fish farming implies a thorough knowledge of the genetic resources of local
wild fish (e.g. the geographical distribution of
species and the genetic structure of fish populations), and the expression and determining factors of
breeding periods, fertility, growth and other life
traits. The basic essentials apart, this knowledge also
provides crucial practical information for selecting
species or populations for farming, designing
suitable production systems, managing breeding
stock and assessing the impact of fish farming on
natural genetic resources.
Integrated approach to fish farming
IRD research in Indonesia and the Bolivian Amazon
includes all these aspects. Fish species are particularly
diverse in these two regions. Their systematics is not
well known, and fish farming is largely based on the use of introduced species or populations.
In Indonesia, the department has been working since 1996 in partnership with the Research Institute for
Freshwater Fisheries and with the support of the European Commission and the French foreign ministry.
The research concerns the Clariidae and Pangasiidae, two families of catfish with great farming potential. Four species new to science have been discovered. The systematics of both families has been
considerably refined and the geographical distribution of the species mapped. The new identification keys
established will enable fish farmers to manage their stocks better. For example, fish farmers in Sumatra
were interested in what was regarded as a single species called Pangasius pangasius. But P. pangasius has
proven to be a mixture of three distinct species, which explains some incoherence in their biological
characteristics and will now enable farmers to avoid accidentally producing sterile hybrids.
The research has also found that several local species are of interest for developing and diversifying fish
farm output. For example, Pangasius farming in Indonesia has hitherto been based on P. hypopthalmus,
a species introduced from Thailand. Now, we have found that a local species, P. djambal, has more
favourable farming characteristics, and we have mastered the whole of its biological cycle in captivity;
within a few years it could become the main catfish farmed in Indonesia. In another work strand, a
management protocol for cultivated strains of P. djambal has been drawn up, taking account of the
genetic differences between wild populations on the islands of Sumatra, Borneo and Java. In particular,
we now know that transferring native Sumatran individuals to Borneo should be banned, since this could
lead to irreversible genetic mixtures between populations that have very different farming characteristics.
In Bolivia, research began in 2001 in partnership with the universities of San Andrès and San Simon, on
species chosen from three families of economically useful fish, the Pimelodidae, Cichlidae and
Serrasalminae. Variations in observed life traits are identified, taking into account fluctuations in environmental factors in the rios of the Bolivian Amazon floodplain, and are then analysed according to the
geographical origin and genetic structure of the populations. The first results show that the genetic
structure of two species of Pimelodidae, Pseudoplatystoma tigrinum and P. fasciatum, is related to the
surroundings in which these populations live (clear water versus white water rios). There proves to be
wider genetic variability in the white water populations, which may make them more suitable as
cultivated strains. The data gathered will help to improve control of fish farm production cycles and help
identify the best populations for building up breeding stock. As the species studied are widespread in
Latin America, the results will be of benefit to other countries besides Bolivia.
Contact: Marc Legendre - Marc.Legendre@mpl.ird.fr
> example
14
Bacteriophagic nematodes and nitrogen flows
To rehabilitate degraded or “exhausted” farmland
and make it fit for crops again, fertility must be
restored by improving on the soil’s biological
functioning.
15
Microbes play a major role in the functioning of a
soil, as they are involved in regulating nutrient flows.
The Ibis research unit and its northern and southern
partners1 start from the basic hypothesis that the
physico-chemical and biological components of the
soil are determinant for the functioning of soil
microbes. Taking this ecological approach, the Ibis
project is studying interactions between edaphic
factors and particular living things in the soil:
microbes (bacteria, heterotrophic and mycorrhizal
fungi, actinomycetes), soil “engineers” (termites),
nematodes that parasite on plants, and free-living nematodes that predate on micro-organisms.
The focus of the work, carried out on several land types2, is control of the nitrogen cycle. A viable
farming system requires the available nutrients in the soil to be properly utilized in their entirety. Nutrients
should flow through the soil-plant system on a “just-in-time” basis.
The mineral forms of nitrogen (ammonia and nitrate) are indispensable for plant growth. So everything
begins with a study of the role of soil micro-organisms in producing mineral forms of nitrogen. The
abundance, diversity and activity of these micro-organisms are affected by predators. IRD researchers have
shown that the behaviour, nature and abundance of these predators, hence of their prey, and hence
nitrogen flows, are affected in different ways by different farming practices.
In Senegal, we tested the effect of the most abundant bacteriophagic nematodes (Cephalobus,
Acrobeloides and Zeldia) on microbial behaviour and nitrogen flows. Results from 2001 show that these
nematodes have similar effects, only the intensity of these effects varying between species. They reduce
microbial density by 40%, but increase the activity of the microbial community by 20%. By changing the
structure of the microbe community, their presence affects the flow of nitrogen in the soil: mineral
nitrogen content tends to diminish (mainly ammonium, -20%) while plant biomass and nitrogen in the
plant increase (by 12% and 18% respectively) as a result of the nematodes’ activity.
At present we are trying to identify the microbe communities ingested by the nematodes (their genetic
and functional diversity), and their role in the various stages of the nitrogen cycle.
Contacts: Jean-Luc Chotte - Jean-Luc.Chotte@ird.sn
Cécile Villenave - villenav@biomserv.univ-lyon1.fr
(1) UMR 5557 CNRS/Ecologie Microbienne/UCB Lyon 1, UMR 7625 CNRS/Paris-VI University/École Normale
Supérieure, CNRS/INRA/CEA rhizosphere ecology laboratory in Cadarache, Dakar University departments of animal
and plant biology, Senegal Institute of Agricultural Research (ISRA) soil biochemistry laboratory.
(2) Semi-arid savanna in Senegal, the semi-arid and sub-humid area of agroforestry systems and intensive cropping in Burkina Faso, mine sites in New Caledonia, intensively farmed sugar cane fields in South Africa.
> example
Proliferations of planktonic algae in shallow tropical
aquatic ecosystems affect the trophic relations
between the different aquatic communities and
degrade the quality of the ecosystem, especially
where the proliferating bacteria are cyanobacteria.
The research unit on the determining factors of algal
bloom (UR098) is trying to identify the factors
responsible for these blooms, whether natural or
caused by human activity, to improve assessment of
the associated risks.
Cyanobacteria and toxic risk
Phytoplankton communities are usually very diverse.
The species in them adapt to their environment by
maximising their access to light and minimising the
risk of being eaten by herbivores. Different types of
adaptive response are juxtaposed in time and space,
from the plasticity of each cell to structural changes
in the community as a whole.
The dynamics of algal populations are controlled by the available nutrient supply and its consumption at
all levels of the food chain. These two types of regulation are not mutually exclusive, and are probably
always present, but opinions differ as to the relative importance of each.
To take nutrient supply and environmental factors first, Lake Sélingué in Mali provides an example. At the
end of the dry season phytoplankton production in the lake is limited by the low levels of nitrogen and
phosphorus in the water. This is due to sustained stratification of the water column and competition
between the phytoplankton and bacterial communities for access to nutrients. In many other places,
however, increasing use of farm inputs or the discharge of untreated sewage causes excessive nutrient
supply in aquatic environments.
The other factor, nutrient consumption, includes both browsing and predation. For example, in the
reservoirs of the semi-arid Brazilian Nordeste, phytoplankton and cyanobacteria predominate wherever
there are omnivorous fish eating zooplankton, algae and detritus; but where the biomass of fish-eating
fish is greater, this tendency declines.
Intense and varied selection pressures result in a loss of diversity, usually with a few species predominating. Studying and prospecting in Brazil, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Burkina Faso, we have observed
the proliferation of cyanobacteria of the genus Cylindrospermopsis, which has a high toxic potential,
producing both liver toxins and nervous system toxins. When Cylindrospermopsis proliferates in drinking
water supply reservoirs, there is a danger to human and animal health from ingestion, inhalation or
mere contact.
Apart from monitoring water quality and the use of natural aquatic resources, research of this kind can
help to improve fishery management. For example, the relative proportions of plankton-eating and
fish-eating fish, and hence the structure of the pelagic food chain, can be altered by selective fishing,
stocking with young fish or restoring foreshore habitats. This kind of management can improve the
quality of water for human consumption by reducing algal and cyanobacterial biomass while increasing
fishery yields.
Contact: Robert Arfi - arfi@dakar.ird.sn
> example
16
Adaptation in insect crop pests
In the course of time, tropical plant-eating insects
have adapted to crops introduced into the intertropical zone. In Africa south of the Sahara, for example,
several noctuid moths of the genii Busseola and
Sesamia, which bore into the stems of wild grasses
and cultivated gramineae such as sorghum, have
adapted to maize and become the main pests of this
crop. Scientists from the research unit on biodiversity
and evolution of plant-insect-pest-antagonist
relations (UR072) are working to gain a deeper
understanding of this adaptation. We are investigating several questions: why are these species the only
ones to adapt? What are the genetic or ecological
factors that make adaptation possible? When and
where did the phenomenon occur, and what are its
consequences for the biology and ecology of the
insect concerned?
In East and Southern Africa, Busseola fusca is a major maize pest above 900 metres altitude; yet in
West Africa, it is a major pest at lower altitudes. This uneven distribution suggests that there are
geographically and ecologically distinct populations.
The purpose of this work will be to reveal the biotic and abiotic factors affecting the distribution and
abundance of B. fusca and estimate the ecological and genetic differences between populations living far
apart geographically or in different biotopes. We also want to determine whether differentiation between
populations of the pest leads some populations of its main antagonist, the parasitoid wasp Cotesia
sesamiae, to adapt to the local ecological particularities of the host and so to diversify in its turn.
In 2001 we focused on two main issues. The first was the precise mapping of B. fusca populations in
Kenya, where the team’s researchers are working with the International Centre for Insect Physiology and
Ecology (ICIPE, Nairobi), and in Benin, Togo and Ghana in West Africa, where they are collaborating with
the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA, Cotonou). The second was to develop molecular
markers for studying the genetic structures of Busseola fusca and Cotesia sesamiae.
In Kenya, analysis of the data gathered shows that B. fusca’s range is larger than expected, and confirms
that this is by far the predominant species of stem borer at altitudes above 1500 metres. In Benin, Togo
and Ghana, the first results show that B. fusca is present in the mesophilic semi-deciduous forest zone,
as in Côte d’Ivoire.
Molecular analysis, based on comparing mitochondrial genes, has revealed a high degree of gene
sequence polymorphism between geographically distant populations (Benin v. Kenya), and also between
Kenyan populations, which suggests that the genetic differentiation occurred long ago, probably before
the introduction of maize or even the domestication of sorghum. Several molecular markers that could
be used to study the genetic structure of populations of C. sesamiae were assessed, and we used one of
them to design a quick molecular test that distinguishes between C. sesamiae and C. flavipes, a species
introduced into East Africa several years ago to control a different stem borer. This is a major advance for
studying the genetics of C. sesamiae populations.
A physio-behavioural study of interactions between borers and gramineae is planned, to complement the
genetic and ecological approaches.
The programme is training African students, especially through thesis supervision.
Contact: Jean-François Silvain - silvain@pge.cnrs-gif.fr
> example
17
Chapter 1
In 2001 the Societies and Health department (DSS, département sociétés et santé) established its 34 research and service units. The department’s mission is to analyse the human
and social factors of development, both with regard to events as they occur and taking a
long-term view of demographic, territorial, economic and cultural change.
Societies and health
Within the department, complementarity between
disciplines enables us, in collaboration with our partners,
to propose viable development strategies.
Health
On the health side, the department’s work mainly
concerns the tropical zone, and has the following three
main themes:
• Biomedicine. Priorities in this field are the search for
prophylactic and therapeutic drugs against the major
endemic diseases: parasite diseases such as malaria,
trypanosomiasis, bilharzia, leishmaniasis; tuberculosis,
the main bacterial endemic; and the viral diseases AIDS,
dengue fever and measles. Scientists from several disciplines are involved, mainly molecular biologists and
entomologists. We are analysing the many factors
involved in the current increase in outbreaks of some
endemic diseases– “natural” factors, particularly drug
resistance, and social factors such as political instability
and increasing resource scarcity. We are also conducting
research into the so-called “emerging” diseases, which
are in fact caused by known viruses but with modified
clinical profiles. One example is hemorrhagic dengue
fever in Southeast Asia.
• Public health and health economics. In this field
medicine intersects with the anthropological approach to
grasp all the aspects of fast-changing demand for health
care, and with socio-economic analysis for the quantitative
and qualitative assessment of health provision. Among the
main research themes are interrelations between health
risks and environment, actors in health systems, and
representations of the body, illness and health.
• Nutrition. IRD researchers are studying the characteristics and determinants of undernutrition, its repercussions on children’s development, and palliatives and
preventive measures. Here again medicine and the social
sciences come together in a necessary and fruitful
collaboration. Nutrition and malnutrition are addressed
from several angles: physiology, biochemical research
and also surveys on food, dietary habits and families’
strategies against malnutrition.
Social science
In the social science field, some of the cross-linking
themes are as follows:
• Dynamics of rural societies. In the face of the often
rigorous conditions of their natural surroundings,
so-called “traditional” farming societies
18
Chapter 1
Societies and health
demonstrate day by day their ability to react
both to environmental change and to economic and
politico-legal changes generated by the national and
international context. Their ability to adapt, innovate and
make development strategy decisions is still largely
underestimated. IRD research has highlighted this
capacity in research that examines the link between how
these societies function and the way they use resources,
especially the most scarce and precious of resources,
water. The work has also shown the complexity of
interactions between different actors involved in the regulation of land tenure, use of irrigation works, adoption
of new farming practices or techniques, etc.
• Urban issues. Now that a clear majority of the world’s
population live in towns, the great cities of the North and
South alike pose problems in areas that range from environment, health and spatial management to transport,
security and corruption. IRD is analysing risks in urban
conditions, the spatial, social and economic histories and
strategies of individuals and families, the problems of city
governance (from the viewpoint of central, regional and
local government and international organisations), land
use, and care of urban heritage.
• Mobility. Mobility is an essential feature of modern
life, and this issue arises in one way or another in many
research projects. There is the forced mobility of refugees
and the “voluntary” mobility of people seeking work.
There is mobility as part of individual or family strategy,
rural outmigration and the return to the home village,
mobility between or within cities, emigration that generates minorities or diasporas, the mobility of the most
disadvantaged groups, and the “brain drain”. Mobility is
the result of urban or rural poverty or the aspirations of
new categories of citizens. It generates new hazards,
especially with regard to health, but also new opportunities. It is a factor in spatial, social and identity recomposition in the South as in the North.
• Poverty and development economics. The adoption
of poverty reduction policies has highlighted the complexity of the problem of defining and measuring this
multi-dimensional phenomenon. Calling on every branch
of the social sciences, the theoretical and methodological contributions of the department’s researchers
is helping to develop more pertinent concepts and
instruments for investigating, analysing and monitoring
poverty.
19
Refugees and the environment
Civil wars in Africa and elsewhere plunge whole
regions into economic and humanitarian tragedy.
Among the victims of these tragedies over the past
ten, twenty or thirty years are the millions of
refugees who gather en masse on the borders of
their home countries. The media take a look, then
look away. In the South, host countries are often
incapable of taking on their shoulders alone the
burden and cost of humanitarian aid; they turn to
the international community and non-governmental
organisations to meet these populations’ basic needs
for water, food, health, security and education.
Given the scale of the refugee problem and the consequences of conflict within the wider context of
international migration, the IRD could hardly avoid
taking these questions as a focus for research. The
Institute offered its services to the UN High Commission for Refugees (HCR), and a team of IRD
researchers joined the humanitarian aid community, investigating the problem from a geographical and
environmental angle. The situation was especially favourable for this kind of collaboration with the HCR
since environmental protection had become increasingly important in diplomatic relations with host
countries. Environmental damage blamed on refugees has become a hotly debated issue and a negotiating point over the amount and type of aid provided, with host countries threatening to send refugees
back to their home countries.
In many cases there are no precise, up-to-date maps of the regions concerned, but such maps are indispensable for environmental analysis, choosing reception sites, logistical management of the camps and
monitoring the situation. First in Kenya and then in Uganda, the IRD team reconnoitred and conducted
surveys so as to supply large-scale maps of refugee camps in Kenya and farming areas in Uganda. All the
latest technology was put to use, from GPS and airborne digital video recording to high-resolution
satellite imagery.
With financial support from the Fonds français pour le développement mondial, the images were
processed and interpreted with the aid of regular field trips and the help of NGO staff. In this way we
mapped with great precision the farming areas granted to the refugees, with soil types, vegetation,
population and other parameters. The various data strata were integrated in a geographical information
system, which we put at the disposal of the HCR and the Ugandan government.
The programme was run in collaboration with a CIRAD team working in Guinea. As well as the environmental situation, it should familiarise the HCR staff with the methods we used so that they can be
disseminated to all parts of the world where settlement of refugee populations in “humanitarian sanctuaries” becomes a problem for physical planning and management. As long as humanitarian aid is a
substitute for political solution to conflicts, it has to be effective. For the refugees, the local population
and the host government, this is essential. And scientists have a part to play in that.
Contact : Luc Cambrézy - cambrezy@bondy.ird.fr
20
> example
Dengue fever: an emerging virus disease
Some of the emerging virus diseases, many of which are transmissible by
animals (zoonoses) or mosquitoes or ticks (the arboviruses) are exceptionally
serious, causing encephalitis or hemorrhagic fever. Some, like Ebola fever, have
emerged with a greatly increased epidemic potential.
