PAGE 6
© IRD/P.Wagnon - O.Barrière - C.Dejoux
Research
RESEARCHING, TRAINING,
PROMOTING RESULTS
Studying tropical environments
9
Managing ecosystems and living resources
15
Understanding societies, improving health in the South
21
Strengthening Southern researchers’ capacities
27
Putting knowledge to productive use
Disseminating scientific culture and information
Research
30
32
PAGE 7
E A R T H
PAGE 8
A N D
E N V I R O N M E N T
STUDYING TROPICAL
ENVIRONMENTS
Environmental management and development
in countries of the South are the chief goal of
the Earth and Environment department (DME),
working in collaboration with other French and
foreign institutions.
Climate
The climate and its variations in the tropics are determining factors for water resources, health and
food security in those countries. In this connection
the French and international African Monsoon
Multidisciplinary Analysis programme (AMMA)
is working to improve understanding of the ecosystems affected by the monsoon. The programme
mobilised many of the West African scientific
community in 2003, particularly at the international symposium held in Puerto Novo in Benin.
French and African researchers are also working
in partnership to study the social impacts.
For AMMA as for other programmes, the seven
environmental monitoring networks that have acquired ORE status (Observatoire de recherche en
environnement, a status conferred by the research
ministry) are particularly useful. They provide
long-term monitoring and run joint experiments
with local partners. For example, the Amazone
ORE has achieved some innovative results re-
garding sediment deposition by the Amazon river
on its flood plain and the Atlantic ocean floor. Deposition has been found to follow variations in the
climate and is particularly linked to “la Niña”.
Researchers are now studying the consequences
of this phenomenon for carbon transfers, and the
design of sediment traps.
Desertification
Measuring the impacts of global climate change
involves long-term monitoring of indicators that
serve to quantify desertification, fluctuations in
available water resources and changes in ecosystems. ROSELT, a desertification monitoring network now operational around the fringes of the
Sahara, is implemented by the IRD’s Desertification service unit formed in early 2003. The principle is being extended to Jordan, Lebanon and
Syria. In another connection a meeting in Montpellier on water regimes in Mediterranean drylands drew 250 participants from 35 countries.
this work give our local partners greater independence for managing their natural hazards.
Working together, the IRD and CNRS (Centre
National de la Recherche Scientifique) were able
to identify the active structures after the Algiers
earthquake in May. The IRD demonstrated its
fast-response capability, mooring seismographs
on the seafloor and successfully exploiting the
data from them.
In Ecuador, we are studying Pichincha, Atacazo
and the other volcanoes that rise above the Quito
region. Our local partner is the National Polytechnic School in Quito. Recent volcanic eruptions were studied in terms of the compositions
of the gases and rocks produced, and the role of
the aquifers. A risk assessment for the Quito region now under way will improve our Ecuadorian
partners’ prevention capabilities.
Contact dme@paris.ird.fr
Natural hazards
Regional co-operation programmes involving the
IRD and monitoring geodynamic phenomena
such as earthquakes and volcanoes produced results in 2003. Scientific advances made through
Research
© IRD/P. Podwojewski
© IRD/D.Wirrmann - B.De Merona
Earth and Environment
PAGE 9
OCEAN OASES
Patrick Lehodey,
Oceanic Fisheries Programme,
New Caledonia
The IRD scientists’ hypothesis could
have a major impact on the management of marine resources, because it
is highly likely that in the vast areas of
our oceans that are largely sterile, zones
where organic matter accumulates as a
result of Rossby waves will attract large
pelagic predators. Better knowledge of
these phenomena will help us manage
fishing grounds better and protect endangered species like marine turtles. The IRD
scientists’ work will also help us make
more realistic spatial models of ecosystems, and in doing so support the plan
of action adopted at the Johannesburg
2002 world summit on sustainable development, which called for the adoption
of an ecosystems approach to fishery
management between now and 2010, and
the protection of biodiversity in open sea
ecosystems.
Contact: patrickl@spc.int
web: http://www.spc.int/OceanFish/
PAGE 10
© NASA
VIEWPOINT
Some parts of the oceans are known as “deserts”
because they are lacking in nutrients. Half of the
tropical South Pacific is just such a desert. This
vast area –larger than Europe– has an average
surface temperature of 27°C and receives no
upwelling of deep, cold water rich nutrient salts.
Since the water contains few nutrients, it does
not promote the growth of phytoplankton, the
first link in the food chain.
Yet colour satellite photos of this infertile part of
the ocean show unusual concentrations of chlorophyll –the green pigment of algal photosystems–
associated with Rossby waves (which are caused
by variations in wind and atmospheric pressure)
and the consequent variations in ocean height.
Concentrations of organic matter
Why are the highest concentrations of chlorophyll
routinely found in the warmest spots, where water
accumulates as a result of passing Rossby waves?
Normally, phytoplankton develops in the coldest
areas, where deep cold water brings nutrients up
from the ocean floor. IRD researchers and their
colleagues (1) think the Rossby waves “rake” the
ocean surface, concentrating floating debris in
these areas where water that is warmer –because
of greater exposure to the sun– accumulates.
Where do these floating particles come from?
Probably from organic debris produced by the
biological activity –however limited– that takes
place in upper, sunlit ocean layers. Instead of
sinking to deeper layers, some of the debris may
reach the surface, perhaps with the help of gas
bubbles produced by bacteria during the fermentation process.
New light on the marine ecosystem
Using a specially designed model and direct measurements of chlorophyll concentrations at the
ocean surface, scientists have been able to show
that Rossby waves create convergence zones
that form fronts where floating organic matter
can readily accumulate. The on-site measurements were taken as part of the IRD’s quarterly
“Geochemistry, Phytoplankton and Colour of the
Ocean” surveys in the South Pacific between Tahiti and New Zealand (2).
This work has shed new light on how the functioning of the marine ecosystem is linked to global
physical ocean dynamics. In addition, the formation of ‘oases’ providing food for fish is one
possible answer to the question of how species
survive in environments devoid of obvious food
resources.
(1) IRD scientists at the LODYC climatology and
dynamic oceanography laboratory at the Institut
Pierre-Simon Laplace in Paris and the LEGOS
space-based oceanography and geophysics laboratory in Toulouse, scientists at the MREN natural environment research centre - CNRS/Université du Littoral UMR 8013.
(2) Science, 302: 1548-1551 (2003). http://
www.lodyc.jussieu.fr/gepco
Contact Yves Dandonneau:
yves.dandonneau@lodyc.jussieu.fr
© IRD/J. Orempuller
A partner’s
SEDIMENTS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF LA NIÑA
The Amazon is the world’s most powerful river.
The floodplains traversed by this great river and
its tributaries receive enormous deposits of sediment. This is particularly true of the floodplains
of Bolivia, where the Rio Beni deposits an estimated 100 million tonnes of material each year
and the Rio Mamoré 150 million tonnes. These
two Andean tributaries of the Rio Madeira contribute more than half the alluvia carried by the
Amazon.
Sporadic deposits
Hitherto, scientists had thought that roughly the
same amount of sediment was deposited each
year, but a study involving scientists from the
IRD’s HyBAm programme, the Universities of
Washington and California Santa Barbara, and
SENAMHI in La Paz, Bolivia (1) has shown it
and La Niña events (La Niña is the cold phase
of the ENSO climatic cycle). In most La Niña
years over the last hundred years, violent rainstorms in the Andes caused intense mechanical
erosion. For a large part of the sediment carried
by the rivers to be deposited on the floodplain
over the course of the year (up to 40% on the
Beni plain), the water must have risen fast, and
with flow rates of over 8,000 m3/s, destroying
the small natural levees built up along the main
courses of the two rivers.
These measurements also enabled the researchers to study the chronology over the last century
of mercury trapped in fine particles deposited on
the floodplains. In the past thirty years there has
been a considerable increase in concentrations
of mercury adsorbed by the clay fraction of the
sediments. This has been the period of the latest
gold rush, but also a period when new farmland
has been colonised on the steep slopes of the Bolivian Andes foothills.
is a sporadic phenomenon. There were few major
deposits in the 20th century; researchers have
identified 11 events in 90 years analysed.
