1/08/07
14:34
Page 1
Institut de recherche
pour le développement
IRD • ANNUAL REPORT 2006
IRD RA 2006_couv_angl
Annual report 2006
IRD
2 1 3 r u e La Fa y e t t e - F- 7 5 4 8 0 Pa r i s C e d e x 1 0
T é l. + 3 3 ( 0 ) 1 4 8 0 3 7 7 7 7 - Fa x + 3 3 ( 0 ) 1 4 8 0 3 0 8 2 9
w w w. i r d. f r
1/08/07
14:34
Page 2
Contents
Rice harvest, northern Laos
Annual report • 2006
IRD RA 2006_couv_angl
63
Introduction
The IRD around the world
Editorial
A strategic turning point
The IRD in a nutshell
Highlights of the year
•••
Research for the South
Priority programmes
Science guided by ethical principles and quality management
Evaluation, publications and teaching
•••
4
5
6-7
8
9
Annual report • 2006
•••
12-29
30
31
Training, sharing, finding applications
Supporting scientific communities in the South
Applications and consulting
Knowledge sharing
•••
Working in partnership
International
French overseas territories
Metropolitan France
•••
34-35
36
37
40-43
44
45
Resources for research
Scientific equipment: pooled resources
Human resources
Financial resources
Information systems
•••
48-49
50-51
52-53
Appendices
The IRD’s decision bodies
Participation in scientific partnerships
Central services
Research and service units
IRD establishments around the world
55
56
57
58-59
60
3
the IRD around the world
2006 was a particularly important
year for the IRD, with the signing
of its objectives contract for the
2006-2009 period, the appointment
of a new Director General and
important progress on two issues.
One was the discussions between
higher education establishments
and research bodies that resulted in
the formation of AIRD, the Agence
inter-établissements de recherche
pour le développement, and the
other was the work on site policy.
Finally, the decision to move the
Institute’s head office to Marseille is
intended to correct the over-centralisation of our research system.
International recognition of our research work by now needs no demonstration. This
year’s examples include a further increase in the number of scientific articles published in
top-grade journals and important research findings such as the identification of the
natural reservoir of the HIV virus in chimpanzees and definitive proof of the existence of
the mega-Lake Chad in the mid-Holocene. Our expertise (demonstrated for example in
volcanic risk prevention in Latin America and chikungunya control in the Indian Ocean)
and our participation in major international programmes (AMMA on climate, the Santo
biodiversity mission) reaffirmed the Institute’s position as a major player in research for
development. As regards training, the increase in the number of teaching hours
dispensed and theses supervised illustrates our commitment to helping to structure
Southern scientific communities.
Aside from the year’s results in the annual report, it is also worth noting the more gradual
trends in research for development. For the past ten years the IRD has identified with the
concept of “research for development”. This ambitious term has often been misused, and
has been understood even recently as referring almost exclusively to support for the least
developed countries, in the name of international solidarity. This goal must of course still
be pursued, and our focus on the millennium development goals is a strategic framework
that reminds us of it.
Annual report • 2006
Editorial
Nonetheless, science in general and research for development in particular cannot ignore
globalisation, which in no way removes inequalities, power relations or risks – on the
contrary. In the context of globalisation, research for development has a range of goals
that combine a concern for solidarity with concern for safety, security and empowerment.
Moreover, many relevant scientific issues such as climate, emerging diseases, biodiversity
and migration require a global approach both to understand them and to address their
consequences. With challenges like these, research for development cannot rely solely
on the contributions of dedicated organisations. Nor can it do without European
partnerships, or limit its field of activity to the developing countries. This is the new
strategy that must be elaborated and adopted, and this will be our task in 2007.
Jean-François GIRARD
Chairman
Michel LAURENT
Director General
5
A strategic turning point for the IRD
2006 marked a significant strategic watershed for the IRD. With the signing of its
new objectives contract for 2006-2009, the Institute was given a new function as
a government agency. To fulfil its new dual mission as research operator and
agency for the South, it defined a scientific policy action plan and started
consultations about restructuring its research facilities under a new site policy.
The new objectives contract, signed with the Government in mid-2006, gives the IRD an
ambitious framework for stimulating French research for development. The aim is for the
Institute to better adapt its scientific work to development needs, modernise its
partnerships with Southern scientific institutions, forge a network of European
partnerships and increase its influence and presence in the major international
development organisations.
Scientific and geographical priorities
The IRD will now be concentrating its research potential on scientific and geographical
priorities defined in the light of the Southern countries’ main development challenges and
the broad lines of French development aid policy. The Institute’s core research streams
will henceforth be poverty reduction, international migration, emerging infectious
diseases, climate change and natural hazards, water resources and access to water, and
ecosystems and natural resources. These are key issues for development, recognised as
such by the international institutions, and will be studied under multidisciplinary and
cross-disciplinary programmes. The Institute’s geopolitical strategy will be based on four
main priorities: increasing investment in Africa and the Mediterranean basin; making a
bigger contribution to the construction of the European research area; developing
regional dynamics in the South; and promoting South-South partnerships.
Creation of the Agence inter-établissements de la recherche
pour le développement (AIRD)
At the government’s behest, in 2006 the IRD founded the Agence inter-établissements
de la recherche pour le développement (AIRD). The agency has a threefold purpose. It is
tasked with amplifying French and European research efforts for development by
mobilising the potential of research bodies and universities. It is intended to act as a
driving force by stimulating strategic thinking, generating proposals and providing
expertise on research for development and scientific cooperation with the South. And it
is to be an active force for building up Southern scientific communities as permanent
features of their regions. This latter goal will be pursued by supporting research teams
and researcher training, leading regional research programmes and providing scientific
supervision for regional technology platforms. AIRD is governed by a steering committee
whose members are representatives of French research bodies (Cirad, CNRS, CPU,
Inserm, Institut Pasteur, IRD) and the main multilateral organisations, and qualified
personalities representing the Southern continents.
The programmes set up by AIRD will be selected and guided by its steering committee.
The system will be based on calls for proposals open to the scientific community in North
and South
Missions of AIRD and its steering committee
• Conduct continuous discussion of the concepts of research for development
• Define relevant scientific topics for research for development
• Define priority themes for the agency’s programming
• Identify, mobilise and combine the skills and resources of all potential partners, North and
South
• Issue calls for proposals and through these launch research-for-development
programmes comprising a wider North-South scientific community
• Evaluate the research programmes launched and managed by the Agency.
In October, the IRD defined its action plan for meeting the challenges of its new objectives contract. This plan will help the Institute complete the management modernisation
and research work restructuring that began several years ago. It puts strong emphasis
on partnership with Northern and Southern organisations alike, and gives a key place to
strengthening Southern scientific communities to help them address today’s globalised
challenges and progress towards self-reliance. To address the big issues of development
the IRD must focus its work and its teams more tightly, take a more horizontal approach
and develop stronger partnerships. The Institute will be concentrating its scientific potential, with fewer IRD-only research units and more participation in joint units. Abroad, wherever conditions allow, support will be given to international joint research units, as with
the UMR joint units in Metropolitan France.
Part of this effort will be a site policy designed to construct the necessary synergies with
local partners, give greater visibility to research-for-development issues and concentrate
effort and human and material resources on the scientific priorities of the objectives
contract.
The policy of research expatriation, missions to the South and temporary hosting of
Southern researchers will be guided by the scientific relevance of the research
programmes and by the local importance of their topics. These must be spelled out by
the partners together. Lastly, the IRD will continue to contribute to the major earth and
ocean observation systems. Resources in this field will be augmented, with platforms
developed in partnership and open to a large number of users.
Annual report • 2006
Action plan for a revitalised scientific policy
A new head office in Marseille
At their meeting at the end of 2006 the Board of Trustees voted to move the Institute’s
head office to the Euroméditerranée site in Marseille. In March, the Interministerial
Committee for Regional Planning and Competitiveness had asked the IRD to examine
the possibilities for moving the headquarters out of the Île-de-France region, and an
interministerial mission had examined the applications of ten candidate cities. The move
will be an opportunity to further modernise working conditions at head office and will bring
it to a region that already has close ties with Southern countries and with research for
development.
Alongside the research there must be training, scientific outreach and consultancy work.
The conjunction of research and training remains an absolute priority, and there is strong
demand from the South for training for tomorrow’s scientists. The involvement of IRD
researchers in training, especially for international Master’s degrees, will be strengthened
and formalised, with closer partnerships with universities in North and South. The
continuum between research and teaching is now consolidated with the creation of
collaborative chairs. Under this system, the IRD supports a joint research project by two
researchers, one from the North and one from the South. The two researchers undertake
a research-for-development project that must include training at doctoral or Master’s
level.
Access to water is a priority
7
The IRD in a nutshell
Key figures of 2006
Research for development
Founded in 1944, the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement is a French public
research institute working for the development of the Southern countries. It operates under
the joint authority of the French Ministries responsible for research and for overseas
development.
Its work is focused on the relationship between humans and their environment in connection
with the world’s great development challenges - climate change, managing natural hazards,
access to water, protecting ecosystems, food security and public health, international
migration, poverty reduction etc.
200
2,231
€170
€12.70
71%
M€ budget
828
1, 013
390
staff
million in government subsidies
million own resources
allocated to staff pay
researchers
engineers and technicians
local permanent staff
In France and abroad
Over 800 researchers and 1,000 engineers take part in major research programmes
aiming for sustainable development. The IRD has five establishments in metropolitan
France and five in the French overseas territories. It works in Africa, around the shores of
the Mediterranean, in Asia, the Indian Ocean, Latin America and the Pacific. All in all it
operates in forty countries.
Partnership
IRD research is conducted in partnership with Southern institutions under national,
European and international programmes. It provides training and network facilitation to
build up the capacities of Southern scientific communities and help them integrate into
the international scientific community. It also plays a part in transferring knowledge and
finding applications for research results with economic and social actors in the South,
always with a mind to the interests of partner countries.
Mobilising the scientific community for the Southern countries
Through its part in AIRD, the new inter-establishment Agence inter-établissements de la
recherche pour le développement, the IRD has the task of mobilising French and
European universities and major research bodies on research issues connected with
development.
956
79
179
staff working
outside
Metropolitan
France
of which
research
and service units
43%
53%
117
includ
grants paid to
Southern scientists
29
129
5
20
4
6,000
hours of teaching
given by IRD
researchers
and engineers
140
supervised theses
800
scientific
publications
(excluding human sciences)
51%
49%
43%
of staff
of expatriate staff work in Africa
long-term missions
joint units with other French research
bodies or Universities
Thesis grants
Master’s grants
inservice training grants
scientific exchange grants
in France
abroad
of theses jointly signed with Southern
partners
New Director General appointed
Combating Chikungunya
in La Réunion
Professor Michel Laurent, specialist in behavioural
neuroscience, former Chairman of Méditerranée-AixMarseille University and Vice-Chairman of the Conference
of University Chairpersons, was appointed Director
General of the IRD for a three-year mandate.
Following its participation in the consultancy mission on
the chikungunya outbreak, launched by the research and
health ministries in 2005, the IRD is now leading a major
research programme in La Réunion to improve knowledge
of the mosquitoes that transmit the disease.
2006-2009 objectives contract signed
Towards a tropical pelagic ecosystems monitoring system
Brigitte Gerardin, Deputy Minister for cooperation,
development and the Francophone countries, François
Goulard, Deputy Minister for higher education and
research, IRD chairman Jean-François Girard and Director
General Michel Laurent signed the Institute’s new
objectives contract (2006-2009), which lays down its
priorities for the next four years.
The European FADIO programme, in which the IRD was
the lead institution, completed its work in 2006 after four
years of research and oceanographic surveys. The
programme developed and tested electronic tags relayed
by satellite uplink, automating the collecting of data on
large pelagic fish. With these tools researchers will be able
to set up a system for monitoring tropical pelagic
ecosystems.
Annual report • 2006
Highlights of the year
New inter-establishment agency for
research for development (AIRD)
The IRD founded this agency at the request of the
Interministerial Committee for International Cooperation
and Development, to stimulate the French research effort
for development. Its members are education and research
establishments working for development in Southern
countries.
Monitoring the Amazonian environment
by satellite
SEAS Guyane, inaugurated in 2006 in Cayenne, French
Guiana, is an environmental monitoring platform that
enables researchers to make direct use of Spot and
Envisat satellite images of the Amazonian region.
2006 Santo expedition in the Pacific
The Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, the IRD and the
NGO Pronatura led a major international expedition to
inventory biodiversity on the island of Espiritu Santo in
Vanuatu. It lasted five months and involved 150
researchers from 25 countries, exploring the island from
the treetops to the ocean depths. Some twenty IRD
scientists took part and much use was made of the
Institute’s logistical resources, particularly the
oceanographic vessel Alis. What follows now is several
years’ work to identify the 10,000 animal and plant
species collected and make a detailed analysis of the
island’s biodiversity.
9
Research for the South
Climate research, equatorial Andes
••• Priority
Annual report • 2006
The IRD’s research addresses the world’s main development challenges, focusing on six major
themes: natural hazards and climate, ecosystems, access to water, food security, health, and
globalisation. In 2006 it once again achieved important results, many of which were published
in international journals. The selection of results presented here covers all the Institute’s fields of
investigation and reflects research for development conducted in multidisciplinary and international partnership. The research mobilised 115 million euros in 2006, including €95 million for
staff.
programmes
••• Science
guided by ethical principles and quality management
••• Evaluation,
publications and teaching
Desertification in Tunisia
11
Natural hazards
and climate
Understanding to adapt to climate change
63
researchers
10,5 M€
Global warming is now an undeniable fact. It is largely the result of human activity, and
particularly of the increasing quantities of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. It is having major repercussions on populations in the South, who are particularly vulnerable and dependent on their environments. It is becoming urgent not only
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also to apply strategies enabling populations
to adapt and cope with climate change.