Dengue fever viruses have become prevalent in the tropics and sub-tropics since
1950, when hemorrhagic fever syndrome first appeared. They are now a
constant worry in developing countries, where medical provisions are often
inadequate. Two hundred million people are exposed to the dengue fever virus, which can be fatal in
children. There is also a real danger that it may spread to the North.
In Thailand, the IRD and the University of Mahidol have set up the Research Centre for Viral Diseases. It
is headed by the IRD’s research unit on emerging viral diseases and information systems (UR034) and is
focusing primarily on dengue fever and viral encephalitis. Using geographical information systems, the
team have identified epidemic risk indicators for the dengue fevers. They have also reported on new
epidemiological profiles: continuous epidemic transmission through a vector, and discontinuous epidemic
transmission from person to person. The scientists are also studying the genetics of strains isolated from
cases of viral encephalitis. And they have shown that during epidemics, there is intense “silent” circulation of the virus without clinical manifestations.
The IRD team has also been studying an attenuated tetravalent live vaccine against dengue fever developed by partners in the Centre for Vaccine Development. The team has demonstrated the molecular stability of the vaccine strains both in humans and in Aedes aegypti, the virus’s main vector. In collaboration
with Aventis, the private company that developed the vaccine, spatial strategies have been produced for
measuring the efficacy of the vaccination campaigns in Thailand. Studies of the bio-ecology of the
vectors have found relevant indicators for vector population control. In 2001 a Research Centre for
dengue fever vectors was created; it means to become a research, training and reference centre, with
annual international seminars supported by the IRD’s Support and Training department.
In Brazil, in collaboration with that country’s National Health Foundation, it has been shown that dengue
fevers are emerging in rural areas, and their dynamics are under study.
In Senegal, a major study of the selvatic cycle of the dengue fever virus seemed essential. The IRD and its
partners at the Pasteur Institute in Dakar are studying this poorly-understood phenomenon in eastern
Senegal. Although primates are recognised as potential wild reservoirs, their role in the maintenance and
emergence of the virus has still to be assessed. IRD scientists are also studying the efficacy of Aedes egypti
strains of various origins as vectors of wild and epidemic strains of the dengue virus.
In France, the Emerging Viruses Unit at the Université de la Méditerannée is developing and transferring
diagnostic tools and is performing molecular monitoring on viral strains. The laboratory has shown that
recombination can occur in the dengue virus in the wild.
The Medical Acarology Laboratory at the IRD centre in Montpellier joined UR034 in 2001 to take part in
work on transmission of the flaviviruses, a family of major human pathogenic viruses that includes
dengue, yellow fever, tick-borne encephalitis and West Nile virus.
Contact: Jean-Paul Gonzalez - frjpg@mucc.mahidol.ac.th
> example
21
Malnutrition, breast-feeding and infant health
Malnutrition in young children is common in developing
countries. It is not only damaging for the child’s development, it also greatly increases the risk of infectious
diseases and mortality and plays a considerable part in
the damage done by HIV infection.
22
Emaciation and retarded growth affect children of 6 to
18 months old particularly; this is the weaning period,
when the child’s diet is becoming more varied, first with
food to supplement the mother’s milk, then with definitive weaning around 18 to 24 months. This is the
period when malnutrition may occur as a number of
environmental factors interact with diet – mainly whatever infectious diseases are prevalent in the area, and
the social context. This observation has led the World
Health Organisation (WHO) to adopt the recommendation that children be breast-fed to 2 years of age or over. In 2001, the WHO extended its recommendation on exclusive breast-feeding to cover the fist 6 months of life for all children in the world.
In 2001, the IRD’s work helped to terminate a controversy that had been raging over the optimum duration of breast-feeding. Since the 1980s, a link between prolonged breast-feeding and malnutrition in
young children in developing countries had been highlighted a number of times. A number of studies in
Africa and Latin America had shown that those children that breast-fed the longest were also the smallest and thinnest. This was not because mothers who breast-fed for longest were poorer than others, nor
were there any other socio-economic casual factors. Published recommendations stated that children
should be weaned by 18 months at latest, and children suffering from malnutrition at no later than 12
months.
This supposed negative effect of breast-feeding was in contradiction its the known benefits (less diarrhoea and pneumopathy) and survival in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Based on a study by IRD
researchers in some thirty villages in the rural area of Niakhar in Senegal, several of the Institute’s nutritional experts put forward an “inverse causality” hypothesis: not that prolonged breast-feeding caused
malnutrition, but that mothers who saw signs of malnutrition or retarded growth in their baby at the 9th
or 10th month, continued to breast-feed for longer in the hope of improving its condition. Nutritional
deficiencies were the cause, not the consequence, of prolonged breast-feeding.
To confirm this hypothesis, the researcher ran a survey among 500 mothers in the same part of Senegal,
to discover their real reasons for deciding to wean their baby or not. It was found that the size, health
and appetite of the baby was a prime factor in the decision: breast-feeding was prolonged if the baby
was “small and thin”, if food was short, or if the baby was ill and refused the family food.
The researchers also discovered that between the ages of 18 and 24 months, allowing for socio-economic
differences, the height gain of the breast-fed babies was faster on average than that of the weaned
babies. However, children who were very tall at the age of 3, had been breast-fed for a shorter time than
average, and very small toddlers had been breast-fed longer. But these size differences were not induced
by the feeding regime: they had already existed at two or three months of age.
With the general acknowledgement that the mother’s milk is best for a child’s health, research now has
to take into account new negative factors such as the transmission of HIV via the mother’s milk and exposure through breast-milk to toxins from a degraded environment – problems that are becoming more
acute as a result of the development process.
> example
Contact: François Simondon kirsten.simondon@mpl.ird.fr
Poverty reduction strategies
Confronted with worsening poverty in many parts of the world, the failure of the structural adjustment
policies and challenges to their legitimacy, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund have now
made poverty reduction the goal of their actions. Since 1999, developing countries wishing to benefit
from conditional financial aid from these organisations, or seeking debt relief under the heavily indebted
poor countries (HIPC) initiative, have to prepare a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). The entire
international community quickly adopted this goal, and poverty reduction is now the core issue in development policies everywhere. In early 2002, nearly 70 poor countries had begun the process.
Researchers in the Cipre research unit (UR047) have just published a set of papers1, the first synthesis to
be published on this subject. The consensus that has grown up around the new poverty reduction strategies raises many questions. Has the policy content really changed or is this just window-dressing? To what
extent can these policies attain their poverty reduction objectives? The approach adopted, which consists
of organising a participative process to work out policy, is a major innovation: but will it really strengthen
democracy and make policy more effective? And how are these policies to be monitored and assessed?
It is too early to draw definitive conclusions – two years after their launch these policies have not yet been
implemented in the field. However, researchers have made a first critical examination of them. As regards
actual content, the recommended policies are not very innovative and often look like a continuation of
earlier policies. The much-deplored lack of participation merely reflects the structural weakness of the
intermediary bodies and organised civil society. Ownership of the new policies by the beneficiary States
also poses problems: sometimes they are seen merely as additional conditions for obtaining aid. And
despite the donors’ apparent unanimity, these policies are likely to strengthen the hegemony of the
Bretton Woods institutions, which have to cope with a major contradiction between the principle of
selective aid they have been promoting for several years, and the urgent need for debt relief for all the
countries concerned. Lastly, arrangements for monitoring and evaluation, which were supposed to play
a central role in managing the policy, are one of its main blind spots.
But despite this uncompromising analysis, the common principles of the HIPC and PRSP initiatives do constitute a radical break with past practice and as such are harbingers of hope. They offer a real possibility
of changing the nature of public policy and international aid, making it more helpful for development
and calling on wider citizen participation. There is no guarantee that this opportunity will be seized: that
depends on the capacity of social forces to work in that direction, and therefore on local situations. But
the formal conditions for citizens’ opinions to find expression have never been so favourable. The
outcome is by no means fore-ordained.
Contact: François Roubaud - Roubaud@dial.prd.fr
(1) Les nouvelles stratégies internationales de lutte
contre la pauvreté, ed. J-P. Cling, M. Razafindrakoto,
F. Roubaud. Editions Economica, Paris, 2002.
23
> example
Chapter 1
In 2001, the Expertise and Consulting department (DEV, département expertise et valorisation) continued to find economic applications for IRD research findings at the same pace as
the previous year, applying for patents, signing consultancy contracts and forming one business enterprise. The department also began discussions within the Institute on how to formalise a quality approach to research.
Expertise and Consulting
Aid for business start-ups
Following the passing of the 1999 law on innovation in
France, the IRD launched four new business ventures in
2000. In 2001, one business start-up application by an
IRD researcher was successfully completed. The new
firm, based in Bolivia, enables local partners to benefit
directly from knowledge transfer in a very promising
field: screening for Chagas disease.
The start-ups created earlier by IRD researchers are still
on course. 2ie Technologies increased it capital in 2001,
recruited five engineers and technicians and finalised its
products; ApoH Technologies merged with two other
biotechnology firms and now has a very credible position
in the health diagnosis market.
with its statutes, split into two entities, GénoplanteRecherche and Génoplante-Valor. The latter is a simplified joint stock company (SAS) that will now own the
patents resulting from Génoplante research. The formation of Génoplante Valor marks the IRD’s first foray into
company share ownership.
A successful technology transfer that deserves mention is
a patent applied for in 1997 in India, for a method of
boosting fertility in tea plantations using nematodes. The
patent was extended in 2001, and the IRD and its Indian
collaborators went to meet potential partners with a
view to transferring the technology to China. A project is
under way to establish a demonstration station among
the tea plantations of Yunnan.
Collegial expertise
Patents
With six more patents applied for in 2001 – four of them
in co-ownership with private enterprise or other public
research establishments – the IRD’s portfolio of basic
patents stood at 45 at the end of the year, corresponding
to 800 national patents. Over the last ten years, the IRD
has made an average of four or five patent applications
a year, so from this point of view 2001 was a good year.
IRD exploited its patents in 2001 through seven application contracts, mainly with such renowned companies as
the Compagnie Générale du Rhône, Aventis and the
Pierre Fabre Group.
In September 2001, the GIS Génoplante, in accordance
Collegial expertise contracts are a particularly promising
tool for transferring knowledge gleaned through
research to users in the economic and social spheres.
With this method, when decision-makers consult the
IRD, it takes only six months to make a complete review
and evaluation of scientific knowledge on a subject.
In 2001, the IRD published two collegiate expertise
reports in its specialised publications series: one dealing
with mercury in the Amazon basin and the other with
malaria in Cameroon. The final report on “Mercury in
the Amazon: the respective roles of humans and the
environment, and health risks” was officially delivered
in Cayenne on 19 April 2001. The second report, “Major
24
civil engineering works and vector diseases in
Cameroon”, was published in late November 2001 and
officially submitted to the Cameroon authorities in April
2001 in Yaoundé.
Two other collegial expertise reviews were launched in
2001, concerning the scientific diasporas (“How can
developing countries benefit from expatriate scientists
and engineers for their development?”) and dengue
fever in French Guiana and the French Antilles
(“Optimising hemorrhagic dengue fever control in the
French Departments of America”).
Three others made progress during the year: “Trachoma
control in sub-Saharan Africa”, “Organic farming in
Martinique” and “Resource management on the Niger
River in Mali and national physical planning”.
Consultancy
In 2001 the IRD signed 44 consultancy contracts.
Thirteen concerned France and Europe, 18 the French
overseas dependencies, 8 Africa, 5 South America,
2 Asia or the Pacific, and 1 the Middle East.
The contracts covered a vast range of subjects. To give
just two examples: at the request of the French Overseas
Secretariat, IRD geographer Jean-Claude Roux headed a
survey on the economic potential and conditions for selfreliant development in the Wallis and Futuna Islands; and
Pier Luigi Rossi of the Information and Communication
Unit (DIC) led a survey on digitising the scientific assets
of Senegal’s research institutes.
The IRD has a long tradition of hydrological research, and more than fifteen years ago developed two
database management software packages in this field, called Hydrom and Pluviom. The engineering and
hydrological observatories service unit (US019), under Bernard Thébé, brought all the IRD’s experience in
this field to bear in developing the new software package.
In 1989, IRD scientists discovered a bacterium, Bacillus
thermoamylovorans, in palm wine in Africa. Yannick
Combet-Blanc studied the bacillus for a thesis he submitted in 1995, and discovered that it has an unusual
metabolism that could be harnessed to produce lactic
acid in quantity from sugar-rich organic waste. With
Anvar’s support to develop the now patented process,
the IRD set about looking for partners. The prospects
the bacterium opens up were publicised on France Info’s daily “Enterprise partners” programme in
September 1999. That was how the researchers made contact with Episucre, a subsidiary of France’s third
biggest sugar manufacturer Erstein. The first trials, run in April 2000 on three types of sugar-rich liquid
waste, soon confirmed the efficacy of the process and its high yield in lactic acid: 100 g/l. Furthermore,
the bacterium grows at 47 to 58°C, and these high temperatures prevent the contamination by
unwanted micro-organisms that is a common problem with lactic fermentation.
The CNR, for its part, has a network of 120 measurement points on the Rhône and its main tributaries,
and a software package called Thalie, developed in the early 1990s to manage the network, process the
data and make it available to its customers. The CNR has used this experience to develop a software for
managing a hydrological network in Paraguay.
Hydromet can be adapted to the customer’s specific requirements. It is available in French, English and
Spanish, selling for about 7,600 euros for a single station license and 30,500 euros for a multi-station
license. The IRD and CNR provide the necessary training for their own customers and partners,
independently. All the data managed by Pluviom and Hydrom (thousands of station-years in countries
where the IRD works) can easily be transferred to Hydromet, which also has added statistical processing
functions, bigger capacity, and proven security. For the IRD, customers for the new software package will
be mainly in Southern countries, for major programmes under Whycos, the WHO’s World Hydrological
Cycle Observing System.
Contacts : Bernard Thébé - Bernard.Thebe@mpl.ird.fr
Patrick Raous - Patrick.Raous@mpl.ird.fr
Until now, Bolivia had to import tests to detect Chagas disease. Henceforth, they will be produced locally
by the firm Andilab, set up under a partnership between the IRD and the pharmacy faculty at San Andres
University (UMSA).
Chagas disease is caused by a parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, transmitted by a species of assassin bug. Some
24 million people around the world are thought to be infected, and an estimated 15% of Bolivia’s population carry the parasite. Screening is especially important, because the disease lies dormant in more
than half of the people infected, without causing the characteristic digestive and cardiac problems. These
symptomless cases help to spread the disease.
Until now, only imported tests were available – and very irregularly available – on the Bolivian market, at
prices between 130 and 200 dollars. In a partnership between the IRD and the UMSA pharmacy faculty,
Eric Deharo, a biologist at the IRD’s UR43, and Fernando Vargas, a Bolivian technician, developed a new
diagnostic kit. It will be produced by Andilab and marketed under the name of “Chagatest”. These tests,
available immediately, will be only half the price of imported tests.
To market the product, a license contract was signed between the IRD, the UMSA pharmacy faculty and the
new firm. Under this partnership, local researchers have the benefit of a significant knowledge transfer.
The market is estimated at 100,000 tests a year. Customers are the Bolivian health ministry’s national
Chagas programme, blood banks and hospitals, private analysis laboratories and clinics (the disease can
be transmitted by blood transfusion, or from mother to baby via the placenta).
Contact : Éric Deharo - plantibba@megalink.com
> examples
The CRBA, meanwhile, is developing a process to polymerise lactic acid so as to produce biodegradable
plastics. In February 2001, the three partners signed an agreement. The fermentation process is now
fully mastered and a pilot unit is to be built at the sugar refinery; it will be soon possible to envisage
marketing biodegradable plastics for packaging, plastic sheeting for agricultural use, etc.
Contact : Yannick Combet-Blanc - Combet@esil.univ-mrs.fr
25
Coming soon: lactic plastic!
In October 2001, the IRD microbiology laboratory in
Marseille won the Research Innovation prize from the
radio station France Info and Anvar, the French innovation agency. The prize is for the three-sided partnership between the IRD, the manufacturing firm
Episucre and the CNRS artificial biopolymers research
centre (CRBA) in Montpellier.
Setting up in business in Bolivia
Hydrology software package
The Compagnie nationale du Rhône (CNR) and the IRD issued their jointly developed software package
Hydromet in November 2001. Hydromet takes hydrometeorological data from data capture stations to
store them, process them and make them available.
Chapter 1
The mission of the Support and Training department (DSF) is to support and train scientific
communities in the South. This primarily means helping to strengthen the research capacity
of partner countries in the South, reducing the isolation of their researchers and helping
them find their place in the international scientific community.
Support and training
Scientific knowledge, research programmes and, not
least, a stable scientific community are determining
factors in a society’s economic and social development.
To meet the needs of scientific communities in the South,
the DSF proposes various types of support, all based on
the rigorous selection and follow-up of proposals
designed to enhance collective competencies.
Encouraging the collective approach
Cooperation with scientific partners in the South, a
continuing priority at the IRD, is now part of a wider
trend in scientific exchanges resulting from the globalisation of research. Its purpose is to help scientific
communities in the South play a full part in the major
areas of current research.
The support and training function has two main objectives: strengthening research teams or communities, and
enabling researchers to learn the researcher’s job rather
than simply acquiring knowledge.
The DSF has opted to make the team the central focus of
its action programmes, because with teamwork, competencies can be structured and sustainability ensured.