Scientists took nearly 300 sediment cores in the
floodplains of the Rio Beni and Rio Mamoré basins. They measured the levels of the radioactive
lead isotope 210 and, using a new model developed at the University of Washington (1) to interpret the data, they were able to date the sediment
layers accurately to within about one year. This
revealed the irregular pattern of major deposits
of material on the floodplain over time.
The predominant role of climate
variations
Why does sedimentation occur in this episodic
way in this part of the Amazon basin? Climate
variations have a prime role. A correlation has
been found between periods of major deposits
(1) The team includes scientists from the
IRD’s HyBAm programme (“Hydrogéodynamique
actuelle du bassin amazonien”, working in the
LMTG-CNRS-IRD-Université Paul Sabatier joint
research unit), the universities of Washington
and California Santa Barbara, and the Bolivian National Meteorology and Hydrology Service (SENAMHI) in La Paz. Data acquisition is
conducted under the Amazone ORE monitoring
programme.
© IRD/L. Maurice - Bourgoin
The Amazon basin
A partner’s
Rolf Aalto,
Quaternary Research Center and
Department of Earth
and Space Sciences,
University of Washington
A new geochronologic model has enabled
us to date the sediments in the Amazon
basin floodplains of Bolivia and bring to
light the irregularity of the main sediment
deposits over time. In an article published
in Nature N° 425 with our partners from
the IRD, the University of California Santa
Barbara and the National Meteorology
and Hydrology Service in La Paz, we have
shown that the frequency of the sediment deposits -and hence the associated
carbon, nutrient elements and heavy metals- is closely dependent on high-water
flow rates, which in turn are linked to La
Niña climate events.
This international collaboration involving French, North American and South
American experts is continuing, with
funds from the National Science
Foundation (NSF), the IRD and NASA. It
will be looking at the processes of sediment production, transport and storage
throughout the river basins of Bolivia,
Peru and Brazil
Contact:
Rolf Aalto, aalto@u.washington.edu
VIEWPOINT
Contact Laurence Maurice-Bourgoin:
lmaurice@unb.br
PAGE 11
© IRD/J.M Boré
Ever since its creation, the IRD has been running
programmes to monitor tropical waters. Through
these programmes we have built up time series
that are particularly useful for studying global
climate change. The Institute has two oceanographic vessels, Alis and Antea, and a group of
engineers and technicians -including electronic
engineers, computer experts and chemists- for
performing complex operations with specialised
equipment on the high seas.
With these skills and resources, the “Marine research resources and ocean monitoring” service
unit helps other IRD teams prepare and carry
out missions and exploit the data collected and
provides operational management for ocean ob-
PAGE 12
will also provide a valuable database for validating the satellites that in future will make such
observations from space.
Last but not least, contracts between the “Marine research resources and ocean monitoring”
service unit and various IRD research units facilitates the planning of seaborne activities by
scientists involved in physics, biology and ecology
programmes.
(1) The Mercator Océan group was created by the Cnes,
CNRS/Insu, Ifremer, IRD, Météo-France and Shom to
describe the state of the ocean at any time, anywhere
on the planet.
A partner’s
Claudio de Oliveira
Brandão,
Contact Jean-Paul Rebert: rebert@paris.ird.fr
engineer at INPE (Instituto
Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais)
regional centre, Natal, Brazil
© IRD/J.Servain
© IRD/N.Bouin
OCEAN
OBSERVATION
FOR UNDERSTANDING
AND PREDICTION
servation networks. The ORE networks (Observatoires de Recherche pour l’Environnement)
are a case in point: two IRD ocean monitoring
networks were granted ORE status when the research ministry set up the system in 2002. One of
these, the Pirata network, studies climate change
and the other, the SSS network, monitors sea surface salinity.
In 2003, the Alis conducted 14 surveys in the Pacific. Two others took place in the Indian Ocean
and three in the Atlantic, on ships belonging to
the French fleet and managed by Ifremer. Data
gathered by the service unit were used to validate
measurements from the Jason satellite (which
monitors mean sea levels) and to provide additional ocean colour data for the GeP&CO programme on phytoplankton populations (financed
by the French national programme PROOF).
For the Pirata network, buoys equipped with sensors to measure meteorological conditions at the
surface and sea temperatures directly beneath
were put in place. They will be used to study climate patterns in the Atlantic, such as the African
monsoon for the AMMA programme. Under international arrangements, the IRD is responsible
for the eastern part of the Atlantic, while five
moorings further west are the responsibility of
Brazil. These data will also be used to validate the
ocean circulation model developed by the Mercator partnership (1).
Meanwhile some 15 thermosalinographs installed
on merchant ships in the SSS network provided
continuous measurements in all three oceans. Salinity is an essential parameter for understanding
ocean dynamics and is used to assess the global
freshwater balance. The salinity measurements
Our partnership with IRD engineers
under the Pirata-Brazil project included
installing Brazilian current meters on the
equator, for subsequent maintenance by
France; organising a training course in
acquisition and processing of oceanographic data; and participating in a survey aboard the Brazilian navy’s ocean
survey vessel Antares between Natal and
Fortaleza. We are currently consolidating
the Pirata 2001-2005 project and would
like to develop a complete infrastructure
in Natal to serve as a logistical base
for the Pirata-Brazil project. This means
that technical cooperation with the IRD,
which helps to train our technicians and
engineers, is vital for us.
Contact:
Claudio de Oliveira Brandão
claudio@crn.inpe.br
VIEWPOINT
Desertification is an irreversible process of land
degradation in arid, semi-arid and sub-humid
regions, caused by poorly-managed agricultural
practices. The term is used when deteriorating
soils and vegetation are unable to recover to their
initial state. It is important for scientists to determine the thresholds of evolution and irreversibility in the degradation process because, despite
the protection measures taken over the past
25 years, desertification is a continuing threat to
the maintenance of soils, their ecological functions and their use.
The purpose of the Long Term Ecological Monitoring Observatories Network ROSELT (Réseau
d’Observatoires de Surveillance Ecologique à
Long Terme) is to improve knowledge of the
mechanisms, causes, consequences and extent of
desertification in arid and semi-arid regions. The
research is based on two main activities: setting
up a network of local monitoring systems to ob© IRD/C.Dejoux
serve land degradation and desertification, and
studying the relations between human communities and their local environments.
At present, the ROSELT network operates
throughout the Saharan fringe in Africa. Thirteen pilot monitoring units are in operation, in
Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia north of the
Sahara and in Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Senegal,
Cap Verde and Kenya further south. To harmonise
the methods they use to collect, process and store
information, the monitoring units have produced
methodological guides for monitoring biological,
physical and socio-economic parameters connected with land degradation.
Computerised local environment information
systems have been set up to aid decision making.
These systems are designed to integrate different
types of biological, physical and socio-economic
data and facilitate processing them for decision
making purposes. The computer system will also
© IRD/M.Dukhan
CLOSELY OBSERVED
DESERTS
be used to share and catalogue the information
gathered, past and present.
The network took shape through constant interchange between the local monitoring units and
the regional co-ordination unit in Montpellier. The
IRD’s Support and Training department provided
training in the tools and approaches developed
for partner organisations’ managers.
ROSELT is thus the first collective project conducting research into desertification, and should
ultimately supply the means for concerted management of actions to control the process.
Contact Jean-Marc Dherbes
Jean-marc.Dherbes@mpl.ird.fr
A partner’s
Magatte Ba,
of the Dakar-based Centre de
Suivi Ecologique and Senegal’s
national ROSELT co-ordinator
Implementing the Sahara and Sahel
Observatory’s ROSELT programme in the
Ferlo region, Senegal, matches a real
need in this country for long-term environmental monitoring. In particular, the
regional co-ordination team at the IRD in
Montpellier has helped the IRD’s partner
institutes to strengthen their methodological capacities for gathering and processing local information. Senegal is an exceptional network member in that it already
had an institution responsible for environmental monitoring – the Centre de Suivi
Ecologique. Research at the local level
is among our international commitments
for implementing national action plans for
desertification control. As well as the IRD
team, the inter-disciplinary collaboration
essential for environmental monitoring
involves other Senegalese institutions and
CIRAD’s drylands grazing unit.
