RESEARCH
RESEARCH
Six priority topics for development
Studying and understanding the environment
Protecting biodiversity and ecosystems
Societies, health and development
Ethics in research for developing countries
8-9
11
17
23
29
7
SIX
PRIORITY
TOPICS FOR
DEVELOPMENT
Topic 1
Environmental hazards
and the safety of Southern
communities
Topic 2
Sustainable ecosystem
management in the South
Topic 3
Southern continental
and coastal water resources
and their use
Southern countries are more exposed than the
developed North to environmental hazards
such as earthquakes, landslides, volcanic
eruptions, hurricanes, floods and epidemics.
Most of the regions vital for the planet’s
biodiversity are located in Southern countries.
These countries possess a vast range of
ecosystems, from desert to rainforest, ocean to
river and savanna to mountain. They are also
undergoing spectacular population growth
and major population movements, and are
feeling the effects of global climate change.
These features result in over-exploitation of
traditionally used ecosystems, deforestation
for the purposes of trade, agriculture and
urbanisation, and cultivation of vulnerable
marginal land.
Access to water is a serious problem in many
Southern countries. Identifying water reserves
and understanding how best to access and
manage them are among the key requirements
for development.
To assess and forecast such risks, IRD research
focuses on severe seismic events, the eruptive
dynamics of volcanoes located near major
towns, the potential impact of climate change,
and desertification processes.
Satellite observation enables the teams
concerned to take a comprehensive approach
to phenomena that threaten populations and
the environment, starting from localised
cases.
We also conduct research on the social and
economic pressures connected with natural
resources in areas affected by natural hazards.
And lastly, the way in which the affected
communities perceive and represent these
hazards is now recognised as a determining
factor for safety management.
8
To achieve sustainable ecosystem management,
continental and marine ecosystem dynamics
and biodiversity need to be catalogued and
described in all their complexity and their
interactions. We need to understand how these
ecosystems function by analysing physical and
chemical properties and soils. The challenges
of sustainable development concern both
government environmental policy and local
practices.
The study of ocean-atmosphere interactions
holds promise for forecasting the African
monsoon in the Sahelian zone.
Water quality is an important factor for human
health and for fishery resources.
As human populations in Southern countries
grow, there are major migration movements
into areas near rivers, lakes and the sea.
The human impact on these environments,
including pressure from fishing and
aquaculture, is increasing dramatically.
To protect these ecosystems and their
resources, we need to catalogue the resources
and forecast their ability to withstand
increasing human use.
Topic 4
Food security in the South
Topic 5
Health in the South: epidemics,
endemic and emerging diseases,
healthcare systems
Topic 6
Economic, social, identity and
spatial dynamics issues in the
South
Ensuring food security is an essential aspect
of poverty reduction. Avoiding malnutrition
depends in part on improving processing
methods and learning about healthy, balanced
diets.
In Southern countries, development is still
seriously hampered by public health problems
and infectious and emerging diseases.
The human and social dimensions of
development challenges are expressed largely
through policies to reduce poverty, inequality,
the effects of globalisation and the impact of
technological progress.
For the most part, today’s fast-growing food
requirements will be met by agriculture,
its output and the nutritional quality of
its produce. Intensifying production under
sustainable conditions will depend on a
number of basic, structuring knowledge areas.
For example, learning more about the biology
and physiology of crop species and identifying
genetic mechanisms will accelerate plant
breeding.
An «ecological agronomy» will be achieved by
increasing yields under sustainable conditions
while maintaining soil fertility, minimising
erosion and reducing inputs. This particularly
depends on a more thorough knowledge of soil
structure, macrofaunal activity and nitrogenfixing symbiosis in plants.
Improving productivity also implies crop
protection and management of crop pests,
diseases and parasites, particularly through
advances in biological control.
IRD research mainly concerns diseases
connected with poverty (malaria, tuberculosis
and HIV/AIDS), the so-called «neglected»
diseases (mainly trypanosomiasis and
leishmaniasis) and emerging viral diseases
(dengue, Ebola and West Nile).
Other research focuses on the genetic diversity
and structure of the pathogens,characterisation
of the vectors, drug resistance and natural
bioactive compounds found in terrestrial or
marine organisms.
Special attention is paid to the social and
anthropological aspects of health, through
studies of healthcare quality, patients’
observance of prescribed treatments,
preventive behaviour, the organisation of
health services and representations of illness.
Most work in this sphere is multidisciplinary,
involving social scientists alongside doctors,
biologists and epidemiologists.
Population dynamics, migration and
urbanisation are particularly fruitful focuses
for studying social change.
Analysing trends in knowledge, education policy,
linguistic diversity, identity reconstruction and
diasporas helps to improve understanding and
forecasting of societal changes.
Research in archaeology not only sheds light
on the past of Southern societies, it also
shows how people adapt their cultural and
technological models to natural constraints.
SIX
PRIORITY
TOPICS FOR
DEVELOPMENT
9
10
Earth and environment
STUDYING
AND UNDERSTANDING
THE ENVIRONMENT
The aims of the Earth and Environment
department (DME) are to understand physical
natural phenomena, to assess resources and to
study the risk-hazard relations connected with
complex interactions between the solid and fluid
envelopes of our planet and the action of the
biosphere on those envelopes.
Seventy-five per cent of the department’s
research scientists are working in joint research
units with universities and other research bodies,
particularly the CNRS, CNES, INRA, Cemagref
and CIRAD. Two international joint laboratories,
in India and Brazil, were set up and two more,
in Chile and South Africa, are under discussion.
In this respect the department acts as an
interactive portal enabling many partners to
conduct exchanges and intercommunicate with
French research structures.
As regards environmental risks and hazards, in
2004 IRD research focused on seismic activity,
setting up networks in South America to observe
and monitor tectonic phenomena. On the climate
side, two of our key research programmes are
studying palaeoclimates and analysing the
desertification process on the fringes of the
Sahara.
Tropical ocean systems and soils (in relation to
atmosphere, water and biology) are addressed
through physical and chemical observation using
inputs from biology and the social sciences.There
are four strands to IRD research on hydrologic
systems: experimental and field hydrology,
water resources and reserves, management
of hydrologic systems and international flow
monitoring systems (with the world hydrological
cycle observing system Whycos, and research in
the major river basins of the Amazon, Orenoco,
Congo and Niger). Applied mathematics, data
processing and satellite-based observation
systems also play a part in the study of complex
processes.
© IR
D/ V
. Si m
on n
eau
x
The department also pilots major international
projects. AMMA, a research programme on the
African monsoon, has over 200 researchers from
the G8 countries and 200 African researchers.
The aims are to acquire a variety of data for
short-term climate forecasting in West Africa
and to control the impact of climate change.
An example of partnership with other French and
European organisation in desertification control
is the long-term ecological surveillance network
managed by the Sahara and Sahel Observatory.