By enhancing knowledge, research plays a front line role in risk management and in
making populations less vulnerable. IRD research in this field is based on the United
Nations recommendations on climate change. Its aim is to observe and analyse ever
more closely the climate changes of today and past eras and to study their impact
on the planet. Particular emphasis is laid on the future of water resources, animal and
plant species, tropical ecosystems (forests, coral reefs, lakes and lagoons, deserts etc.)
and the health of populations.
Prevention and management of natural and environmental risks
77
scientific publications
Volcanic hazards
Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, tsunamis and floods: such are the natural
hazards facing the people and environments of Southern countries. These are disasters that recur, sometimes seemingly at random, and are expected to become more
intense in future. Then there are the risks incurred by human activity, such as atmospheric and environmental pollution. To reduce the impact of human activities, the IRD is
conducting research into the processes that underlie such hazards and the events that
trigger them. Our researchers are involved in setting up and running observation and
early warning networks and in educating the populations concerned. IRD research
concentrates on severe seismic events, the eruptive dynamics of volcanoes close to
large towns, the potential impact of climate change and the mechanisms that cause
desertification.
With a chain of forty major volcanoes running through it, Ecuador is a unique
country for volcanology. The IRD has been running an ambitious programme there
for more than ten years now, in close collaboration with the Instituto Geofísico,
Escuela Politécnica Nacional (IG-EPN) in Quito. This exemplary partnership
revealed its full potential in the summer of 2006, when Tungurahua, one of the
country’s most active and dangerous volcanoes, erupted violently. The
volcanologists detected that an eruption was imminent and the local population
was quickly evacuated.
proves particularly high. Modelling the dynamics of these past eruptions enabled the
scientists to identify the probable paths of future nuées ardentes and so establish a map
of high-risk areas, which the two institutes published.
Annual report • 2006
Tu n g u r a h u a : t o p r o t e c t t h e p e o p l e
Armed with the eruptive history and the risk map, the scientists enabled the community
to avoid the worst in the summer of 2006. On 14 July, a 13-kilometer column of gas and
ash rose above Tungurahua. The alarm was raised and 1,500 people were evacuated
from high-risk areas shortly before the column fell back onto the mountainside. On 16
August a second alarm was raised owing to exceptionally strong seismic signals. Within
a few hours 3,000 people had left the area; the only casualties were six people who had
remained in the high-risk area. The ash flows and deposits of volcanic debris, ten metres
deep in some places, devastated the area up to 10 km from the crater, destroying
vegetation, crops and some homes. The ash and deposits will be analysed so that the
scientists can model the volcano’s dynamics more accurately.
••• Contact: lepennec@ird.fr
••• Publication: Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research
A partner’s viewpoint
Pablo Samaniego, director of the IG-EPN/IRD New Partner Team, Quito
Tungurahua volcano, Ecuador
In 1999, Tungurahua awoke from a slumber that had lasted for more than eighty years.
Since then, it has been through a succession of calm periods and phases of large or small
eruptions. In these disquieting circumstances, the IRD’s Magmas and Volcanoes
Laboratory team focused their researches more closely on the eruptive mechanisms and
on volcanic risk management, examining ways to improve preventive measures and
protect the local population. The IRD and IG-EPN pooled their efforts with NGOs to
develop information and early warning systems and draw up evacuation plans.
Meanwhile the Instituto Geofísico set up an observatory to monitor the activity of the
volcano in real time (seismic activity, deformation, emissions of gas and solid matter, etc.).
The researchers also set about reconstituting the eruptive history of Tungurahua over the
past 3,000 years by analysing the geographical distribution and geochemical nature of
the eruptive deposits it has spewed out in the past, using carbon 14 to date the deposits.
They identified several cycles of activity, each lasting a few hundred years with an average
of one eruption per century during these periods. The frequency of violent eruptions
The IG-EPN is responsible for volcano surveillance and risk assessment in Ecuador. It is constantly improving its maps of existing hazards
and is eager to adopt any new method, especially methods for quantifying volcanic phenomena. The latest techniques derive from
advances in research and modelling, especially
of pyroclastic flows. Our cooperation with the
IRD, which began in 1995, is essential and will
continue to drive progress in knowledge of
Ecuadorian volcanism. The new team, set up in 2004, shares this ambitious objective, combining basic knowledge with hazard monitoring on several volcanoes, including
Tungurahua. With Tungurahua, the collaborative research has enabled us to improve our
knowledge of the volcano’s explosive activity over the past 3,000 years, especially thanks
to painstaking field work and numerous radiocarbon datings. This research was essential
for understanding and predicting the events of 14 July and 16 August 2006.
13
The African monsoon in the spotlight
Since 2000, French researchers have launched a vast international
multidisciplinary programme to improve understanding of the African monsoon
and its variations. In 2006, exceptional resources were mobilised for large-scale
field surveys. The African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses programme is
funded by five great French organizations, the European Union, the NERC (United
Kingdom) and NASA and supported by the major international organisations
concerned with the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP).
2006 was a key year for the programme. The monsoon was observed and recorded
intensively for several months running. Powerful instruments were deployed to analyse the
ocean, atmosphere and land surface on a large scale. Six research planes recorded data
that was used to assess atmospheric chemistry and dynamics during and after the
passage of the squall lines. For the first time in the world, four types of balloons were used
simultaneously to add further atmospheric measurements. Sounding balloons provided
vertical profiles of temperature, moisture, wind and pressure. Balloons sent in the lower
layers drifted from the Gulf of Mexico to the boundaries of Sahara. Balloons sent in the
upper troposphere (15,000 m) were deployed in the tropical eastern jet stream from Lake
Chad to the Caribbean. Stratospheric balloons were also used. Three oceanographic
vessels were deployed in the Gulf of Guinea to explore atmospheric fluxes and measure
water salinity and temperature and ocean currents. Land-based instrument platforms
recorded rainfall, hydrological parameters, aerosols and gas emissions.
These observations will be continued for the next ten years. All their data and the resulting
high-quality models and forecasts will provide the foundations for the FSP Ripiecsa project,
launched at the end of 2006 to examine the impact of climate change on West African
societies.
The monsoon
arrives
The West African monsoons have been seriously disrupted for nearly forty years now,
causing droughts on an unprecedented scale and of unprecedented duration in the whole
area and particularly in the Sahel. Are these changes a result of regional factors like
deforestation and other human activities or do they prefigure major changes in the global
climate system? Launched in 2000, the AMMA programme – African Monsoon
Multidisciplinary Analyses – is intended to provide essential new knowledge on the
dynamics of the monsoon, improve weather forecasting models, better grasp future
climate trends and determine the impact of the monsoon’s variability on water resources,
farm productivity and human health.
The key to the monsoon lies in the complex interactions between earth, atmosphere and
ocean. These not only govern the dynamics and variability of the African monsoon but also
play a critical role in the earth’s climate as a whole. The AMMA programme is therefore
centred on in-depth measurement surveys of these major systems, combined with
modelling studies. Oceanographers, hydrologists, atmospheric experts, meteorologists
and climatologists from five French research institutes (CNES, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD and
Météo France) will be working until 2010 alongside 40 other European institutions to study
the variability of the monsoon from day to day, season to season and year to year. There
are AMMA committees in Africa, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Opération terrain en Nouvelle Calédonie
••• Contact: thierry.lebel@ird.fr
••• Publication: Bulletin of the American meteorological society
An African network, partner in the AMMA programme
To create a solid African competency hub in matters of climate change
and its impact in West Africa, the AMMA programme is working with
AMMA-NET, a network of over 200 African scientists. In coordination
with the IRD, the network fosters intra - African collaboration as well as
North-South exchanges. The universities are extensively involved, as are
the meteorological offices and hydrology authorities of fourteen West
African countries, and five major regional centres - Centre de recherche
médicale et sanitaire (Cermes, Niger), Centre africain des applications de
la météorologie pour le développement (Acmad, Niger), Centre agroLaunching hydro-météorologique (Agryhmet, Niger), Agence pour la sécurité de la
stratosphere navigation aérienne en Afrique et à Madagascar (Asecna) and the Institut
balloons
international d’Ingénierie de l’Eau et de l’Environnement (EIER, Burkina
Faso). The aim is to promote African research focusing on practical application and associated
training schemes. IRD grants for doctoral research and in-service training are playing a decisive role in the research training programmes that have begun.
Annual report • 2006
Sustainable
management of Souther n ecosystems
144
researchers
21,15
183
publications
Quinoa farming in Bolivia
M€
The many ecosystems of the intertropical belt – deserts, rainforests, major rivers, oceans,
savannah, mountains – are home to most of the world’s biodiversity. Over-exploitation
of their resources (intensive fishing, for example), deforestation for the timber trade or for
farming, cultivation of highly vulnerable marginal land, ill-controlled urbanisation and climate change are all factors that threaten this biodiversity. It is essential to think about
the importance and heritage value of biodiversity so as to manage it sustainably.
IRD researchers, along with their partners from North and South, are inventorying this
biodiversity. They study the organisation and complex functioning of tropical ecosystems – terrestrial, continental, aquatic and marine.
To enable Southern researchers to rapidly appropriate the methods developed for
data acquisition and sustainable environmental management, the IRD offers them
useful technologies ranging from modelling tools and remote sensing tools to simple
oceanography equipment, marine acoustics technology and physical-chemical analysis laboratories adapted to local conditions. Research findings are of immediate relevance to local practices and policies addressing the challenge of sustainable
development.
Both in observation and experimentation, the IRD is concerned with the physicalchemical properties of nanoparticles in the present and past environment (soils and
laterites, forest fires, lagoons etc.)
15
The Amazonian forest unveiled
An international group of botanists and ecologists, including a team from the
Botany and bioinformatics of plant architecture unit, (AMAP), has been studying
the structure of the Amazon forest, which is under severe threat from
deforestation and climate change. Their work, published in Nature, shows that in
spatial terms the forest is organised along two main axes.
exceptional set of data provided the basis for an analysis of the main floristic and
structural characteristics of the forest at the pan-Amazon scale.
The results show that the forest is structured along two main axes, running southwest to
northeast and northwest to southeast. These axes seem to correspond to variations in
current and past environmental conditions. The first axis follows the main gradient of soil
fertility while the other seems to be linked to variations in the duration of the dry season.
This structuring matches that obtained for local species diversity. In the northeast
(Guyana/Surinam/French Guiana), where diversity is relatively low, the predominance of
species with hard, dense wood and large seeds that do not scatter far indicates a forest
that has not been greatly disturbed (slow regeneration). In the western Amazon, natural
disturbance is more intense and the predominant tree species have smaller seeds that
scatter more widely and need ideal conditions to germinate. Here local species diversity
is higher. These results confirm, on a large scale, the link between regeneration dynamics
and species diversity which AMAP researchers have already shown at the local level.
••• Contacts: daniel.sabatier@ird.fr and jean-francois.molino@ird.fr
••• Publication: Nature
The Amazon forest is the largest area of tropical rainforest in the world and a vast reserve
of biodiversity that is in daily increasing danger. This ocean of green, which looks so
uniform at first glance, is in fact very diverse in structure and floristic composition. At a
time when the forest is being ever more rapidly fragmented, felled and converted to
farmland, it is essential to analyse this variability in order to understand it in terms of
resource availability and renewal and the stability and resilience of the ecosystem under
the impact of local and global changes.
Until now, knowledge of the forest remained fragmented because the data were gathered
from small, one-hectare areas very irregularly scattered around Amazonia. On the initiative
of a Dutch botanist from the University of Utrecht, most of the teams conducting these
inventories have joined forces in the Amazon Tree Diversity Network to look at this “forest
continent” as a whole. The network has put forward a model of variation in local tree
species diversity for the whole of the pan-Amazon (Amazonia and the Guyana Shield).
More recently, the network has brought together the data from major national forest
inventories, which are less precise botanically but cover much wider areas. This
Fossil insects in Amazonian amber
With others in an international team of palaeontologists and geologists, IRD scientists have
been working for years to understand the evolution of Amazonian biodiversity over the past
20 million years of successive geological transformations. They have looked at palaeoenvironmental and bio-stratigraphic evidence (fossil plants and vertebrates), and in northern
Peru they have found several palaeontological deposits in geological environments very
different from today’s. The team unexpectedly discovered pieces of amber containing
fossil insects and acarids dating from the mid-Miocene. The fossilised resin had trapped
several flies, wasps, various other insects and in one case a mite stuck on a thread of
spider’s silk. This is the first discovery of its kind in the western Amazon. It proves that the
region’s wide terrestrial biodiversity existed from an early epoch. We now know that 12 to
15 million years ago, this region was a delta opening onto an inland sea bordered by dense
forest, in a climate that even then was hot and humid.
•••••• Contact: patrice.baby@ird.fr
The IRD is closely involved in the Desert Margins Programme, whose aim is to halt
land degradation in sub-Saharan Africa and open the way to sustainable farming
there. The programme is supported by the United National Environment
Programme and the World Environment Fund.
natural tricalcium phosphate, which is available in the region, could further improve the
performance of the compost while beneficially increasing phosphate levels in the soil.
Outreach sessions have been held in villages to help farmers improve their composting
methods and fertiliser use.
Annual report • 2006
To h a l t l a n d d e g r a d a t i o n i n s u b - S a h a r a n A f r i c a
To improve ecological management of degraded soils, the researchers have been
studying the possibility of better integrating trees with crops. With the farmers they have
been monitoring a zai agro-forestry system developed from bare soil, and they have
studied the use of forest produce such as medicinal plants and wild foods.
The project has also shown by adding soil that has been worked over by termites one
can significantly enhance symbiosis between ligneous species and fungi, increasing the
plants’ resistance and growth rates. This effect has also been successfully tested in
market garden crops (IRD patent applied for).
Today, innovative practices such as erosion control structures in the fields combined with
new cropping practices have succeeded in increasing tree and herbaceous cover in
some parts of the Sahel, shedding a more optimistic light on the usually depressing
picture of constant deterioration in the Sahel’s dryland ecosystems.