Contact:
Magatte Ba, magatte@cse.sn
www.cse.sn
VIEWPOINT
PAGE 13
L I V I N G
PAGE 14
R E S O U R C E S S
•
L I V I N G
R E S O U R C E S
© IRD/M.Dukhan - J.P.Montoroi - C.Parel
Living resources
MANAGING ECOSYSTEMS
AND LIVING RESOURCES
Development and sustainable management of
ecosystems and natural resources exploited by
communities in the South largely depend on those
countries obtaining relevant scientific knowledge
and advice. These ecosystems and resources may
variously be forests, agricultural ecosystems or
freshwater or marine environments. The IRD’s
Living Resources department consists of nearly
380 researchers, engineers and technicians working in partnership with southern researchers to
study the living environment, always with a view
to sustainable management and development.
Plant and animal communities
Several research units are working on improving tropical crop yields, using the tools of genetics and genomics on maize, rice, cassava, millet,
coffee and palm. Findings concerning gene flows
between wild and cultivated millet varieties have
advanced understanding of the process of domestication and have led to a new millet programme
conducted by the French Biodiversity Institute in
partnership with researchers from Niger and the
international non-profit agricultural research organisation ICRISAT.
Another research goal is to improve yields by defending crops against parasites and pests, from
soil bacteria and nematodes to insects and rodents. To give one example, observing populations
of phytoparasitic nematodes in sugar cane fields
in South Africa has led to an understanding of the
processes by which these species cause damage.
Microbial biodiversity
Biodepollution and other economic uses for microbial products are proving another promising research area for the IRD. In New Caledonia, an international symposium on re-vegetating degraded
mining land was held at the Institute’s initiative.
Several teams are working on soil microbiology
and macrofauna. Other subjects of study include
tropical forests, the future of protected areas and
the economics of nature and the environment. In
this last connection, a joint research unit on the
economics of natural resources and the environment, set up at the University of Madagascar in
association with the IRD and the University of
Versailles St Quentin, has achieved a satisfactory
degree of independence thanks to the competencies acquired by our Malagasy partners.
Aquatic ecology and fishery science
Using the tools of genetics, ecology, modelling
and systematics, we have units working on fishery
ecology and biodiversity in lake, river, lagoon and
marine ecosystems. For example, Peru has been
recording valuable data on fish catches and the
marine environment for the past 25 years. Now,
with modern systematics methods, these data can
be exploited to achieve an understanding of annual and seasonal fluctuations in the productivity
of one of the world’s most fertile ocean regions.
This operation is being conducted under a crossdisciplinary incentive action involving researchers
from all three IRD research departments together
with Southern research teams. Meanwhile in Senegal, several IRD research units, in partnership
with the National Agricultural Science School in
Rennes, helped the Cheikh Anta Diop University
in Dakar to set up and launch its University Institute of Fishery and Aquaculture. The researchers
will also be involved in teaching.
Contact drv@paris.ird.fr
© IRD/A.Rival
Research
PAGE 15
MILLET: CULTIVATING
DIVERSITY
© IRD/P.Gazin
Millet has been an important plant for human civilisation. In sub-Saharan Africa it is still, along
with sorghum, a dietary staple. But population
growth, climatic variability, environmental degradation, inefficient cropping methods and lack of
research have combined to generate a shortfall in
millet output. Conserving and utilising the genetic
diversity of millet in Sahelian farming systems is
therefore important from several standpoints, including food self-sufficiency.
Niger’s farmers mostly grow local varieties, each
year using seed from ears selected from the previous year’s harvest. Joint research unit UMR 1097
on “Human impact and dynamics of plant genetic
diversity” is working in Montpellier and Niger to
understand how smallholders’ farming practices
affect the diversity of millet varieties in a changing agricultural environment.
The work has shown that genetic differentiation
between local varieties is slight, although they
still vary in their agronomic characteristics. This
is due to the combined effects of considerable
gene flow and farmers’ practice of seed selection.
What are the practices that generate the gene
flows? One is seed swapping, usually within the
family or with another local farmer but sometimes far from the village; the quality of the seed
is uncertain. Another is the harvesting, in hun-
gry years, of weed millet – hybrids between wild
and cultivated millet that grow near the fields.
The weed millet spreads to the fields and reduces yields. Thirdly, repeated sowings in times of
drought also favour hybridisation between varieties with different cycle lengths.
These findings raise the question whether local
varieties may be losing some adaptation capacity. Current research goals therefore include determining the genetic bases of certain adaptive
characteristics and extending the geographical
range of the study to assess possible genetic erosion in relation to environmental and agro-economic factors.
This research will be conducted using collections
made by the FAO and Orstom (as the IRD was
then called) in 1976 and in a prospecting exercise
conducted by the IRD, INRAN and ICRISAT (1)
in late 2003. The work will focus on priority areas
for in situ diversity conservation programmes for
millet in Niger.
(1) INRAN: National Institute for Agricultural Research,
Niger. ICRISAT: International Crop Research Institute
for the Semi-Arid Tropics.
Contact Jean-Louis Pham
jean-louis.pham@mpl.ird.fr
A partner’s
Amoukou Adamou
Ibrahim,
University of Niamey
The IRD has always worked in close
and varied collaboration with Abdou
Moumouni University, the Agronomy
Faculty particularly. The University has
made land available for experiments, its
researchers have been directly involved
in IRD-run programme, and the IRD has
provided research-based training, hosting postgraduate and PhD students in its
laboratories in Niamey and Montpellier.
Maintaining the Niamey biotechnology
laboratory where the millet diversity
research is conducted, with a view to
Niger’s scientists taking it over, is sure to
strengthen this partnership through future
collaborative research programmes. This
laboratory is an indispensable tool for
training in plant biotechnology research,
for Niger and for the wider sub-region.
Contact:
Amoukou Adamou Ibrahim
amoukou@refer.ne
VIEWPOINT
PAGE 16
The rubber tree Hevea brasiliensis, a native of the
Amazon region, is grown in humid tropical countries for the latex it produces – natural rubber,
whose qualities are irreplaceable. The tree grows
to more than 20 metres in height and, unlike other
tropical crops like rice, coffee or palm which
produce on a seasonal basis, rubber growing is
source of year-round income and today employs
about 30 million people in tropical countries.
Two major diseases
However, for several decades now latex production has been hampered by two diseases. One is
tapping panel dryness, which is caused by overexploitation of the tree, and the other is bark necrosis, which affects the base of the trunk and
advances upwards to the tapping panel, causing
the latex flow to dry up.
First studied by the IRD in the 1980s in Côte
d’Ivoire on behalf of the Michelin company, bark
necrosis affects most modern rubber plantations,
with varying severity depending on the location
and the clone concerned. In 1999, at the request
of rubber companies (1) and the French Rubber
Institute, the IRD began work in collaboration
with INRA and the Universities of Nancy, Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) and Mahidol (Thailand), to
quantify the incidence of the disease around the
world, elucidate its mechanisms and recommend
methods for controlling it.
An accumulation of limitations
Susceptibility to necrosis is genetically determined and its incidence is linked to the crop
management system. The disease spreads from
tree to neighbouring tree, suggesting that it is
caused by a micro-organism that spreads in this
way, but etiological studies have so far been inconclusive. However, the research has shown that
necrotic trees tend to be located in high-risk areas –in particular, areas where the soil is more
compacted and root growth more restricted. The
necrotic trees show signs of water stress, especially in the dry season. The overall pattern is that
exogenous stresses caused by physical constraints
(far more than chemical), climatic factors and
crop management methods combine to disrupt
the tree’s physiology and favour the emergence
of the disease.
In rubber trees, necrosis (cell death) seems to
be connected with a poorly functioning cyanide
metabolism. An imbalance between internal production of this toxin and enzymatic capacity to
detoxify the tree are thought to cause the necrosis to develop around the joint between graft and
rootstock.
This multi-disciplinary, multi-institution research
should help to solve the worries of rubber companies in Africa and small planters in Asia. It is
also providing a deeper understanding of the relationships between rubber tree, environment and
disease.
(1) Société Internationale de Plantations d’Hévéas,
Michelin and SOCFINCO.