This programme is now supported by Europe
under the name of DeSurvey. The IRD is also
lead agency for French research organisations
working under the New Partnership for Africa’s
Development (NEPAD), particularly in work to
set up centres of excellence on water and integrate
them into global networks. These examples,
based on combined global and analytical
approaches, should improve governance in two
fields that are now of vital importance: water
and desertification.
Contact dme@paris.ird.fr
gn
/ P. W a
© IRD
© IRD
/ P. W a
gn
on
on
11
Earth and environment
SEISMIC HAZARDS
AND RISK PREVENTION IN ALGERIA
Earthquakes can have a catastrophic impact
in urban areas. In Algeria, following the
earthquake that hit Boumerdès on 21 May
2003, scientists from the Grenoble Laboratory
of Internal Geophysics and Tectonophysics
and the Algerian National Centre for
Applied Research in Paraseismic Engineering
conducted research with a view to adapting
urban planning and land use to a region’s
seismic profile, so reducing its vulnerability in
the event of a quake. Demarcating areas where
building should not be permitted and defining
architectural criteria, the survey took the
social conditions of rebuilding into account.
To explain major disparities in the distribution
of damage, microzoning was carried out on the
towns of Boumerdès, Zemmouri and Bouinan.
The measurements taken showed that the
entire stratigraphic column was affected by
the quake, from the tertiary rocks directly
overlying the basement to the most recent
layers. This finding is of prime importance
for identifying the laws of rock behaviour.
On a broader scale, the analysis showed that
the structures activated by the Boumerdès
quake were sharply partitioned. We now know
that the Mitidja basin continues under the sea;
the fault that shifted during this earthquake is
bordered on its southern side by a major strikeslip fault that is part of the Thénia system.
Characterisation of seismic waves in relation
to the orientation of the fault activated when
the seism occurred explained the distribution
of damage to buildings in the town. Scientists
12
established the relation between the initial state
of the buildings and the amount of damage
after the earthquake. These observations show
that for risk prevention purposes, seismic
monitoring and visual checks on changes in
the state of buildings can usefully complement
each other.
Contacts guillier@bondy.ird.fr
stephane.cartier@obs.ujf-grenoble.fr
The geophysical survey was complemented by
an analysis of the social, communicational and
legal aspects for the populations affected, the
better to understand how town planning policy
can incorporate seismic information. After a
post-quake observation and reorganisation
phase, several issues were examined:
institutional management of the crisis,
malfunctions in the infrastructure networks,
economic consequences and the difficulty of
getting businesses functioning again, evaluation
of dwellings, rehousing, psychological fears
and the role of the media in a situation of
physical and political uncertainty.
The interdisciplinary approach developed in
the Boumerdès area continues, to help define
criteria for rebuilding. The work will serve
for designing a quick, simple method for
classifying the state of buildings affected by
an earthquake, modelling the parameters of
the town’s sedimentary basin and setting up
a database on the different types of vulnerable
building, for the city of Algiers. Continuous
recording coupled with other methods will
be used to demarcate zones where the risk of
landslip is high and to identify the traces of
faults liable to become active again.
© IR D
/Y. H e
ll o
©I
RD
/ Y.
Hel
lo
Earth and environment
ANALOGUE MODELLING
OF GEOLOGICAL PHENOMENA
The Andes cordillera constitutes an ideal
natural laboratory for studying volcanic
eruptions and the geological functioning
of a mountain chain. However, to explain
the evolution of the surface of a continent,
scientists need to model geological processes.
It remains extremely difficult to reconstitute
in three dimensions the processes by which
the Earth’s crust is deformed and erodes over
tens of millions of years, and the interactions
between deformation and erosion. On a
different timescale, volcanic phenomena such
as pyroclastic flows (extremely hot mixtures
of volcanic gas and ash generated by the
gravitational collapse of a lava dome or an
eruption column) are also poorly understood.
To improve understanding of these complex
processes, natural phenomena can be simulated
in the laboratory using reduced-scale models.
These experiments reproduce in a few hours
the deformations affecting the surface of the
planet over several million years.This change in
timescale can be achieved by using analogous
materials – materials that simulate the
mechanical properties of rocks, but at much
higher speeds. Dry sand, silicon gum, glucose
syrup and even honey can be used to simulate
the behaviour of different types of rock in the
lithosphere and asthenosphere(1). The role
of erosion and its effect on the evolution of
landform are modelled by ablation processes,
using an aspiration system for example.
The University of Chile’s Geology Department
and the IRD have set up an analogue modelling
laboratory in Santiago. Here, the formation
of terrestrial structures can be reproduced
for a basin or for the entire lithosphere and
upper mantle. Researchers and students
are studying the influence of different types
of rock behaviour on the development of
strike-slip faults and the emplacement of
Chile’s major copper deposits. They are also
conducting experiments to understand how
sedimentary basins are established and the
relationship between transfers of matter
(by erosion and sedimentation) and the
evolution of compressive structures. Using
experiments like these to reproduce the
functioning of natural systems, scientists
can predict more effectively where to find
economically useful minerals in the Earth’s
crust.
For the experiments designed to simulate
pyroclastic flows, we generate gravitational
currents of particles in suspension in air.
Modelling shows that flows of small particles
such as volcanic ash propagate at constant
velocity, like purely liquid flows. These findings
are surprising in that the moving particles are
almost in contact, which in principle ought to
produce a different type of behaviour.This work
will help to understand the evolution of several
potentially dangerous Chilean volcanoes such
as Villarica and Lascar.
(1) Asthenosphere: the layer between the mantle
and the overlying lithosphere, on which the tectonic
plates move about.
Analogue model of the Andes
A PARTNER’S VIEWPOINT
Reynaldo Charrier,
DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF
G E O L O G Y, U N I V E R S I T Y O F C H I L E
D
© IR
ér
/ G. H
The development of mountain chains along active
continental margins involves deformation, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and uplifting of huge
volumes of rock. An overall understanding of these
processes requires expertise in structural geology,
petrology, vulcanology, seismology and geomorphology. With the new analogue modelling laboratory
in the University of Chile’s Geology Department we
have been able to conduct several experiments to
improve understanding of several complex situations involving interactions between the oceanic
plates that border South America and Antarctica.
The role of pre-existing structures in the deformation and uplifting of the Andes chain in central Chile,
near Santiago, is also being studied with the aid
of models. One goal is to identify the areas where
uplifting and erosion are most intense, in order to
warn of landslide hazards in areas close to human
settlements.
ail
Contacts O.Roche@opgc.univ-bpclermont.fr
martinod@lmtg.obs-mip.fr
13
Contact
rcharrie@cec.uchile.cl
Earth and environment
OCEAN DYNAMICS
AND CLIMATE
The surface waters of the equatorial Pacific
play a major part in changes in the Earth’s
changing climate. It is there that the
El Niño phenomenon occurs, with its major
repercussions on year-to-year climate
variation. One consequence of this variability
is that ocean waters may act either as sink
or as source of atmospheric carbon dioxide,
so playing a part in the carbon cycle – and in
global warming.