Preparing a field with zaï pits, Burkina Faso
More than 120 million people in the countries of the sub-Saharan African desert fringe
depend on crop farming, livestock and natural resources for their survival. But low rainfall,
recurrent droughts and the spread of extensive farming have resulted in widespread
destruction of plant cover and consequent soil erosion. The Desert Margins Programme
started up in 2003. Its purpose is to help these populations restore degraded land
through active research conducted in partnership, and to build up their competencies in
managing fragile ecosystems.
IRD researchers and their partners in the national institutes of Senegal and Burkina Faso
have been studying the methods that Sahelian farmers use to regenerate degraded soils.
A particular example is the zai system, in which the crop is sown in shallow pits dug out
to concentrate water and nutrients. The researchers have made a comparative typology
of farms according to soil type, the availability of organic matter and the soil rehabilitation
methods used.
Examining ways to add organic matter to the soil and so increase farm output in a
sustainable manner, they have been testing local composting methods and the factors
that determine the agronomic quality of the finished compost. They have assessed the
fertilising properties of different types of compost in greenhouse trials with common crop
species – maize, sorghum, millet and cowpea. Their findings confirm that it is important
to control moisture levels in the materials during the composting process, and that adding
••• Contact: michel.lepage@ird.bf
••• Publication: Science of the Total Environnement et Geoderma
A partner’s viewpoint
Souleymane Ouédraogo, national coordinator of the Desert Margins Programme, Institut
de l’environnement et de recherches agricoles (Inera), Burkina Faso
The IRD is on the steering committee in Burkina, and has been responsible for
characterising sites and studying desertification control methods in the North and
Sahel regions of the country. The research has mainly focused on improving the zai
technique so as to increase yields and upgrade marginal lands, and on identifying the
processes involved in the decline of biodiversity.
The IRD has been supervising several Burkinabe students and has brought us its expertise
in training courses designed to foster technology transfer. Through the collaboration with
Inera and other African partners, the IRD’s work has helped us develop greater consistency
in research work and has introduced new desertification control technologies. The work
has resulted in a better understanding of the interactions between climate, vegetation and
human activities.
17
Wa t e r r e s o u r c e s
and access to water
Integrated management of water resources
133
Providing clean drinking water in Southern countries is one of the great challenges of
the 21st century. Even today there are a billion people in the world with no access to
drinking water and one and a half billion with no sanitation. This situation could worsen
in the near future as the world population’s water requirements continue to increase.
Locating water resources, making them accessible to the people who need them
while making sure they are managed sustainably – these are crucial keys to development. Integrated resource management based on sound knowledge of the water
cycle makes it possible to meet the vital need for access to water at every scale from
village to region to river catchment. This is the focus of IRD research in this field.
researchers
Sustainable development of coastal environments
23 M€
137
scientific publications
Burkina Faso
Coral reefs, coastal systems such as estuaries, lagoons and mangrove swamps, freshwater systems: to protect aquatic ecosystems and use them sustainably it is essential
to understand how they function and how they are affected by human activity. IRD
research also addresses the need to reduce the impact on these ecosystems and their
biological resources of the increasingly serious degradation caused by water extraction, pollution etc. Another research area is fish biology and population dynamics – an
essential basis for developing balanced, integrated aquaculture.
To protect the biodiversity of the world’s coral reefs, the international
organisations have adopted planet-wide conservation strategies including
a system of Marine Protected Areas. An international team that includes
IRD researchers has shown that at the global level this system is not working, and
has sounded the alarm for a more suitable world network of marine reserves
to be set up.
against poachers. Management efficiency varies from country to country but is particularly
weak in those areas where coral reef biodiversity is high, as it is in the Caribbean and
Indo-Pacific. Moreover, 85% of the coral reefs in these marine reserves are exposed to
local hazards such as pollution, coastal development or over-fishing. And 40% of MPAs
are no bigger than one or two square kilometres, so they cannot provide adequate
protection for the many fish species that pass through them and are endangered in other
parts of their range.
Annual report • 2006
Protecting our coral reefs: towards an effective world network
Only 2% of the world’s coral reefs are in Marine Protected Areas where the legislation is
properly enforced. The research team therefore suggests that a more effective world
network of marine protected areas be established, with reserves of 10 km2 each, some
fifteen kilometres apart. This would mean creating 2,500 new MPAs. This kind of network
would allow more effective protection for nearly 26,000km2 or 5% of the world’s coral
reefs – still far short of the official target.
••• Contact: andrefou@noumea.ird.nc
••• Publication: Science
Ocean floors off Madagascar
One of the goals announced at the world sustainable development summit in 2002 was
to have 20 to 30% of the world’s coral reefs protected by 2012. The establishment of
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) was supposed to contribute to that goal by reducing the
damage done to the reefs by human activities such as over-fishing and pollution.
Although the effectiveness of these protected areas has often been studied locally, it had
not previously been quantified on a global scale. The IRD centre in New Caledonia, the
University of Auckland in New Zealand and several international institutions conducted
the first global assessment. They made a database including the area covered by coral
reef in each country, how much of that area is designated as MPAs, and how effective
the protection is. The Biocomplexity of coral ecosystems of the Indo-Pacific unit in
Nouméa was responsible for mapping the world’s coral reefs from satellite images.
All in all, 980 MPAs covering 98,650 km2 were identified and recorded – 18.7% of the
world’s total coral reef area. However, the study showed that although MPAs are
designated, it is rare for their management rules to be properly implemented. Worldwide,
less than 0.1% of the reefs where fishing is theoretically prohibited are actually protected
Towards sustainable management of French Polynesia’s
maxima clam
Tridacna maxima, the maxima clam or small giant
clam, is close to extinction in many parts of the
Pacific but is still remarkably abundant on some
islands of French Polynesia. However, these clams
are highly prized on the Tahitian market and are in
danger of over-fishing. It is difficult to predict how
the clams, which congregate in shallow parts
of the lagoons, will react to over-fishing. To identify
measures that will provide for sustainable management, the French Polynesia fisheries
department and the IRD teams in Tahiti and Nouméa made a survey of clam stocks,
population dynamics and clam catches on several islands. For these isolated lagoons, the
scientists recommend joint management by all stakeholders as the only realistic strategy
for making sure that recommendations are followed. The idea is to foster a more uniform
spatial distribution of fishing, set up a network of breeding refuges, establish an initial quota
and monitor the state of the ecosystem using a set of indicators. Management actions
would change according to the indicator measurements.
19
Wa t e r s u p p l i e s t o M e x i c o C i t y
Faced with a severe water supply problem, the Mexico City metro area must
exploit new resources, further away from the city each time. Five years ago, IRD
researchers and their Mexican partners launched a programme of surveys in the
Valle de Bravo basin to study its water regime and water quality.
Large amounts of data on hydrology, rainfall, climate and water quality have been
collected in the Loma sub-catchment, which is representative of the Valle de Bravo’s
environment and land use. Analysis of the data and modelling of the processes involved
show that the components of the water cycle vary widely in time and space. However,
runoff is very low in this basin, which limits the risks of erosion, surface water pollution
and silting of the Valle de Bravo reservoir. Drainage of deep groundwater and aquifer
recharge are the main water transfer processes at work. Although there are high
concentrations of fertiliser, nitrates especially, in groundwater beneath farmers’ fields,
pollution levels in the surface waters remain within acceptable limits.
These results confirm that groundwater is the main water resource in this region and that
farming has not yet had a marked impact on its quality. The challenge now is to preserve
the quality of the water and solve the problem of sharing the basin’s water equitably
between local communities and Mexico City’s inhabitants.
••• Contact: michel.esteves@hmg.inpg.fr
••• Publication: Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis
Water balance, Loma basin
Mexico.
Mercury contamination in the Amazon basin
Supplying water to Mexico City in a sustainable manner presents three major challenges.
In the first place, the city’s population stands at 20 million today and is increasing by 3.5%
a year, so water demand will continue to increase. Secondly, the city has already
exhausted its own water resources. The groundwater has been over-exploited and is not
adequately renewed because urbanisation has reduced the areas where precipitation can
infiltrate and recharge the valley’s aquifers. The over-exploitation of groundwater causes
subsidence and also ruptures pipes, causing an estimated 35% of the city’s water to leak
from the mains network. Lastly, policy makers should consider whether the current
approach of extracting more and more water from further and further away is sustainable
in the long run.
The Valle Bravo basin, some hundred kilometres from Mexico City, currently supplies
nearly 10% of Mexico City’s water. Scientists from the Instituto Mexicano de Technología
del Agua, the Colegio de Postgraduados and the IRD’s Environment and hydrology
transfers research laboratory in Grenoble are running a programme called AMHEX
(AManalco Hydrology Experiment) to study the impact of farming and deforestation of the
Valle de Bravo hillsides on the valley’s water regime and water quality.
Opération terrain en Nouvelle Calédonie
Mercury contamination of streams and rivers is a worrying issue in the Amazon basin. Gold
mining and deforestation both add considerably to the problem by facilitating erosion of
mercury-rich alluvial sediments and soils. IRD researchers have shown that the Rio Beni in
Bolivia is contaminated as far as 200 km downstream of the tributaries where alluvial gold
is exploited. The data show high concentrations of mercury in the carnivorous fish and in
indigenous populations who eat them regularly. In utero contamination of foetuses has also
been revealed – a very worrying phenomenon in view of the severe damage mercury can
do to the nervous system. However, there are other factors that can interfere with a child’s
neuro-motor development, such as malnutrition, micronutrient deficiency, some parasite
diseases and the mother’s health. To clarify the situation, an in-depth study of these communities’ exposure was conducted. It showed that communities whose way of life is closely dependent on river resources are at greater risk than communities who use a wider range
of resources. This research was presented at an international symposium on Metals,
Environment and Health held in La Paz, Bolivia, and organised by Marc Roulet.
•••••• Contact: maurice@lmtg.obs-mip.fr
137
Annual report • 2006
Fo o d s e c u r i t y
in the South
Researchers
Farming system productivity
20 M€
182
scientific publications
In many parts of the South, low farm yields combined with rapid population growth has
led farmers to cultivate new land that is poorly suited to agriculture. The result has been
deforestation and land degradation. The challenge now is to continue to increase food
production so as to meet future needs, but without damaging or endangering the environment. The goal of the IRD teams’ most basic research is to help improve yields from
farmland while maintaining soil fertility, minimising erosion and reducing inputs. They are
working to improve understanding of plant biology and physiology and identify the genetic mechanisms responsible for specific varietal characteristics. The results will speed up
the process of breeding varieties adapted to particular soil and climate conditions. More
efficient pest control is also essential for improving crop yields, and this requires a more
thorough knowledge of crop pest biology.
Food policy
Eliminating hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition while ensuring sustainable management of natural resources is a major development challenge. With today’s rapid
scientific and technological progress, it is now essential for government policies to take
into account the needs of farmers, consumers and the environment together. The IRD’s
research in this field focuses on identifying appropriate policies, based on incentive
measures that local policy makers can introduce to improve the efficiency of food systems and encourage farmers to increase their output while managing their natural
resources in a sustainable manner.
Otavalo market, Ecuador
21
Improving rice growing in Africa
Rice, the first cereal humans ever cultivated, is a vital resource for many Southern
countries. In Africa, rice yellow mottle virus is a major problem, causing
considerable damage and heavy losses at harvest. Prophylactic measures have
been employed to limit the spread of the disease, but the best hope is to breed
new varieties using natural resistance genes found in the gene pool.
Meanwhile a team of virologists from the Plant resistance against pests and diseases unit
has identified strains of the rice yellow mottle virus that can bypass this resistance gene.
This property is due to mutations in one of the proteins of the virus. The two approaches
can now be used together to determine the molecular mechanisms involved in the
interaction between the rice protein and the virus protein. This knowledge will enable
scientists to imagine more effectively how best to use the resistance gene in the long run.
The findings should be of practical use in improving rice production in countries affected
by the rice yellow mottle virus. The IRD has already succeeded in transferring the
resistance gene to some agronomically important varieties by conventional crossbreeding, and the lines obtained have been given to national research institutions (in Côte
d’Ivoire, Senegal, Madagascar and Guinea) and to international centres like the Africa
Rice Center. It is planned to run experiments with these institutions to verify the
effectiveness of the resistance gene in field conditions and envisage its use on a larger
scale in rice breeding programmes, using marker-assisted breeding.
••• Contacts: laurence.albar@ird.fr et alain.ghesquiere@ird.fr
Traditional
rice variety,
Africa
••• Publication: The Plant Journal
Journal General of Virology
A partner’s viewpoint
Marie-Noëlle Ndjiondjop, head of the Molecular Markers Laboratory, West Africa Rice
Development Association (WARDA/ADRAO), Cotonou, Benin
There are a few rare traditional rice varieties that are resistant to rice yellow mottle virus
(RYMV) and show no damage once infected. However, these varieties do not have the
agronomic qualities required for intensive irrigated rice growing and flooded cultivation,
where the disease does most damage. An IRD team (CNRS/IRD/Perpignan University
joint unit) has been working for several years to identify the genes responsible for the
resistance.
The scientists have identified a major gene, called Rymv1, in which minor mutations
confer total resistance against most strains of the virus. In a healthy plant, this gene is
involved in protein translation. In an infected plant, the virus probably interacts with the
gene’s product and uses it to multiply. The scientists have found that small mutations in
this gene are responsible for the resistance. They probably do not alter the protein’s
performance of its main functions, but no doubt prevent it from interacting with the virus,
which cannot then progress to the next stage of the infection cycle.