Contact Daniel Nandris:
nandris@mpl.ird.fr
© IRD/D.Nandris
© IRD/M.Langlois - M-N Favier - J.Gautier - J.P Guengant - S.Tostain
RUBBER GROWING:
ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONS
A partner’s
Bertrand Vignes,
Director,
Natural rubber department,
Michelin, Clermont-Ferrand
Concerned for its natural rubber supplies in the long term, Michelin has an
interest in all fields that may enhance
performance in rubber growing. Dry tapping panels are a particular problem, a
very limiting factor for yields. Following
a request from Michelin in Côte d’Ivoire
in the 1980s, ORSTOM revealed the phenomenon of bark necrosis. The current
IRD team is very multi-skilled and open,
and has done some remarkable work; in
the field they have taken a range of measurements in a large number of sites, and
their scientific analysis is also impressive.
Their first findings cover all the factors
that combine to favour necrosis, and this
will already help us in choosing cropping
methods. As planters, we noticed that
the researchers’ dynamism and enthusiasm was a major motivating factor for all
those working in the plantations.
Contact:
Bertrand.Vignes@fr.michelin.com
VIEWPOINT
PAGE 17
© IRD-IFREMER/Fadio
FISH
AGGREGATING
DEVICES
Pelagic ecosystem observatories
© IRD-IFREMER/Fadio
On the open sea, some fish such as tropical tuna
are attracted by objects floating on the sea surface. These floating objects – known as Fish Aggregating Devices (FAD) – may be natural objects
such as coconuts, tree trunks or other debris, or
specially designed and intentionally placed in the
water by fishermen.
Why do tuna and other species gather under
FADs, and how long do they stay there? This
puzzling behaviour was a good opportunity for
scientific research: since FADs attract high concentrations of fish, they are good places to study
FADIO conducts marine surveys in the Indian
ocean, using such diverse observation instruments
as sonars, hydrophones and video equipment. Researchers also surgically embed electronic tags
in tuna, sharks, dolphinfish and king mackerel, to
find out how long the fish remain around FADs.
The FADIO scientists, working in collaboration
with the University of Hawaii, have been able
to establish that tuna can stay close to a FAD
for anything from a few minutes to three months
without leaving; their length of stay is thought
to be affected by environmental factors. Fishermen and tuna ship owners contribute significantly
to the project by taking scientists on board and
passing on valuable information – such as FAD
locations – that they would normally keep to
themselves for reasons of competition.
Early findings have enabled the researchers
to develop tools for their investigations: buoys
equipped with sonars to estimate the quantity of
fish aggregating and their depth, or even identify
fish size and species. In the future, such buoys
may become permanent tools for monitoring the
pelagic ecosystem, helping scientists understand
the behaviour of tuna and other species, their
spatial dynamics and the state of populations.
They will provide indispensable scientific data for
sustainable ecosystem management of both small
and industrial-scale tuna fisheries.
Contact Laurent Dagorn: dagorn@ird.fr
A partner’s
Rondolph Payet,
Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA)
Our participation in the FADIO programme enables
us to play an active part in international efforts
to ensure sustainable exploitation of tuna stocks,
which are an important source of income for the
Seychelles islands. The presence of IRD scientists
in the Seychelles is an opportunity for us to get
involved in a major research programme and receive
training in new techniques such as electronic tagging and acoustics. Through the IRD, we are in contact with a number of European research organisations, which helps us extend our skills for managing
local resources and for responding to international
calls for proposals.
Contact: Rondolph Payet
rpayet@sfa.sc
VIEWPOINT
PAGE 18
© IRD-IFREMER/Fadio
fauna that are otherwise difficult to observe.
The FADIO project (Fish Aggregating Devices
as Instrumented Observatories of pelagic ecosystems), which is financed by the European Union’s
Directorate General for research and includes a
number of European research organisations, is
using FADs to observe the pelagic ecosystem and
study this aggregating behaviour.
New species identified
Can genetic variations between fish species be
linked to their geographical distribution? Molecular biology research on the Mediterranean
anchovy has shown that there is a barrier to reproduction between populations in estuarine and
coastal waters, and those in the open sea. So
coastal anchovies and deep sea anchovies in the
same region, though nearly identical in appearance, are in fact separate species. But there is no
significant difference between deep sea anchovy
populations in regions as far apart as South
Africa and the Mediterranean. Given the biological characteristics associated with the notion of
species, these results have important implications
for sound management of anchovy stocks in the
Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
Research into fish molecular genetics found another application in Indonesia. With a combination of genetics, biometry and osteology, researchers have shown that several species of Indonesian
river fish were poorly identified, even though local
people have been using them, in some cases, for
a very long time. For example, IRD scientists and
their Indonesian partners recently identified and
described thirteen new species of catfish (Pangasiidae and Clariidae) and aruana (Osteoglossidae). Breeding stock must be identified and
characterised precisely before aquaculture methods can be standardised or any attempt made
to improve productivity. Genetics can be used to
design management protocols for breeding stock
that respect the diversity of natural populations
while avoiding species mixing and the consequent
involuntary creation of hybrids.
Contact Philippe Borsa:
philippe.borsa@noumea.ird.nc
Laurent Pouyaud: laurent.pouyaud@mpl.ird.fr
A partner’s
Dr Sudarto,
Indonesian Research Institute
for Aquaculture (RIFA)
We have been conducting research into
local fish species with the IRD since
1996, and the work has demonstrated
the fish farming potential of the large
Pangasius djambal catfish. We have
also been able to describe and interpret
the systematic and phylogenetic relationships between several families of
economically important fish. The IRD’s
expatriate scientists and engineers have
provided real support and have helped us
improve our skills in genetics, husbandry
and nutrition. Results of the IRD’s support have included two doctoral theses,
numerous publications, staff training in
techniques for breeding and raising larvae, the organisation of two international
workshops and the creation of laboratories for molecular and biochemical analysis. Our government, well aware of the
possible spin-offs from this partnership,
has begun to build premises at the Depok
station to house further, related projects.
We now aim to extend our studies to
other families of edible fish (Bagridae)
and several highly prized ornamental species that are currently overfished.
Contact: Dr Sudarto
RIFA (Bogor, Indonesia)
© IRD/A.Bertrand
Systematics is the science of classifying living
things. It provides a conceptual framework within
which to examine the organisation of nature and
its evolution. Current developments in genetics
are providing new ways to look at the genealogy
of living things and test reproductive isolation
between populations. As a result, the biological
and geographical boundaries between species can
be determined more exactly. The IRD is ideally
placed for systematics research because it works
in tropical regions, where species biodiversity is
greater but not as well known.
Because rational fishery management, optimisation of fish farms and conservation of fish resources all depend on more advanced systematics
research, the IRD is conducting such research on
several economically important fish species. With
anchovies and other important fish such as sole
and alfonsino, molecular genetic markers have
been used to test the hypothesis of interfertility
between populations; their classification has been
revised as a result.
© IRD-/P.Cayré
© IRD/A. Bertrand
FISH SYSTEMATICS
AND GENETICS
VIEWPOINT
PAGE 19
S O C I E T I E S
PAGE 20
A N D
H E A L T H
•
S O C I E T I E S
A N D
H E A L T H
UNDERSTANDING SOCIETIES,
IMPROVING HEALTH IN THE SOUTH
The Societies and Health department has 27 research units of its own including one service unit,
and is involved in six joint research units. Its work
covers the broad fields of social science and health
and the interface between them, with researchers
drawn from a wide spectrum of disciplines.
Addressing new issues
The scientific work reveals a dynamic balance between disciplines in which the IRD has been accumulating expertise for many years –e.g. geography,
demography, anthropology and medical entomology– and more recently developed disciplines and
issues like molecular biology, genetics, the epidemiological transition, and anthropology and political
science applied to public health research. Research
is also taking new approaches to many questions:
interactions between societies and environmental
hazards, analyses of poverty and its determining
factors, migration, stakeholder strategies, the new
cultures and new solidarities from which identities
are defined, and the issue of conflict, which has become a full-scale research subject in its own right.
Results in health and social sciences
As the research units entered the last phase of the
programmes for which they were mandated three
years earlier, they published articles in scientific
journals or works of synthesis. In health, the
Institute’s priority was to seek prophylactic or
therapeutic measures against the major endemic
parasite diseases such as malaria, virus diseases
like AIDS, and emerging diseases. Findings were
published on the origin of simian immunodeficiency virus in the chimpanzee and on the mode
of propagation of Ebola in great ape populations.