The waters of the Eastern Pacific are relatively
cool (22-28° C) and salty (> 36g/L). Carbon
dioxide is released from these waters into the
atmosphere when the combined action of the
trade winds and the Coriolis force brings an
upwelling of deep water to the surface. The
waters of the Western Pacific are warmer
(> 28° C) and less salty (> 35 g/L). This is
the "warm pool" whose carbon dioxide content
is in balance with that of the atmosphere.
Between the two water masses is a zone a
few kilometres wide, and this is the seat of the
physical mechanisms that facilitate or restrict
the movement of the warm pool across the
Pacific.
The two water masses vary widely in their
respective surface areas, depending on
climatic conditions. During El Niño, the
waters of the warm pool spread eastward,
sometimes even reaching the coast of South
America. Parameters important for studying
this phenomenon, such as the salinity, carbon
dioxide content and chemical properties of
the water, cannot be measured remotely from
14
satellites. To understand the phenomenon,
computer modelling is used, with in situ
validation. This is the reason for the IRD's
regular oceanographic surveys in the Pacific,
the most recent of which took place in March
and April 2004 on board the IRD's Nouméabased oceanography vessel Alis.
During these surveys, the temperature,
salinity, surface carbon dioxide content and
current are recorded continuously. Other
measurements are taken at intervals between
the surface and a depth of 1000 metres using
a sounder equipped with sensors, which also
collects water samples for chemical analysis.
Improvements to this technique now provide
data on currents in the water column at each
station; the new configuration and the types of
apparatus used constitute a first for a French
research ship.
Data gathered during this and earlier surveys
confirm the complex interconnections between
different processes at all scales, as reflected in
the properties of the frontal zone. From this
information the scientists have linked unusual
salinity values in the warm pool with a ten-year
trend in the South Pacific. At the other end of
the spectrum, researchers have discovered that
the physical and bio-geochemical fronts do not
coincide, and have linked this with variations
in atmospheric forcing over periods of a few
weeks.
Contact eldin@ird.fr
© IR D
/C
©I
RD
/C
.Ma
es
.M a e s
Earth and environment
WHYCOS,
THE WORLD HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE OBSERVING SYSTEM
Many countries in the South are faced with the
problem of obtaining enough water of suitable
quality. Forty per cent of the world’s population
live in countries where water stress is medium to
high. There is a danger that water shortage will
hinder these countries’ economic development.
One fundamental requirement for optimum
management of water resources is to have
adequate data. However, it is difficult to obtain
reliable data quickly to cover long periods,
especially where several countries share the
same river basin. To address this problem,
the World Meteorological Office (WMO) has
launched Whycos, the World Hydrological Cycle
Observing System. The system’s components
complement countries’ own efforts to obtain
uniform data in real time; some are regional
(e.g. Med-Hycos), others cover cross-border
river basins (Niger-Hycos, Volta-Hycos and
Mekong-Hycos).
IRD hydrologists launched the first regional
components of Whycos: Med-Hycos in the
Mediterranean and AOC-Hycos in West and
Central Africa. Its pilot phase completed,
AOC-Hycos now continues with Niger-Hycos
for the Niger basin and Volta-Hycos for the
Volta (1). The aims are to equip some sixty
monitoring stations to transmit data by satellite
or telephone and to establish a database in each
country of the river basin. As for Med-Hycos,
in May 2004 some 270 participants from 40
countries met at the Balwois conference in
Macedonia, financed by the European Union.
Working in partnership with the Compagnie
Nationale du Rhône, IRD scientists have also
developed Hydromet, a software for storing,
processing and transmitting hydrological and
meteorological data. The software is adapted to
African requirements and the Hycos projects,
and is approved by the WMO for hydrological
monitoring stations.
Whycos is modelled on the WMO’s World
Weather Watch and uses the same information
and telecommunications technologies. It will
be used to disseminate high-quality data, to
promote international collaboration and to
build up the capacities of national hydrological
services. It will provide the international
community with a tool for monitoring water
resources worldwide and for understanding the
global water cycle.
D
© IR
/M.G
auti
er
A PARTNER’S VIEWPOINT
Mohamed Tawfik,
HEAD OF THE HYDROLOGY
DIVISION, WMO
Reliable, referenced databases developed under
these projects could be used in many research
programmes on water resources, resource
management and changes in resource levels. Not
all the data accumulated over recent decades,
for example by IRD hydrologists in Africa and
on other continents, have been digitised. The
IRD plans to input these data so as to build up
long time series.
© IR
D
(1) The French development and environmental
agencies, Agence Française de Développement
and Fond Français pour l’Environnement
Mondial, have awarded €3,000,000 to NigerHycos and €1,000,000 to Volta-Hycos.
/O. B
arri
è
The World Meteorological Office and the IRD have
been collaborating fruitfully for ten years now
to develop and implement a number of regional
components of Whycos, in the Mediterranean basin,
Africa and the Caribbean. The IRD has hosted
experts from participating countries, forging lasting
co-operation links among institutions. It possesses
an impressive body of experience in designing,
implementing and managing hydrological monitoring stations, from data acquisition to developing
tools for data processing, archiving and dissemination. These are invaluable competencies for implementing the Hycos projects on the Volta and Niger
rivers and in the Caribbean. This all makes the IRD
a key partner for the WMO.
re
Contact : MTawfik@wmo.int
Contact thebe@mpl.ird.fr
15
Rourc vivant
16
Living Rourc
PROTECTING BIODIVERSITY
AND ECOSYSTEMS
The overall aim of research in the Living
Resources department is to ensure that
ecosystems and the uses made of them
are viable, well managed and meet the
imperatives of sustainable development.
Tropical farming systems are one focus,
others are coastal marine and continental
aquatic ecosystems and their characteristic
biodiversity.
The IRD’s evaluation process has resulted
in larger, more reactive research units
with more ambitious scientific aims.
In microbiology and soil science, for example,
seven units have been reorganised into three
teams taking complementary approaches.
2004 research topics include the use of
marginal, vulnerable land, fertilisation
or rehabilitation of exhausted soils and
assessing the potential of agriculture to
sequester carbon. To involve European
partners more closely, the Institute joined
Cirad in an European Economic Interest
Grouping called Ecart whose goal is to
stimulate European expertise in tropical
agronomy. Research in Senegal and northeastern Thailand produced results that help
to explain the severe salinisation in local
rice fields. Several units are working on crop
pests and diseases.