Opération terrain en Nouvelle Calédonie
WARDA has been collaborating with the IRD for over ten years now to identify genes that confer natural resistance against the rice yellow mottle virus. The aim is to use them to improve rice
varieties using marker-assisted breeding. The centre is now developing this technique with the
national agricultural research institutes in Burkina Faso, Gambia, Guinea and Mali, to transfer the
Rymv1 gene and speed up the process of developing new rice varieties with resistance to the
virus. The resistant lines will also be made available to rice breeding networks such as the West
and Central Africa Rice Network, which will evaluate them more thoroughly with a view to
including them in national breeding programmes. As well as providing training in molecular
techniques to students and to staff in charge of plant breeding, WARDA is helping to set up in
each of these four countries a molecular markers laboratory that will enable qualified national staff
to transfer RYMV resistance genes, or other valuable genes, into elite rice varieties.
In the Sahel countries, it is a constant challenge to identify the most vulnerable
populations so as to prevent food crises and malnutrition. Research by the IRD in
Burkina Faso may help to address the challenge. Nutritionists and
epidemiologists have shown that analysing dietary diversity in the period before
the “hungry gap” (the annual grain shortage) is a simple and effective way of
assessing nutritional vulnerability.
In Burkina Faso, in partnership with the Institute for
Research in Science and
Health and the University
of Ouagadougou, the
Nutrition,
food
and
societies unit conducted
a programme on the
nutritional vulnerability of
women, and particularly
on the diversity of their
diets. Maternal malnutrition deserves special
attention because it
Nutrition survey, Burkina Faso
affects the growth and
development of the child, starting an inter-generational cycle of malnutrition that is hard
to break.
The researchers have shown that the dietary diversity score is a good indicator of the
quality of the diet and the nutritional status of adults, particularly mothers of young children, in impoverished rural areas. Diversity can be measured by asking individuals how
many different food groups they consume in 24 hours. Recently the work has shown,
unexpectedly, that diets become more varied towards the end of the May-to-September
“hungry gap” when cereals stocks run out. The increase can partly be explained by the
arrival of the rains and the resulting flush of pasture and green growth including such edibles as groundnuts, Bambara groundnuts, vegetables and wild fruit. The researchers
therefore recommend studying the degree of variation in the diet in March and April, just
before the hungry gap usually begins. In this period the grain shortage may be starting,
and the rains have not yet begun. This is the moment when groups of women at greatest risk of food shortage and malnutrition can be identified by means of a simple questionnaire.
Armed with these initial findings, the
researchers joined forces with the
Burkina Faso Nutrition Department and
Directorate General of Agricultural
Forecasting and Statistics. Together
they have demonstrated the usefulness
of applying this diagnostic tool to identify nutritional vulnerability in the population as a whole.
Annual report • 2006
D i a g n o s i n g n u t r i t i o n a l v u l n e r a b i l i t y i n B u r k i n a Fa s o
These results have aroused the interest
of international institutions such as the
International Food Policy Research
Institute, the WHO and the FAO. The
Nutrition research, Burkina Faso
famine in Niger in 2005 revealed the
weaknesses of existing early warning systems, which are mainly based on price
monitoring and farm output volumes. The research is now continuing in nine Sahel
countries as part of NUSAPPS (Nutrition, Sécurité alimentaire et Politiques publiques au
Sahel), a programme jointly run by the IRD, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the
Comité permanent inter-Etats de lutte contre la sécheresse dans le Sahel (CILSS).
••• Contact: yves.martin-prevel@ird.bf
••• Publication: The Journal of Nutrition
A partner’s viewpoint
Dramane Coulibaly et Amadou Mactar Konaté, Permanent Secretary of the Comité
permanent inter-Etats de lutte contre la sécheresse dans le Sahel (CILSS), Ouagadougou
In 2005, a year when the food situation was difficult in the Sahel, the IRD nutritionists shed
new light on the causes of malnutrition and the relevance of the indicators currently used.
As part of the programme on “Nutrition, food security and public policy in the Sahel” set
up by CILSS with the support of the French foreign affairs ministry, they took part in
missions to assess the nutritional situation in nine countries of the Sahel. In future, dietary
diversity surveys to assess nutritional vulnerability in rural populations and the search for
nutritional vulnerability indicators applicable to urban areas will make it possible to
strengthen food crisis prevention and information systems. A process of collaboration for
nutritional monitoring in West Africa is taking shape.
23
Pu b l i c h e a l t h a n d
health policy
114
researchers
19 M€
195
publications
Access to health care is a priority in the social science of health and must systematically accompany any research undertaken in this field.
Combating the main diseases linked to poverty: AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis
AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis are commonest in the poorest countries – sub-Saharan
Africa especially. They undermine a country’s economic activity and hamper development. To combat these scourges, apart from improving access to existing treatments,
which is vital, it is also essential to intensify research and the development of new
diagnostic methods and treatments, and to improve the quality of research in Southern
countries.
Environment and emerging diseases
Any sudden change in the natural environment such as deforestation, water
engineering works or urbanisation, can facilitate the emergence of disease. Taking
account of such environmental impacts on health is a recent advance in developing
countries. These countries are facing profound changes, both environmental and
social, and they have become incubators for new diseases such as SARS and bird flu
that are making an impact worldwide. Meanwhile the developing countries are no longer spared the diseases of civilisation. Health research requires an ecosystemic
approach that will produce methods applicable to local situations and solutions that
are viable over the long term.
Mother and infant health
Women are especially vulnerable with respect to health because of the risks connected with pregnancy and childbirth. And through their childcare role, they also ensure
the health of future generations. Reproductive health, the risk of mother-to-infant transmission of the AIDS virus, malaria in pregnant women and factors that can affect the
health of mother and infant are therefore important aspects of the IRD’s health
research. Similarly, the roles and work society allocates to women (a long-neglected
factor, along with gender inequalities and gender issues in general), should be essential strands of research, especially in terms of their impact on health.
Health centre, Senegal
By showing that the chimpanzee is the natural reservoir of the virus that has
caused the AIDS pandemic, and by discovering that the gorilla also carries a virus
closely related to HIV-1, IRD scientists have pinned down the origin of the AIDS
virus and confirmed that it has been transmitted across species, from apes to
humans. These results have been published in Science and Nature.
gathered over a thousand samples of chimpanzee and gorilla faeces. For the first time they
discovered that the virus is in fact widespread in wild chimpanzees. To be precise, only the
sub-species Pan troglodytes troglodytes, which lives in the Congo basin, is naturally infected,
by two of the three known groups of the virus (groups M and N). Later, to the surprise of all,
the researchers found a virus similar to the third HIV-1 group (group O) in gorillas.
Annual report • 2006
Tr a c k i n g t h e s o u r c e o f t h e
AIDS virus
These findings confirm that there has been transmission from apes to humans. The
contamination is thought to have occurred through hunting accidents or consumption of ape
meat, probably in the 1940s. Many factors then played some part in its propagation. The
upheavals connected with migration and massive urbanisation, mass medicine practices
(injection with unsterilised needles) are all factors that contributed to the initial spread of
today’s epidemic.
The team has also shown that a plethora of simian retroviruses exists in Central Africa, where
contacts between men and apes are more frequent than they have ever been, mainly owing
to massive deforestation and the resulting population movements. These viruses having been
isolated, screening tests have been developed and are currently being used in Cameroon on
a surveillance basis, to forestall the risk of a new pandemic emerging.
This research has received support from the Agence nationale de recherches sur le sida
(ANRS) and the NIH.
••• Contacts: eric.delaporte@ird.fr and martine.peeters@ird.fr
••• Publication: Science and Nature
Dengue haemorrhagic fever: first steps towards
a treatment
Gorillas carry a virus related to HIV-1
Today, twenty years after the first cases of AIDS were identified in humans, some 40 million
people are infected with the virus. Where, when and how or why did the virus develop? To
try to answer this question, the HIV/AIDS and associated diseases unit (a joint unit with
Montpellier I University) has been running an international project in partnership with the army
research centre in Yaoundé, the Cameroon Ministries of health and research and the
University of Alabama in the United States.
Right back in 1989, IRD researchers in Gabon had found a pet chimpanzee carrying a virus
similar to HIV-1, suggesting that this species might be the virus’s natural reservoir. However,
as few contaminated apes were found after that, some doubt remained on the question. To
study this protected species without disturbing it, the team developed an original and noninvasive method of diagnosis based on analysing faeces. Over a four-year period researchers
The dengue fever virus affects some 60 to 100 million people around the world. The most
severe form of the disease, which is spreading fast in tropical countries, causes plasma to
leak from the blood vessels and can lead to shock and sometimes fatal haemorrhaging. So
far there is no specific treatment or vaccine for the disease and the only preventive
measure is vector control. In Montpellier, researchers in the Emerging virus diseases unit in
collaboration with the University of Mahidol in Thailand, ImmunoClin Ltd, the CNRS (Centre
national de la recherche scientifique) and Inserm (Institut national de la santé et de la
recherche médicale), have identified the mechanism that causes the leaking blood vessels
and haemorrhaging. They found that the viral infection causes enzymes to be produced
which destroy the cement that binds together the cells of the blood vessel walls. The action
of these enzymes can be specifically blocked with molecules that can be used in humans.
These original results open the way, for the first time, towards a treatment for dengue fever.
••• Contact: francisco.veas@ird.fr
••• Publication: EMBO reports
25
Genetic susceptibility to sleeping sickness
African human trypanosomiasis, a parasite disease transmitted by a tsetse fly’s
bite, is a widespread problem in sub-Saharan Africa. Although the alarming
upsurge recorded over the past 20 years seems to have been halted, the illness
still threatens millions of people and some countries could still suffer epidemic
outbreaks. IRD researchers have shown that some individuals are particularly
susceptible to the disease, so the way is open to look for genetic risk factors.
A team in the Mother and infant health in tropical environments unit is studying the
influence of mutations in genes coding for four immune system proteins (cytokines) on
the appearance of the disease in humans. Two studies were conducted in two separate
transmission areas of the disease, Sinfra in Côte d’Ivoire (502 people included, of whom
190 were affected) and Bandundu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (353 people
included, of whom 135 were sick). Comparing the frequency of mutations in these genes
in healthy and sick subjects, the researchers found two mutations, affecting the genes of
cytokines IL10 and IL6, that seem to protect a person against trypanosomiasis whereas
two other mutations, affecting the genes of cytokines TNFα and IL1α , make them more
susceptible to the disease. This work was conducted in partnership with the national
trypanosomiasis control programmes of Côte d’Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of
Congo.
To confirm the link between these mutations and individual susceptibility to
trypanosomiasis, collaborative studies are being conducted by two IRD units, CIRDES in
Burkina Faso and Bordeaux II University. The results will enable the scientists to
understand the relations between humans and the trypanosomiasis parasite and, in the
long run, to envisage developing original ways to control the disease, both therapeutically
and prophylactically.
Trypanosomiasis
screening,
Republic of the
Congo
••• Contacts: andre.garcia@ird.fr et d.courtin@gmail.com
••• Publication: Infection, Genetics and Evolution et Trends in Parasitology
Once injected by a tsetse fly (glossina) bite, the trypanosome (the parasite responsible
for the disease) multiplies in the bloodstream and then infects the central nervous system
causing a confused mental state, sensory and motor disorders and serious disturbed
sleep patterns. The disease is most easily cured if it is diagnosed early, as existing
treatments are more effective at the start of the illness, before the parasite breaks through
the blood-brain barrier.
The disease can take either of two forms, depending on the species of trypanosome
concerned. The “acute” form is more virulent and progresses faster than the other,
“chronic” form. However, the reality is more complex. Some people infected by the
species responsible for the chronic form exhibit a severe, fast-developing illness while
others have no symptoms at all. This variability in symptoms cannot be explained by
environmental factors alone and suggests that some individuals are particularly
susceptible to the disease. Individual susceptibility has been shown in animals: mutations
of genes involved in the immune system have an impact on the development of the
disease.
Opération terrain en Nouvelle Calédonie
A New IRD Partner Team (JEAI)
Flobert Njiokou, head of the African human trypanosomiasis JEAI team, Yaoundé,
Cameroon
By what mechanisms do the human trypanosomiasis infection areas in Cameroon manage
to persist, with periodic outbreaks? To answer that question, our new team, created in 2002
and supported by the IRD, is working to identify the animal reservoirs of the disease and
estimate the frequency of contact between tsetse flies and vertebrate hosts. Thanks to
partnership with the IRD unit in Montpellier, we have been able to develop new techniques.
To date, we have shown that both wild and domestic animals harbour trypanosomes that
can infect humans and so constitute a reservoir for the disease. Our expertise in molecular analysis of the tsetse fly’s blood meals has enabled us to show that the insect carries
trypanosomes from humans to animals and vice versa, so ensuring the survival and
resurgence of infection areas.
Our partnership with the IRD is decisive when it comes to setting up and monitoring
projects, help with publication, transferring technology and training students under joint
supervision.
Annual report • 2006
Development and
globalisation
Reducing poverty and inequality
To reduce poverty and inequality: this is a major goal for development policies and one
of the goals the international community has set itself. IRD research addresses the issue
from several angles: the multidimensional aspects of poverty (monetary, human, timerelated, etc.); access to public services (education, health, water, transport, etc.); the way
the labour market operates; and the impacts of public and private development aid.
International migration and development
The globalisation process has accelerated the movement of the factors of production
but has curbed the movement of labour. Population movements across the world’s main
fracture lines have intensified (e.g. Europe/North Africa/sub-Saharan Africa), especially
where the income gap is widest. This has made international migration a major issue for
development. The IRD’s research in this field has several focuses: the determinants and
consequences of migration on societies and environments; the measurement of mobility at the level of town, region and country and its impact in terms of territorial and social
recomposition; the formation of networks and diaspora organisations and the reconstruction of identities that migration gives rise to.
184
researchers
20 M€
Street children in Ecuador
Better governance for sustainable development
This research contributes facts and ideas towards sustainable development – development that will combine economic development in developing countries with environmental protection. It stands at the interface between societies and nature, but also at
the interface between local practices and official and international policy on biodiversity
conservation and environmental management. It takes account of local practices
and how they can contribute to defining the dimensions of a better form of
governance, one that would be at once appropriate, accepted and efficient. The two
main aspects considered are access to and conservation of resources, and urbanisation and access to services.