In collaboration with INSERM, work on Chagas
disease, which affects over 18 million people in
Latin America, resulted in identifying a virulence factor in Trypanosoma cruzi. And after a
thirty-year struggle, onchocerciasis was finally
eradicated in some twenty countries thanks to the
IRD’s work under the aegis of the World Health
Organisation.
In the social sciences, extensive studies resulted
in a historical perspective on relations between
France and Africa. Research on how labour has
been affected by changes in Vietnam over the past
fifteen years also produced results. Also worth
noting is the publication of lexicons and grammars of Amerindian languages and Creoles in the
Guyanas.
Several research teams made their mark in noted
events such as the assessment workshop on the
PAL+ programme (1) in Anglet in April 2003,
the “Northern families, Southern families” symposium in Marseille in June, “Comparative views
© IRD/M.Dukhan
© IRD/ C.Dejoux - D.Orange - M.Pilon
Societies and Health
of Madagasca” in Paris in October and a workshop on “Food studies to improve nutritional
situations in West Africa” in Ouagadougou in
November. A series of events were organised in
connection with International Freshwater Year.
Actions recognised and supported
In social sciences and health, the trend towards
outside funding, already noticeable in 2002, was
confirmed this year. Funds were obtained under
the research Ministry’s joint incentive actions
(ACI) and through calls for tender from the
French national institute for AIDS research and
the French Biodiversity Institute. National agencies like the French development agency AFD,
international and foreign organisations like the
National Institute of Health, World Health Organisation, UNAIDS and the European Commission also actively helped the IRD’s programmes
in these fields.
(1) PAL+ programme: joint instigative research programme on malaria and associated transmissible diseases, set up by the research Ministry in 1999.
Contact dss@paris.ird.fr
Research
PAGE 21
©P.Rouquet/CIRMF
A partner’s
Faustin Boukoubi,
Minister for Public Health,
Gabon
EBOLA: FROM THE NATURAL
RESERVOIR TO MAN
The Ebola virus was identified for the first time in
the Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire)
in 1976. In the past few years, several sudden
outbreaks have occurred simultaneously in the
Republic of Congo and Gabon, making control of
Ebola virus infection a major health priority for
both countries.
This particularly virulent virus is transmitted by
direct contact. Mortality rates are high, as are
the social and economic consequences. Only prevention and the isolation of affected people can
so far be used to limit its spread, as there is no
drug treatment and no vaccine.
Researchers from the IRD and its partners (1)
have been studying the conditions under which the
virus is transmitted from its still unknown animal
reservoir to man. The sub-type of the virus that is
found in this part of Africa is usually transmitted
to man from carcasses of gorilla, chimpanzee and
duiker. In humans, it causes a haemorrhagic fever
which in 80% of cases leads to death within a
few days.
Epidemiological observations between 2001 and
2003 in Gabon and the Republic of Congo suggest
PAGE 22
there are several concomitant epidemic chains,
each from a different animal source. Genetic
analysis of the virus from samples of infected
human blood confirmed the existence of several
chains and showed that each of these resulted
from transmission of a different viral strain.
A major increase in mortality among some animal
species before and during the human outbreaks
was observed. Gorilla and duiker populations fell
by 50% between 2002 and 2003 in the 320 km2
Lossi sanctuary in the Republic of Congo, and
chimpanzee populations by 88%. Analysis of
samples taken from dead animals showed they
were infected by the Ebola virus and found a different strain of the virus in each carcass, confirming the multiplicity of strains that has been found
in humans.
The new data show that infection among the
great apes happens through direct mass contaminations from animal reservoirs of the virus when
environmental conditions are favourable. Humans
become contaminated at a second stage, through
contact with carcasses of animals susceptible to
the virus, such as great apes or duikers.
Our detection and diagnosis of Ebola infection
in these carcasses should therefore primarily
lead to the introduction of preventive measures
against human outbreaks. The same teams are
now working to describe the environmental conditions required for an outbreak to occur among
primates and to identify the virus’s natural host.
(1) This research involved the IRD, the Centre International de Recherches Medicales in Franceville, Gabon;
the National Institute for Communicable Disease
(NICD), South Africa; the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC), USA; the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), USA; ECOFAC, the European
programme for conservation and rational use of forest
ecosystems in Central Africa; and the World Health
Organisation (WHO).
Contact Eric Leroy: Eric.Leroy@ird.fr
When the Centre International de
Recherche Médicale de Franceville
(CIRMF) was created, its main mission
was to combat sterility. This was both a
public health problem and an economic
problem because at that time Gabon’s
small population size, low fertility rate
and high rate of sterility were a serious
handicap for the country’s development.
Today, the redirection of the CIRMF’s
activities and its work with the IRD on
malaria, AIDS and Ebola haemorrhagic
fever are perfectly in accordance with
the Health Department’s views. Research
must be a tool for development, and
programmes must take into account the
country’s foremost public health preoccupations. The Health Department is therefore very pleased to co-operate with the
IRD and hopes this co-operation will soon
be extended. But if we want to be sure to
take public health concerns into account,
Gabonese researchers must be involved
more fully and collaboration with the
hospitals also needs to be improved.
These two points are the challenges for
our promising partnership.
Contact:
Director General for Health,
Prof. Pierre-André Kombila
pakombila@yahoo.fr
VIEWPOINT
© IRD/J.Berger
COMBATING
MICRONUTRIENT
DEFICIENCIES
One priority for international organisations is
to combat micronutrient deficiencies, which are
a public health problem for most of the world’s
population. Iron deficiency, the cause of most
cases of nutritional anaemia, affects around
3.5 billion people and has many damaging consequences, particularly for cognitive development
in infants and maternal morbidity and mortality.
© IRD/C.Schwartz
Suitable strategies
In Vietnam, reducing nutritional anaemias was
part of the Health Ministry’s national action plan
for 2001-2010, conducted by the National Institute of Nutrition. The programme concerns young
children and women of reproductive age, which
are the main high-risk groups. The researchers
took two approaches: nutrient supplements, using
a new weekly plan for high-requirement target
groups, and food fortification, a longer-term approach designed for the population as a whole.
A weekly preventive iron and folate supplement
improves the iron status of pregnant women and
women of reproductive age. Iron deficiency is
rarely found on its own, and is often combined
with deficiencies in iodine, vitamin A and zinc.
Two studies of infants measured the effects and
interactions of either iron-zinc supplements or
iron-micronutrient supplements in the form of
chewable tablets, and demonstrated a significant
improvement in health status.
Regarding strategies for the broader population,
two assessments under controlled, real-life conditions showed that regular consumption of an ironenriched version of the widely-used condiment
nuoc-mam produced a significant improvement
in iron status. Following these results, Vietnam’s
National Institute of Nutrition is to receive funds
from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to
extend the project nation-wide.
Another study, in partnership with GRET (1),
showed the positive impact on infants’ growth
and iron status of locally-manufactured food
supplements with added micronutrients. These
results aroused the Asian Development Bank’s
interest in a wider use of this approach.
Implications beyond Vietnam
The work in Vietnam was discussed at several
meetings of experts and has contributed to international discussions about assessing iron status.
Most of the research has received funding from
outside the IRD and has been carried out under
multi-country programmes. The IRD will be pursuing its work in Vietnam and other countries, and
will start working on the impact of more varied
diets and such public health measures as infection control and promotion of breast-feeding.
1) GRET (Groupe de Recherche et d’Echanges Technologiques) is an NGO.
Contact Jacques Berger: j.berger@fpt.vn
A partner’s
Prof.
Nguyen Cong Khan,
Director, National Institute
of Nutrition, Hanoi, Vietnam
Controlling micronutrient deficiencies is
one of the National Institute of Nutrition’s
main goals. It is essential for improving the
Vietnamese people’s nutritional status,
especially the women and children. There
is no single solution to the problem and
we must combine different approaches.
Nutrient supplements are still necessary,
but fortifying habitual foods must also
play an increasing role in the coming
years. The results of the research conducted in co-operation with the IRD will
help towards nationwide public health
actions making appropriate food supplements and fortified foods available to
the population. Efforts must be continued
to fortify other foods and encourage the
population to follow nutritional advice
and improve its dietary habits taking full
advantage of local products.