Other IRD scientists are involved in
plant breeding, using genomics and
molecular biology tools. Internationally,
the IRD developed closer partnership
with Consultative Group on International
Agricultural Research (CGIAR) centres in
2004, taking part in the CGIAR’s Challenge
programmes; in particular, teams working
on genetic resources were selected for the
Generation Challenge Programme. IRD
researchers and their partners studying
varieties of maize grown in Mexico provided
genetic proof that farming practices play a
vital part in maintaining wide diversity.
Contact drv@paris.ird.fr
Scientists studying the management of
tropical ecosystems combine input from
the natural sciences and the analytical
sciences – modelling, spatialisation and
bioinformatics. Other 2004 research
topics were protected areas and how they
are evolving, environmental ethics and
economics. Biodepollution and productive
use of microorganisms was another field
of work; studies in Australian and Mexican
oil fields identified species of bacteria that
consume nitrates.
Water quality is of vital importance for
human health, fishery and aquaculture.
Preserving the biological quality of
continental and coastal waters and
conserving fishery ecosystems are also on
the department’s agenda. IRD researchers
involved in developing national strategy on
biodiversity research took part in the Paris
Conference on biodiversity governance,
marine biodiversity in particular. This focus
was illustrated by the Institute’s travelling
exhibition on «Fish and Men».
The IRD also plays a part in the European
Science Foundation and encourages teams to
submit proposals for Eurocore programmes,
in order to integrate more closely with
European structures.
is
/Y.P a r
© IR D
© IR D
/A .R
iv a l
17
LE POINT DE VUE
D’UN PARTENAIRE
A PARTNER’S VIEWPOINT
Julien Demenois,
OFFICE NATIONAL DES EAUX ET
DE FORÊTS (ONF),
FRENCH GUIANA
The French forestry authority ONF has been
managing 7.5 million hectares of tropical rainforest
in French Guiana since 1967. Only some parts of the
peri-coastal fringe of the forest, about 1.7 million
hectares, can be reached by road or track. Access to
the rest is by river or by air, which is a major obstacle
to sustainable forest management. Approaches like
those the IRD has developed under the CAREFOR
and DIME projects are of great interest to the ONF
and other management bodies in the SILVOLAB GIS
partnership. With methods for predicting parameters
such as mean tree diameter or the composition of
the flora, forest managers hope to be able to target
their diagnostic and field survey efforts more
effectively and gain a better understanding of larger
areas for land use planning. These techniques look
promising and realistic. They should also benefit
forest monitoring and logging surveillance once the
forthcoming SPOT 5 receiving station is installed in
Guiana.
Contact julien.demenois@onf.fr
Living Rourc
IMAGERY
FOR TROPICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT
To
manage tropical rainforest sustainably it
is essential to be able to estimate and map the
descriptive parameters of the vegetation, such
as biomass and biodiversity, for a large area
of forest. But these ecosystems are extremely
complex, so parameters of this kind can only
be directly measured over small areas. Despite
the increasing precision of satellite or aerial
imagery, until now there had been no reliable
method for extrapolating local data to large
areas from remotely sensed images.
correlated with a set of forest parameters such
as density, mean tree diameter, distribution of
tree diameters and mean tree height. Reversing
the analysis, one can predict from the texture
index the characteristics of a forest far beyond
the reference plots and map these parameters
for an area of several thousand hectares.
This is valuable for estimating biomass and
carbon stock, monitoring the impact of logging
or defining forest types in order to design
management plans.
IRD scientists working in a joint research
unit(1) with a teacher-researcher from the
ENGREF, the French Institute of Forestry,
Agricultural and Environmental Engineering,
now propose a new method of canopy analysis.
In a pilot study of a site near the Petit Saut
dam in French Guiana, they mathematically
analysed digitised aerial photographs using a
method developed for studying brousse tigrée
in Africa. The results show that the method
is useful for studying the texture of tropical
rainforest canopy. A mathematical formula
called the Fourier transform is used to classify
pictures of forest canopy according to the
frequency of recurrent motifs of various sizes. A
coarse-grained canopy indicates an area where
the predominant pattern consists of stands of
tall trees alternating with large natural treefall clearings, whereas a finely-grained texture
marks a juxtaposition of small tree crowns.
The method holds great promise, as it can
be reproduced for different types of tree
population and different dates. The initial
findings have been confirmed by tests in French
Guiana on tree populations that had been
selectively logged, and in an area of mangrove.
The method can be applied both to traditional
aerial photographs such as have been taken
since the 1950s in tropical regions and to
recent satellite images such as those taken by
the Ikonos and QuickBird satellites.
The study of images taken in French Guiana
shows that canopy texture is very closely
18
Contacts Raphael.pelissier@mpl.ird.fr
pierre.couteron@ifpindia.org
(1) Joint research unit UMR AMAP, «botAnique et
bioinforMatique de l’Architecture des Plantes».
© IR D
/B
. de M
érona
Following these first results, a databank
coupling canopy images and field measurements
will be set up in early 2005 at the IRD centre
in Cayenne. This will enable the IRD to
capitalise information in order to refine and
gradually validate the correlations between the
canopy texture index and the forest structure
parameters. The system could in the long
run become a common management tool for
Guiana’s forests
A
© IN R
roy
/C . L e
Living Rourc
RESTORING MINES SITES
IN NEW CALEDONIA
New Caledonia is the world’s fourth-ranking
nickel producer. Nickel is mined on an openpit system, stripping off soil and vegetation.
This increases erosion and endangers some
components of biodiversity. It is therefore
important to restore mine sites. This mainly
means establishing a new vegetation cover
that can then evolve towards a biologically
diverse state. With mining expanding fast,
New Caledonia must reconcile its industrial
development with management of a biological
heritage that is recognised worldwide for its
diversity and originality.
At present, revegetation is based on local
species selected during earlier research. These
are species that thrive in poor soils that are
toxic to most plants. They are relatively slow
growers, which limits their ground coverage and
the extent to which they improve soil fertility –
a process that has to happen before secondary
species can establish themselves naturally. So
it is crucial to find ways to accelerate and
amplify the installation and development of
the species planted.
Current research is intended to improve the
performance of pioneer species growing in
symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing bacteria or with
mycorrhizae that facilitate the host plant’s
uptake of nutrient minerals. Isolation trials,
selection and characterisation of different
symbiotic microorganisms with a role in plants
mineral nutrition on mining soils are being
conducted under several joint programmes(1).
The research shows that Serianthes calycina, a
leguminous plant that was giving the best results
in terms of growth, nitrogen input and the
establishment of a range of other species in its
shade, lives in symbiosis with Brachyrhizobium,
a bacteria that has some strains particularly
good at fixing nitrogen. As regards symbiosis
between plants and mycorrhizae – fungi that
colonise plant roots – the research has shown
that tree species of the genuses Gymnostoma
(Casuarinaceae family) and Araucaria
(Araucariaceae) have root nodules whose
presence could promote regeneration of the
forest ecosystem. The researchers have also
discovered symbioses between several pioneer
species of the Myrtaceae family and fungi new
to science.