Once a team achieves critical mass, it becomes a focus
for accumulating and developing knowledge and qualifications, an obvious benefit to scientific institutions in the
South and to their societies in general.
Meeting needs, helping independent
partners
To help strengthen scientific communities in the countries of the South, the DSF looks at existing capacities
and projects initiated by partners. Consequently, the
support procedures take the form of calls for applications
with no restriction as to theme. By allowing a team the
freedom to define its own training needs and field of
research, the DSF can measure the motivation of its
partners (whether researchers or institutions) and assess
how feasible the projects are locally. This approach is also
intended to transfer responsibility to the partners and
encourage their independence.
Synergy between different kinds
of focused support
One team may wish to develop its structure, while
another may need to train its technicians or engineers.
The DSF realises that there is no single pattern for training and developing scientific teams, and focuses its support by using various kinds of aid in synergy, to advance
long-term projects.
Developing appropriate tools
Putting the team at the centre of the support system
26
means that the criteria for allocating aid to individuals
must take account of the potential for the training
received to be used locally in a group situation, to meet
more collective needs.
The IRD has three “tools” for team support:
• Calls for applications to Aire Développement, a partnership
of scientific interest (GIS) set up by eight French research
bodies to provide financial and scientific support for research
teams working in poor or deteriorating conditions;
• Calls for applications to Corus, a programme for
cooperation with the “priority solidarity zone” countries,
financed by the French foreign ministry, which is the
ultimate supervising body, and coordinated by the IRD.
The aim here is to consolidate the academic competencies of partners in the South through collaborative work
with academic teams in the North;
• Calls for applications from “young associated teams”,
intended to encourage the emergence of teams of
young researchers through scientific work with the IRD’s
research and service units.
The DSF also proposes individual support for students
from countries in the South. Students are trained in
research by joining in scientific activities conducted by
the IRD and its partners. This form of training involves
pre-doctoral internships, research grants and postdoctoral scholarships.
Chapter 1
Support and training
Researchers, engineers and technicians from
the South working in association with the IRD’s research
and service units also receive in-service training to
acquire new skills or prepare for career change. Other
forms of support for individuals include short-term
scientific exchanges and South-to-South mobility.
Institutional support goes to specific projects demonstrating firm commitment by scientific institutions in the
South. The purpose is to stabilise medium-term development of the project: creating teaching facilities (local
doctoral schools, repeatable training modules, university
twinning, etc.), summer and field schools, and associations and networks that put researchers in touch with
one another.
All support is regularly assessed before partnerships are
renewed.
The Support and Training department in figures
Number of grantees (by type of grant)
DEA (graduate diploma)
Doctoral thesis
In-service training
Scientific exchange
Number of research teams supported in 2001
Aire développement (c. 27m€ per team per year)
Corus: programme financed by French foreign ministry
under IRD executive secretariat (c. 19m€ per team per year)
French foreign ministry Africa social sciences programme
jointly run by Codesria and the IRD (c. 27m€ per team per year)
Institutional support 2001 (m€)
Number of training courses supported per year
Teams or centres supported
Seminars and workshops
By way of indication: some 1000 African scientists have benefited from the DSF’s support policy
(all types of support).
27
308
22
166
37
83
79
19
32
28
142
10
65
67
Supporting committed scientists in Congo
The Congolese scientific community – along with the rest of the country – has
faced considerable difficulties for some years now. However, some research
teams and individual researchers have sustained their enthusiasm, and the DSF
has chosen to support them. The DSF’s work in the Congo has produced
practical results, as can be seen from the examples below. It has used its various types of action to foster the emergence of a stable, sustainable Congolese
scientific community working on forest ecology and the environment.
A team of young researchers working on forest ecology
Industrial logging of precious tropical woods (limba and okoume), one of the country’s major resources
since 1940, has taken the best trees from the forests in Mayombe (Kouillou region) and Chaillu (Niari and
Lékoumou regions). To prevent the exhaustion of marketable timber resources, there has been intensive
reforestation in recent years with new, more productive hybrids and clones. But these plantations draw
heavily on soil resources and monoculture considerably distorts the nutrient balance.
So in order to guarantee sustainable production in these new ecosystems, the research group on forest
and environmental ecology (GREFE) has put together a scientific programme on three sites in the Kouillou
region, representing three types of plantation: industrial eucalyptus plantations, semi-industrial limba
plantations, and sections of natural forest.
GREFE was founded in 1999, at the initiative of researchers and lecturer- researchers at Marien-Ngouabi
University and researchers in three Congolese institutions: the general science and technology research
board, the industrial plantation productivity research unit and the national reforestation service. GREFE’s
mandate is to coordinate research in Congo on forest ecology and the environment so as to form an
internationally recognised competence hub.
By bringing together researchers and lecturer-researchers from various disciplines and administrative
structures, GREFE displayed a genuine commitment that attracted the attention of the DSF.
Cooperation between the Congolese researchers and the IRD first took the form of short-stay scientific
exchange visits to the tropical soils ecology laboratory at IRD Bondy. One of these individual visits was
used to finalise an application for support from Aire Développement.
In 2001, Aire Développement’s support to GREFE was supplemented by DSF research grants and shortstay scientific exchange visits to strengthen the research group more effectively.
This complementary aid is a prime example of the DSF’s policy of focusing its support in the way that will
be most effective.
The international dissemination of GREFE research findings (published output, participation in
conferences, etc.) is due to be stepped up in the next few years, integrating these researchers into the
international scientific community.
Support tailored to level of competence
Naturally, Congo possesses other scientific competencies, and we cannot here give an exhaustive list of
all the support the IRD provides in that country. In public health alone, this includes scholarships or grants
for malaria research and health geography, support via Aire Développement for a research team on food
and nutrition, etc.
In these various ways, the DSF does what it can to provide Congolese scientists with the financial
resources they currently lack and to facilitate their contacts with regional scientific communities so that
they can consolidate and upgrade their competencies.
Contact : dsf@paris.ird.fr
> example
28
CELS: a fast-developing research collective in Thailand
Microtrop: support for researcher training in North and South
One of the main reasons why some scientific communities in the South are so poorly represented in the
major international programmes on biodiversity or environment (e.g. soil rehabilitation and greenhouse
gases) is the difficulty they have in acquiring training in some disciplines.
That is why most researchers in the South, in Africa especially, have been left on the sidelines as microbial biology has surged ahead over the last twenty years. Since it requires both theoretical and practical
knowledge, few universities include it among the courses they offer. Only one summer school in the
United States addresses the microbial diversity of different ecosystems – and in twenty years, only one
African researcher has been able to attend.
This situation led two IRD scientists and one Congolese scientist to set up an intensive training course in
the microbial ecology of tropical soils, Microtrop, in Senegal. The training course had several objectives:
apart from giving microbiologists a chance to tackle the complexity of current environmental problems,
Microtrop was open to all researchers in microbiology or biology who might be interested in the role
of bacteria in the soil, and was intended to lead to the formation of a permanent network of young
scientists from North and South.
The IRD’s training and support department saw the potential of this approach from the outset. It would
give Southern researchers an opportunity for high-level scientific training modelled on the training available in the USA, combining lectures with practical field work. And at the same time it would integrate
them into an international network of scientists.
Thanks to logistical help and financial support from the DSF, and also support from Unesco, the University
Agency for Francophony, the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and
Development, the Federative Research Institute in Lyon and the Fondation internationale pour la France,
the training course was set up in partnership with Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, the Senegalese
Institute of Agricultural Research and Ouagadougou University. From 24 June to 21 July 2001, sixteen
European and African researchers from thirteen different countries immersed themselves in the world of
microbial ecology.
The lectures were illustrated by practical work combining field studies and laboratory experiments, using
microscope observations, classic microbiology and modern molecular biology tools applied to microbial
ecology. Each of the participants developed their own mini research project, designed and carried out
within the brief time Microtrop lasted, on subjects ranging from the response of soil microbe communities to contamination by copper and the functioning of microbial mats in Lake Retba to the localisation
of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the various fractions of a soil under fallow.
To complete the purely biological aspects of the programme, applied microbial ecology statistics were
addressed and the IFS gave a lecture on fundraising.
Contact: dsf@paris.ird.fr
29
In Thailand, with the introduction of graduate studies courses and university
research, a special fund called the Thai Research Fund has been set up to support lecturer-researchers.
With research being strengthened nationally, Chiang Mai University decided to
develop research in education and labour studies. It created a permanent intra
muros research centre, the Centre for Education and Labour Studies (CELS), with
the broad mandate of analysing relations between education and development
from the standpoints of education science, economic and sociological analysis of the education system,
and the interconnection between the education system and employment.
As both Chiang Mai university and IRD researchers were keen to collaborate on this subject, the Institute
gave its support to the project. The partnership agreement signed in 2000 was for the first phase of
establishing CELS: setting up, within eighteen months, a regular training seminar for lecturer-researchers
in the university wishing to do their research at the CELS.
Under its mandate to support emerging research teams, the DSF stepped in at the design stage and to
help set up the workshops held in 2000 and 2001. We also provided 20,000 euros in finance. The
Societies and Health department gave support on the scientific side.
Taking the approach recommended by the DSF, the workshops focused on research-based training in
research; this made it possible to identify the most motivated Thai lecturer-researchers and measure their
skills.
Although the project started from a few energetic individuals, it gradually drew in a broader public from
academic, political and business circles. The interest expressed by regional administrators in the first two
workshops (on family education strategy and human resource development) and the involvement of
speakers from highly reputed universities gave the project credibility, first within the university’s education department and then within Chiang Mai University as a whole. By the end of the 2001 training
courses (on the role of art in educational reform and on education and economic development) a stable
scientific team had emerged: seven young researchers, a research assistant and six students defined two
main themes for future research: “Thailand at work” and “Thailand in training”.
Integration into the international scientific community also happened quickly: Australian researchers took
part in workshops and helped set up the research work. And contacts were established with other
researchers in Southeast Asia, the Philippines and China.
In view of this very positive outcome, the IRD has decided to prolong its support for this experiment in
setting up a research centre, with the goal that the CELS will be able to operate independently by 2005.
Contact: dsf@paris.ird.fr
> examples
Chapter 1
The main development in scientific information and communication in 2001 was expanded
use of new technologies, giving researchers valuable access to electronic journals and
international databases.
Information and communication
Regarding communication, media coverage of the IRD’s
activities was good, with more than 1,200 articles in the
press. At the same time, some 50 scientific news sheets
and press releases were produced and the circulation of
Sciences au Sud reached 15,000. Several million people
visited the website. A huge number of IRD publications,
maps and photographs were scanned as part of the
“Infothèque” project. Internal communication actions
were also initiated.
areas as us, but who are not confident in French, people
have asked me questions that showed clearly that they
had read the whole article”.
The first issue of Dossiers de Sciences au Sud, on nutrition, was published on World Food Day in October 2001.
This four-page bulletin, in the same format as the main
periodical, featured 15 articles from previous issues of
Sciences au Sud on the themes of food and nutrition in
countries of the South.
Sciences au Sud
Conferences
The IRD put out six issues of the periodical Sciences au
Sud in 2001, including a special bilingual (French/English)
issue on poverty and inequality. Over the year, distribution increased by around 8%, with 5,900 copies distributed in mainland France, 1,200 in the overseas dependencies and some 5,100 in more than 115 countries (51%
in Africa, 24% in Latin America, 6% in the Pacific, 6% in
Europe, 5% in Asia, 4% in North America, 3% in the
Indian Ocean and 0.5% in the Middle East).
Since issue 10 (July-August 2001), Sciences au Sud has
included a page of abstracts in Portuguese, in addition
to the abstracts in English and Spanish. “This has significantly increased readers’ interest,” says Pierre Sabaté,
IRD representative in Brazil. “Readers who are not fluent
in French start with the abstracts, then turn to the articles. At meetings with Brazilians who work in the same
In 2001, the Scientific Information and Communication
unit (DIC) supported around 30 international conferences of key interest for countries in the South. Grants
totalled €217,000. Some of the main conferences were:
International Conference on New Horizons in
Biotechnology – Trivandrum (India)
8th Annual Discussion Meeting on HIV Dynamics and
Evolution – Paris
Past Climate Variability through Europe and Africa –
Aix-en-Provence
Soil Structure, Water and Solute Transport – Bondy
Euro-Mediterranean Partnership: Six Years after
Barcelona – Tunis
Promoting Growth and Development in Children
Under Five – Antwerp
30
Publications
IRD Éditions publishes the scientific work of researchers
at IRD and its main French and foreign partners on the
themes of environment and development in Southern
countries.
Every year, some 20 new titles – some of them published
electronically – are added to the catalogue of recent
titles, which now contains more than 300. Publishing
partnerships with the private and public sectors are a key
component of publishing policy.
In 2001, IRD Éditions published or co-published around
20 new titles.
• 11 titles were published by IRD Éditions: three in the
series “À travers champs”, three in the series “Colloques
et séminaires”, two in the new series “Expertise
collégiale”, one in the series “Latitudes 23”, one, on the
sea fans of New Caledonia, in the series “Faune et flore
tropicales” and a CD-ROM on mosquitoes of Europe in
the series “Didactiques”.
• Four titles were co-published with private partners
(Éditions Mardaga, Karthala, Maisonneuve et Larose, and
John Libbey), in their collections.
• Two titles were co-published with institutional publishers: a volume on apoximis (in English) with the European
Union and the International Maize and Wheat
Improvement Centre (Cimmyt), and an illustrated Atlas
of French Guiana with the CNES, the Institut
d’Enseignement Supérieur de la Guyane and the French
Guiana Regional Council.
• An Atlas of coastal fisheries of Vanuatu, produced by
the cartography laboratory, and a CD-ROM of IRD maps
and references, produced by the documentation unit,
are also distributed by IRD Éditions.
Many publications were produced by “delegated
publishing” in the languages of the countries where the
IRD operates, particularly Latin America.
In 2001, IRD Éditions maintained its policy of support for
the publication of scientific journals: Autrepart (4 issues
a year), Politique africaine (4 issues a year), Aquatic
Living Resources (6 issues a year), Oceanologica Acta
(6 issues a year), Natures-Sciences-Sociétés (4 issues a
year) and Aséanie (2 issues a year).
These journals are all channels of expression for IRD
researchers.
In the second half of 2001, in support of the drive to
review publications policy, renew prospecting for
authors and revitalise the committee, contacts were
made with a view to establishing a network to distribute
publications to bookshops. More of the IRD’s publications should be seen in bookshops over the coming year.
Science and technology for the general
public
The IRD participated in 10 major scientific events aimed
at young people and the public in general. The two
highlights were an exhibition on research in the French
overseas dependencies at the Cité des Sciences et de
l’Industrie in Paris, and “Odyssée 21” in Rouen, during
the tenth Fête de la Science. On the IRD stand at this
event, visitors of all ages learnt about mangroves, tropical soils and sub-soils, the Amazon forest and its canopy,
and climate changes of the past and present.
Through the dozen or so R&D youth clubs in mainland
France, the French overseas dependencies and other
countries, activities specifically targeting young people
were organised around several major themes: water,
climate, soils, forests and food.
The Indigo Base image bank now contains 18,000 photographs, thanks to contributions from more than
200 researchers. Reflecting increasing awareness of the
collection, nearly 3,500 images were lent out to fairs,
exhibitions and 580 publications, including Le Monde,
Larousse Bordas publications and Le Courrier de la
planète. Travelling exhibitions of photographs from the
Indigo Base in IRD centres and representatives’ offices
were again highly successful.
31
Chapter 1
Information and communication
Applied cartography laboratory
IRD researchers’ publications
in the Science Citation Index (SCI)*
The applied cartography laboratory, set up as an IRD resource centre for geographical
information, centralises the IRD’s geographical information (thematic maps, base maps, aerial
and satellite imagery), digital mapping and electronic distribution. Its mission is to combine
proven capacity in publications output with optimum use of its stock of geographical
information documentation, support for research, and training for researchers from the IRD
and its partners and doctoral students (15 interns a year).
The publishing highlight of 2001 was the atlas of coastal fisheries of Vanuatu (hardcopy,
CD-ROM and web versions, with funding from ACCT and the French foreign ministry:
see www.bondy.ird.fr/carto/atlas_vanuatu). A morpho-pedological map of Guinea is also
underway, in the form of a GIS base of thirty 1:200,000 sheets. The website presenting the
laboratory’s work, downloadable software and teaching material is regularly updated
(www.bondy.ird.fr/carto).
On the documentation side, the map library’s 15,000 title catalogue went
online in summer 2001, so the entire documentary file can be viewed on the
web server. The maps produced by the IRD (more than 2,000 titles) are being
scanned to go online as part of the Infothèque project. A related project, an
inventory of the IRD’s large stock of aerial photographs, was launched.
" In 2001, 460 IRD publications in natural sciences and life sciences were recorded in the
Science Citation Index (SCI), and 518 across all the journals analysed by the Institute of
Scientific Information (ISI).
" A survey based on Science Citation Index data shows an increase in the number of IRD publications recorded in the SCI over the past four years – from 350 in 1996, for example. The
number of publications per researcher remained stable in relation to 1999, at 0.77.
" “Expected” visibility, estimated by the impact factor of the journals, is 2.1. But analysis of
actual citation rates for selected disciplines – tropical medicine, oceanography and parasitology – reveals citation rates for articles higher than the impact rates of the journals in
which they were published.