Contact:
Prof. Nguyen Cong Khan
NIN@netnam.org.vn
VIEWPOINT
PAGE 23
© IRD/D.Genin
DESERTIFICATION
AND RESOURCE
USE IN THE JEFFARA,
TUNISIA
The Jeffara region in south-eastern Tunisia lies
on the northern fringe of the Sahara desert. It
has all the features of an arid region: annual
rainfall between 150 and 200 mm, skeletal soils
and considerable particle movement. Recent developments are population growth, more intensive farming, greater use of water for irrigation
(particularly for olive growing), urbanisation and
tourism (especially on the island of Jerba). All
this increases pressure on groundwater resources,
increases the risk of environmental degradation
and raises the question of how sustainable development is to be achieved here.
The multi-disciplinary programme “desertification in the Tunisian Jeffara: practices, resource
use and the future of the rural populations”
(2001-2003) involved researchers from Tunisia’s
Institut des Régions Arides and the IRD alongside the Gabès and Médenine local authorities’
development agencies. It received funding from
the French Scientific Committee on Desertification under a call for proposals by the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. The two main issues addressed
were (a) access to and management of natural
resources in a catchment basin, taking water as
a major vector of agricultural, economic and
environmental change, and (b) decision aids for
implementing desertification control measures.
Focusing on society-environment interactions, the
programme put the desertification process in the
Jeffara in perspective and considered the questions it raises in a more broadly strategic context
aimed at reconciling environmental conservation
with social and territorial equity and economic
development.
Among the programme’s main results were proposals to reshape strategy on the following subjects: the viability of agro-pastoral activities, land
tenure dynamics, competition between sectors
for water, and the new dangers arising from the
marketisation of this vital resource. In this context, initiatives for increasingly multi-functional
use of the countryside, with alternative forms of
tourism, promotion of traditional knowledge, etc.,
should be encouraged.
The need for deliberate public policies for desertification control and rural development is undeniable in a region with such severe limitations. But
the programme also showed the need to open up
fora for negotiation among private users and public institutions, with a view to concerted natural
resources management and collective choice of
development options that will benefit all parts of
the region and all its stakeholders.
Contact
Didier Genin: didier.genin@up.univ-mrs.fr
henri.guillaume@ird.fr
A partner’s
Houcine Khatteli,
Director General,
Institut des Régions Arides,
Médenine, Tunisia
© IRD/M.Picouet
Tunisian co-operation with the IRD goes
back to the early 1970s, almost the
same time as the founding of the Institut
des Régions Arides in 1976. The cooperation was at first limited to natural
resources (ecology and soil science);
later, it was extended to the social sciences, with the DYPEN research collective working on population dynamics and
environment between 1990 and 1998.
That programme produced knowledge
and methodologies on the subject of
interactions between human activity and
change in natural environments. The
multi-disciplinary Jeffara programme has
continued that work. It has given us
a better understanding of the complex
issue of desertification, helped us evaluate ecological changes and proposed
guidelines for agricultural development,
water resource management and other
multisectoral initiatives to ensure that
development is sustainable. Other strong
points were the training provided and
the involvement, right from the outset, of
the local development agencies. For these
agencies, decision aids for socio-economic
development and natural resource conservation are of vital importance.
Contact:
houcine.khatteli@ira.rnrt.tn
VIEWPOINT
PAGE 24
LIVING CONDITIONS, GOVERNANCE
AND DEMOCRACY IN PERU
Surveys on citizen participation
in Peru
The research in the Andean countries began in 2003
with Peru, where the Peruvian Institute of Statistics conducted a survey among 16,650 households and over 75,000 individuals. The originality
of the survey design was that for the first time it
coupled the usual questions on poverty and living conditions with more specific questions about
governance, democracy and values, in the official
statistical framework.
These “surveys on citizen participation” produced some unexpected findings. Contrary to one
widespread idea, corruption tends to spare the
poor. However, this finding masks the fact that
the cost of corruption does affect the poorest,
dissuading them from making use of public services. In the political field, although profoundly
disillusioned with the democratic transition, the
population continues to massively support democratic principles and is not seduced by the lure
of authoritarianism or even populism among the
most disadvantaged. The results of this work were
presented in the last Global Corruption Report,
recently published by Transparency International (2).
(1) DIAL: Développement et intégration international,
a partnership between the French Development Agency
(AFD) and the IRD’s research unit UR047 (Growth,
inequalities, population and the role of the state). DIAL
is the main focus of UR047’s work.
(2) http://www.globalcorruptionreport.org
Contact
Javier Herrera : jherrera@inei.gob.pe
François Roubaud : roubaud@dial.prd.fr
Extending the research to the other
Andean countries
The research has now been extended to all the
Andean countries. Citizen participation surveys
based on the experience acquired in Peru and
several African countries are being co-ordinated
by the Andean Community Secretariat, with technical support from IRD researchers. The work
is now part of Metagora, an international programme to measure governance, democracy and
human rights funded by the European Commission, France and other donors.
Guilermo Lecaros
and Dante Curonisy,
experts at the Andean
Community, based in Lima
The Andean Community (CAN) is a regional
organisation with five member countries,
Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and
Venezuela. In 2001, the Presidents of the
member countries launched a programme
to combat poverty, exclusion and social
inequality in the region. The collaboration between the IRD and the national
statistics institutes has provided training for participants in methods already
used in Africa to measure household living conditions and how households view
governance and democracy. The analysis, conducted in common, has already
produced an assessment of the results
so far, published in 2003. Following the
citizen participation survey in Peru, our
collaboration continues with surveys of
the same kind now getting underway in
the other Andean countries.
Contact:
glecaros@communidadandina.org
dcuronisy@communidadandina.org
VIEWPOINT
© IRD/S.Arfaoui
A new approach in development economics tries
to connect a country’s long-term development
trends with political factors, particularly those
concerning democracy and governance. The quality of a country’s institutions and the degree of
trust its citizens have in them affect people’s welfare, sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly
through the efficacy or otherwise of economic
policies.
Researchers in the IRD-DIAL (1) research unit
on “Growth, inequalities, population and the role
of the state” have been addressing this issue.
They are exploring how households see their living conditions and difficulties and how they view
their country’s institutions in terms of efficiency
and manner of operating. Although the latter
two aspects are rarely measured quantitatively,
the unit’s researchers have developed an original methodology for the purpose. They have been
running surveys with this methodology in several
countries of Africa and Latin America, in cooperation with national statistics institutes, Afrisat
and the Andean Community.
A partner’s
PAGE 25
T R A I N I N G
PAGE 26
A N D
I N D U S T R I A L S
R E L A T I O N S
© IRD/F.AMPE - P.Chevalier
STRENGTHENING SOUTHERN
RESEARCHERS’ CAPACITIES
The IRD always aims to assist partners in their
development and help them achieve independence. Alongside our research, consultancy and
industrial relations work, we directly seek to
strengthen Southern research capacity in a lasting way. The Support and Training department designs and organises various forms of training and
support for scientific communities in the South.
Rigorous evaluation
Before the department goes into action, potential
partners are met and research arrangements are
evaluated. All projects are submitted to experts
who, besides the criteria of quality and relevance,
pay particular attention to each project’s potential spin-off for the local and regional scientific
environment. The core concerns underpinning the
department’s policy and organisation are the creation of collective competencies and consolidation
of existing teams working in uncertain situations.
Suitable forms of support
Different partner communities have different
needs, and we must provide suitable responses.
Support means scientific support first and foremost, so that the teams can familiarise themselves
with the latest advances in their fields and join
the relevant international networks. Then comes
financial support, always targeting the aspects
that need consolidating: field work, mobility or
feedback, for example.
Regarding individual support, which is always
designed with a view to strengthening a team,
we offer a varied range of aid in the form of internships, doctoral and post-doctoral fellowships,
short-term scientific exchanges and in-service
training. All in all, 264 fellowships were awarded
in 2003.
A new form of support introduced in 2002, the
“young IRD partner teams”, targets young teams
that lack the necessary maturity and proven results to win recognition. This form of support continued in 2003, with eight new projects selected.
The department also handles support procedures
on behalf of other operators such as the Foreign
Ministry’s CORUS programme and GIS AIRE
Développement.
