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)
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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.
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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).
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