" The proportion of publications co-signed with authors from the South increased again, to
39% in 2001, compared with 24% in 1990 and 38% in 1999.
In 2001, the rate of European cooperation was 21%, compared with 10% in 1990 and 14%
in 1996. The rate of international cooperation rose to 63% in 2000, after 39% in 1990 and
53% in 1996.
Documentation
Publications of IRD researchers in human and social sciences
Research begins and ends with the work of our
documentation staff, retrieving information and recording results.
The documentation unit’s main activity in 2001 was to use
the new information technology to improve its services.
The unit’s website has been expanded and improved
(forms, interfaces, modules for accessing external
resources, common periodicals catalogue).
" Publications in human and social sciences in 2000 break down as: 18 books, 108 articles in
books and papers published in conference proceedings, 1 atlas, 16 books under the scientific direction of the IRD, and 43 original articles in the journals analysed by Current
Contents and the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences.
* The calculations are based on the number of researchers working in the disciplines covered by the SCI,
and therefore exclude the social sciences.
32
Subscriptions were centralised and the work to develop
electronic versions of the scientific journals was stepped
up: more than 1,200 titles are currently available online
in France and in the tropical countries.
The Horizon bibliographical database was expanded and
entry of information in full text form continued. The
base now contains 57,267 references of works by IRD
scientists, with more than 3,000 references added over
the year. The full text of 26,000 documents from the IRD
collection is now available online.
In the tropical countries, in addition to day-to-day
documentary support for the IRD documentation centres, several operations were conducted in 2001. The
collection in Dakar was scanned, and a renovated
information centre on research and development was
opened at the IRD in Ouagadougou.
The survey of existing database provision and the
possibility of extending access to the whole of the IRD
was completed.
Sound and image
The IRD’s contractual policy of audiovisual production,
conservation and distribution was pursued in 2001 in
close collaboration with the scientific departments,
researchers, representatives’ offices abroad and the central administration (the financial and legal units in particular). This policy, offering better scientific and legal
security for the IRD’s audiovisual output, has considerably increased the IRD’s visibility.
33
In 2001, the IRD examined ideas for some 20 productions or co-productions. Several films were completed
and broadcast on French national channels (France 2
and 3, La Cinquième, Arte, Canal + and cable) and
rebroadcast on international networks.
These included:
Sur les traces des mangeurs de coquillages (On the
Trail of the Shellfish Eaters)
Production: Néri production/Canal Horizon/IRD
Les Pêcheurs de trocas en Indonésie, la fin d’une
tradition? (Trochus Fishermen in Indonesia: a Dying
Tradition?)
Co-production: Lieurac production/RFO/IRD
Termites kamikazes (Kamikaze Termites)
Television series “Squatters”
Co-production: Mona Lisa/France 2/IRD/CNRS
Some 50 public screenings were organised at 10 different events.
27 films were selected for entry in 20 festivals.
12 awards were given to five IRD co-productions:
The War of the Flies, Termites Attack, Au contact de la
forêt et de la savane (Where Forest Meets Savannah) and
On the Trail of the Shellfish Eaters.
Chapter 2
the IRD and its partners
■
In mainland France
■
In the French tropical overseas dependencies
■
In Southern countries
■
The European Union
■
International agricultural
research centers
34
35
Chapter 2
The culmination of the IRD’s reorganisation process, with the opening of the research
and service units on 1 January 2001, offered new opportunities to build and strengthen
partnerships with universities, grandes écoles and the main public and private research
institutes in mainland France, the French overseas dependencies and countries in the South.
The IRD and its partners
In mainland France
97 research units
Ninety were opened on 1 January 2001 (78 research
units and 12 service units); 11 new units (9 research units
and 2 service units) received scientific approval in 2001
and opened on 1 January 2002. Some of the new units
will merge with those opened in 2001, so the total
number of IRD units is 97, breaking down as 82 research
units and 14 service units.
Joint research units
In 2001, 12 joint research units were opened and 7 joint
research unit projects were initiated.
Once all the French higher education institutions’ fouryear contracts have been approved, in 2003, there will
be around 30 joint research units at the IRD – more than
a third of the Institute’s research units.
Federative research institutes
The IRD has been involved in the process of establishing
federative research institutes (IFR) in the life sciences
since the programme was launched at the beginning of
2000. There are four other research bodies involved
(CEA, CNRS, Inra and Inserm) as well as the conference
of university chancellors and the ministries of research
and health. The IRD is currently participating in five
federative research institutes, directly involving more
than 10 IRD units. The recent extension of the federative
research institute scheme to the environment should
soon mean increased participation by the IRD.
Hosting researchers
In 2001, the IRD hosted 37 researchers and lecturerresearchers on secondment (28) or expatriated (9), working in the following fields: 11 in earth and environment,
5 in living resources and 21 in social sciences and health.
The IRD and higher education
The IRD is forging closer ties with higher education institutions. The relationship takes various forms. In general,
it means strengthening partnerships with universities
ahead of the four-year contracts and personalising
contacts between institutions with the aim of mobilising
their research potential for development.
For many years, the involvement of researchers in teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, was
fairly limited both within and outside the IRD. It is now
well established and recognised, mainly as a result of
many researchers’ involvement in doctoral-level teaching
and the units’ participation in doctoral schools.
However, the most recent and visible form of the IRD’s
new openness towards its partners is the formation of
joint research units.
36
2001 also saw the development of a policy of establishing research agreements. The aim of is to formalise partnerships that exist in the field, when opening a joint
research unit seems premature or impossible because of
insufficient size or inconsistency with the IRD’s action
and mandate. Around 20 agreements have now been
signed linking IRD units and partner units in joint
research programmes.
Cooperation agreements
The IRD’s partnerships with French institutions can be
seen in recent general scientific and technical cooperation agreements, taking to 48 the total number of agreements signed by the IRD since 1998.
These agreements are a way of institutionalising the
IRD’s commitment to joint research with its partners,
support for Southern teams and training for foreign
students, while it examines proposals to create new units.
Partnerships of scientific interest (GIS), partnerships of public
interest (GIP) and national programmes
Staff locations in mainland France
Paris and
inner suburbs
Nanterre
Le Havre
Paris
Versailles Meudon
258
Grignon
St-Quentin
Gif-sur-Yvette Orsay
Lannion
Créteil
Bondy
176
26
Strasbourg
Brest
Le Rheu
27
Orléans
Lyon
Thononles-Bains
Le Bourget
du Lac
ClermontFerrand
Grenoble
Bordeaux
IRD establishments
Other establishments
Montpellier
254
Saint-Christol
Castanet
Sète
Pau
Staff
1 3
Villefranchesur-Mer
Nice
Marseille
Toulouse
Perpignan
6
10
14
19
Breakdown of budgeted staff at 31 December 2001
Aix-en-Provence
- Cerege
Bordeaux
- UMR Regards – CNRS/IRD
- Université de Montesquieu - Centre d’économie
du développement
- Université de Bordeaux-I – Département de géologie
et océanographie
Castanet
- Legos
- Laboratoire mécanismes de transfert en géologie
Grenoble
- Laboratoire de glaciologie et géophysique de
l’environnement
- Université Grenoble-I – Laboratoire d’études des
transferts en hydrologie
- IRIGHT - LGIT
- Agence nationale de valorisation de la recherche
Lannion
- Centre de météorologie
Le Havre
- Station de météorologie
Le Rheu
- Inra
Lyon
- Université Claude-Bernard
- Université Lyon-I
Marseille
- Centre d’analyse et de mathématique sociale
- Faculté de médecine – Centre de formation médecine
tropicale
- GREQAM
- IMEP/CNRS
- SHADYC/EHESS CNRS
- Centre océanologique
- BAIM – Laboratoire de microbiologie
- Université de Méditerranée
- Laboratoire population et environnement
Montpellier
- Agropolis
- Institut agronomie méditerranéenne
- Laboratoire génomes et populations – Université
Montpellier-II
- Université du Languedoc
- Université Montpellier-I
- École nationale du génie rural
- Centre d’écologie fonctionnelle évolutive
- Laboratoire commun IRD/IMVT-Cirad
- Inra-Ensam-Sciences du sol
- Laboratoire symbioses tropicales/méditerranéennes
(LSTM)
- Laboratoire matières organiques des sols tropicaux
(Most)
- Cirad-LPRC
- Cemagref
- CBGP – Inra
- Maison des sciences de l’eau –Université Montpellier-II
Nancy
- CNRS/CRPG-Nancy
Nice
- UMR Géosciences azur – Faculté des sciences
Orléans
- Université d’Orléans
Pau
- Université de Pau
Perpignan
- Université de Perpignan
Sète
- Centre de recherche halieutique
Saint-Christol
- Laboratoire de pathologie comparée
Strasbourg
- Institut de physique du globe
- Centre de géographie appliquée
- Centre de géochimie de la surface
Thonon-les-Bains
- Inra - Station d’hydrobiologie lacustre
Toulouse
- Centre d’étude spatiale de la biosphère
- Groupement de recherche géodésique spatial
- Inra
- Université Paul-Sabatier – Laboratoire de minéralogie
- Medias France/Cnes
Villefranche-sur-Mer
- CNRS/Géodynamique sous-marin
Paris
- Agence française de l’ingénierie touristique
- Centre de recherches de l’Amérique latine
- Cicred
- Cirad
- Contrôle financier
- École française d’Extrême-Orient
- Laboratoire de sciences sociales
- École normale supérieure
- EHESS – CEIAS
- Faculté de pharmacie
- Institut français d’urbanisme
- ISTNA – Cnam
- Ministère de la Coopération
- Laboratoire de pharmacochimie
- Inserm U.149
- GIS/Dial
- GIS/Ceped
- EHESS – CEA
- Ministère de la Recherche
- Museum national d’Histoire naturelle
- Université Paris-VI
- UMR 7041 – Maison d’archéologie
- Université Paris-X – Sociologie
- Université Paris-XII
- CNRS/LACITO UPR3121
- Université Paris-VI – Institut santé-développement
- Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie – LGTE - URA 1761
37
The IRD was also very actively involved in other forms of association
between researchers and lecturer-researchers from different institutions. These are mainly partnerships of scientific interest (GIS), public
interest (GIP) or economic interest (GIE). The IRD also participates in
many national scientific programmes.
Partnerships of scientific (GIS) or public (GIP) interest
(These are forms of research partnership with a particular legal status in France)
GIS
GIS
GIS
GIS
GIS
GIS
GIS
GIS
GIS
GIS
GIP
GIP
GIP
GIE
Aire développement (overseas research investment agency)
Amérique latine (stimulating and developing Latin American
research)
Aquaculture (tropical and Mediterranean aquaculture)
BRG (Bureau des ressources génétiques) (genetic resources)
Ceped (French centre for population and development)
Dial (development of investigations into long-term adjustment)
Génoplante (analysis of plant genomes)
Substances naturelles (natural substances. Based in
New Caledonia)
Silvolab (tropical rainforest ecosystems: management and
physical and biological bases of their functioning, as applied
to French Guiana)
Sciences de l’eau Hydrobiology, water quality and treatment
and quantitative hydrology
OST (Observatoire des sciences et des techniques) Science and
technology monitoring unit
Ecofor (forest ecosystems)
Medias-France (regional research into environmental changes
in the Mediterranean basin and subtropical Africa)
Genavir (management of oceanographic survey vessels)
National programmes
PNEDC
PROOF
Zonéco
PNEC
PNRH
PNRN
PNSE
PNTS
Zepolyf
LITEAU
Climate dynamics
Biochemical processes in the ocean, ocean fluxes
Inventory of marine and mineral resources in
the New Caledonia exclusive economic zone
Coastal studies
Hydrology
Natural hazards
Soils and erosion
Space-based remote sensing
Economic zone of French Polynesia
Littoral zone
Research partnerships (GDR, Groupement de recherche)
GDR Ecologie des sols tropicaux
(tropical soil ecology)
GDR Métallogénie
(ore genesis)
GDR Marges
(tectonic plate margins)
GDR Interférométrie
(interferometry)
GDR Ecofit
(tropical forest ecology)
Chapter 2
The IRD and its partners
In the French tropical overseas
dependencies
The IRD’s activities in tropical France, coordinated by the
overseas dependencies unit (DOM), fosters scientific
advances in these regions. In 2001, the establishment of
research units and service units furthered pre-existing
research and provided the opportunity to identify new
research themes and develop new partnerships.
French Guiana
The IRD’s French Guiana centre is its main facility on
the American continent. Because of its geographical
position, it is one of the driving forces in scientific
collaboration in the region. Focusing on the whole of the
Amazon basin, it initiates or takes part in research in the
exact sciences, social sciences and technological sciences
with neighbouring countries, mainly Brazil, Venezuela
and Surinam. Together with Antilles-Guyane University,
the French Guiana centre was the driving force behind
the development of a fully-fledged university research
hub in French Guiana.
Five URs, two of which are joint research units, and three
USs, between them cover continental, coastal and
marine environments, sustainable water resource
management, agricultural and microbial biodiversity,
aquatic ecology and fishery, identities and representations, and major endemic diseases.
In 2001 a number programmes were completed:
• A study of industrial production of rosewood (Aniba
rosaeodora) concluded that it offered high value-added.
A preliminary assessment of sampling sites and an analysis of the structuring and genetic diversity helped to
define how the tree can be cultivated, with a view to
developing rosewood plantations.
• The results of work on the quality of water in the
streams and rivers of French Guiana, the aim of which
was to supply quality indicators (physico-chemical
parameters of the water, study of groups of aquatic
organisms that could be useful indicators of environmental degradation) were delivered in November 2001.
Regional cooperation is reflected in the Ecolab programme, designed to provide a deeper understanding of
the main characteristics of coastal ecosystems of French
Guiana and neighbouring countries. This work produced
methods for spatialising data and knowledge that will be
valuable for sustainable management of Amazonian
coastal areas.
This programme also proved decisive for establishing
research hubs in French Guiana, particularly in space-based
remote sensing, and for combining research with operational applications and dialogue with decision makers.
La Réunion
With the establishment of new research and service units
on La Réunion, we took the opportunity to reorganise
38
the centre and adjust our research areas there.
UR099 Cyano, for example, in partnership with La
Réunion University and Arvam (Agence pour la recherche
et la valorisation marines) now has a new field of inquiry:
the lagoons of La Réunion, Madagascar and La Mayotte.
The work focuses on the biotic capacity of these coral
lagoons and on estimating toxic risk from cyanobacteria.
In sea fishery, UR061 Active, in partnership with the
marine ecology laboratory at La Réunion University,
Toulouse University and Ifremer-Réunion, is conducting a
study of gregariousness in shoals of small pelagic fish in
the coastal waters of La Réunion.
In collaboration with the humanities faculty La Réunion
University and with funding form the La Réunion
Regional Council as part of its regional development
plan, UR029 (urban environments) began work on
conceptualising the island’s urban environment.
UR109 Thetis, in partnership with La Réunion University,
Ifremer-Réunion, the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission
and the Seychelles Fisheries Authority, took over the
IRD’s existing research into interactions between tuna
and their environment in the Mozambique Channel, the
Somalia Basin and the maritime provinces of La Réunion
and the Seychelles. In this work, satellite-based environmental monitoring has been adopted as an operational
method for fishery monitoring.
Martinique and the Caribbean
New Caledonia
The IRD continues to establish its presence in Martinique
and the Caribbean zone, continuing research on the
themes that were launched in 1999.
As part of a programme on multilingualism and education systems, UR105 (on knowledge and development)
took part in designing a project on scientific policy and
programming for 2002-2006, in collaboration with
GEREC, a research group studying Creole- and Frenchspeaking areas. UR105 is also coordinating a research
team on the teaching of regional languages, literature
and culture. The team receives support from the
Regional Council and the state secretariat for the overseas dependencies, to assess the introduction of the
CAPES certificate for secondary-school teaching of
Creole, in the light of other European experiments.
A social sciences research network for the Caribbean
was launched, Ressac (recherches en sciences sociales
sur l’archipel des Caraïbes). The initial core group is
made up of IRD social science researchers and lecturerresearchers at Antilles-Guyane University. The network
should grow after the first conference planned for 2003,
on the subject of racial mixing in the Caribbean.
The IRD’s nematology research in the Caribbean is now
handled by the joint research unit on parasite resistance
in plants.
Soil science research is now handled by the tropical
soils biology and organisation laboratory, which in 2001
continued the study of agro-pedo-climatological factors
that determine carbon storage in Martinique, and a consultancy job to redraw the boundaries for Martinique’s
sugar cane appellation of origin. This work is in response
to a request from the Institut national des appellations
d’origine contrôlées.
Regular participation in the Martinique agricultural
research hub (PRAM) continued. The IRD’s nematology and
soils science laboratories will soon be joining the PRAM.
The Institute’s main establishment in the overseas
dependencies, and in the South Pacific, is the Nouméa
centre, whose many disciplines include oceanography,
marine ecology, geology, geophysics, pharmacology,
agronomy, botany, entomology and archaeology.
The highlight of 2001 was the setting up of thirteen
research units and five service units, which work in partnership with local institutions such as the University of
New Caledonia, the Caledonian agronomy institute,
Ifremer, the Pasteur Institute, the local CNRS centre,
regional organisations from the Secretariat of the Pacific
Community, the University of the South Pacific and the
University Agency for Francophony. Six other units are
conducting research in New Caledonia under specific
projects or missions.