Giving our partners responsibility
To give maximum responsibility to our partners,
our approach is based on dialogue, operations are
subject to contract, and partners are left free to
choose their own research subjects. From transmitting new skills and competencies to consolidating existing teams, our support for research
teams helps to build up critical mass, diversify
skills, develop projects and individual careers and
capitalise on knowledge so as to ensure that competencies will be maintained.
work in. This includes local institution building,
generating synergy through joint projects, resource pooling, providing communication and information resources, and supporting documentation centres and libraries. The department hopes
in this way to facilitate the emergence or development of fruitful local scientific cultures and to
help research establish local roots and forge links
with decision makers.
Contact dsf@paris.ird.fr
Breakdown of individual support grants
by type, 2003
Geographical breakdown of individual
support in 2003
68
17
104
Latin America
and Caribbean
Asia
West Africa
25
17
79
Short-term scientific
exchanges
44
Consolidating partner teams’ social
and scientific environments
To develop an enabling environment for research
programmes, we undertake actions to optimise
the scientific and social environments the teams
In-service
training grants
141
Doctoral theses
North Africa
East Africa
and Middle East and Indian Ocean
33
Central Africa
PAGE 27
© IRD/D.R
Support and training
Individual support grants
Doctoral thesis
In-service training
Scientific exchange
There is no degree higher than the maestría in
Bolivia, and that degree does not qualify graduates
to study for a doctorate in France. This gave rise
to the idea of consolidating the maestría course in
biology and biomedical science at the Universidad
Mayor de San Andrés. Based on a network of local
partners, the new maestría now involves a hard
core of Bolivian researchers and local institutions
as well as IRD units working in Bolivia.
Upgrading the maestría involved the participation
of new local institutions and improvements to the
academic framework, with a common-core syllabus, seven options and international lectures. In
the first year (2002-2003) there were some twenty
students, selected through a new and more rigorous
procedure. The best students have been offered the
chance to follow on with a doctorate in France.
12
2
4
6
After two years’ collaboration, the maestría is
becoming the backbone of the new IRD co-operation policy in Bolivia. Three projects for Young IRD
partner teams are directly attached to it.
Contact
Celeste Rodriguez, director of the maestría
ccuna@ceibo.entelnet.bo
© IRD/J.P Eissen
Contact Carolina Parada Véliz
Idyle research unit:
pfreon@mcm.wcape.gov.za
Institutional support (€192,000 in 2003)
Training courses
Teams and centres
Seminars and workshops
© IRD/G.Alvarez
For this operation, the support and training
department combined forces with three IRD
research units – Idyle for biological oceanography, Géodes for modelling, and R061 for
eco-ethology of pelagic marine fish. It involved
co-operation between the IRD and two Universities, Western Cape in South Africa and
Concepción in Chile. This three-sided co-operation should become formal in a future Idyle
programme on fishery structure in Western
and Southern Africa and South America. The
IRD strongly encourages this type of co-operation, in which our partners are involved at
every stage of the scientific process.
A new maestría in Bolivia
264
141
44
79
159
Support for teams (number of operations)
• AIRE développement
31
(Agency for investment in research abroad, c. €27,000 per team per year)
• CORUS-Campus
79
(programme financed by the French foreign ministry with IRD
as executive secretariat, c. €20,000 per team per year)
• Young IRD partner teams (c. €20,000 per team per year)
21
• “Social sciences in Africa” call for proposals
28
(programme financed by the French foreign ministry, run by
CODESRIA and the IRD, c. €27,000 per team per year)
The subject of Carolina Parada Véliz’ doctoral
thesis was modelling the impact of environmental and ecological dynamics on the reproductive behaviour of anchovy in the Benguela
system, off the South African coast. She conducted her research at the University of the
Western Cape, under a French-South-African
partnership. Her work provides new insights
for managing pelagic fisheries, which are the
most susceptible to climatic disruptions. Dr.
Parada Véliz was awarded the Christiane Doré
prize and the quality of her work also earned
her a post-doctoral fellowship at the National
Marine Fisheries Service in Seattle, USA.
PAGE 28
figures for 2003
A “young IRD partner team” is a particular form of partnership between a Southern team and an IRD research unit, designed to build
local competencies and aiming, from the outset, to make the Southern researchers independent.
In 2003 the scientific committee in charge of assessment and selection received 31 applications. Assessment is based on four criteria:
consistency between the team’s composition and its project, the scientific quality of the programme, prospects for the young team’s development, and the quality of its partnership with the IRD unit. Eight teams were selected for a two-year period, bringing the number of
young partner teams currently receiving support to 21.
AFRICA AND LATIN AMERICA
Country
Cameroon
Institut de recherches géologiques et
minières (IRGM)
Côte d’Ivoire
École nationale supérieure
de statistiques, et d’économie
appliquée (ENSEA)
Senegal
Université Cheikh Anta Diop
(UCAD) and Institut sénégalaise
de recherche agricole (ISRA)
Senegal
Université Cheikh Anta Diop
Bolivia
Universidad Mayor de San Andrés
(UMSA)
Chile
Universidad de Antofagasta
Ecuador
Instituto Geofísico, Escuela
Politécnica Nacional (IG-EPN)
Ecuador
Quito Municipal Council
© IRD/Serge Trèche
Young IRD partner teams in 2003
Southern partner team
IRD research unit
Water, environment and health
in Central Africa
Hydroscience (R050)
Population dynamics
in Côte d’Ivoire
Population/ environment/ development
laboratory (R151)
Peri-urban farming
in the Niayes area
Biological interactions in tropical soils
used by man (R083)
Developmental physiology
of perennial tropical plants
Developmental biology of perennial
tropical crop species (R142)
Parasite immunology
Mother and infant health (R010)
Sedimentology
and palaeoenvironments
Tropical paleoenvironments
and climate change (R055)
(PALEOTROPIQUE)
The research team now maintains its contacts with similar bodies in
Benin and Cameroon, and also with the IRD, through the “Nutrition,
food, societies” research unit and the technical facilities available at
the Pointe-Noire IRD centre. This kind of collaboration illustrates the
many-sided nature of AIRE Développement support – support that is
essential for improving Southern research capability.
Vulcanology team
Volcanic processes and hazards (R031)
Contact eprancongo@yahoo.fr
Urban environment and development
Urban environment (R029)
Nutrition:
successful support in the Congo
The food and nutrition research team formed in 1994 with researchers from Marien N’Gouabi University and the Republic of Congo
Directorate General for Research, has become a stable centre of
excellence in food and nutrition research. After receiving scientific
and financial support from the agency AIRE Développement from
1996 to 2003, this multi-disciplinary team, directed by Thomas Silou,
recently wrote up a self-assessment report. Establishing the importance of carbohydrates and fats in covering the energy and nutritional
needs of Brazzaville’s residents, the team has worked to identify optimum production conditions for several local foods: oil from the pulp
of the bush-butter tree, food-quality citronella essence and fermented
cassava paste. It has also played an active part in creating the Institute for Food and Nutrition Research and organising the doctoral
training in “Processing agricultural resources for food” at the Marien
N’Gouabi University.
PAGE 29
The Consulting and Industrial Relations department continued to expand its activities in 2003.
On the intellectual property front, seven new patents were applied for. Six of these are in biotechnology or biochemistry, mostly for applications
in health or agriculture. The seventh is for test
equipment for hydrology laboratories. Two option
contracts for licenses were signed, one for breaking down sugars and one for bread-making. And
a sub-license was granted to a small producer in
the Congo, to produce Plumpy brand nutritional
supplement for undernourished children.
Income from institutional consultancy contracts
increased by 180% over the course of the year.
On the business start-ups side, a tropical aquaculture engineering project involving the IRD and
CNRS was accepted at the Languedoc-Roussillon
business incubator in Montpellier.
Expert group reviews
In 2003 a monitoring committee was set up and
two expert group reviews were published. One
of these is on developing countries’ scientific
diasporas and how those countries could benefit
from them, the other on optimising dengue fever
control in Martinique, Guadeloupe and French
Guiana. Three more expert group reviews were
launched, on organic farming in Martinique, economic uses for natural substances in Polynesia,
and trachoma in the Sahel.
PAGE 30
Quality management
Following the adoption of the quality management approach to research, we took measures
to raise awareness in the Institute and the insect pest laboratory in Montpellier obtained
ISO 9001 certification.