Contacts Tanguy.Jaffre@noumea.ird.nc
Bernard.Dreyfus@mpl.ird.fr
A NATIONAL TECHNOLOGY
RESEARCH CENTRE
LE POINTAND
DE VUE
ON “NICKEL
THE
D’UN
PARTENAIRE
ENVIRONMENT”
These results, based on characterising and
utilising symbiotic components of local
biodiversity will help to improve the restoration
of degraded sites, with planted or sown species
being inoculated with the most efficient strains
of the microorganisms isolated. Accelerating
and amplifying colonisation of bare ground by
vegetation should reduce costs and so make it
possible to treat larger areas.
D
© IR
/Wir
rma
As announced by the Deputy Minister for Research
at the New Caledonia Research Conference in August
2004, a National Technology Research Centre on Nickel
and the Environment is soon to be created.
nn
With nickel ore prospecting and mining increasing
and more mining companies involved, the aim of the
research centre is to promote mining in a sustainable
development perspective and to structure collaboration
between public sector research laboratories and major
companies.
National new research centre will improve knowledge
of the parent rock and optimise the revegetation process.
(1) Research involving the IRD, the joint research
unit UMR CNRS 5557 of the University of Lyon 1,
INRA, the Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique
in Montpellier, the University of New Caledonia, the
New Caledonia Institute of Agronomy and CIRAD.
Contact Fabrice Colin
dir.noumea@noumea.ird.fr
© IR
D
/ T. J
affr
è
19
Living Rourc
FISH
UNDER ENVIRONMENTAL PRESSURE
Different fish species respond differently to
natural or man-made changes to environmental conditions. Some species show remarkable
physiological adaptations, such as resistance to
salinity or pollution. Others can modify their
reproductive or growth mechanisms to survive
in places where less adaptable species die out.
Examples of this are dwarfism and early sexual
maturity. The effects of these disturbances are
seen on individuals and on populations structure. Though often reported, these adaptive
responses are poorly understood.
IRD scientists and their Senegalese and Gambian partners in West Africa are comparing
phenomena in the Gambia estuary and the
Sine Saloum in Senegal. Although geographically close, the two areas have different hydrological conditions and ecosystems. The Gambia
estuary has normal salinity and has not suffered major natural or man-made alterations,
whereas the Sine Saloum is a ‘reverse estuary’
where salinity is very high at the upstream end.
The goal is to measure the effects of hypersalinity on species and populations and identify
their response thresholds, in order to identify
biological indicators for assessing the health of
these ecosystems.
Two fish species, a tilapia (Sarotherodon melanotheron) and the Bonga shad (Ethmalosa
fimbriata), were chosen as complementary
biological models. These fish are able to live
in waters as hypersaline as those found upstream in the Saloum, mainly by modifying their
20
reproductive cycle and growth. Sexually mature
males and females of both species are smaller
in the most saline parts of the Saloum than in
the Gambia estuary. This feature, which is linked to other biological characteristics, reflects
a response to environmental constraints.
Contact Raymond.Lae@ird.fr
IRD scientists also assessed the impact of
fishing pressure on the organisation of fish
populations in the two estuaries. Annual
monitoring of fish catches and landings show
that in the Gambia estuary (taken here as the
reference environment), fishing focuses mainly
on prawn. Wide-mesh nets and long-lines are
used, but only for large species. Such specialised fishing under-exploits the estuary’s fish
resources, suggesting that in this case fishing
cannot be regarded as a major disturbance to
the ecosystem.
The information gathered about river, lake,
lagoon and estuary ecosystems in West Africa
is stored in databanks used directly for statistical analysis or as input for models to assess
the extent of change to food chains caused by
hypersalinity. These results have been achieved
through close collaboration between the IRD
and its Senegalese and Gambian partners, particularly through supervision of some twenty
students.
© IR D
/E -C
D o m in
iq u e
/M
© IR D
n
. L e ge
dre
Living Rourc
CONTROLLING SOIL
SALINISATION
In the mid-twentieth century, the soils of northeastern Thailand’s inland seasonal wetlands
started to become saline; massive deforestation
at that time caused saline groundwater to rise to
shallow depths. At first, areas of some hundred
square metres appeared where rice could no
longer grow; then these areas spread to cover
entire wetlands. Thai researchers had tested
all the conventional methods for controlling
land salinisation, in vain, but there were some
farmers who managed to keep higher-thanaverage yields on their farms by a traditional
combination of irrigation management and
organic inputs.
In 2001, the Department of Rural Development
at the Thai agriculture ministry and some farm
cooperatives started a programme to improve
understanding of the processes involved in
salinisation and find the scientific basis for
the villagers’ traditional practices. One farm
using salinity control methods and one using
traditional methods were compared, while the
properties of soil and soil solution on each
farm being monitored for three years.
In 2004 the results were reviewed, revealing an
original situation and showing the vulnerability
of the current rice farming system. The water
management methods of the traditional system
partly desalinate the top ten centimetres of
soil, while the soil beneath remains too salty
for roots to spread. The study also shows that
salt accumulating on the surface is not only
caused by salt water rising by capillary action
in the dry season, but also, as measurements
of geophysical factors and solute flows showed
in some places, by salt water rising from
deep levels during the wet season, as with an
artesian spring. It is probable that this water
under pressure is in balance with groundwater
on the slopes, and that the saline areas overlie
fractures in the rock beneath.
These are important findings for salinisation
control. It is not simply a matter of preventing
salt from rising in the dry season and
desalinating when the wet season starts; the
rise of saline water must also be controlled
during the wet season. The traditional water
management methods do this, using every
means possible to maintain a sheet of water on
the fields throughout the cropping season.
For rice roots to grow properly, soil acidity also
has to be neutralised. The scientists found that
these soils, which are acid in the dry season, are
often neutral when covered by a sheet of water,
owing to the action of soil microorganisms. A
study is now under way, in collaboration with
the University of Paris XI Orsay, to discover
whether the traditional inputs of organic
matter on saline patches may primarily serve to
stimulate microorganism activity rather than
to add crop nutrients as is usually the case.
© IR D
/J
-L . M a
eght
A PARTNER’S VIEWPOINT
Dr. Yupa Hanboonsong,
DIRECTOR, OFFICE
OF INTERNATIONAL
A G R I C U LT U R E ,
UNIVERSITY OF KHON KAEN
©I
RD
/J-
L. M
aeg
Over the years, the Agriculture Faculty at the
University of Khon Kaen had developed an informal
collaboration with the IRD, particularly in the form
of scientific exchanges of students and researchers.