27
Access to land: a major public policy challenge
There has been renewed interest in the land tenure issue in recent years owing to
persistent poverty and increasing inequality in the rural societies of the South, and the
growing number of conflicts arising from competition for access to land in areas where
there is much movement between town and country. Access to land is now posited as
an essential factor in many poverty reduction policies and the land tenure question has
again become a major issue for public policy as for the international institutions and for
research on sustainable development in Southern countries.
practical implementation and their unforeseen effects. In particular, it has shed fresh light
on the importance of issues within families and between generations in situations where
land tenure policy implementation is blocked or inverted, or gives rise to conflict. This
goes far beyond the usual interpretation in terms of intra- or inter-community tensions.
Côte d’Ivoire is one example here.
In 2006, the researchers played an important part in organising an international
symposium in Montpellier on “At the frontier of land issues: social embeddedness of
rights and public policy”. The research conducted by the unit and its partners has
contributed especially to the European research programme on “Changes in Land
Access, Institutions and Markets in West Africa”. The researchers have also been working
in the mobilising project entitled “Support for rural land tenure policy design”, so providing
material for discussions within the French development agency AFD and the Ministry for
Foreign Affairs on land tenure policy in the countries of the South.
••• Contact: colin@supagro.inra.fr
••• Publication: International symposium “At the frontier of land issues”
Farm landscape in the
Andes
May 2006 - Montpellier (http://www.mpl.ird.fr/colloque_foncier)
Impacts and limitations of microfinance
The Land tenure regulation, public policy and actors’ strategies unit, which involves
researchers from a number of social science disciplines, is addressing the question from
several angles. Under what conditions are public measures conceived and implemented?
What are the roles of social relations and the real estate market in access to land? What
is the relationship between land tenure dynamics and production dynamics?
The researchers’ empirical and theoretical approach focuses especially on the relations
between actors and institutions (institutions in the sense of economic and socio-political
ground rules).
The research is being conducted in South America and Africa, in partnership with national
institutions: the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) in Mexico, San
Marco National University in Peru, the Institut d’ethno-sociologie at the University of Cody
in Côte d’Ivoire and Ngaoundéré University in Cameroon.
By enabling individuals or families to manager their cash flow better, microfinance makes
them less vulnerable - which is in itself a positive outcome. However, it has made scarcely
any contribution to reducing poverty and inequality. Such are the findings of a research
programme in India conducted by the Population-environment-development unit, which set
out to analyse the impact and limitations of microfinance at the individual and family levels
and also at the level of business sectors and local employment markets. The researchers
found that microfinance has no significant impact on job creation. Moreover it exacerbates
the exclusion of the poorest people, because microfinance services are ill adapted to their
very varied and complex needs. It also involves a growing number of inexperienced
providers and is inadequately coordinated and regulated. These findings, based on a
number of partnerships, North and South, with microfinance networks and organisations,
public and private financial institutions, international institutions and academic partners,
should help towards better-designed microfinance services in future.
This is comparative research. It is helping to explain the distance between what is
expected of policies to recognise tenure rights and provide security of tenure, their
•••••• Contact: isabelle.guerin@ird.fr
Opération terrain en Nouvelle Calédonie
Migration from sub-Saharan Africa to North Africa has increased as never before
over the past 15 years or so. What routes are the migrants following and how are
they settling in North Africa? What social and spatial changes are these new
settlement patterns generating? What effects are today’s increasingly restrictive
migration policies having on migration patterns? Anthropologists, geographers
and sociologists in a project coordinated by a CNRS researcher and a researcher
from the IRD/University of Provence joint Population-Environment-Development
Laboratory have been assessing the situation. And their initial findings are far less
alarming than popular report suggests.
The most striking change in migration
patterns in Africa is not so much an
increase in volume as a wider range of
different flows. Contrary to popular
wisdom, only a minority of African
migrants push on into Europe. Most
settle lastingly in the Arab countries;
migration in Africa is thus mainly
cross-border migration within the
continent. Displacement in the SahelSahara region is closely linked to the
Egyptian migrants
region’s recent history. Independence
in the 1950s and 60s, the droughts of the 1970s, the armed conflicts of the 70s and 80s
and the development gap between the countries north and south of the Sahara have all
encouraged people from sub-Saharan countries to head for regions where there are
opportunities for work.
The Maghreb Sahara has thus seen considerable urban expansion. In the space of thirty
years, 53 new towns have sprung up compared to only 8 in the Sahelian Sahara. In this
landlocked part of the Maghreb, the arrival of newcomers is seen as a way of revitalising
local areas. Algeria, for example, controls the circulation of migrants but integrates them
in the development of its southern towns, where there is a chronic labour shortage.
Secondly, it is not the most destitute who migrate, because the journey is expensive. And
economic reasons are not the only ones for leaving home. Psychological reasons such
as the desire to break free from family obligations are also widespread. Migrants’ profiles
vary widely and the lability of their professional and legal status is a determining feature
of this form of migration. The reality is far from the accepted cliché of the young, illiterate
migrant from a rural area. On the contrary, many migrants have university degrees or
professional qualifications and have already worked in the West African mega-cities
where they grew up.
Lastly, the research shows that under pressure from Europe, the toughening of controls
over migration in the Maghreb countries affects not only migrants who are trying to reach
Europe but also the majority who settle in the Maghreb. Today there is a serious risk that
the Saharan towns, which were once staging points on the great migration trails, will
become dead ends.
Annual report • 2006
S a h a r a n m i g r a t i o n: t h e t r u t h a f a r c r y f r o m p o p u l a r m y t h s
••• Contact: sylvie.bredeloup@up.univ-mrs.fr
••• Publication: Autrepart, revue de sciences sociales au Sud.
Towards a statistical observatory of migration systems
Overall, and in terms of complementary flows, migration patterns in West Africa are still
poorly known; there are few statistics on intra-urban mobility,
seasonal migration or the practice of multiresidence. Nor has
the real scale of international circulation within Africa been
measured. The IRD’s Migration,
mobility, settlement dynamics
and territorial dynamics unit
developed a survey protocol
based on experience amassed in Latin America, Africa and Asia. It is designed for contin
uous monitoring of different forms of mobility at selected representative sites, so laying the
basis for a fully-fledged migration systems observatory. It is designed to be readily adaptable
to different situations or countries and to geographical or socio-anthropological approaches.
Survey questionnaire data entry in the field has been tested. To date, the protocol has been
used in Mexico City and Ouagadougou. It will be extended to sites in Niger and Mali.
•••••• Contact: daniel.delaunay@ird.fr
29
Science guided by ethical principles
and quality management
••• Ethical research
Composition of the Ethics Committee
In 2006 the Consultative Committee on Professional
Conduct and Ethics (CCDE) examined some twenty
research projects and questions raised by IRD staff.
Requests for advice have been increasing steadily since
2003. The Committee also started examining the
question of communication ethics, and continued its
work with other institutions towards launching an Ethics
in Research portal.
Chair: Dominique Lecourt, Professor of philosophy, Denis
Diderot University (Paris 7)
Members:
Rafael Loyola Diaz, Researcher, Instituto de Investigaciones
Sociales, Autonomous National University, Mexico
Isabelle Ndjole Assouho Tokpanou, Honorary President,
Forum for African Women Educationalists, Cameroon
Sandrine Chifflet, Research engineer, UR103, Marseille
Maurice Lourd, Director, IRD Centre, Bondy
François Simondon, Director, Epidemiology and
Prevention unit, Montpellier
Jean-Claude André, Director, European Centre for
Research and Advanced Training in Scientific Computation
Roger Guedj, Professor, Bio-organic Chemistry Laboratory,
CNRS-University of Nice Sophia Antipolis
Vladimir de Semir, Associate Professor of Science
Journalism, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain
The Guide of Good Practice in Research for Development,
available in French, English and Spanish, has been issued
to all IRD staff and its partners in the South.
However, the high point of 2006 was the seminar on
Ethics and science in globalisation, jointly organised by
the CCDE, the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de
México (UNAM) and the Academia Mexicana de Ciencias
(AMC). With some forty speakers, the event drew 150
participants including 50 students, 60 researchers and
25 academics.
This dialogue of cultures between Mexico and France on
issues of ethics was a first, welcomed as such by the
speakers, the participants and the Mexican press. A
wealth of exchanges, based on practical examples such
as experimentation on humans, protection of biodiversity
and GMO research, stimulated wide-ranging discussion
and some tentative recommendations.
The seminar on Ethics and Science in
Globalisation drafted a number of
recommendations. Above all, participants
considered that training in ethical
thinking should be a part of education
from school on, that where it already
exists it should be strengthened, and
that the level of scientific literacy in society should be reexamined. A consensus emerged that everything possible must
be done to ensure that society can play an active part in a
debate that concerns everyone’s future. Evaluation processes
also should include a participative role for all stakeholders. The
Mexican participants ended by calling for the creation of a
National Ethics Committee modelled on the CCDE. They considered this essential for achieving agreement on principles and
local realities, making way for wide-reaching discussion that is
more likely to resolve dilemmas and conflicts of interest and to
open the way to the necessary complementarity between North
and South.
••• Quality management gathers momentum
The IRD’s quality management system, designed to ensure that best practice is employed, is gathering momentum: 25
research laboratories, 2 IRD centres (Montpellier and Dakar), 4 IRD overseas centres and 2 central departments have
introduced quality management to optimise their organisation and to improve the traceability and reliability of research
results. Quality managers at all these sites have been trained for the ISO 9001 standard, and many staff have received
quality management awareness training. During the year, research and support training, information seminars, short
training courses, audits and assessments were organised on request.
The Analytical Resources Laboratory in Dakar, which is a service unit specialising in mineral analyses, obtained the 2000
version of ISO 9001. It is the first IRD laboratory outside France to obtain this label. New procedures were introduced,
particularly for research traceability from receipt of a sample for analysis to delivery of the final result. This transparent way
of working has strengthened confidence in the laboratory’s work among its scientific partner teams. The new label is one
result of a more general quality management approach in Dakar and in Senegal as a whole.
•••••• Contact: ccde@ird.fr
www.ccde.ird.fr
Ethics and science
in globalisation
•••••• Contact: dev@ird.fr
The scientific decision bodies conducted
assessments of laboratories and researchers in terms
of recruitment, work and mobility. The Institute
modified its indicators, the better to monitor
fulfilment of its commitments under its new
objectives contract and to assess the efficiency of its
scientific system over and above its obligations. Early
data reveal the high quality of the Institute’s scientific
output and an increase in the time spent on teaching
and supervision.
••• Rigorous assessment
Following evaluation of its structures, the Institute was
able to inject new energy into its research system. This
now consists of 79 units, including 29 joint research units
(UMRs), 38 research units and 12 service units. The
scientific council and commissions assessed 23 units,
including 17 applications for joint research units to be
created or have their terms extended. At the end of the
process, 14 UMRs had their terms extended for four
years and two new ones were created. One of these is
on Plant resistance to bioagressors with the University of
Montpellier 2 and Cirad, and the other on Diversity and
evolution of cultivated plants with the University of
Montpellier 2, Inra and Ensam. The decision bodies also
took part in the inspection committees that visited 13
UMRs created under the Ministry’s 2008-2011
contracts.
••• High quality scientific output
Assessments showed that the IRD’s researchers are
producing science of high quality, on a par with the best
international standards. The number of publications
signed by IRD scientists and cited on the Web of Science
– about 800 publications excluding the human and social
sciences – was an estimated 8% higher than in 2005.
The average number of publications per researcher for
the year was 1.7. About 14% of the articles were
published in top-level journals with a high impact factor in their category. Over 50% were published
in journals ranked in the top quarter (by impact factor) of their disciplinary category.
Annual report • 2006
E v a l u a t i o n, p u b l i c a t i o n s
and teaching
••• Frequent joint publications
IRD researchers produce many more joint publications than the average for French research
institutes. In fact 96% of articles produced by the Institute were jointly signed with partners – 70%
with other French research bodies, 64% with international partners, mainly in the United States,
United Kingdom, Brazil and Italy.
The percentage of joint publication with Southern researchers was about 43%, the main Southern
partner countries concerned being Brazil, Senegal, Cameroon and Mexico. Medical research was
the sector with the highest rate of joint publication with Southern countries (65%).
••• More teaching and supervision work
IRD researchers and engineers gave more than 6,000 hours of teaching in 141 universities and other
higher education establishments in 34 countries. Three quarters of these lectures addressed
students with at least four years’ higher education. Most of the teaching was in France (51%), but
the proportion of teaching hours dispensed in Africa and the Middle East had increased considerably
since 2005 – from 18% to 25%.
The IRD’s main contribution to training is supervision of doctoral research. More than 670 doctoral
students were under supervision in IRD units in 2006, and 44% of researchers and engineers in the
units were supervising doctoral students or directing their research. In 2006, students submitted
139 theses supervised or jointly directed by an IRD scientist. Of these, 76 were submitted by
Southern students.
More than 300 students under IRD supervision submitted dissertations for DESS, DEA or Master’s
degrees. They came from 95 higher education establishments in 24 countries, and 48% were of
Southern origin.
IRD units hosted 400 interns including 175 in France and 251 abroad.
On the professional training side, IRD scientists dispensed nearly 2,500 hours of teaching to
Southern decision makers, technicians and engineers. This teaching mainly concerned the use of
technologies or tools, methods of measurement or analysis, or survey methods.
•••••• Contact: dei@ird.fr
31
Tr a i n i n g , s h a r i n g , f i n d i n g
applications
Cataloguing ant species, Santo expedition, Vanuatu
Annual report • 2006
••• Supporting
scientific communities in the South
••• Applications
••• knowledge
and consulting
sharing
Satellite view of Lake Chad
33
Suppor ting scientific
communities in the South
A country cannot develop without a well-established national scientific community capable of
producing the knowledge needed for economic growth. The IRD differs from other French research
institutions in that part of its mission is to meet the scientific training needs of its Southern partners.