In 2001 advances were made in a number of fields:
UR037 (supergenic biogeodynamics and tropical
geomorphology) developed applications related to
prospecting and exploiting substances of economic
interest in general, and metals in particular. These applications will be extremely useful in developing a technical
knowledge base for use in mineral prospecting (pollution
monitoring, non-polluting ore processing methods and
rehabilitation of disused mine sites).
The multidisciplinary joint research unit Géosciences
Azur (seismology, geodesics, terrestrial and marine tectonics), which is studying geodynamics in the Southwest
Pacific, focused its work on active tectonics and seismic
hazards in Vanuatu, Futuna and New Caledonia.
Progress was made in research into palaeoclimates
and climate change, now handled by UR065 under the
ECOP programme (climate studies in the tropical Pacific)
and by UR055 (Paléotropique). Study of the interaction
between Enso (El Niño southern oscillation) and the
regional environment in the Southwest Pacific by
analysing live corals continued to provide
Spatialising environmental knowledge
A strategic issue for development
in the French overseas dependencies
France’s overseas dominions and territories (the DOM-TOMs), Europe’s most remote
regions, actually have the world’s third largest exclusive economic zone: 9 million km2,
50% of the EU total. In view of their vast spread, their geopolitical context, socio-economic trends and needs as regards sustainable development and regional planning,
developing integrated approaches and space-based Earth observation techniques for
environmental management could have a major impact for the DOM-TOMs.
Space-based observation and telecommunications systems now offer the DOM-TOMs
tremendous prospects for development and outreach, and give them an active role in
building the European research space. Located as they are on the farthest fringes of
the Union, they can act as Europe’s “active frontier” through regional cooperation
with nearby countries.
The IRD, in view of its missions, its multidisciplinary competencies and its historical
presence in these regions, holds a special position within the European and international research system as regards remote sensing applications.
In 2001, through its service unit Espace (US140) and in consultation with its supervising ministries, DOM-TOM local authorities and Europe, the IRD set up research infrastructures and programmes for spatialising environmental knowledge, mainly using
space-based remote sensing. The work has had significant practical results for research
and development.
In New Caledonia, LATICAL, set up in 1988, strengthened its international impact by
joining the University of New Caledonia in work on environmental information systems. The SEAS station in La Réunion, established in 1992, made a major contribution
to spatial oceanography research and played a decisive part in optimising the pelagic
fisheries sector in the Indian Ocean. In Guiana, between 1996 and 2001 the regional
remote sensing laboratory (created in 1994 under the 10th Region-State contract)
was the driving force in Franco-Brazilian research for sustainable management of
coastal ecosystems influenced by the Amazon river.
The IRD facilities in the DOM-TOMs are equipped with L-band receiving stations that
are very well suited to developing environmental monitoring applications for the intertropical zone in cooperation and synergy with other bodies. In particular, they receive
and disseminate satellite data that can be used in applications specially designed for
these regions’ thematic needs – managing fishery resources, managing the Amazon’s
turbid plumes and monitoring environmental quality.
Contact: Frédéric Huynh - US140 Espace huynh@ird.fr - www.espace.ird.fr
39
Chapter 2
The IRD and its partners
new information about past climates which is
of great value for understanding current climate change.
As part of the Ecotrop programme on Pacific coastal
ecosystems under the influence of terrigenous and
human inputs, UR103 Camélia continued its study of the
functioning of lagoons at Nouméa and Suva (Fiji). They
ran four major oceanographic surveys aboard the IRD’s
oceanographic vessel Alis. From the data gathered, the
team modelled particle transport in the big lagoon at
Nouméa and gained a better understanding of its geochemical functioning. In Fiji, after an interruption in work
due to the coup d’état in 2000, the Bula 1 survey, run in
cooperation with the University of the South Pacific and
with much valuable support from the French Embassy in
Fiji, renewed its work on characterising the lagoon environment.
Service unit US001 Embiopac (terrestrial biodiversity
and environment in the tropical Pacific) was conducting
five applied research programmes: characterising
serpentine environments and regenerating vegetation
on their soils; sclerophyllous forest; the invasion of
New Caledonia by the little fire ant, Wasmannia
auropunctata; natural terrestrial substances and traditional knowledge; and the genetics of the coffee bush.
UR043 and the University of New Caledonia are
researching the pharmaco-chemistry of natural substances. They have a joint laboratory studying bioactive
compounds in marine invertebrates, work they are
conducting partnership with Pierre Fabre Laboratories.
The research is aimed at identifying anti-malaria compounds, antibiotics, antiviral compounds or substances
that can be used in treating cancer and diseases of the
nervous system. A prospecting and collecting campaign
was conducted in New Caledonia’s north lagoon in
2001. With financial help from the State Secretariat for
the overseas dependencies and the Province Sud authority, the laboratory is also studying the efficacy of traditional remedies used for treating ciguatera poisoning.
UR093 Adentrho continued its research on ancient
human settlement in volcanic island environments in the
western and central Pacific. Its two main research themes
are defining the earliest dates for the discovery and subsequent settlement of volcanic islands in the southwest
and central Pacific, and demonstrating the importance of
natural conditions for such cultural expansion.
The Caledonian image processing laboratory Latical,
in partnership with US140 Espace and the University of
New Caledonia, is developing environmental information systems for sustainable management of water
resources.
The Nouméa centre also plays a part in training and
hosting students for in-service training or research-based
training in research. The students, who have the status
of interns, research grantees, thesis students or postdoctoral students, work as integral members of the
teams.
40
French Polynesia
In 2001 the IRD centre in Tahiti focused on finding applications for the Institute’s scientific achievements and creating the internal conditions to expand its consultancy
activities.
In medical entomology, the pest control programme, in
partnership with the Louis Mallardé Institute, developed
a new technique for controlling populations of Culidoïdes
belkini.
In medical science proper, a collaboration agreement
was signed in October 2001 between the IRD, Inserm
and the Gustave Roussy Institute, for epidemiological
study of thyroid cancer risk factors in French Polynesia.
The Tahiti centre hosts the scientists on mission and two
Institute staff members will conduct surveys to find controls for the study.
UR103 Camélia is studying the lagoon environment in
Polynesia from the standpoint of transport and transformation of inputs and the impact of pearl farming on
environmental quality.
The ethno-archaeology programme on the Marquisas
Islands showed that it would be very well worthwhile
to optimise one of the archaeological sites on the island
of Hiva Oa. This operation is now to be included in the
contract between French Polynesia and the central
French State.
This contract will also include other missions: an expertise
report on economic applications for natural substances of
biological interest, the creation and management of a
database on vascular plants, publication of a second volume on the flora of Polynesia, and a study of biodiversity
in the French Southern Territories.
In the countries of the South
In 2001, the strong network of scientific partners the IRD
has built up in Southern countries was further strengthened by the activities of regional networks in each of the
major zones where the Institute works: Latin America, the
Mediterranean, Asia, and Africa/Madagascar.
In 2001 the number of staff working abroad remained
fairly stable, although there were 10 fewer researchers
in Africa. The present distribution of staff should remain
fairly stable, with a slight relative increase in the Southern
Mediterranean countries and the French overseas
dependencies.
Latin America
Cooperation with Brazil, which is still the IRD’s main
partner in Latin America, continued very active, with more
than twenty projects – mostly in collaboration with the
CNPq, Brazil’s national science and technology development council – and additional regional programmes with
French Guiana. Twelve research units are in place and the
IRD was more active in work on sustainable development
in the Amazon, health (five programmes), cities (three
programmes launched), natural environment, and climatology.
In Mexico, second only to Brazil as a partner to the
Institute in Latin America, new projects were launched in
the following fields: biotechnology applied to oil drilling,
water (integrated study programme on Lake Chapala
and management of irrigation programmes), social
science (a study of small entrepreneurs coping with the
North American Free Trade Agreement) and health
41
(Chagas disease research). Contacts were made with
a view to developing a fisheries research hub.
The IRD is also working in five Andean countries, as
follows.
Cooperation with Bolivia was intensified and broadened
in health, geology and agro-climatology (start of two new
programmes). On the training side, an agreement was
concluded with San Andres University (UMSA).
In Chile in 2001, six researchers and technicians were
allocated to starting up two new programmes. One of
these, in partnership with Peru, focuses on gregarious
behaviour in pelagic fish; the other is an earth sciences
programme to quantify deformations in tectonically active
zones. An agreement was signed with La Serena
University, under which it will be taking part in the
research programme on change in rural areas and the
process of regional integration. And a special protocol was
signed with Conicyt, Chile’s national council for innovation, science and technology, for joint thesis supervision by
Chilean and French universities.
The IRD office in Colombia closed in August 2001 with
the completion of programmes on cassava, which had
been conducted in partnership with the International
Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Cali. Collaboration
with CIAT continues, but mainly in the form of missions
and the general partnership agreement with Del Valle
University, which was renewed in 2001.
In 2001 the IRD’s activities in Ecuador – based on
collaboration with PUCE, the Catholic University – were
extended to a new field: archaeology, with a programme
on relations between socio-cultural development and
tropical ecosystems in pre-Colombian Ecuador. In agricultural and microbial biodiversity, the programme on control
of the potato pest Tecia solanivora (common name
Guatemalan moth) became a priority, as the pest has been
spreading at an alarming rate. A new study began on “the
domestication process and the dynamics of genetic and
molecular diversity in complexes
Chapter 2
The IRD and its partners
of tropical plant species in Latin America”.
And an R&D youth club was launched with the La
Condamine Franco-Ecuadorian high school to investigate the subject of biological pest control.
There were valuable developments in the tropical
glaciers programme and the geophysics programmes
(especially a study of natural disasters caused by volcanic
activity), and an IRD geologist took part in the first
French-Ecuadorian mission to the Antarctic.
In Peru as elsewhere, with the new URs in place a
number of agreements were signed, opening up new
fields of research. Macro-economic studies of poverty
and non-farm rural employment began. An agreement
was signed with IMARPE, the Peruvian Institute for the
Sea, launching cooperation on fisheries issues with three
of the IRD’s research units.
Sub-Saharan Africa
The IRD’s scientific structure in Senegal was reorganised
in 2001, and we took this opportunity to modernise our
research and partnership practices. The Institute works at
its own centres in Dakar-Hann and M’Bour, at a shared
facility at Bel-Air, and on local partners’ premises.
The criteria on which the work is based are:
• requests put forward by institutional partners;
• identifying suitable scientific partners in North and
South,
• taking the regional dimension into account, with
increased cooperation with Mauritania, The Gambia,
Guinea-Bissau and prospects for work with Cape Verde,
especially as regards fisheries research.
A final highlight was the creation, in partnership with
Cheikh Anta Diop University, the Senegalese Institute for
agricultural research and the national meteorological
office, of a geomatics research and teaching laboratory, the
LERG, which processes satellite information by computer,
produces maps and geographical information systems, and
processes satellite images and aerial photographs.
There are thirty-eight IRD research units in Senegal:
8 major long-term units, 19 lesser long-term ones
and 11 specific projects. Subjects covered are aquatic
systems, health and agricultural science.
In Burkina Faso, the IRD is taking part in research programmes around three themes: physical environment
and environmental degradation; health and nutrition;
and social sciences, mainly focusing on education policy.
In March 2001, a new cooperation agreement was
signed at a discussion meeting with the CNRST, Burkina’s
national scientific and technical research centre. That
meeting was also the occasion for opening the new documentation centre at the IRD facility; the documentation
centre is jointly financed by CIRAD, the IRD and the
French development cooperation ministry.
The year’s highlight in Niger was the inauguration of the
research centre for social dynamics and development,
LASDEL.
42
Niger also has a joint IRD base with Benin where
programmes are being conducted on hydrology, hydrogeology, agricultural science and crop genetics.
The IRD has been working in Côte d’Ivoire since 1946.
Research in 2001 was in social science, agricultural
science and health. In Abidjan IRD researchers were
working at the oceanography research centre (CRO), the
Petit-Bassam social science research centre and the
Adiopodoumé hydrology unit. In Man they were
working at the coffee genetics station, and in Bouaké at
the Pierre Richet Centre.
The Institute’s work in Guinea dates back only to 1986.
Research subjects there are water and sustainable water
management in the Konkouré estuary; agricultural and
microbial biodiversity; rehabilitation of mangrove soils
for rice farming; and modelling Guinea’s sea fishery
systems.
In Mali, the IRD office moved to more central and functional premises. The institute worked on the consequences of urbanisation, fertility of fallow land and the
proliferation of rodent pests, also helping a young local
team to establish itself in the latter field.
The IRD’s centre in the Central African Republic was
handed back to the government; the Institute now has
only its geophysics research station, which is on longterm lease.
In Cameroon, health research on major endemic
diseases and interactions between society and health
was intensified, in liaison with the Pasteur Institute, the
Organization for the Control of Endemic Diseases in
Central Africa (OCEAC), and the military hospital at
Yaoundé. A joint consultancy mission with Cameroonian
scientists, on the subject of malaria, was concluded.
The IRD’s presence in South Africa is both recent (since
1995) and growing fast in terms of programmes, partnerships and staff numbers. There are five research
themes: aquatic ecology and fishery; continental, coastal
and marine environments; urban dynamics; terrestrial
ecosystems and resources; and development policies and
globalisation.
In Antananarivo, the 9th consultation meeting between the
Madagascar scientific research ministry and the IRD in
March 2001 ended with the signing of a new framework
agreement which pinpoints three main fields for research:
health, utilisation of the environment, and the economy.
The Mediterranean
In 2001 the IRD expanded its activities in Morocco, signing agreements with the Semlalia science faculty at the
University of Marrakech and the Hassan II Institute for
agricultural and veterinary science. Both these agreements
are for research into water-related problems, the projects
being to analyse and model erosion in farmland catchments, and to study the hydro-ecological functioning and
resources of semi-arid regions.
Agreements with the Centre for demographic research
and the Jacques Berque Centre enabled the Institute to
expand its programme on “Knowledge for the future: the
social and occupational integration of Moroccan youth”.
Six researchers and international civilian volunteers were
allocated to the partner institutes. Mathematical modelling of complex natural and social systems was another
subject of collaboration with the Semlalia science faculty.
In Tunisia, 2001 began with the official launch of the
programme on desertification in the Tunisian Jeffara.
And at a seminar on integrated water management in the
Merguellil catchment, the second phase of the MERGUSIE
programme on that subject was planned and programmed. There were two other seminars: one on small
dams in the Mediterranean basin, marking the end of the
Hydromed programme, and one on Euro-Mediterranean
partnership six years on from the Barcelona conference.
Several agreements were signed: an extension to the
MERGUSIE programme with the Directorate General for
research and education, and specific agreements with the
Tunisian National Heritage Institute (archaeology) and the
Regional Agriculture Institute (utilisation of local resources
in southern Tunisia for livestock).
Activities in Syria were conducted in collaboration with
ACSAD, the Arab Centre for the Study of Arid Zones and
Dry Areas, under an agreement signed in late 2000. Under
this agreement, work began on analysing and modelling
the effects of human activity on the hydrological and
energy balances of two farming catchments. In October
2001, specialists from all over the Middle East came to
Damascus for a training and demonstration seminar on
hydrological modelling, jointly organised by the IRD and
ACSAD. And lastly, in September the IRD took part in a
major Franco-Syrian symposium on agronomy research, in
Damascus.
In the Lebanon, the IRD’s collaboration with St. Joseph
University in Beirut was strengthened by two hydrology
research agreements. The year 2001 also saw the
operational start of ROSEEM, the regional network of
environmental monitoring units that includes Jordan,
Lebanon and Syria.
Five IRD research units are working in Egypt, one in virology and the others in the social sciences (sociology,
archaeology, urban studies and anthropology). Their work
continued in 2001, mainly in collaboration with Cairo
University, the Centre d’études et de documentation
économiques, juridiques et sociales (CEDEJ)
43
Chapter 2
The IRD and its partners
(for sociology), the Institut français
d’archéologie orientale, Mansourah University and the
National Centre for Documentation of Natural heritage
(for archaeology).
Asia
In Asia, Thailand is the country where the IRD has most
collaborative work in hand. Collaboration with the Land
Development Department, which began in 1994, was
focusing on saline soils in 2001. Under an agreement
with Mahidol University, a research centre was created to
work on emerging viral diseases and the vectors of
dengue fever; the work of the centre includes a major
training component. In 2001 the Institute also organised
a number of symposia and conferences. Also, at the
request of Kasetsart University, the Institute’s representative organised a meeting about the IRD’s activities in
Asia, with representatives from other countries in region
taking part.
In Laos, the number of IRD researchers increased from
one to six, as a team arrived to study erosion under a
regional programme managed by a international consortium involving France and several Asian countries. Teams
from the same research unit are also working in
Thailand, and soon will be in Vietnam as well. Regional
workshops are held regularly in one or other of these
countries; for the October 2001 meeting it was the turn
of Vientiane to play host.
In Indonesia, the Catfish programme was prolonged
until 2002. Collaboration with the Centre for
International Forestry Research continued, on the subject
of “Change and perceptions of forest resources by the
populations of East Kalimantan”. Lastly, in late 2001 a
new archaeology programme began – a study of the
ecology of human settlements in southern Sumatra – in
collaboration with the French School of Far Eastern
Studies and Indonesia’s National Centre for
Archaeological Research.
44
In Vietnam¸ the food research programme with the
health ministry’s Nutrition Institute set up a network to
produce a food complement for young children. An
agreement was signed with the National Science and
Technology Centre, with plans for new operations such as
scientific exchanges, consultancy missions and training.