To structure the partnership, in 2004 a four-year
project was set up, jointly funded by the French
and Thai governments. The project is based on
collaboration between a network of Thai universities
coordinated by the University of Khon Kaen and a
network of French research institutes co-ordinated
by the IRD. The aim is to enable French and Thai
scientists to work together on common issues
and on problems that concern both countries.
This arrangement could serve as a model in other
sectors, so strengthening research in Thailand.
ht
Contact Roland.Poss@mpl.ird.fr
21
Contact yupa_han@kku.ac.th
Rourc vivant
22
Socii and Health Department
SOCIETIES, HEALTH,
DEVELOPMENT
The IRD has 26 research units, 1 service unit
and 6 joint research units working on social
and health issues.
Southern countries, especially the poorest, have
to cope with endemic vector-borne diseases
such as malaria, arboviruses, leishmaniasis
and trypanosomiasis, and the persistence
or emergence of such pathologies as AIDS,
tuberculosis and meningitis. Access to simple,
low-cost treatments is a leading health
priority.
As regards HIV, in 2004 IRD researchers, their
Cameroonian partners and Doctors without
Borders demonstrated for the first time that
a fixed-dose generic retroviral triple therapy is
both effective and well tolerated. In Thailand,
a clinical trial performed with American and
Thai researchers showed that the combination
of a short AZT treatment with a single dose of
nevirapine, another anti-viral drug, reduces the
risk of mother-to-baby HIV transmission from
6% to less than 2% (without treatment, the
risk is 35%).
Counterfeit drugs are another health problem.
A survey in Cameroon revealed that selfmedication against malaria favours an
increase in the number of treatment-resistant
parasites and hence treatment failures and
wasted healthcare expenditure.
On the topic of access to natural resources, the
IRD conducted multidisciplinary research on
the social, economic and environmental impact
of protected areas. Meanwhile researchers
studying marine and terrestrial biodiversity
and ethnopharmacology isolated anti-malarial
substances in New Caledonian sponges.
In research aiming to reduce nutritional
deficiencies, an IRD team working with national
and Canadian scientists in Burkina Faso showed
that consuming red palm oil reduces vitamin A
deficiency in women and children.
Globalisation and social change
On the public policy side, the IRD analyses
poverty and inequality reduction measures in
terms of both macro- and micro-economics.
Educational and public health policies were
examined in 2004 from the standpoint of
children’s school performance and school dropout rates, access to health systems and family
planning.
D/
© IR
M.-N
i
. F av
er
Other IRD researchers were conducting indepth research on the impact of armed conflict,
in Africa particularly, from the standpoint of on
displaced populations and refugees. Research
in Colombia focused on issues of people mixed
origin, multiculturalism and the place of
«black communities» in the policy applied to
«indigenous peoples».
© IR D
/C
Contact dss@paris.ird.fr
. Jour
d
ie r
23
A PARTNER’S VIEWPOINT
Prof. Martin Akogbéto,
P R O F. M A R T I N A K O G B É T O ,
DIRECTOR, CENTRE DE RECHERCHE ENTOMOLOGIQUE
DE COTONOU (CREC)
The use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets is an
essential aspect of malaria control, and many countries have strategic plans for accelerating widespread use. But although the nets are effective in
preventing mosquito bites, results so far have not
matched the hopes placed in them. It may be that
their use is hampered by practical attitudes and
conditions of use. To find out, a network for socioanthropology applied to malaria prevention has
set up a series of surveys in West Africa to identify socio-cultural indicators on the acceptability
of mosquito nets and the reasons why people use
them or reject them. We would like these surveys
be run in as many countries and socio-cultural settings as possible, to identify people’s habits, tastes
and expectations with regard to mosquito nets. That
way we will be able to offer suitable types of net for
different communities.
Contact akogbeto@leland.bj
Socii and Health Department
IMPREGNATED MOSQUITO NETS:
AN EFFICIENT WAY TO PREVENT MALARIA
Malaria is a major health problem in many
parts of the world, and in Africa, one child
under five dies every second from this disease.
According to Unicef, these lives could be saved
by the use of mosquito nets impregnated with
insecticide, which is currently the best way to
reduce malaria mortality rates. One of the aims
of the WHO malaria summit in Abuja, Nigeria,
in April 2000, was to have 60% of populations
at risk from malaria under impregnated mosquito nets by the end of 2005. This goal will
probably not be met, but it does highlight the
increasing importance of such protection and
the need to spread the idea among the most
severely affected communities.
Medical entomologists from the IRD ran the
first mosquito net impregnation scheme in
1983, in Burkina Faso, using a pyrethroid insecticide. This research continues, partly in
response to growing need in high-risk countries
and partly to counter pyrethroid resistance in
the anopheles mosquito, vector of the disease,
as quickly as possible. The Montpellier insect
pest control laboratory (LIN, Laboratoire de
Lutte contre les Insectes Nuisibles), a WHO
collaboration centre, has helped to market impregnated mosquito nets that have lasting efficacy without need to re-impregnation.
With the emergence of resistant species, the
Institute’s scientists have developed the con-
24
cept of dual treatment of the nets, using two
insecticides with different modes of action,
either in a mixture or applied separately in a
mosaic of patches. Applied as a mixture, the
two insecticides act in synergy. This means that
lower dosages can be used, reducing both the
cost and the toxicity of the treatment. This
method is a particularly suitable response to
the difficult economic situations in many highrisk countries. It was assessed in the Montpellier laboratory and then in Côte d’Ivoire, Benin
and Cameroon, in natural conditions, on both
pesticide-resistant and sensitive populations of
anopheles.
ber
/V. R o
© IR D
t
This work has been facilitated by a malaria
vector research network, the Anopheles Biology and Control network, established in 2003
by an IRD researcher. The network operates
between four institutes, in Benin, Burkina Faso,
Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire, enabling scientists to address different entomological and
epidemiological situations within the malaria
endemic zone.
© IR D
/M
Another promising line of research began in
2004, into combined use of repellents and insecticides. The IRD has filed a patent on this
subject and tests should soon start in Benin.
. Dukh
a
n
Contact hougard@ird.fr
lle c
© IR D/ C. Be
Socii and Health Department
MARINE ORGANISMS
MAY HOLD MEDICAL PROMISE
With more than a million deaths a year from
malaria, this parasite disease still has a major
social and economic impact. Parasite resistance to conventional treatments such as chloroquine has rendered these drugs ineffective
in many tropical regions. Although other antimalaria drugs have been discovered recently,
there is an urgent need to find new compounds
to combat this scourge because basic curative
and preventive treatments are still lacking.
IRD researchers and their partners have
strengthened their collaboration to speed up
the discovery of new drugs based on natural
substances for several types of therapeutic
purpose. Partners pool their sources of biodiversity and technologies for identifying active
compounds. High-speed screening is used to
put tens of thousands of samples of natural or
synthetic compounds in contact with targets
such as the characteristic enzymes and proteins of a particular disease-causing pathogen.