The Institute has long been fostering the emergence of talented researchers through a range of
individual grants and by supporting the creation and consolidation of new research teams in the
South. In 2006, two new avenues were explored: assistance for designing and organising teaching
modules, and one-day meetings bringing together grantees and team leaders so as to meet
students’ needs more effectively.
••• Support for teams
Since 2002, the IRD has been supporting the emergence and
consolidation of research teams in the South by selecting “new IRD
partner teams” (JEAIs) which are partnered by IRD units to help them
build up their self-reliance and increasingly integrate into the international scientific community. This year 11 more JEAIs were selected,
joining the 21 created earlier. All in all 32 teams from Africa, Latin
America and Asia are receiving three years’ scientific and financial
support from the IRD. The first practical results are emerging now.
••• Individual support
JEAIs by research programme
The Institute gave 179 grants to nationals from Southern countries, including 129 doctoral thesis grants, 5
Master’s grants, 20 in-service training grants and 25 scientific exchange grants.
With this system, the IRD can provide assistance at different stages of a researcher’s career:
Applicants
Duration
Purpose
Procedure
Doctoral thesis
grants
Post-doctoral grants
Master’s degree holders
Up to 3 years
Doctorate holders
2 years
In-service training
grants
Scientific exchange
grants
Researchers,
engineers, technicians
Researchers
12 months
initial training of
young Southern researchers
post-doc with a view to future
research work in the South
in-service training
or retraining
to encourage mobility
work and supervision
in IRD teams and partners’ teams
jointly financed by IRD and
Southern host institution
IRD/Southern host institution
partnerships
IRD/Southern host institution
partnerships
12 months
Grants by research programme
39
Development
and globalisation
16
Natural hazards
and climate
37
Themes
Natural hazards and climate
Sustainable ecosystem management
Water resources and uses
Food security in the South
Public health
Development and globalisation
TOTAL
Total
4
5
4
5
7
7
32
One JEAI, the Symbiosis and
Environment Unit in Morocco,
won the Research for the
Environment award. Another has
obtained funding under the
CORUS programme (Coopération
pour la recherche universitaire
et scientifique) funded by the
French foreign ministry’s Priority
Solidarity Fund.
Sustainable ecosystem
management
26
Public health
34
Food security in the
South
29
Water resources
and uses
Study of saline soils, Thailand.
Annual report • 2006
Supporting training activities with an electronic platform for exchanges among partners is a step in the IRD’s plan to
prolong its support for young researchers and new teams beyond the financial assistance period.
••• Networking
••• Teaching modules strengthen ties
with universities
A first step in strengthening ties between the IRD and
existing French/Latin American academic networks was
taken in 2006, mainly through the MAE PREFALC
programme, a regional academic cooperation networking
arrangement. Two Master’s teaching modules were
designed in the region, one in geography and one in
modelling for irrigation, involving six universities and the IRD.
In Africa, the IRD joined forces with Orléans, Paris V and
other universities to set up teaching modules, particularly
modules on geographical information systems and
demography. Designed as decision aids, these teaching
modules will be incorporated into distance learning
platforms. In Senegal and Benin, the Institute organised two
Master’s courses, one on water and one on medical
entomology.
To help Southern teams integrate more easily into international networks, the IRD organised a number of regional and
theme-based workshops. The Young Researchers’ Days in Dakar and the first JEAI encounter-workshop (which brought
together 33 new partner teams in a videoconference between the IRD centres in Bolivia, Burkina Faso and Paris) show
that this approach is altogether appropriate and useful.
To complement the specialist training dispensed to new teams and
young researchers, the IRD launched new general training modules to
assist them in the other aspects of their profession – project
management, submitting research proposals, team management,
scientific publications and documentation monitoring.
Based mainly on the Institute’s experience in collaborative work with
other French actors in research for development, this use of networking
is a significant start to the IRD’s policy of concerted action with its
partners in AIRD (Agence inter-établissements de recherche pour le
développement).
•••••• Contact: dsf@ird.fr
Remote sensing and geographical information systems
Central Africa’s higher education and research establishments need access to the new geographical data acquisition and processing technologies. To facilitate this, a ten-day post-graduate initiation
seminar was organised, leading to a professional Master’s. It was jointly financed by the IRD and the Agence universitaire de la francophonie (AUF) and involved the University of Orléans and
Central African national universities. The course, led by a team of 11 French and Cameroonian specialist teachers, brought together some twenty young teacher-researchers in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
The seminar should help disseminate a sustainable approach to environmental and land use management and promote the emergence of local expertise in cartographic design. The IRD and the
universities worked well together, and this experience could pave the way for an innovative distance learning programme.
35
Applications and consulting
To fulfil its missions the IRD must promote and find
applications for its competencies and research
findings. It has an active policy in this regard,
transferring knowledge to industrial partners and
conducting expert group reviews to help policy
makers in their decisions.
••• Economic applications
The IRD continues to protect the innovations that emerge
from its laboratories. In 2006 six new patent applications
were filed, bringing the Institute’s total patent portfolio to
59, of which 45% are in biotechnology. Twenty-one
patents (35%) are jointly owned – 11 (52%) with private
firms and 10 (48%) with the academic sector. Three
patents are jointly held with Southern universities.
Seventeen contracts for exploitation of IRD intellectual
property rights are currently ongoing, including seven
patent license agreements.
Industrial partnerships made headway in 2006. Eighteen
contracts with manufacturing companies were signed,
including four new research contracts, two technology
transfer contracts and a contract granting software utilisation rights. The Institute acquired three new industrial
partners. One is the Brazilian pharmaceuticals company
LAFEPE, with a licensing option agreement to use chinoleine in the treatment of leishmaniasis. Another is the
recent French start-up Gaia, with a contract granting it
rights to the use of satellite image processing algorithms
developed by the Espace service unit. The third is the
Société des eaux de Marseille, which awarded the IRD a
research contract concerning treatment of residual
sludge from sewage treatment plants.
The IRD also took action to raise awareness about
research applications and intellectual property, with a
training session on contracts, in Montpellier, and another
on database protection, in Dakar.
Improving tea quality in China
A bio-organic soil fertilisation process patented by the IRD in Sri Lanka and China has been
in experimental use since 2003 under the scientific responsibility of the Biodiversity and soil
functioning unit in collaboration with the South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou.
The results, presented in October 2006 in Guangdong province, show an improvement in
the physical quality of soils treated by this method, increased biodiversity in the plots concerned and an improvement in the quality of the tea harvested from
treated plots. The IRD has suggested a transfer strategy that would involve the Chinese
researchers forming a company to disseminate the technology in China.
••• Scientific advice for policy makers
At the request of policy decision makers, the IRD carries out expert group reviews on specific
scientific issues related to development. For these reviews, the Institute brings together
multidisciplinary panels of experts who search out and analyse the existing scientific literature on
the question, write a thorough report and make practical recommendations.
Taking a new approach to the transfer and dissemination of findings from these reviews, the
Institute organised debates so as to generate an exchange of ideas between decision makers
and professionals and stakeholders on the ground. The expert group review on Natural
Substances in French Polynesia: Utilisation Strategies was presented at a seminar in Tahiti
attended by the French Polynesian government Ministers of education, research and agriculture
along with researchers and businesses in the natural substances sector. The review pointed the
way towards an original policy enabling Polynesia to benefit economically from its natural
substances. It laid the basis for discussing how to put together a multidisciplinary training
programme and how best to use the Gepsun technology platform (a jointly facility involving the
IRD, Cirad, the University of French Polynesia and Polynesian businesses).
The dissemination meeting for the review on Invasive Species in the New Caledonian Archipelago
drew 200 participants to Nouméa to discuss how to set up an effective biosecurity plan for the
region. This would involve strengthening measures to control invasive species, creating a
quarantine system, setting up an inter-province surveillance system and rapid response
programmes and running information drives. Civil society, which has a significant role to play in
protecting native species, was well represented in the discussions.
•••••• Contact: dev@ird.fr
As well as research, the IRD’s mission includes
disseminating the scientific information it produces
to a variety of audiences and sharing knowledge
with its partners in the Southern countries where its
researchers work. Books, databases, symposia,
films and the media are all employed to this end.
Media visibility remained high in 2006, with more than
2,000 articles published in the press about the work of the
IRD and its researchers, prompted by scientific news
bulletins and press releases issued by the Institute. The
IRD website (with an English version on
http://www.ird.fr/us) receives nearly four million hits a
year, and there are several other channels to keep the
Institute’s work in the public eye. The magazine Sciences
au Sud (with English, Spanish and Portuguese
summaries) is disseminated in some 120 countries and
online*. Canal IRD** issued 37 new short videos this year,
and the image base Indigo base*** offers 37,000 photos.
Books, maps, atlases, films, CD-ROMs and interactive
DVDs all help to bring the work of the research teams to
a broader audience. Among the fifteen books produced
in 2006 were Océan et Climat and an interactive sea floor
map.
Sciences au Sud exhibition, Niamey (Niger)
Annual report • 2006
Knowledge sharing
Science festival, Nouméa
On the audiovisual side, more than twenty films were produced or co-produced in 2006. La citadelle
assiégée, a fiction film co-produced with the French TV channel TF1, about termites and ants in
Burkina Faso, made a big impression on its release in October.
Specialist scientific publications are accessible online via the Horizon-Plein Textes database
(http://www.documentation.ird.fr) and at the Institute’s 15 documentation centres in Africa, Latin
America and the Pacific. The IRD is also playing an active part in setting up the HAL open archives
platform, a publications depository shared by all the French research bodies and universities.
The task of disseminating research findings to the general public in an accessible form gained fresh
momentum with awareness raising actions on water, climate, desertification, biodiversity and
sustainable development. Science cafés, educational activities and travelling exhibitions (shown in
more than 40 countries) also helped to raise public awareness of the importance of research. The
exhibition on African crocodiles and fish, jointly produced with the Réunion des Musées nationaux,
drew more than 100,000 visitors in Paris.
The foreign affairs Ministry has entrusted the IRD with its Fonds de solidarité prioritaire for outreach
work on science and technology in ten African countries. In 2006 this work drew several thousand
people, especially young people.
* at http://www.ird.fr/fr/actualites/journal
**http://www.canal.ird.fr
***http://www.ird.fr/indigo/index2.pgi
•••••• Contact: dic@ird.fr
37
Wo r k i n g i n p a r t n e r s h i p
Upper Atlas region, Morocco
Annual report • 2006
••• International
••• French
overseas territories
••• Metropolitan
France
Wood carving, Benin
39
Mediterranean basin
32 researchers and engineers
67 research projects
20 individual grants allocated
6 new Southern research teams (JEAIs) supported
• International Desertification Year: study of the Tunisian
Jeffara
• Research into hydrological changes
• “Sciences au Sud” exhibition on tour (50,000 visitors)
• International seminar on International Migration and
Public Policy
• Hercomanes programmes on architectural and town
planning heritage.
Latin America-Caribbean
199 researchers and engineers
128 partnership research projects
61 individual grants allocated
16 new Southern research teams (JEAIs) supported
The IRD around the world
Key figures and highlights
Latin America
• Sustainable development in Amazonia
• “Cities and Volcanoes” conference, Quito, Ecuador
• “Humboldt Current system” international conference
(IRD and Instituto del Mar del Perú, Peru)
• Participation in 4th World Water Forum, Mexico City,
Mexico
French Guiana
Inauguration of SEAS Guyane, a technology platform using
satellite data to monitor the Amazonian environment
Martinique
Global warming symposium
Annual report • 2006
Asia-Pacific
228 researchers and engineers
74 research projects
11 individual grants allocated
1 new Southern research teams (JEAIs) supported
Africa-Indian Ocean
491 researchers and engineers
200 research projects
89 individual grants allocated
9 new Southern research teams (JEAIs) supported
Africa
• AMMA Programme – analysis of the African
Monsoon
• Niger River basin: research in hydrology, agriculture and
health
• Mozambique: South-South collaboration with Brazil,
on environment and health
• One-day “young researchers” event, Dakar, with
UCAD
• Technology platform on emerging vector-borne diseases
set up (Mahidol University, Thailand)
• Soil fertility improvement, Thailand and Laos
• Prevention of mother-to-infant transmission of HIV,
Thailand
New Caledonia:
• International Santo 2006 expedition to catalogue biodiversity in Vanuatu
• Biodec Forum (biodiversity of coral environments)
• Expert group review: “Invasive Species in the New
Caledonian Archipelago”
French Polynesia:
• International conference on aromatic and medicinal
plants
• Expert group review: “Natural Substances of French
Polynesia”
• Archaeological work in the Marquesas Islands
Madagascar
Research on nutrition, in liaison with Gret and Cirad,
on deforestation and poverty
La Réunion
• Opening of a research and science watch centre on
emerging diseases of the Indian Ocean (CRVOI, Centre
de recherche et de veille scientifique sur les maladies
émergentes de l’Océan Indien)
• Chikungunya control
41
International
With its network of 23 centres and 294 researchers
in 38 countries, the IRD takes part in many of the
international research programmes working for
sustainable development. It is expanding its
international activities, working with new countries
and in more European programmes and forging
closer
ties
with
other
French
research
establishments.
••• Africa and the Indian Ocean
IRD/OCEAC
memorandum
of understanding,
Cameroon
Sub-Saharan Africa is a priority area for the IRD. Its
involvement with the Portuguese-speaking African
countries took a step forward this year with assistance
missions to the research ministry in Mozambique. The
Institute was also more widely represented in, and
working more closely with, countries in East and
Southern Africa – Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania and
Mozambique. This opens new prospects for regional
partnerships. Cooperation with institutes and universities
in Kenya and Ethiopia increased, focusing on social
science and water-related issues.