Through a researcher seconded to Sun Yatsen University
in China in late 2000, the IRD is taking part in training
and research conducted by the Franco-Chinese Centre
for the Sociology of Industry and Technology. In May
2001, the chancellor of Sun Yatsen University paid a visit
to the IRD head office.
In India, the Franco-Indian Water Research Unit welcomed its first IRD researcher in February 2001.
In June, when the rector of Jawaharlal Nehru University
visited the IRD, the Institute and the University signed a
partnership agreement launching collaboration on the
hydrology of Himalayan glaciers.
Cooperation with
the European Union
The IRD’s activities with the European Commission
expanded in 2001. IRD teams are mainly involved in work
for the Framework Research and Development Programme
(FRDP), particularly its International Cooperation
Programme (INCO). But there are also many activities
outside of the FRDP, in fishery research especially.
Over the past ten years, the IRD has received an average
of 2 million euros a year in European grants.
Cooperation with international
agricultural research centers
The Institute works in collaboration with 10 centres of the
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
(CGIAR), and a regional centre in Central America.
Twenty-three programmes involving 38 staff are concerned. These partnerships concern genetic resources,
water and soil management, assistance for training (about
ten theses are currently under way, there are some twenty
doctoral students working as interns at the Institute,
and in Colombia a Centre of Excellence in cassava
biotechnology was set up).
45
45
Chapter 3
People and resources
■ Budget
■ Staff
■ Corporate plan for information systems
■ Applying the quality approach to research
46
47
Chapter 3
With a budget of €177 million and a staff of 1,634, the IRD’s resources remained roughly
stable in 2001. However, expatriation, particularly of researchers, increased slightly, and
a conscious effort was made to reduce the number of temporary contracts in favour of
permanent posts, in anticipation of the government’s plan to this effect.
People and resources
To maintain the momentum of research and integrate it
into the four-year contract with the State (2001-2004),
the IRD established a modernisation and administrative
simplification plan, which lays special emphasis on
upgrading the Institute’s information systems.
In terms of investment, the IRD continued its modernisation programme, with improvements to the laboratories
in Montpellier and Dakar, the opening of a fisheries
research centre in Sète and a contribution to the acquisition of medium-sized equipment pooled with other
bodies, notably Tandetron and Génoplante.
Budget
Budget revenues
(Figure 1)
The IRD’s initial budget for 2001 was set at €177 million
(FF1,161 million), compared with €175 million for 2000
– an increase of 1.14%.
Revenues come from State subsidies and own resources.
Staff subsidy (Title III)
The staff subsidy covers the staff budget – salaries,
allowances and Social Security contributions – in-service
training and special assistance, and training for partners
from the South. This subsidy was up by 0.87% on the
previous year.
Operational subsidy (Title VI)
This grant funds support for programmes, incentive
action, property investments and purchases of major
scientific equipment. Excluding the HIV/malaria programme, the operational subsidy rose by 6.2% in terms
of authorised budget and by 4.5% in terms of payment
appropriation in 2001.
Other resources
Own resources
Most of IRD’s own resources come from research
contracts. These revenues contribute 7% of IRD’s total
revenues, but almost 30% excluding staff costs.
Contracts funded by the European Union account for a
large proportion.
Resources managed under the HIV/malaria
programme
In line with the government’s priority of combating AIDS
and malaria, the research ministry mandated the IRD to
manage the corresponding credits allocated from the
French National Science Fund budget. These credits are
intended to fund IRD staff or partner researchers. The
amounts allocated to the IRD come to €7.07 million over
five years (1999-2003) and €2.46 million for 2001.
Expenditure
Staff costs amounted to €135 million in 2001, or 76%
of total credits, the same proportion as in 2000. This
amount covers staff salaries and Social Security contributions, expatriation and isolation allowances, welfare and
training (for which the allocation has been maintained at
the same level), and support for partners from the South
(Table 1).
48
Operating and investment expenditure
Operating and investment expenditure came to €29.9
million in 1998, €30.3 million in 1999, €31.1 million in
2000 and €31.9 million in 2001, and breaks down as
indicated in the table below (Table 2).
The budget breakdown reflects the IRD’s organisation
and geographical coverage, which account for much of
recurrent expenditure, particularly indirect support for
research activities.
However, the budget for 2001, like the previous year,
confirms the IRD’s commitment to allocate more
resources to basic support for the units.
The IRD continued to invest in property and in the
acquisition of medium-sized scientific equipment with
its partners (Table 4).
The breakdown of spending by geographical region illustrates the IRD’s continuing support for partnerships,
which must also strengthen the activities of its centres in
mainland France (Figure 3).
Table 1 - Staff expenditure in 2001 (in millions euros)
(million euros)
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
Tenured staff salaries
Social security contributions
Contract staff, of which:
86.59
26.22
8.23
87.81
26.37
7.93
91.32
26.22
7.93
92.38
26.37
7.17
93.60
26.53
7.32
5.18
5.03
5.03
5.03
5.03
* locally recruited staff
* ship’s crews, subsidised job
creation contracts
Other temporary staff
3.05
2.90
2.90
2.13
2.29
3.05
2.90
2.90
2.29
2.13
Figure 1 – IRD resources in 2001
Title VI
grant
Other
resources
9.1%
(grantees, interns, insourcing,
youth volunteers, foreign trainees)
In-service training, welfare,
partnership support
et soutien au partenariat
Taxes and obligatory provisions
14.5%
Title III grant
76.4%
2.74
2.90
2.90
2.90
1.83
1.22
}
4.27
}
1.37
4.42
1.37
Table 2 - Operating and investment expenditure (in millions euros)
(million euros)
Building work, major equipment
1998
1999
2000
2001
2.29
1.37
1.68
1.98
Figure 2 – Origins of research contract resources in 2001
Other public
and private partners
incentive action
Indirect and logistical resources of which:
19.38
17.07
16.46
16.77
* operating budgets of centres
6.71
6.10
5.79
5.79
* head office and administration
2.59
2.44
2.44
2.44
* general expenses (rents, insurance travel for
assignments, management informatics
5.79
5.95
5.64
5.49
* results promotion, transfers,
communications, STI
2.29
2.59
2.59
3.05
Basic support for research units
10.21
11.89
12.96
13.11
Total
29.88
30.33
31.10
31.86
International
institutions
Total
7%
Ministry for development cooperation
and French-speaking countries
5%
European
Union 16%
22%
41%
Table 3 - Real estate operations financed by IRD budget for 2001 (in euros)
Fitting out Montpellier laboratory working
on trypanosomiasis and genetic epidemiology
Extension of Dakar microbiology laboratory,
necessary upgrading of the Centre’s scientific premises
Necessary addition to rehabilitation of the Cayenne chemistry laboratory
9%
171,500
Ministry
of research
and technology
Other French ministries
and public bodies
Figure 3 – Operating and investment expenses by geographical zone in 2001
114,400
45,700
3% Asia-Pacific
Latin America
331,600
11%
3% Other countries
Table 4 - Medium-heavy capital equipment acquisitions in 2001 (in euros)
Participation in the purchase of Tandetron accelerator
(to meet national requirements for Carbon 14 measurements)
Acquisition of a hydrological radar
Participation in the purchase of an ICPMS (Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass
Spectrometer) for analysing a wide range of chemicals
Purchase of a sequencing gel analysis system for mapping genetic diversity
Acquisition of a 9600 bio-robot under the Génoplante programme
228,700
114,300
91,500
Total
769,900
Africa and 23%
Indian Ocean
106,700
228,700
French overseas dependencies
(DOM-TOM) 13%
49
Mainland France
47%
Chapter 3
People and resources
Staff
Breakdown by activity
Budgeted staff
The breakdown of staff numbers between the commissions set up in 1999 is shown in Figure 1 below.
The IRD had a total of 1,634 budgeted staff in 2001.
Changes in the pyramid result from the reclassification
of some administrative posts as technicians’ posts (see
Table 1).
In 2001, 28 researchers and 22 non-scientific staff retired
and 3 non-scientific staff opted for early retirement, i.e.
a total of 53 staff members.
Mobility
A new “mobility” process was initiated to support the
IRD’s new structures and to promote career development
in line with our need for skills.
Before the external competitive recruitments were held,
these mobility drives resulted in the transfer of 28 staff
members (engineers and technicians) to 35 IRD bodies
(23 posts, 5 of which are shared), out of a total of
66 vacant positions.
Competitive recruitments
After a year’s delay, the recruitments for researchers and
non-scientific staff for 2000 were held in 2001. A total
of 70 permanent posts were filled: 46 research posts and
24 non-scientific posts.
Breakdown by age and sex
The pyramid of the IRD’s permanent staff is still asymmetrical in terms of both age and gender (see Figure 2).
However, the proportion of women has increased,
particularly in the 30-35 year bracket.
The average age for all tenured staff is 46.04 years. The
average age for researchers is 47.84 years, compared
with 48.4 in 2000. The average age for senior nonresearch staff is 44.4, for technicians 43.6 and for administrative staff 45.5. The average age of non-scientific
staff remained stable at 44.2.
Geographical distribution of staff
Most staff in mainland France work in the Montpellier,
Bondy and Orléans centres or at the head office in Paris:
others work outside the IRD in the many recently created
joint research units.
The decrease in the number of postings in mainland
France can be attributed to the creation of the research
and service units. There were slightly fewer postings to
Africa. The increase in the number of postings to the
French overseas dependencies stems from the granting
of tenured status to contract staff from the Pacific
50
dependencies. Postings to Asia and the Pacific increased,
ahead of postings to Latin America (Table 3 and Figure 3).
The rate of expatriation for researchers rose from 36.9%
to 39.9% (Table 4). The total rate of expatriation across
all staff rose from 32.3% in 2000 to 34.5% in 2001.
Researchers make up 58.6% of expatriate staff.
Figure 1 – Breakdown of total staff numbers by commission, 2001
None
S4: social
and human 13.5%
sciences
17.2% A1: engineering
2.8%
Table 1 – Budgeted staff
and consultancy
S3: sciences
of ecological
systems
Research staff
Senior non-scientific
staff
Technicians
Administrative staff
A2: administration
and management
15.4%
22.9%
Total
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
829
823
823
830
832
831
331
260
195
331
260
195
338
260
188
347
310
140
355
350
98
371
421
11
1,615
1,609
1,609
1,627
1,635
1,634
Total
S2: biology
and medicine
14.3%
Table 2 – Tenured staff in 2001, by category and gender
S1: physics and chemistry
of the Earth’s environment
13.9%
Category
Figure 2 – Age pyramid in 2001
Research staff
Senior non-scientific staff
Technicians
Administrative staff
63
60
57
54
Total
51
Men
%
Women
%
648
194
157
12
84%
58%
46.7%
14.6%
124
140
179
70
16%
42%
53.3%
85.4%
772
334
336
82
1,011
66.3%
513
33.7%
1,524
48
45
42
39
Table 3 – Tenured and non-tenured staff by geographical zone, 2001
36
Nontenured
Total
%
998
196
189
97
32
12
50
61
374
49
19
0
1,048
257
563
146
51
12
51%
12%
27%
7%
2%
1%
1,524
553
2,077
100%
33
30
Men
27
Zone
Women
Mainland France
French Overseas Dependencies (DOM-TOM)
Africa (and Middle East)
Latin America
Asia/Pacific
Northern countries
24
21
-60
-50
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
10
20
30
40
Figure 3 – Breakdown of staff by budget item, 2001
Asia/Pacific
Latin America
1%
2%
Tenured
Total
Northern countries
7%
Table 4 – Percentage of tenured staff posted outside mainland France
Mainland
France
Africa
(and Middle East)
27%
French overseas
dependencies
(DOM-TOM)
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
Research staff
49.5
49.4
45.6
45.5
41.1
36.9
39.9
All staff
39.4
42.1
40.2
39.0
36.0
32.3
34.5
51%
12%
51
Chapter 3
People and resources
Fewer temporary contracts
Over the past three years, the IRD has made a significant
effort to upgrade contract staff to tenured status.
Seven of the 24 non-scientific posts open to external
recruitment were filled by staff on temporary contracts;
30 locally engaged staff from Nouméa and Papeete were
integrated into the budgeted staff, thus reducing the
total number of contract staff.
In-service training
In-service training is aimed at upgrading and adapting
the skills of all IRD staff. The budget allocated in 2001
amounted to €1.2 million (FF8.3 million). In 2001, 61%
of the 1,114 training applications from staff were
approved as priority needs.
The applications were for training in IT skills (38%),
languages (27%), scientific instruments (13%), specific
functions (10%), information and communications (7%),
management and administration (4%) and personalised
training (2%).
In addition, 34 group training courses were organised –
on topics such as specialised data processing, communicating with the media, NICT and genomics. The training
course in Dakar, which is an opportunity for nonscientific staff to familiarise themselves with fieldwork,
is highly rated.
Corporate plan for
information systems
Applying the quality
approach to research
Under the modernisation and administrative simplification plan, a strategic component of the four-year plan for
2001-2004 agreed between the IRD and the State, a
strategy for the IRD’s information systems was drafted.
This strategy consists of 18 projects covering 10 main
functions:
• Human resource management
• Budget management, finance and accounting
• Monitoring scientific activity
• Day-to-day life of IRD staff in their various geographical
locations
• Scientific publications
• Promoting scientific output
• Execution of the research function
• Execution of the expertise and consultancy function
• Support and training for scientific communities in the
South
• Strategic planning
The French research ministry has been considering how
to apply the quality concept developed in industry to the
research world. There are good scientific, economic and
financial reasons for applying a quality approach to
research, and this could be especially useful in view of
the human, social and environmental impact of research.
At the IRD, the Expertise and Consulting department set
up a discussion group on the quality approach in 2001.
As in all the French State-funded science and technology
research bodies, these discussions are due to be completed in 2002 and a Charter drawn up to clarify and
standardise quality obligations in research procedures.
For research institutes like the IRD, the quality approach
will make it possible to provide guarantees to bodies
who commission research, to the public, the scientific
community itself and its partners in industry.
52
Appendices
Appendices
Board of trustees at 15 June 2002
Chairman:
Jean-François Girard
Representatives of the parent Ministries
Ministry of research
Michel Eddi
Deputy Director, Research
Ministry of education
Pierre Mery
Higher education establishment advisor
Ministry of foreign affairs
Elisabeth Beton-Delègue Director of scientific co-operation and research
Mireille Guigaz
Director of development and technical co-operation
Ministry for the economy,
finance and industry
Philippe Court
Budget directorate
Office of the secretary of state
for overseas dependencies
Alain Puzenat
Deputy Director of economic, social and cultural affairs for overseas dependencies
External members
Bernard Bachelier
Director General, Cirad
Marion Guillou
Director General, INRA
Pascale Joannot
Chief renovator of collections, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle
Hélène Lamicq
Professor at the University of Paris-XII Val-de-Marne
Souad Lyagouby
Former minister for health, Tunisia
Gérard Megie
Chairman of the Board of trustees, CNRS
Dominique Meyer
President of the Board of Directors, Inserm
Jean-Michel Severino
Director General, Agence française du développement
Didier Brunet
SNPR-IRD-FO, soil scientist, IRD Brasilia
Alain Froment
SNCS-FSU, doctor of medicine, IRD Orléans
Pascal Grebaut
SNTRS-CGT-IRD, design engineer, IRD Montpellier
Joseph Laure
STREM-SGEN-CFDT, economist, IRD Bondy
Patrick Le Goulven
SNPR-FO, hydrologist, IRD Montpellier
Jacques Lombard
STREM-SGEN-CFDT, anthropologist, IRD Bondy
Staff representatives
53
Appendices
Scientific Council (at 15 June 2002)
Consultative committee on professional conduct and ethics at 15 june 2002
Chairman:
Alain Dessein
Deputy-President
Bernard Dreyfus
Permanent members
Chair:
Elected members:
Michel Brossard, Bernard Dupré, Michel Lardy
Members appointed
by the Directeur General: Alain Dessein, Bernard Hubert, Louis Legendre
Appointed members
Robert Barbault
Francine Casse
Alain Dessein
Bernard Dupré
Jean-Jacques Gabas
Marc Gaboriau
Bernard Hubert
Louis Legendre
Hervé Le Treut
Achille Massougbodji
Marie-Claude Maurel
Jean-Bernard Minster
Jean-Luc Piermay
Alain Prinzhoffer
Marcel Tanner
Professor, University of Paris-VI, ecology
Professor, University of Montpellier-2, biochemistry
Research Director at Inserm, immunology
Research Director at CNRS, geochemistry
Lecturer, University of Paris-XI, economics
Research Director, CNRS, and director of studies,
EHESS, ethnology
Research Director, INRA, agronomy
Director, Villefranche-sur-Mer Oceanographic Observatory,
oceanography
Research Director, Dynamic Meteorology Laboratory (CNRS),
climatology
Professor, University of Cotonou, Benin, tropical medecine
Professor, EHESS, geography
Professor, University of California, geophysics
Professor, University of Strasbourg-1, geography
Docteur d’Etat, French Petroleum Institute, geochemistry
Professor at the University of Basle, epidemiology
Dominique Lecourt
Professor, philosophy of science,
Denis Diderot University (Paris-VII)
Members appointed with the approval of the Board of Trustees
Isabelle Tokpanou
President of the Forum for African Women
Educationalists Cameroon (FAWECAM), Cameroon
Rafael Loyola Diaz
Director General of the Centro de Investigaciones
y Estudios Superiores en Antropologia Social
(CIESAS), Mexico
IRD staff members appointed on the recommendation of the Director General
From representatives
and centers directors:
Francis Kahn
Representative in Ecuador
From researchers:
François Simondon
Director of the epidemiology
and prevention unit
From technical
and support staff:
Marie-Lise Sabrié
Head of scientific and technical
culture, Information and
communication department
External scientific personalities appointed on the recommendation of the President
of the Scientific Council and with the approval of the Scientific Council
As academics or teachers in higher education:
Jean-Pierre Coulaud
Professor at the Institut de Médecine et d’Epidémiologie
africaines, Paris
As European scientific personalities:
Louis Molineaux
Professor in Geneva (Switzerland)
Elected members
College I: IRD Research Directors
Bernard Dreyfus
microbiology
Christian Levêque
ecology
Alain Mounier
economics
Pierre Peltre
geography
Bernard Pontoise
geophysics
Christian Valentin
pedology
College II: IRD Researchers
Michel Brossard
pedology
Jean-François Etard
epidemiology
Olivier Grunberger
pedology
Jean-François Guegan parasitology
Bernard Pelletier
oceanography
Josiane Seghieri
ecology
College III: IRD technical and support staff
Anne Glanard
Design engineer, documentation
Michel Lardy
Research engineer, geophysics
Francis Sondag
Research engineer, geochemistry
Chairs of sectoral scientific commissions and research
and applications management commissions
Michel Diament
CSS1
Global environment physics and chemistry
N.