Just as plants have provided numerous medical
drugs, from aspirin and quinine to morphine
and artemisinin, marine organisms are another
vast reservoir of original molecules that could
prove to have therapeutic properties. Marine
organisms are hugely diverse, and so are the
chemical compounds extracted from them. For
example, more than 300 new substances of
pharmacological interest have been identified
so far in marine fauna from New Caledonia’s
shallow waters and deep ocean.
In collaborative work between scientists and
industrial partners, three specific malaria targets were introduced in turn into the robot and
over 45,000 extracts were screened for effects
on them. Forty molecules proved to be active,
three-quarters of them from marine organisms.
About ten proved active in vitro, but no sufficiently significant anti-malaria action has so
far been achieved in vivo.
These are important results for pure research,
however. The scientists have identified molecules which, in vitro, can prevent proteins vital to
the parasite from functioning. They come from
marine sponges, some of which are abundant in
the deep waters of New Caledonia. These natural substances can now be used to compare the
activity of human and parasite proteins, and
will serve as prototypes for synthesising and
optimising new compounds until a compound
with real therapeutic potential is produced.
lch er
© IR D/ E. Fo
A PARTNER’S VIEWPOINT
Liberto Yubero
and François Amalric,
PIERRE-FABRE-CNRS STEERING
COMMITTEE
© IR D
/A
. L h u il
li
Identifying compounds of therapeutic interest
among marine and terrestrial natural substances
is a shared objective of Pierre Fabre Médicament,
the IRD and the CNRS. In 2001 the partners signed
a tripartite agreement for joint research to identify
molecules active against malaria, cancer or cardiovascular or central nervous system diseases. The
IRD’s support in the field was decisive for gaining
access to French Guiana’s biodiversity and New
Caledonia’s marine organisms. Thanks to the IRD
scientists’ skills in extracting and identifying marine natural substances we have discovered new
molecular tools for pure research, into cancer and
malaria particularly.
er
Contacts
Liberto.yubero@pierre-fabre.com
amalric@ipbs.fr
Contacts nepveu@cict.fr
cecile.debitus@ird.fr
bou
/P. L a
© IR D
te
25
A PARTNER’S VIEWPOINT
Margarita Estrada,
A N T H R O P O L O G I S T, C E N T R O D E
INVESTIGACIONES Y ESTUDIOS
SUPERIORES EN ANTROPOLOGÍA
(CIESAS)
Thanks to our collaboration with the IRD we were able
to bring a comparative dimension to the programme
in Guanajuato State, for example by organising an
international seminar entitled «Globalisation areas»
in June 2004. Forty-seven well-known experts and
researchers – economists, sociologists, geographers
and political scientists – met in the capital of
Guanajuato State to compare the local and regional
impacts of globalisation, based on field studies in
Latin America, Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The
conclusions show that local development models
differ and argue for a multidisciplinary approach to
this diversity, will be published in 2005 under the
imprimaturs of both institutions. Another outcome
of the collaboration is the publication, in French
and Spanish, of a book comparing experiences
of change in industry in Mexico, Brazil and India.
Student training was also a major concern of the
partnership; this was achieved through our centre’s
new «Global-Local» research focus.
Contact mei@juarez.ciesas.edu.mx
Socii and Health Department
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC
CHANGE IN MEXICO
The transformation of businesses and means of
production in small towns in southern countries
is closely linked to changes in political,
economic, sociological and geographical
determinants. In Mexico, a research programme
began in 2001 under the title «Entrepreneurs,
globalisation and reorganisation of production
in the State of Guanajuato». Its aim is to
analyse changes in the centre-west of the
country caused by the policy of opening
up trade and the intensification of world
competition. The five towns studied are part of
Guanajuato State industrial corridor, and each
has well-established specialisations: leather
and footwear, the motor industry, agri-food
and textiles, oil and petrochemicals, mechanics
and food processing. Rural municipalities were
also studied; country people have set up huge
numbers of small workshops as an indispensable
adjunct to farming, which is jeopardised by
liberalisation. The analysis sheds light both on
changes in production in each town over the
past 20 years and on changes in local business
circles, among the key players in the current
reorganisation.
The surveys revealed the way very small
operators in several traditional sectors,
especially footwear and garments, are resisting
competition (legal or illegal) from Asian
produce. Overall, the informal sector is holding
up, both in job numbers and output volume, but
at the cost of a devaluation of family labour,
more recourse to short marketing circuits and
sometimes delocalisation to rural areas where
labour, especially women’s labour, is cheaper. In
contrast, many small and medium businesses,
26
particularly in the footwear sector, have been
unable to withstand international competition
for lack of financial and relational resources.
New, high-technology activities, often with
North American capital, have started up
in Guanajuato State in recent years. In the
metalworking and motor mechanics industries
they have regenerated the local productive
fabric and maintained the State’s gross
domestic product. But they have not helped
to re-employ workers from earlier industrial
sites, focusing instead on recruiting from rural
areas.
Influential business circles in Guanajuato
play a decisive part in the restructuring of the
urban manufacturing fabric made necessary
by globalisation. They have reoriented their
investments, for example converting the town
of León into a service centre of regional
importance. They started to become active in
municipal and State-level political life in the
1980s, so generating synergy between their
business strategies and local public policy.
Their influence networks have spread to some
of the country’s more important industrial
centres and the United States. By lobbying they
have attracted foreign capital, developed joint
investments and so modernised the «top» end
of the local production apparatus.
ba ze e
© IR D/ P. La
© IR D
/P. L a
bazee
Contact plabazee@yahoo.fr
baz
/P. L a
© IR D
ee
Socii and Health Department
0
A
I
E
A
CC
LA
A
Singapour
Nias
K A L I M A N T
RIAU
SUMATRA
OUEST
Siberut
Bangka
JAMBI
es
ld
ipe ai
ch aw
Ar ent
M
Contacts Dominique.Guillaud@orleans.ird.fr
hforest@rad.net.id
S
M
I
E
D
us about the past. Work on Nias island has
shown that the introduction of metal, no more
than three centuries ago, went hand in hand
with a proliferation of megaliths. The Nias
island research also touches on the relationship
between technology and social organisation; as
amply related by oral transmission, when iron
was introduced there was fierce competition
between groups to obtain the metal, resulting
in a hierarchical ranking among the groups.
The Sumatran research also confirmed a
date of 9,000 years ago for the first human
migrations, in caves all the way to the south of
the island. Further West, an unexpected date of
12,000 years ago has been established for the
settlement of Nias island. The first Neolithic
settlements in the Nias highlands have been
dated to 3,600 years ago, and metal age
settlements have also been found there.