In West and Central Africa, the Institute worked to foster
the development of regional partnerships. The main
focus was on multidisciplinary programmes in the Niger
river basin, involving Niger, Mali, Guinea, the Niger River
Authority and the Senegal River Authority.
The IRD also wants to see more South-South
cooperation projects, particularly between Africa and
Latin America. With this in mind it organised exploratory
missions between Brazil and Mozambique.
The IRD centres continue to open up to African partners
and now also play host to other French and European
research bodies.
••• North Africa and Middle East
The Europe-Mediterranean-Africa axis is another of the
Institute’s geographical priorities, so work in North
Africa and the Middle East continued. In Morocco,
where cooperation has been very lively since the IRD
centre opened in Rabat in 2005, the number of
programmes has increased considerably. In many of
these programmes the cooperation is regional,
transcontinental or Euro-Mediterranean. In Tunisia, the
6th consultation meeting with the research ministry
highlighted this country’s integration into the EuroMediterranean area and a growing desire to develop
tripartite cooperation with sub-Saharan African
Advancing dunes, Tunisia
countries. At the Unesco symposium on the future of the drylands, held in Tunis in June 2006, the Institute ran a session
on hydrological changes in the Mediterranean basin.
International migration: comparing Morocco and Mexico
The IRD was joint organiser of the international seminar on International Migration and Public Policy, which compared
Mexico/United States migration with Morocco/Europe. The seminar was held at the Centre Population et Développement
(CEPED) in Paris and was supported by the French foreign affairs Ministry. Leading scientists and policy makers from Morocco,
Mexico, Europe and the United States shared information and ideas about the demographic, economic and political challenges posed by international migration. The seminar also provided an opportunity to strengthen the research networks on
this theme.
••• Asia
In Vietnam, cooperation has continued to gather momentum since the IRD office there was
granted official status. This is a particularly busy time, with teams working on five social
sciences projects supported by the French foreign ministry’s Priority Solidarity Fund.
The Institute received a visit from the Chairman of the Vietnamese Academy of Social
Sciences with a view to a future cooperation agreement. The Chairmen of the IRD and Cirad
went to Hanoi together. And a delegation from the Vietnamese science and technology
ministry, led by the Deputy Minister, came to meet the IRD at the invitation of the French
foreign ministry.
In Thailand, research into emerging diseases and salty soils continues.
••• Cooperation with the European Union
The IRD organised the international seminar for the closure of the Euro-MedaNet project, financed by the European
Commission under INCO. The EC wishes to open the European research area to non-European Mediterranean countries
and strengthen its scientific and technical cooperation with them. Euro-MedaNet set up a network of information points in
Mediterranean countries to raise awareness in research circles in these countries of the opportunities for programmes under
the European Framework Programme. Following on from this project, the IRD is now taking part in ERA-MED, another
INCO project. The aim of this project is to continue strengthening the European research area (ERA) in the Mediterranean
countries.
Forest, French Guiana
The Institute continued to increase its research in the
Andes region. In particular, the programmes in Peru were
expanded. The Andes region is now the focus of 77% of
the Institute’s Latin American programmes and more
than 70% of its staff on that continent. The programmes
on tropical glaciers, Andean geodynamics, hydrology,
the Humboldt current and migration all have a strong
regional dimension. Transcontinental cooperation between
Latin America and Africa is also growing. For example,
Mexican-Moroccan networks are being established in
three different fields: migration, transformation of the
agricultural and industrial fabric in the face of
globalisation, and access to and management of water.
Migration was the subject of a first international
comparative seminar, held in France (see ‘North Africa’
facing page).
Annual report • 2006
••• Latin America
At the launch of the 7th Framework Programme in France, the session on international cooperation was jointly organised
by the IRD and Cirad (Centre de cooperation internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement). The event
was transmitted live by satellite to 15 French regions and, with the help of the Agence universitaire de la francophonie (AUF),
was broadcast by relay in Morocco, Lebanon and Algeria.
••• Multilateral cooperation
The Institute’s multilateral actions were strengthened in 2006, particularly through cooperation with organisations in the
United Nations system. The French government appointed the IRD as an expert body to take part in the government
delegations to two important events organised by the FAO – the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural
Development in Porto Alegre and the World Food Summit.
The IRD, Cirad and Inra (Institut national de recherche agronomique) drew up the regional reports on Latin America, North
Africa and sub-Saharan Africa for the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development
(IAASTD), which is coordinated by the World Bank.
The IRD, Cirad, Inra and Cemagref (the French agricultural and environmental engineering research centre) signed a new
framework cooperation agreement with the CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) to
strengthen collaboration in research, training and forecasting. A book covering the main scientific results of this
cooperation is now being written.
Under the CGIAR’s Challenge Programme on water and food, the IRD is now coordinating a study on poverty linked to
water problems in the Niger river basin. Under the Challenge Programme on genetic resources, the Institute won a multiyear contract for joint research on
the comparative genomics of
African rice varieties, with teams
First international conference on the Humboldt current system
from CIAT (International Centre
for Tropical Agriculture), WARDA
The IRD and the Instituto del Mar del Perú (IMARPE) organised the first international conference on “The Humboldt current system - climate, ocean dynamics, ecosystem processes and fisheries”. It was held in Lima, with the support of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
(the Africa Rice Centre) and other
African research teams.
The conference was attended by 320 people from 27 countries, North and South. They included scientists but also Peruvian and Chilean fishing company
managers, Peruvian policy makers and Peruvian fishermen’s associations. The Humboldt current system is vital for the region and is more productive than
any other part of the global ocean; this was a first opportunity for the different stakeholders to gain an overview of how this complex system functions.
•••••• Contact: dri@ird.fr
43
Fr e n c h o v e r s e a s t e r r i t o r i e s
In the French overseas territories there are IRD
centres in New Caledonia, French Guiana, La
Réunion and French Polynesia. More than 60
researchers, 160 engineers and technicians and
some sixty staff on temporary contracts conduct
research with partner institutions and provide
consultancy services to the local authorities.
The IRD chairs the B2C3I committee, which brings
together all the French research bodies working in the
overseas territories. The other members are the BRGM
(geology and mining), Cirad (agriculture), Cemagref
(environmental engineering), Ifremer (marine research)
and Inra (agriculture). The purpose of the committee is to
stimulate collaboration among them around joint projects.
• New Caledonia has the largest IRD centre in the
overseas territories, in Nouméa. Here research is
conducted on climate, ecosystems, natural hazards,
health and the human sciences. In 2006 the centre
celebrated its 60th anniversary and organised a joint
forum on biodiversity in coral environments with the
Secretariat of the Pacific Community. The IRD took part
in the Santo international scientific expedition to
catalogue the terrestrial and marine biodiversity of Espiritu
Santo, a volcanic island in Vanuatu, South Pacific. A new
SEAS antenna was installed at the satellite receiving
station for the Syrhen project (decision aid system for
fishery resource management).
The expert group review on invasive species in the New
Caledonian archipelago was delivered to its sponsors, the
three New Caledonian provincial authorities.
On the sustainable ecosystem management side,
scientists made surveys of the flora, traditional
pharmacopoeia and herbal medicine of Easter Island. On
the health side, research into ciguatera was conducted in
partnership with the Institut Louis Malardé in Papeete and
the Institut Pasteur in New Caledonia.
The IRD is an active partner in the new Centre national de
recherche et de technologie sur le nickel, along with other
scientific institutions, mining companies and local
authorities, to pursue research into mining resources and
the environmental impact of nickel mining.
• In French Polynesia, the expert group review on
natural substances in French Polynesia was delivered to
the local authorities and the IRD centre in Tahiti hosted
the fourth international symposium on aromatic and
medicinal plants of the French overseas regions.
• On La Réunion, which was particularly hard hit by
the chikungunya epidemic, the IRD launched research to
characterise populations of mosquitoes that transmit
arboviruses. The EntomoCHIK project, funded by the
Agence nationale de la recherche, involved the IRD, the
Institut Pasteur, Cirad, the University of La Réunion and
the La Réunion regional health and social affairs
authority.
The IRD was appointed as commissioning agency for
CRVOI, a research and surveillance centre for emerging
diseases in the Indian Ocean, based in La Réunion.
Reporting to the health and research Ministries, the
centre involves research establishments, public health
agencies, the regional association of doctors in private
practice, the island’s hospitals and university and the La
Réunion regional and departmental authorities.
Cataloguing biodiversity in New Calédonia.
Aedes albopictus, chikungunya vector
The chairman of its managing committee is IRD
Chairman Jean-François Girard.
• In French Guiana, the satellite environmental
monitoring platform for the Amazon, SEAS Guyane,
opened in Cayenne. To understand the processes
underlying the emergence or chronic resurgence of
dengue fever, malaria and Buruli ulcer, a research
programme funded by the Agence nationale de la
recherche, started up with partners from French Guiana
and Metropolitan France: the armed forces health
service, the école des Ponts et Chaussées, the CNRS,
the IRD, the Institut Pasteur de Guyane, the Cayenne
hospital and the French Guiana university cluster.
• In Martinique, the IRD centre hosted a symposium
on global warming. Its hydrologists took part in the
regional cooperation project Caraïbes-HYCOS, the
Caribbean strand of the world HYCOS system for the
evaluation, monitoring and management of water
resources.
•••••• Contact: dom@ird.fr
The IRD laid the groundwork for its new site policy to meet the challenges of its 2006-2009 objectives contract. The Institute is expanding and consolidating its partnership
arrangements, the keys to this process being stronger partnerships with national research actors (particularly universities), its teams’ participation in the newly-created
regional structures and better contractualisation of the research units.
The policy of greater openness and stronger structures
advanced further in the French regions, as partnerships were
forged and strengthened with research bodies and local
authorities throughout the country. Links with higher
education and research establishments were strengthened
in practical ways, with increased participation in joint
research units (now 29 UMRs or Unités mixtes de
recherche), inter-establishment structures (12 “federative
research institutes” (IFRs) in Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier,
Paris, Perpignan and Sète) and 43 scientific investment
agencies and national programmes (see appendices).
Annual report • 2006
M e t r o p o l i t a n Fr a n c e
structures. It is involved in the Paris School of Economics RTRA and is a founder member of two other major clusters.
One is the Aerospace Science and Engineering RTRA in Toulouse. This network links the scientific communities working on
engineering science, environmental, earth and universe sciences, and the science and technology of information and
communication. The other founder members are Paul Sabatier University, the CNRS, CNES, the French aerospace lab
ONERA and the Association Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées Aéronautique Spatiale Systèmes Embarqués.
The other, Infectiopole Sud, works on emerging infectious diseases and tropical diseases in the 21st century. It has brought
together on one site hospital care, preventive care, vaccination and research and teaching activities. The other founder
members are the Universities of Montpellier 1, Aix-Marseille 2 and Nice Sophia-Antipolis, the Montpellier and Nice teaching
hospital groups, the Marseille health services, the national blood transfusion agency, the armed forces health service, the
CNRS and Inserm.
••• Contracts between central and regional government
The IRD took part in preparing the Contrats de Projets État-Région under which central and regional government
collaborate on projects that will shape future development. The Institute is involved in eight technology platforms and
multi-establishment real estate investment projects. These are GEOSUD, CAP-MédiTrop 2 and Vectopôle in LanguedocRoussillon, the Infectiopole project in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, the Envirhônalp project in Rhône-Alpes, the pôle
observation de la Terre, and the pôle régional Mer and pôle Santé in La Réunion.
Inauguration
of the ASTERisque
particle
accelerator
••• New instruments
The recent research scheduling and guideline law
introduced two new types of regional structure: themebased advanced research networks called RTRAs and
higher education and research clusters called PRES. They
receive funding from the government, which wants to
foster the emergence of major, internationally recognised
French science clusters combining high level training with
top quality research. These structures unite several
research units in the same geographical area in a network
or cluster, to create a critical mass of top level researchers
sharing the same scientific objectives and strategy.
In 2006 the IRD was busily involved in setting up these
••• Involvement in six competitiveness clusters:
Competitiveness clusters help to make research in the regions more attractive and stimulate innovation. They bring
together private enterprise, training centres and research laboratories with a view to working out new innovation
strategies.
The IRD is a member of six such clusters:
• Mer-Bretagne (Sea-Nergie), in Brittany;
• Q@limed, on food systems and quality of life in the Mediterranean region, in Languedoc-Roussillon;
• RISQUES, on risk management and local/regional vulnerability, in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur;
• Mer Sécurité Sûreté (MSS), on the sea, safety, security and sustainable development, in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur;
• Orpheme, on emerging and orphan diseases, in Languedoc-Roussillon and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur;
• Agronutrition en milieu tropical, on food and agriculture in tropical regions, in La Réunion.
It is also involved in two clusters in Toulouse, Aéronautique Espace et Systèmes Embarqués and Cancer, Bio, Santé.
•••••• Contact: dpr@ird.fr
45
Resources for research
Palaeoclimate research in the Pacific
Annual report • 2006
••• Scientific
••• Human
equipment: pooled resources
resources
••• Financial
resources
••• Information
systems
Bats are a reservoir for Ebola virus, Gabon
47
Scientific equipment: pooled
resources available to par tners
Observing, studying and modelling the planetary environment requires increasingly sophisticated hardware. The life sciences and clinical research also now
need facilities equipped with leading edge technology. To make the necessary tools available to the scientific community, the IRD has long applied the
principle of pooling resources with its partners. The institute invests in many major equipment items, observation stations and technology platforms,
applying the principle of open access for as many users as possible and training Southern researchers in the use of the technology. In 2006, thirteen shared
laboratories and joint science and technology platforms were in use with local partners.
••• Environmental observation platform in the Amazon
In French Guiana, the
technology platform for
monitoring the Amazonian
environment by satellite
offers researchers a fullyfledged observatory for
studying the ecosystems
of coast and forest
and for monitoring water
resources, fisheries and
epidemiological indicators.