CSS2
Biology and medical science
Gérard Fabres
CSS3
Ecological systems science
Emmanuel Grégoire
CSS4
Human and social sciences
Rémi Pochat
CGRA1 Engineering and expertise
Jean-Claude Bessemoulin
CGRA2 Administration and management
In May 2001 the Consultative Committee
on Professional Conduct and Ethics held
its first plenary session and defined its
spheres of intervention and working principles. One of the first tasks the
Committee set itself was to launch an
internal and external consultation in 2001
and 2002 on the Guide to Good Practice
in development research. The document
was first submitted to the IRD’s sectoral
scientific committees, department directors
and research and service unit directors.
54
The next step is to open the consultation
to the IRD’s institutional partners in France
and abroad, mainly via the Institute’s
network of representatives abroad. The
international consultation should give us
an understanding of the ethical and
deontological issues raised by NorthSouth scientific cooperation.
This first year of the Committee’s work also
saw the operational unit start work. Its
main task is to prepare Committee meetings and investigate questions put to it.
Decision centers
General structure of the IRD at 15 June 2002
Board of trustees
General management
General secretary office
Advisory Bodies
Scientific departments
Magnagement and departments
Services
Scientific council
Earth and environnement
(DME)
Personnel managements
(DP)
Legal affairs (SAJ)
Living resources
(DRV)
Financial management
(DF)
Head office administration (SAS)
Societies and health
(DSS)
International relations commission
(DRI)
Expertise and consulting
(DEV)
French overseas dependencies
(DOM)
Four sector-related scientific
commissions (CSS)
Research and applications management
commissions (CGRA 1 et 2)
Consultative committee on professional
conduct and ethics (CCDE)
Support and training for
scientific communities of the South
(DSF)
Evaluation and planning
(DEP)
Accountants
Information systems
(DSI)
Information and communication
(DIC)
Regional centers in France
Representations abroad
Research units (UR) and services units (US)
IRD central services at 15 June 2002
Chairman of the Board
of trustees
Jean-François Girard
Director General
Jean-Pierre Muller
Secretary general
Christine d’Argouges
Scientific department management
Earth
and environnement
(DME)
Living
resources
(DRV)
Societies
and health
(DSS)
Expertise
and consulting
(DEV)
Support
and training
(DSF)
Jacques Boulègue
Patrice Cayré
Anne Strauss
Marianne Berthod
Hervé de Tricornot
Personnel managements
(DP)
Financial management
(DF)
International relations
commission (DRI)
French overseas dependencies
commission (DOM)
Evaluation and planning
(DEP)
Information systems commission
(DSI)
Information and communication
commission (DIC)
François Gautron
Alain Betterich
Jean-Michel Chasseriaux
Roger Bambuck
Maurice Lourd
Gilles Poncet
Marie-Noëlle Favier
Legal affairs service (SAJ)
Mathias Guérin
Head office administration (SAS)
Jean-Claude Bousquet
Accountants
Marc Bournof
55
Appendices
The IRD is a State-owned science and Technology research agency under the joint authority
of the French research and development cooperation ministries.
The IRD in figures
The IRD has a total budget of euros
177 millions, 76 % of which covers payroll costs.
It has:
2,187
employees of whom
1,634
are tenured staff, including: 831 research staff
803 senior and intermediate non-research staff
553
40%
97
34
other grades
of its research staff posted overseas, mainly in Africa, the Dom-Toms and Latin America
research and services units
centers and representations around the world
57,300
IRD researchers’ publications listed in the Horizon bibliographic data base
20,000
photographs illustrating IRD research
56
IRD centres around the world
MAINLAND FRANCE
HEAD OFFICE
213, rue La Fayette,
75480 Paris Cedex 10
Tel.: +33 (0)1 48 03 77 77
Fax: +33 (0)1 48 03 08 29
www.ird.fr
LA RÉUNION
Jean-Michel Stretta
IRD – BP 172
97492 Sainte-Clotilde Cedex
Tel.: (02 62) 29 56 29
Fax: (02 62) 28 48 79
stretta@la-reunion.ird.fr
CAMEROON
François Rivière
BP 1857
Yaoundé
Tel.: (237) 20 15 08
Fax: (237) 20 18 54
riviere@ird.uninet.cm
CENTRE D’ILE-DE-FRANCE
Alain Morlière
32, avenue Henri-Varagnat
93143 Bondy cedex
Tel.: +33 (0)1 48 02 55 00
Fax: +33 (0)1 48 47 30 88
Direction.Centre@bondy.ird.fr
www.bondy.ird.fr
MARTINIQUE - CARIBBEAN
Daniel Barreteau
BP 8006 – 97259 Fort-de-France cedex
Tel.: +33 (0)5 96 39 77 39
Fax: +33 (0)5 96 50 32 61
representant@ird-mq.fr
www.ird-mq.fr
CHILE
Pierrich Roperch
Casilla 53 390
Correo Central
Santiago 1
Tel.: (56 2) 236 34 64
Fax: (56 2) 236 34 63
ird-chili@ird.tie.cl
CENTRE DE BRETAGNE
Bernard Stequert
BP 70 – 29280 Plouzané cedex
Tel.: +33 (0)2 98 22 45 01
Fax: +33 (0)2 98 22 45 14
irdbrest@ird.fr
www.brest.ird.fr
NEW CALEDONIA
Christian Colin
Representative for the Pacific
BP A5 – 98848 Nouméa Cedex
Tel.: (687) 26 10 00
Fax: (687) 26 26 43 26
Dir.Noumea@noumea.ird.nc
www.ird.nc
CENTRE DE MONTPELLIER
Jean-Claude Prot
Tel.: +33 (0)4 67 41 61 00
Fax: +33 (0)4 67 41 63 30
directeur.centre@mpl.ird.fr
www.mpl.ird.fr
OTHER COUNTRIES
BENIN
IRD
01 BP 4414
Recette principale - Cotonou
Bénin
CENTRE D’ORLÉANS
Yveline Poncet
Technoparc – 5, rue du Carbone
45072 Orléans cedex 2
Tel.: +33 (0)2 38 49 95 00
Fax: +33 (0)2 38 49 95 10
direction@orleans.ird.fr
www.orleans.ird.fr
BOLIVIA
Jean-Pierre Carmouze
CP 9214 – 00095 La Paz
Tel.: (591 2) 78 29 69 / 78 49 25
Fax: (591 2) 78 29 44
jpcarmouze@mail.megalink.com
www.ird.org.bo
FRENCH OVERSEAS DEPENDENCIES
(DOM-TOM)
FRENCH GUIANA
Georges-Henri Sala
BP 165 – 97323 Cayenne cedex
Tel. : +33 (0)5 94 29 92 92
Fax : +33 (0)5 94 31 98 55
dircay@cayenne.ird.fr
www.cayenne.ird.fr
FRENCH POLYNESIA
Jacques Iltis
BP 529 – Papeete
Tel.: (689) 50 62 00
Fax: (689) 42 95 55
dirpapet@ird.pf
BRAZIL
Pierre Sabaté
CP 7091 – Lago Sul
71619-970 Brasilia (DF)
Tel.: (55 61) 248 53 23
Fax: (55 61) 248 53 78
ird@apis.com.br
www.ird.org.br
BURKINA FASO
Alain Casenave
01 BP 182
Ouagadougou 01
Tel.: (226) 30 67 37
Fax: (226) 31 03 85
direction@ird.bf
www.ird.bf
INDONESIA
Patrice Levang
IRD, Wisma Anugraha
Jalan Taman Kemang 32 B
Jakarta 12730
Tel.: (62 21) 71 79 21 14
Fax: (62 21) 71 79 2179
ird-indo@rad.net.id
KENYA
Alain Albrecht
IRD at IFRA
PO Box 30677 – Nairobi
Tel.: (254) 2 52 47 58
Fax: (254) 2 52 40 01 /2 52 40 00
ird@icraf.exch.cgiar.org
CONGO
Laurent Veysseyre
Centre DGRST/IRD de Pointe-Noire
BP 1286 – Pointe-Noire
Tel.: (242) 94 02 38/36 38/37 43/15 99
Fax: (242) 94 39 81
ird-pnr.dir@cg.cetelplus.com
CÔTE D’IVOIRE
Georges Hérault
15 BP 917
Abidjan 15
Tel.: (225) 21 24 37 79/21 35 96 03
Fax: (225) 21 24 65 04
rep@ird.ci
www.ird.ci
LAOS
Daniel Benoît - BP 5992
Vientiane
République du Laos
Tel. / Fax: (856-21) 41 29 93
regierepird@laopdr.com
MADAGASCAR
François Jarrige
IRD, BP 434
101 Antananarivo
Tel.: (261 20) 22 330 98
Fax: (261 20) 22 369 82
irdmada@represent.ird.mg
www.ird.mg
ECUADOR
Francis Kahn
Apartado Postal 17 12 857
Quito
Tel.: (593 2) 234 436/503 944
Fax: (593 2) 504 020
fkahn@ecnet.ec
MALI
Joseph Brunet-Jailly
IRD, BP 2528
Bamako
Tel.: (223) 221 05 01/64 41/64 42
Fax: (223) 21 64 44
Joseph.Brunet-Jailly@gwbamako.ird.ml
EGYPT
Jean-Yves Moisseron
P.O. Box 26
12 211 Giza Le Caire
République arabe d’Égypte
Tel.: (202) 362 05 30
Fax: (202) 362 24 49
irdegypt@idsc.gov.eg
MEXICO
Michel Portais
AP n° 57297
06501 Mexico DF
Tel.: (52 5) 280 76 88/282 06 36
Fax: (52 5) 282 08 00
irdmex@mail.internet.com.mx
www.ird.org.mx
GUINEA
Luc Ferry
BP 1984
Conakry
Tel.: (224) 40 48 42
Fax: (224) 40 44 22
ferryluc@yahoo.fr
NIGER
Jean-Pierre Guengant
BP 11416 – Niamey
Tel.: (227) 75 38 27
Fax: (227) 75 20 54 / 75 28 04
guengant@ird.ne
www.ird.ne
57
(at 1 September 2002)
PERU
René Marocco
Casilla 18 – 1209
Lima 18
Tel.: (51 1) 4 22 47 19
Fax: (51 1) 2 22 21 74
ird@chavin.rcp.net.pe
SENEGAL
Jean-René Durand
IRD representative for Gambia,
Mauritania, Cape Verde and GuineaBissau – BP 1386
Dakar
Tel.: (221) 849 35 35
Fax: (221) 832 43 07
irdrep@ird.sn
www.ird.sn
SOUTH AFRICA
Benoît Antheaume
IRD/Ifas – P.O. Box 542
Newtown 2113 Johannesburg
66, Wolhuter Street
(Market Theater Precinct)
Tel.: (27 11) 836 05 61/62/63/64
Fax: (27 11) 836 58 50
irdafsud@iafrica.com
THAILAND
Christian Bellec
IRD représentation
Quality House Convent
38 Convent road
Silom, Bangrak
Bangkok 10500
Tel.: (66 2) 632 11 00
Fax: (66 2) 632 11 01
Ird_th@ksc.th.com
TUNISIA
Antoine Cornet
BP 434
1004 El Menzah
Tunis
Tel.: (216 71) 75 00 09/75
01 83/71 75 83
Fax: (216 1) 75 02 54
ird.rep@ird.intl.tn
VIETNAM
Jacques Berger
Ambassade de France
Service culturel
57 Than Hung Dao Hanoï
Tel.: (84 4) 831 45 59
Fax: (84 4) 831 45 58
repird@fpt.vn
Annexes
The 97 research and service units (UR,US)
EARTH AND ENVIRONMENT
THE EARTH’S CRUST:
EVOLUTION AND NATURAL
HAZARDS
UR027 Geovast
Interactions between aquifers
and organisation of weathered
overburden
Director: Henri Robain
Henri.Robain@bondy.ird.fr
UR031
Volcanic processes and hazards
Director: Claude Robin
robin@opgc.univ-bpclermont.fr
www.brest.ird.fr/geodyn
/programme.html
UR037
Supergenic biogeodynamics
and tropical geomorphology
Director: Fabrice Colin
colin@cerege.fr
UR058 Geotrope
Weathering and soil formation
processes and transfer accounting
in the tropical geosphere
Director: Emmanuel Fritsch
emmanuel.fritsch@lmcp.jussieu.fr
UR082 Geoazur
Géosciences Azur
Joint unit CNRS, université de Nice,
université Paris VI, IRD
Director: Philippe Charvis
charvis@obs-vlfr.fr
UR104
Continental lithosphere deformation
in convergence zones, and matter
Director: Gérard Herail
Gherail@paris.ird.fr
US018 Valpédo
Updating and utilization of soil
data in tropical and Mediterranean
environments
Director: Jean-Claude Leprun
Jean-Claude.Leprun@mpl.ird.fr
US094
Geoscience of intertropical
environments
Director: Florence Le Cornec
lecornec@bondy.ird.fr
UR099 Cyano
Marine cyanobacteria: factors
determining their predominance
and trophic role in tropical
environments
Director: Loïc Charpy
lcharpy@com.univ-mrs.fr
UR103 Camélia
Characterisation and modelling
of exchanges in lagoon ecosystems
under the influence of human
and terrigenous inputs
Director: Renaud Fichez
fichez@noumea.ird.nc
US127 OGSE
Geophysical and environmental
monitoring
Director: Gilbert Juste
Gilbert.Juste@bondy.ird.fr
UR113 Cesbio
Centre for spatial study of
the biosphere
Joint unit, université P. Sabatier,
Toulouse, CNRS, CNES, IRD
Director: Jean-Claude Menaut
jean-claude.menaut@cesbio.cnes.fr
www.cesbio.ups-tlse.fr
CONTINENTAL, COASTAL
AND MARINE AQUATIC
ENVIRONMENTS
US122
Analytical resources
Technical manager:
Jean-Louis Duprey
jean-louis.duprey@noumea.@ird.nc
UR079 Geodes
Geometry of organised spaces,
environmental dynamics
and simulations
Director: Edith Perrier
perrier@bondy.ird.fr
www.bondy.ird.fr/lia
US140
Expertise and spatialisation
of environmental knowledge
Director: Frédéric Huynh
huynh@ird.fr
58
(at 1 June 2002)
CLIMATE: VARIABILITY
AND IMPACT
WATER: RESOURCES AND
SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT
UR032 Great Ice
Glaciers and water resources in
the tropical Andes: climatic and
environmental indicators
Director: Pierre Ribstein
pierre.ribstein@msem.univ-montp2.fr
UR012 LTHE
Laboratory for the study of transfers
in hydrology and environment
Joint unit CNRS, INPG, IRD,
université J. Fourier – Grenoble
Director: Michel Vauclin
lthe@hmg.inpg.fr
UR055 Paléotropique
Tropical paleoenvironments
and climatic change
Director: Luc Ortlieb
luc.ortlieb@bondy.ird.fr
UR065 Legos
Research laboratory for space-based
oceanography and geophysics
Joint unit université P. Sabatier Toulouse-3, CNES, CNRS, IRD
Director: Christian Le Provost
christian.le-provost@cnes.fr
www.obs-mip.fr/omp/umr5566/
francais
UR086 Lodyc
Climatology and dynamic
oceanography laboratory
Joint unit, CNRS, université
Paris-VI, MNHN, IRD
Director: Pierre Soler
Pierre.Soler@lodyc.jussieu.fr
www.lodyc.jussieu.fr
US025
Sea resources and ocean monitoring
Director: Alain Dessier
Alain.Dessier@ird.fr
www.brest.ird/US025
UR050 HSM
Hydroscience
Joint unit CNRS, université
Montpellier-II, IRD
Director: Eric Servat
Eric.Servat@mpl.ird.fr
UR069 Hybam
Hydrogeodynamics of
the Amazon basin
Director: Jean-Loup Guyot
guyot@cict.fr
UR096 Ambre
Analysis and modelling of
surface runoff and erosion
in Mediterranean river basins
Director: Jean Albergel
jean.albergel@ird.intl.tn or
jalbergel@aol.com
US019 Obhi
Engineering and hydrological
observatories
Director: Bernard Thébé
Bernard.Thebe@mpl.ird.fr
US048 Divha
Dynamics, impact and utilisation
of water engineering structures.