In the highlands of southern Sumatra,
combining excavation with anthropological
and geographical approaches has enabled
researchers to link the archaeological data
with what today’s populations tell about their
history and living space. This type of work
sheds light on the ways in which communities
construct their territories and identities – a
crucial question today in an archipelago that is
becoming more decentralised, with each region
asserting its identity.
Clearly, the quest for the past has its relevance
for issues of present-day importance.
500 km
SUMATRA
NORD
0°
No one has forgotten the tsunami that
devastated the north coast of Sumatra at the
end of 2004. With an event of such violence the
obvious question is how often it has happened
in the past and whether the next might be
predictable. The region has often suffered
natural disasters – volcanic eruptions, floods,
wildfire and earthquakes. Such episodes may
therefore be considered one of the factors
that shape human settlement decisions. From
archaeology we know that the fossilised
traces of such events, unequal as they are in
their destructiveness, are not always easy to
read, and that their estimated impact on past
societies is closely linked to those societies’
material cultures.
In Sumatra, «plant-centred» societies that
depended on forest resources for almost every
need were widespread until recently, and this
type of society leaves little trace of its existence,
its activities or the disasters it suffers.
To address the problem of interpreting ancient
remains, in 2004 a joint research team
involving the IRD and the Indonesian National
Research Centre for Archaeology focused on
existing Sumatran societies that have plantcentred cultures. On the island of Siberut off
the Sumatran coast, bamboo and other plants
are still widely used for building and for making
weapons, tools, fabrics and everyday objects.
Studied in the context of their manufacture
and use, these objects shed light on the type of
society and territoriality associated with such
plant-based technologies. The organisation of
space – collecting and hunting ranges, areas
used for a group’s cultural life – also informs
400
L
IT
THE BETTER TO UNDERSTAND THE PRESENT
300
A
RO
ET
ACEH
200
M
D
SUMATRA: REVEALING THE PAST,
100
Sumatra
Sud
BENGKULU
© D. Guillaud, IRD.
LAMPUNG
reliefs (> 200 m)
basses terres et
pénéplaines
Jakarta
J
A
V
A
aires d'étude
A PARTNER’S VIEWPOINT
Dr. Harry Truman Simanjuntak,
NATIONAL RESEARCH CENTRE
FOR ARCHAEOLOGY
(PUSBANG ARKEOLOGI),
JAKARTA, INDONESIA
/D
© IR D
. G u il la
ud
The joint Franco-Indonesian archaeology research
programme we launched with the IRD in 2001 has
completed its research topic on the ecology of
human settlements in South Sumatra. We hosted
an IRD researcher at our centre, and he greatly
stimulated work here through feedback seminars
in Indonesian, continuous student training at the
University of Jakarta and valuable help in managing
our newly uncovered archaeological collections.
Excavations, prospecting and surveys of oral
traditions have enabled us to identify new
chronological milestones in the process of southern
Sumatra’s settlement by humans. Our aim for the
next few years is to extend this work to the small
islands of western Sumatra, Siberut in the Mentawai
Islands and Nias Island further north, where no
archaeology has been done so far because of their
isolation and the poor conservation of remains. On
these islands we will be able to examine past and
present spaces and trace far back into the past the
settlement patterns of traditional societies in an
equatorial forest environment.
© IR D
/D . G u
il la u d
27
Contact truman@bit.net.id
28
PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT
AND ETHICS
Consultative Committee on professional
conduct and ethics
Chair
Dominique Lecourt
Professor of philosophy, Denis
Diderot University (Paris 7)
Key personalities from developing and emerging countries
Rafael Loyola Diaz
Researcher, Instituto de
Investigaciones Sociales,
Autonomous National University,
Mexico
Isabelle Ndjole Assouho Tokpanou Honorary President,
Forum for African Women
Educationalists, Cameroon,
IRD staff members
Sandrine Chifflet
Research engineer, CAMELIA unit
(UR103), Marseille
Maurice Lourd
Director, IRD Centre, Bondy
François Simondon
Director, Epidemiology and
Prevention research centre,
(UR 024), Montpellier
Key personalities in European science
Jean-Claude André
Director, European Centre
for Research and Advanced
Training in Scientific Computation
Roger Guedj
Professor, joint director
of the Bio-organic Chemistry
Laboratory, CNRS-University
of Nice Sophia Antipolis
(UMR 6001)
Vladimir De Semir
Associate Professor of Science
Journalism, Pompeu Sabra
University, Barcelona
at 1 July 2005
Based on its meetings with staff at IRD and
its partner organisation, the Consultative
Committee on professional conduct and
ethics (CCDE) has produced a guide to good
practice in research for development. About
a dozen research projects were submitted to
the Committee in 2004, as were questions
concerning ethics in evaluation, partnership
with Southern countries and free access to
scientific knowledge. The Committee also took
part in discussions with the ethics committees
of other French institutions.
Interview with Dominique
Lecourt, Chair of the
Consultative Committee on
professional conduct and ethics
(CCDE)
- What were the main fields in which the Ethics
Committee was consulted?
When the committee started up in 2002, most
of the projects submitted to it were in medicine
and health. They were about epidemiological
research, clinical trials, cohort studies,
worrying diseases like AIDS and parasite
diseases, and nutritional problems. Despite
the wide range of the IRD’s work, it is not
surprising that demand for an ethical opinion
was concentrated in health-related areas,
because it was in these fields that ethical issues
first arose historically. These issues have been
thought about and discussed internationally
for more than forty years. However, in the past
three years people have become more aware
and are raising ethical questions in all fields
of research. Now we are asked for opinions
on environment, biodiversity and access to
resources.
– Does research in Southern countries call for
a particular ethic?
Research in partnership with Southern countries
– countries with different histories, different
cultures and forms of social organisation from
ours – requires us to know about the other,
listen to them, take their expectations into
account and no doubt be particularly attentive
to the ethical side, though perhaps not adopt
a particular ethic. The Committee is holding a
seminar in May 2005 at the Collège de France
in Paris, where we will invite the scientific
community to think about this question. It
will certainly prompt much debate and require
well-thought-out answers, which will be widely
disseminated afterwards.
concerning evaluation and access to scientific
knowledge, for example. Also, research
conducted in partnership can put a scientist
in a situation where interests conflict, for
example between the policy of the host country
and the recommendations that follow from the
results of the research. On all these questions
arising from researchers’ day to day practice,
the committee is regularly asked to reflect and
offer partial answers that will help the research
teams in their work.
Contact ccde@paris.ird.fr
- On the professional conduct side, what kinds
of questions has the committee been consulted
about?
Deontology is about rules governing conduct
in a given profession. The activities connected
with a research institute’s various missions
– research, consultancy, evaluation, training,
communication – are based on precisely
formulated rules. But it is not always easy to
apply the rules, especially in an international
situation where competition is fierce; so the
committee has been consulted on questions
29