Contact dev@paris.ird.fr
© IRD/G.Vidy
PUTTING KNOWLEDGE
TO PRODUCTIVE USE
FISH FARMING WITH TILAPIA
The IRD, CNRS and the University of Montpellier 2
had been conducting research into intensive production of tilapia and fish farm effluent recycling.
Languedoc-Roussillon Incubation, a regional business
incubator for innovative start-ups, provided support
for a new company formed on the basis of this work.
It is an innovative project involving productive use of
all the organic waste produced; the fish farm effluent is processed in lagoons, producing phytoplankton
and zooplankton that are then used to feed the fish.
The tilapia market holds promise, with sales in Europe
increasing and world fish stocks stagnating. A prototype of the fish farming system will soon be built in
Senegal, and once the first tilapia farm has proven
itself, the company will be able to move on to other,
similar projects.
Contact Sylvain Gilles
gilles@mpl.ird.fr
© IRD/S.Hem
© IRD/A.Ghesquière
PLACING HOPE IN THE DIASPORAS
These expatriates are not indifferent to the fate
of their home countries, and many of them form
or join expatriate organisations. Some of these
diasporas receive support from the home country or host country. Support for scientific and
technical diasporas should allow for the uncertainties underlying any support policy and should
avoid substituting for support for local research
programmes. Scientific and technical co-operation agencies may find in the diasporas a promising vector that has so far been under-used.
Contact Jean-Baptiste Meyer
jmeyer@bondy.ird.fr
DENGUE IN MARTINIQUE, GUADELOUPE
AND FRENCH GUIANA
Dengue fever is now among the world’s most widespread diseases transmitted by insect bites. Two-fifths of the world population are exposed
to the disease and, according to World Health Organisation estimates,
50 million new cases are recorded each year. In its severe forms the disease can be fatal, but at present the only control methods are preventive
measures and the severe forms are difficult to detect.
The health authorities of Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana
commissioned the IRD to conduct an expert group review on optimisation of dengue control. The panel suggested several ways to reduce the
threat: rationalising mosquito control with the help of the population,
improving the use of insecticides, setting up a dynamic local and regional
monitoring network mainly involving doctors and health workers, and
improving patient care.
GÉNOPLANTE:
FRUITFUL PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP
The IRD has been playing an active part in Génoplante, a partnership of scientific interest (GIS), since 1999. Génoplante is an unusual structure in that it
involves all the French publicly funded research bodies working on plant genetics
(INRA, CNRS, CIRAD and the IRD) as well as French seed firms. Its purpose is to
strengthen top-level research and competitiveness in a sector dominated in recent
years by American research institutes and companies.
A large part of Génoplante’s research has been aimed at understanding basic plant
processes, using thale cress (Arabidopsis) and rice as model species. The IRD’s
participation makes productive use of knowledge and competencies acquired by
our rice research units and their partnerships with Southern research bodies.
Among the results of the programme’s first phase were 59 publications. An assessment of the 1999-2003 period confirms that this original public-private partnership and its combination of work on model plants and economically useful plants
have made it possible to generate new resources for improving crop species,
consolidate technology platforms and start collaboration with similar German,
English and Spanish organisations. It has brought European research up to par
with global challenges in this sector.
© Servico de dedetizaçao - Martinica
The brain drain is happening on
a huge scale. About two-thirds
of expatriate students from
the South remain in the host
country to live and work.
Africa has about 10% of
its students abroad, a figure significantly higher
than other parts of the
world. A third of these
African students come
to France. All in all,
the experts consider
that a third of the scientific and
technical potential of Southern countries is living in the North.
© IRD/J.Hervy
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked
the IRD to consider how Southern countries
could benefit from their expatriate scientists
to further their development. Fourteen experts
formed a panel to address the issue. They considered how to define a diaspora and examined the
facts on the ground, the forms these diasporas
take and the factors affecting how they function.
Then they considered under what conditions public support would be useful, for the host country
and for the country of origin.
PAGE 31
Part of the IRD’s purpose is to disseminate scientific culture and information. This means providing our researchers with access to information
of high quality, making the Institute more visible
to decision makers and partners, and playing an
active part in public debate so as to make science
accessible to a wider public. These are the tasks of
the Information and Communication department.
Access to scientific information
The part played by computer technology and the
Internet in disseminating scientific information
and making it accessible to researchers increases
every year. The IRD made full use of these technologies in modernising its documentation system
– a major operation! Researchers also now have
efficient on-line services available wherever they
work, with access to the Francis database, Current Contents, CAB Abstracts, GeoRef and Web
of Science. In 2003 the number of electronic
journals with articles available on-line rose from
1,400 to 2,700.
The IRD’s document base acquired 2,000 new
references in 2003. More than 57,000 documents can now be found in the Horizon database,
and 65% of these have been digitised and are
available on the Web. This helps to spread information and, in particular, share it with Southern
countries and their scientific communities.
In the publishing field, the IRD published or coedited some thirty books and atlases in 2003,
PAGE 32
with French or other editors. The proportion
of publications in foreign languages increased
sharply, the aim being to deliver research results
to the people of the partner countries concerned.
On the cartography side, alongside actions in support of training and research teams, highlights
this year were a trilingual exhibition on sustainable development and a major work of synthesis
on the environment in the Republic of Guinea.
© IRD/A.Aing
DISSEMINATING
SCIENTIFIC CULTURE
AND INFORMATION
© IRD/D.Lefèvre
PUBLICATIONS BY IRD RESEARCHERS CITED
IN THE SCIENCE CITATION INDEX (SCI) (1)
IN 2003
Scientific activity made significant progress in 2003, as witness the
650 A rating publications (social sciences excluded) listed in the
Science Citation Index. This was 6% more than in 2002 and 12% more
than in 1999.
In the natural sciences and life sciences, there was one publication per
head of research staff. Forty-eight authors published five articles or
more, ten signed eight articles or more and two signed more than ten.
The mean impact factor of the journals (number of citations received
by an article) was 2.4. Some twelve articles were published in journals
with very high impact factors such as Nature, Sciences or The Lancet.
For applied biology and ecology journals, the coefficient was 1.5. For
sciences of the universe it was 1.8, for biomedical research 2.2 and for
pure biology 2.9. It is over 13 for multidisciplinary journals (including 3 in Nature and 4 in Sciences). The number of joint publications also
increased.
(1) The figures are based on the number of researchers working in
the disciplines covered by the SCI; they therefore exclude the social
sciences.
Higher profile
Thanks to the periodical Sciences au Sud (including summaries in English and Spanish), scientific
news sheets and considerable efforts addressed
to the media (over 1,200 press articles in 2003),
© IRD/A.Aing
The IRD is eager to intensify the dialogue between science and society. This year, we organised
close to a hundred public lectures and debates so
that researchers could meet the general public.
As part of International Freshwater Year, we produced a travelling exhibition in partnership with
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Researchers were also active in some fifteen science clubs set up to stimulate awareness of science among the young.
the IRD now receives more exposure
in the press, on radio and on television.
The Institute’s presence on the Internet also continues to expand. In addition to the main website at www.ird.fr,
25 IRD centres and 50 research units
now have their own websites.
The latest website is Canal IRD, where websurfers can view 26 short science news videos.The
Indigo image base, which can also be accessed
via the Web, now contains 23,000 images.
Films and scientific symposia –about forty symposia in 2003– also give the Institute a higher
profile, nationally and internationally.
© IRD/J-P Montoroi
© IRD/M.Dukhan
Socially responsible science
Contact dic@paris.ird.fr
THE QUITO YOUNG SCIENCE CLUB
Students at the La Condamine high school in Quito and the Latacunga and Machachi agricultural schools joined
a research and development youth club. With their teachers and a researcher from the “Pathogen diversity and
potato moth control” research unit, they are working to develop control methods against a devastating pest and
to study the socio-economic impact of the damage it causes. The young people tested a control method using
one of the insect’s natural enemies, first in the laboratory and then in the field. They also ran surveys in the
markets of southern Ecuador to describe the impact of pests on the potato trade. Working on a fully-fledged
scientific programme like this, young people gain an insight into the importance of research for development.
One reason for the club’s success was the choice of a subject of vital importance throughout the Andean region,
where the potato is everyone’s staple food. This was an original teaching experiment, and a short film was made
in the process.
© IRD/D.R
High school students in Quito are studying potato insect pests.
Contact ClubsJRD@ird.fr
PAGE 33