Integrated water management
Director: Patrick Le Goulven
Patrick.LeGoulven@mpl.ird.fr
LIVING RESOURCES
AGRICULTURAL AND
MICROBIAL BIODIVERSITY
Microbiology and
associated biotechnologies
UR040
Tropical and Mediterranean
symbioses
Joint unit Cirad, Ensam, Inra, IRD
Director: Bernard Dreyfus
Bernard.Dreyfus@mpl.ird.fr
UR101
Microbiology of extreme
environments
Director: Bernard Ollivier
ollivier@esil.univ-mrs.fr
UR119
Post-harvest microbial biotechnology
Director: Marc Labat
labat@esil.univ-mrs.fr
UR120
Biological pollution control
Director: Richard Auria
rauria@ esil.univ-mrs.fr
Dynamics, conservation and
utilisation of biodiversity
UR090
Molecular basis and biology
of apomixis
Director: Olivier Leblanc
O.Leblanc@cgiar.org
UR121
Plant development and genomics
Joint unit CNRS,
Université de Perpignan, IRD
Director: Michel Delseny
delseny@univ-perp.fr
UR 123
Botany and bioinformatics
of plant architecture
Joint unit* CNRS, Cirad, Inra,
université Montpellier-II, IRD
Director: François Houllier
houllier@cirad.fr
US084 Biodival
Biodiversity in tropical flora:
knowledge and utilisation
Director: Christian Moretti
Christian.Moretti@orleans.ird.fr
www.orleans.ird.fr/biodival
UR109 Thetis
Tropical tuna: environment,
exploitation and interactions
in the ecosystems
Director: Francis Marsac
Francis.Marsac@mpl.ird.fr
UR 141
Diversity and genomics of cultivated
plants (UMR 1097)
Joint unit Cirad, Ensam, Inra, IRD
Director: Serge Hamon
Serge.Hamon@mpl.ird.fr
www.dgpc.org
FRESHWATER AND SALT WATER
AQUATIC ECOLOGY
AND FISHERY
UR 128 CoRéUs
Ecosystemic approach to Pacific
island reef communities
and their uses
Director: Jocelyne Ferraris
ferraris@noumea.ird.nc
UR 142 BCPPC
Biology and development
of perennial crops
Joint unit Cirad, Ensam, Inra, IRD
Director: Françoise Dosba
dosba@ensam.inra.fr
www.ensam.inra.fr/arbo/umr_bdppc/rec
her.html
UR020
Knowledge of tropical marine flora
and fauna
Director: Bertrand Richer de Forges
richer@noumea.ird.nc
Biocenotics
UR022 CBGP
Population biology and
management
Joint unit Cirad, Ensam, Inra, IRD
Director: Yves Gillon
gillon@ensam.inra.fr
www.ensam.inra.fr/CBGP
UR072
Biodiversity and evolution of
plant-insect-pest-antagonist
complexes
Director: Jean-François Silvain
silvain@pge.cnrs-gif.fr
UR 132
Potato moth: pathogen diversity
and management
Director: Xavier Lery
xavier_lery@hotmail.com
US001 Enbiopac
Terrestrial biodiversity and
environment in the tropical Pacific
Director: Jean Chazeau
chazeau@noumea.ird.nc
Biosystematics
Environment and populations
UR081
Genome/populations/environment
interactions in tropical fish
Director: Marc Legendre
Marc.Legendre@mpl.ird.fr
Population ecology
UR061
Eco-ethology of marine pelagic fish
Director: François Gerlotto
François.Gerlotto@mpl.ird.fr
fgerlotto@ifop.cl
UR053 Elisa
Coastal water ecosystems under
the influence of the Amazon
Director: Daniel Guiral
guiral@cayenne.ird.fr
UR098 Flag
Algal bloom: determining factors
and consequences
Director: Robert Arfi arfi@ird.sn
www.mpl.ird.fr/flag
UR 131
Environmental variability and
biological strategies of aquatic
communities
Director: Didier Paugy
paugy@mnhn.fr
UR070
Adaptive responses of fish
to environmental pressure
Director: Raymond Lae
Raymond.Lae@ird.sn
www.ird.sn/activites/rap/index.htm
Tool
UR097 Idyle
Spatial dynamics and interactions
of renewable resources in upwelling
ecosystems
Director: Pierre Fréon
pfreon@mcm.wcape.gov.za
US007 SIH
Fishery information systems
Director: Pierre Chavance
Pierre.Chavance@ird.sn
59
US004
Fishery acoustics
Director: Erwan Josse
Erwan.Josse@ird.fr
US028 Sana
Schlerochronology of aquatic
animals
Director: Eric Morize
Eric.Morize@ird.fr
ECOSYSTEMS AND TERRESTRIAL
RESOURCES
Abiotic environmental
interactions and soil fauna
diversity (agrodiversity)
UR041
Carbon sequestration in tropical
soils. Impact of agro-ecosystem
management methods
Director: Christian Feller
feller@mpl.ird.fr
UR049 Ecu
Erosion and land use changes
Director: Christian Valentin
valentinird@laopdr.com
UR060 Clifa
Climate and agro-ecosystem
functioning
Director: Jean-Paul Lhomme
lhomme@cefe.cnrs-mop.fr
UR 137
Soil biodiversity and functioning
Joint unit* universités Paris-VI,
Paris-VII, Paris-XII, IRD
Director: Patrick Lavelle
Patrick.Lavelle@bondy.ird.fr
www.bondy.ird.fr/lest/iboy
UR067 Ariane
Cultivated soils with severe physicochemical limitations in hot regions
Director: Roland Poss
Roland.Poss@mpl.ird.fr
UR083 Ibis
Biological interactions in tropical
soils used by man
Director: Jean-Luc Chotte
Jean-Luc.Chotte@ird.sn
* subject to conclusion of contract
or agreement.
Economics of environmental
usage
UR063 C3ED
Economics and governance of the
environment and its resources
Joint unit* université Versailles
Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, IRD
Director: Sylvie Faucheux
Sylvie.Faucheux@c3ed.uvsq.fr
www.c3ed.uvsq.fr/eger/
UR 136
Protected areas, ecosystems,
management and peripheral
functions
Director: Anne Fournier
Anne.Fournier@orleans.ird.fr
www.orleans.ird.fr/Aires_protegees/
index.htm
Farmland management
UR100
Agrarian transitions and
ecological dynamics
Director: Pierre Milleville
millevil@represent.ird.mg
www.ird.mg/UR100.htm
US017
Fallowing in tropical Africa
Director: Roger Pontanier
ponpon@ird.sn
SOCIETIES AND HEALTH
URBAN DYNAMICS
UR013
Mobility and urban recomposition
Director: Françoise Dureau
fdureau@regards.cnrs.fr
UR023
Development, spatial dynamics
and regulations
Director: Alain Dubresson
Alain.Dubresson@u-paris10.fr
UR029
Urban environment
Director: Dominique Couret
couretdo@bondy.ird.fr
MAN AND ENVIRONMENT
UR011
Interactions between populations
and limiting natural environments
Director: Michel Picouet
Michel.Picouet@ird.intl.tn
UR026
Heritage and territory
Director:
Marie-Christine Cormier-Salem
cormier@mnhn.fr
UR044
Social dynamics of irrigation
Director: Thierry Ruf
Thierry.Ruf@mpl.ird.fr
UR088
Long-term society-environment
dynamics in pre-Saharan Africa
Director: François Paris
parisfr@ird.fr
UR092
Human adaptation to tropical
environments in the Holocene
Director: Jean Guffroy
Jean.Guffroy@orleans.ird.fr
www.adentrho.org
UR095
Land tenure regulations
Director: Jean-Pierre Chauveau
J-Pierre.Chauveau@mpl.ird.fr
UR112
Between forest and farm:
from deforestation to agro-forest
dynamics
Director: Geneviève Michon
michon@engref.fr
GLOBALISATION AND
DEVELOPMENT POLICY
HEALTH-SOCIETY INTERACTIONS
UR003
Work and globalisation
Director: Monique Selim
Monique.Selim@bondy.ird.fr
UR021
Territory and globalisation
in the countries of the South
Joint unit* ENS Paris, IRD
Director: Hervé Thery
Herve.Thery@ens.fr
UR047
Growth, inequality, population
and the role of the State
Director: François Roubaud
roubaud@dial.prd.fr
UR078
Globalisation and local development
in the Amazon basin
Director: Philippe Léna
philippelena@aol.com
UR102
Public intervention, spaces, societies
Director: Jean-François Baré
bare@regards.cnrs.fr
UR105
Knowledge and development
Director: Bernard Schlemmer
schlemmer@bondy.ird.fr
UR107
Globalisation and the construction
of identity
Director: Marie-José Jolivet
jolivet@bondy.ird.fr
UR 135 Celia
Centre for the Study of Native
American Languages
Joint unit* CNRS, Inalco, université
Paris 7, IRD
Director: Jon Landaburu
jlandabu@vjf.cnrs.fr
UR002
Socio-anthropology of health
Director: Marc-Eric Gruenais
gruenais@ehess.cnrs-mrs.fr
UR024
Epidemiology and prevention
Director: François Simondon
François.Simondon@mpl.ird.fr
www.mpl.ird.fr/epiprev
UR091
Reproductive health, fertility
and development
Director: Patrice Vimard
vimard@newsup.univ-mrs.fr
www.up.univ–mrs.fr/wiupenv/labo/
d_lpe/ursrfd/index.html
UR093
Populations and health hazard areas
Director: Gérard Salem
gsalem@ext.jussieu.fr
UR106
Nutrition, food, societies
Director: Francis Delpeuch
Francis.Delpeuch@mpl.ird.fr
US009
Integrated research on population
health
Director: Jean-Philippe Chippaux
chippaux@ird.sn
UR016
Characterisation and control
of vector populations
Director: Jean-Marc Hougard
Jean-Marc.Hougard@mpl.ird.fr
UR034
Emerging virus diseases and
information systems
Director: Jean-Paul Gonzalez
frjpg@mahidol.ac.th
UR035
African trypanosomiasis
Director: Gérard Cuny
Gerard.Cuny@mpl.ird.fr
UR036
AIDS patient care in Africa
Director: Eric Delaporte
Eric.Delaporte@mpl.ird.fr
UR043
Pharmacology of natural substances
Director: Michel Sauvain
sauvain@ns.ird.fr
UR054
Clinical epidemiology, mother-infant
health and HIV in developing
countries
Director: Marc Lallemant
lecoeur@loxinfo.co.th
MAJOR ENDEMIC DISEASES
UR062
Genetics of infectious diseases
Joint unit CNRS, IRD
Director: Michel Tibayrenc
Michel.Tibayrenc@cepm.mpl.ird.fr
UR008
Pathogenics of the trypanosomatids
Director: Ali Ouaïssi
ali.ouaissi@montp.inserm.fr
UR077
Malaria in tropical Africa
Director: Jean-François Trape
J-François.Trape@ ird.sn
UR010
Mother-and-infant health
Director: Michel Cot
michel.cot@tnn.ap-hop-paris.fr
* subject to conclusion of contract
or agreement.
60
Photo captions land credits
p. 5: Sea horses (Hippocampus bargibanti) living on muricella – © IRD/G. Bargibant
p. 7: Taking water samples from the Garafiri reservoir (Guinea) – © IRD/L. Ferry
p. 9: Preparing the tail buoy of a seismic streamer before its launch. The buoy is
equipped with a GPS receiver to locate the end of the streamer, 5 km behind
the ship – © IRD/J.-Y. Collot
p. 10: Pulling up the rosette and bathysounder – © IRD/C. Andrié
p. 11: River-borne particles pour out into the sea after heavy storms – © QNI Limited p. 13: Concentration of floating fish farm cages on the Saguling reservoir
(West Java) – © IRD/M. Legendre
p. 15: Watering onions from a perforated calabash (Burkina Faso) –
© IRD/ P. Chevalier
p. 16: Fishermen haul in their net on the Ingazeira reservoir, contaminated by toxic
cyanobacteria (Brazil) – © IRD/M. Bouvy
p. 17: Flood recession cropping: the sorghum harvest – © IRD/X. Le Roy
p. 19: Somalian refugee camps in the Yemen – © IRD/M.-A. Pérouse de Montclos
p. 21: State-built rice irrigation system, Thailand – © IRD/E. Mollard
p. 22: Djelgobé Peul woman with baby on hip (Burkina Faso) – IRD/F. Sodter
Page 1 to page 60
p. 1: © IRD/ G. Michon, L. Ferry, D. Wirmann, S. Trèche /
p. 2: © IRD/A. Debray, F. Kahn / p. 3: © IRD/J. Servain, B. Osès /
p. 4: © IRD/P. Cayré / p. 5: © IRD /P. Cayré, S. Dugast, P. Wagnon, A. Aing, B. Osès /
p. 7: © IRD/L. Ferry / p. 8: © IRD/L. Ferry / p. 9: © IRD/ J.-Y. Collot / p. 10: © IRD/C.
Andrié / p. 11: © IRD/J. Orempuller, R. Fichez / p. 12: © IRD/M. Legendre /
p. 13: © IRD/M. Legendre, B. Osès / p. 14: © IRD/A. Borgel, M. Dukhan /
p. 15: © IRD/G. Parent, P. Milleville / p. 16: © IRD/ R. Arfi / p. 17: © IRD/ J.-Y. Meunier,
© Inra-IRD/ P.-A. Calatayud & B. Frerot / p. 18: © IRD/C. Bellec /
p. 19: © IRD/L. Cambrézy, M.-A. Pérouse de Montclos / p. 20: © IRD/J.-P. Hervy, Y. Paris /
p. 21: © IRD/J.-P. Gonzalez / p. 22: © IRD/B. Maire, M. Dukhan /
p. 23: © IRD/ J.-J. Lemasson, V. Simonneaux /
p. 25: © IRD/É. Deharo, Y. Combet-Blanc, M.-N. Favier / p. 27: © IRD/S. Trèche /
p. 28: © IRD/M. Dukhan / p. 29: © IRD/F. Ampe, B. Osès / p. 31: © IRD/P. Laboute /
p. 33: © IRD/M. Dukhan / p. 34: © IRD/A. Ganachaud / p. 35: © IRD/E. Katz,
M. Dukhan, J.-P. Eissen / p. 38: © IRD/M. Hoff / p. 39: © NOAA AVHRR /
p. 40: © IRD/P. Laboute / p. 42: © IRD/J.-P. Montoroi / p. 43: © IRD/ T. Ruf /
p. 44: © IRD/G. Michon / p. 45: © IRD/S. Carrière / p. 46: © IRD/A. Borgel /
p. 47: © IRD/M. Dukhan, P. Wagnon, Y. Le Troquer, C. Bellec, A.-L. Banuls, /
p. 50: © IRD/M. Dukhan
p. 23: Cholon district, Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) – © IRD/V. Simonneaux
p. 27: Industrial eucalyptus plantation on the coastal plain, Kouillou region (Congo) –
© IRD/E. Katz
p. 31: A young diver follows the underwater environmental “walk” at
L’île aux Canards, with the help of the Aquaguide waterproof guide map –
© IRD/P. Laboute
p. 33: The French Guiana pressed plant collection – © IRD/M. Dukhan
p. 35: Thailand’s crown princess visits greenhouses at the IRD centre in Montpellier –
© IRD/M. Dukhan
p. 41: One of Ecuador’s biggest fruit and vegetable markets – © IRD/P. Cayré
p. 43: Assessment meeting on collective water management in the Ait Bouguemez
valley, Azilal province, Moroccan High Atlas – © IRD/T. Ruf
p. 45: Hmong women harvesting garlic (Thailand) – © IRD/S. Carrière
p. 47: L’Alis, the IRD’s oceanographic vessel, in the Marquisas islands –
© IRD/J. Orempuller
Vignette photos (left to right and top to bottom):
Cover: © IRD/J.-J. Lemasson, M. Dukhan, J. Orempuller, A. Bertrand, E. Mollard,
F. Kahn, G. Bargibant, T. Jaffré, D. Wirmann, A. Rival / Back cover: © IRD/M. Lardy,
F. Ampe, S. Carrière, J.-P Montoroi
Inside cover: © IRD/A. Debray, B. Francou, Y. Paris
Document produced by the Information and Communication Unit
© IRD July 2002
Coordination: Marie-Noëlle Favier
Assistant: Élisabeth Duval
Editorial coordination and monitoring: Corinne Schwartz
Revision and correction: Patrice Beray
Picture editors: Danielle Cavanna, Claire Lissalde, Base Indigo
Graphic design: Rigaud et Associés
English translation: Harriet Coleman
The following staff took part in the writing of the scientific reports:
Chantal ANDRIÉ
Robert ARFi
Jacques BOULÈGUE
Luc CAMBREZY
Patrice CAYRÉ
Jean-Luc CHOTTE
Jean-Yves COLLOT
Olivier DARGOUGE
Luc FERRY
Renaud FICHEZ
Jean-Paul GONZALEZ
Marie-Luce HAZEBROUCQ
Patrick LE GOULVEN
Marc LEGENDRE
François ROUBAUD
Jean-François SILVAIN
François SIMONDON
Kirsten SIMONDON
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