••• Environmental research observatories (OREs)
The IRD is a partner in seven French national
environmental research observatories (OREs) set up to
monitor the environment and natural hazards. These
observation and experimentation systems enable the
scientific community to obtain regular, reliable data over
long periods. This way they can better understand and
model the functioning and dynamics of systems over the
long term.
www.ore.fr
••• Oceanographic survey ships
In 2006 the Antéa, which is widely available to the scientific community, set
sail for the Gulf of Guinea for the fourth EGEE survey (the oceanographic
strand of the AMMA programme). The Alis, based in Nouméa, conducted
nine physical, biological and geophysical oceanography missions in the New
Caledonian lagoon and the western Pacific, including the Santo biodiversity
survey in Vanuatu.
L’Antéa
••• Clinical AIDS research centre in Senegal
In Senegal, the regional centre for research and training in AIDS care at the Fann teaching hospital group in Dakar offers
teams from North and South an optimum environment for conducting clinical, epidemiological and social science
research. It is already providing long-term monitoring of a cohort of patients under treatment, and a trial by the French
AIDS research agency ANRS designed to make retroviral drugs easier to take.
••• Clinical biology research laboratory in Benin
In Benin, IRD research unit Mother and infant health in tropical
environnements has cutting edge clinical laboratory equipment in place at
the Institut des sciences biomédicales appliquées in the science faculty in
Cotonou. This equipment means that scientists in Benin can push ahead
with research on immunology, human genetics and the genetics of the
malaria parasite in pregnant women and young children.
••• The ASTER and Artemis mass spectrometers
An underwater glider is being used to study
the speed and nature of ocean currents. It
glides down in the currents to a depth of
1,000 m, takes water samples and transmits
the data via satellite. In partnership with the
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, USA,
and the Pacific Marine Environmental
Laboratory, USA, the glider has been used to
study currents flowing into the Coral Sea in
the western Pacific.
••• Seismometers on the ocean floor
Ocean bottom seismometers or OBSs are miniaturised seismometers with
waterproof casings that can be deployed on ocean floors down to depths of
7,000 m, to study local seismicity or to
characterise deep geological features. The
IRD has some thirty OBSs that are part of a
national network set up with INSU (Institut
national des sciences de l’univers) and Ifremer
(Institut français de recherche pour
l’exploitation de la mer). OBSs have been
deployed in the Red Sea as part of the Encens
survey, which is a joint project between Ifremer
and the CNRS (Centre national de la
recherche scientifique). Operations have also
been conducted in Martinique, where OBSs
are recording seismicity continuously. This latter
project is in cooperation with the Institut de
physique du globe.
••• Measuring seismic and volcanic hazards
The portable absolute gravimeter is used in
the field to take precise, absolute
measurements of the Earth’s gravity field.
The instrument was bought jointly with the
IGN (Institut géographique national) and the
Institut de physique du globe and is being
used for research into seismic and volcanic
hazards. At present it is helping to monitor
movements of the Earth’s crust in northern
Chile, one of the world’s most seismically
active regions, where it is detecting magma
transfers beneath active volcanoes.
Annual report • 2006
••• Underwater glider studies ocean currents
Inaugurated on the site of the Arbois Mediterranean Europole in 2006, the ASTER acceleration mass
spectrometer is used for measuring the cosmogenic isotope content of samples. It has many potential
applications. In tectonics it can be used to determine rates of fault movement, in palaeoclimatology to
date the retreat of glaciers and the polar ice caps, and in geomorphology to monitor the evolution of
river networks.
The Artemis mass spectrometer in Saclay, France, is used for measuring carbon 14 levels in samples.
Among other purposes, it is being used to analyse sediments deposited at the leading edges of
glaciers, so as to reconstitute their successive advances and retreats during the Holocene.
••• Tropical greenhouses
In Montpellier, 2,000 m2 of greenhouses with controlled environments
in terms of light, hygrometry, day length, temperature and confinement
are available to the scientific community for research into plants of
interest to Southern countries. Rice, coffee, palm species and casuarina
are among the species being studied there. Gene transfer methods are
employed by qualified teams.
••• Research and development information
centre, Burkina Faso
The CIRD (Centre d’information sur la recherche et le développement) in
Ouagadougou is based on a partnership between the IRD, Cirad (Centre
de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le
développement) and the French overseas development agency. It is
proving a wonderfully useful documentation centre, especially for those
needing access to electronic journals and the main international scientific
databases. Sixteen thousand visitors – teachers, researchers, students
and development professionals and partners – made use of its resources in 2006.
Three IRD laboratories have been designated WHO collaboration centres, on nutrition, vector-borne diseases
and retroviruses. The IRD has established health observatories in Niakhar and Dielmo in Senegal and at the
Organisation de coordination pour la lutte contre les endémies en Afrique centrale (OCEAC) in Cameroon.
49
Human Resources
The IRD employs 2,231 staff including 828 researchers,
1,013 engineers and technicians and 390 local staff. Their
average age (excluding local staff) is 44-40 for women
and 46 for men.
••• Parity
engineer and technician grades will be incorporated in the
2007 programme.
As regards internal promotion, 27 researchers and 34
engineers and technicians moved up a grade, and 10
engineers and technicians were promoted to researcher
category.
Nearly 40% of IRD staff are women. Few of them (23%)
are in the researcher categories, most (56%) being
engineers or technicians. The percentage of women
decreases in the higher grades – only 16% of unit
directors are women and the level of parity in the decision
bodies remains low.
Twenty-nine tenured staff retired in 2006, more than half of
them researchers. The average age of those retiring was 63,
for men and women alike.
••• Present on every continent
The introduction of the constitutional by-law on budget acts had a major impact on the IRD’s human resources, as it must
henceforth apply an official ceiling on job numbers and wage bill. The introduction of the Sorgho human resources
management software at the start of the year has made a big difference to the Institute’s administrative management of
staff, jobs, working hours and pay, speeding the management process and making it more flexible.
Forty-three per cent of staff work outside Metropolitan
France: 25% in Africa, 10% in the French overseas
territories, 6% in Latin America and 4% in Asia. The
strongest IRD presence in Africa is in Senegal and
Burkina Faso; Brazil, Bolivia and Peru are the main Latin
American countries for IRD research; and in the overseas
territories, French Guiana and New Caledonia are the
main focuses.
In 2006, IRD staff performed 117 long-term missions of
2 to 10 months. Africa was the main destination for these
(44%), while Latin America accounted for 34% and Asia
for 16%.
••• Recruitment, mobility and
retirements
Competitive entry exams were held for 40 researcher posts.
Thirty-seven researchers were recruited out of 506
candidates – 16 directors of research, 5 Grade 1 researchers
and 16 Grade 2 researchers – including 7 women.
There was a major internal mobility drive. In all, 94 engineers’
and technicians’ jobs were opened to internal applicants,
giving staff new career prospects. Thirty-three posts were
filled. The 2006 external competitive recruitment drive for
••• Modernising human resources
management
Teaching safety and hygiene awareness
Pay
New official regulations on “specific recompense for duties of collective value” allowed the Institute to pay this bonus to
more staff in jobs with particular responsibilities in management, coordination or facilitation, especially heads of research
or service units.
Improving the careers of tenured staff
To boost tenured staff careers and welfare provision, an agreement was signed between the civil service Minister and
three trade unions (Protocol Jacob, 25 January 2006). Class C staff are the first to benefit, in terms of grading, pay and
promotion. A compensatory bonus (€400 to €700) was introduced to award Class A and B staff for at least five years at
the top of the top grade in their category.
New system for temporary transfers
The maximum duration of missions was raised from 2 months to 12, so that what used to be a special arrangement for
long-term missions is now routine. The system of compensation for temporary transfers was improved and simplified,
with higher ceilings and a harmonisation of the systems for Metropolitan France, the overseas territories and other
countries.
••• In-service training
The IRD pursued its in-service training policy to help staff in setting up institutional projects. This includes training to use
the Sorgho software, apply the constitutional by-law on budget acts and implement quality management. A special effort
went into training in professional risk prevention, health and safety.
•••••• Contact: ddp@ird.fr
Annual report • 2006
Staff
Age pyramid
Tenured
staff
Men Age Women
Researchers
Engineers and technicians
Local staff
66
65
64
63
62
61
60
59
58
57
56
55
54
53
52
51
50
49
48
47
46
45
44
43
42
41
40
39
38
37
36
35
34
33
32
31
30
29
28
27
26
25
24
23
22
21
20
19
50
40
30
20
10
TOTAL
22%
Social sciences
Researchers
Engineers and technicians
Local staff
TOTAL
Researchers
Engineers and technicians
Universe sciences
1583
648
2231
%
Women
%
Total
633
445
270
76.4
43.9
69.2
195
568
120
23.6
56.1
30.8
828
1013
390
1348
60.4
883
39.6
2231
2002*
2003*
2004*
2005*
2006**
38.8%
32.2%
36.7%
30.7%
33.8%
28.8%
35.14%
24.45%
37%
26%
Long-term missions 2002-2006
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
Africa
América
Asia/Pacific
Europe
15
16
4
1
38
33
8
2
42
45
20
8
60
60
32
3
52
40
19
6
TOTAL
36
81
115
155
117
Source : data from the Sorgho software package at 31 December 2006
Staff by major region
Engineers and technicians, by activity branch
4%
1%
Chemistry and science
of materials
504
Mathematics
Africa (22.6%)
5%
Medicine
3%
1275
Metropolitan France
(57.1%)
142
America (6.4%)
23%
Life sciences
38%
Life sciences
Asia/Pacific (3.8%)
149
French overseas
territories (6.7%)
76
Europe (3.4%)
4%
Engineering sciences and
scientific instrumentation
6%
Human and social sciences
10%
Data processing and scientific
computing
85
Engineering sciences
24%
828
1013
390
*Up to 2006, percentage calculated from budgeted posts
** In 2006, percentage calculated for the staff of the Institute at 31 December 2006
2%
Human sciences
14
244
390
Staff on assignment outside metropolitan France
Physics
4%
814
769
Men
Researchers by discipline
1%
Total
Staff by gender
Staff
Chemistry
Non-tenured
staff
39%
Scientific and technical
management
9%
Documentation, publishing,
communication
5%
Property management, logistics
and prevention
51
Fi n a n c i a l r e s o u r c e s
2006 was the first year in which finances were managed
by a fully integrated information system, operating costs
and pay being managed by a single software package,
Sorgho.
The Institute’s budget was €201.65 million, including
€169.81 million in government grants (84.2%), €12.7
million in contract income and €2.38 million in
miscellaneous income. The balance was covered by
€16.76 million from the Institute’s working capital. Staff
pay accounted for 71% of the budget (€135.32 million,
of which 22% were for expatriation expenses).
••• Spending focused on priorities in
research for development
Under its new 2006-2009 objectives contract, the IRD is
committed to an ambitious, coherent policy of matching
its resources to its priorities, which are to:
• support the Institute’s new mission as lead agency in
research for development;
• give more resources to the research and service units
and encourage them to reorganise and integrate into
the scientific community;
• continue to host expatriate researchers and provide
training and support for Southern scientific
communities;
• proactively open up to potential partners, particularly
by concentrating credits for property and capital
equipment on joint operations with universities and
other research bodies;
• ensure sufficient management resources for the
scientific fleet, in cooperation with the other research
institutions concerned.
••• Resources for the research and
service units
The units directly receive more than 60% of the Institute’s
financial resources. They account for 69.9% of staff costs
and 38.1% of the operating and investment budgets.
The IRD reaffirmed its priority focus on expatriation by devoting € 30.6 million to that budget item.
••• A major contribution to shared capital equipment
Investment in major capital equipment amounted to €3.53 million – an increase of 30%. The modernisation of the scientific
fleet began; this is now managed by a joint venture, GENAVIR. It includes refurbishment of the ocean-going survey vessel
Antéa at a cost of €2.11 million. The Institute’s self-financing capacity still allowed for other investments such as setting
up an “emerging diseases” platform on the Mahidol-Salaya university campus in Thailand, renovating the mobile
accelerometer network in partnership with Insu and jointly purchasing a mass spectrometer with the CNRS. The €1.23
million in contributions to partnerships illustrates the IRD’s commitment to its partners, both French research bodies and
international organisations.
••• Major investment in the property asset base
Amounts spent on maintenance and building work doubled in 2006, to a total of €2.54 million:
• completion of the centre for biology and population management (CBGP) in Montpellier;
• construction of a soil confinement laboratory on the Ensam campus;
• participation in the creation of an oceanography cluster of European scope, under the fourth State-Region development
plan for Brittany;
• extension of the Île-de-France centre’s reception wing.
••• Contract income on the rise
The IRD’s success rate in proposals submitted under National Research Agency (ANR) bid processes confirmed its
leading position in a number of fields. Contracts obtained by IRD teams in 2006 represented a financial envelope of more
than € 6million*.
The IRD’s mission of stimulating the French scientific community to work on issues important for development was
strengthened when it was given lead agency status in that connection. The Institute has already acted as coordinator or
manager for 20 scientific projects conducted by (non-European) international partnerships and costing more than
€1 million over the project’s lifetime.
* Contracts for an average of three years.
Information systems
The first phase of the information systems master plan was completed in 2006 with the successful launch of payroll management
by the Sorgho software package and the introduction of a new mission management system. Now the 2006-2009 phase begins.
A key aim is to use software to ensure compliance with the objectives contract. Part of the cost (€ 7.5 million) will be covered from
working capital. Of the seven goals in the information systems master plan, the considerable increase in the use of scientific software is well under way and is well received by staff.
Expenditure of research and services units (€M)
0.37%
0.69
Expenditure of the IRD, by type (€M)
Income from applications
of research
6.88%
2.04%
12.70
3.91
Research
contracts
Programmed investment
By research department
Staff
Operating costs
and investment
Total
Earth and Environment Department
Living Resources Department
Societies and Health Department
30.47
31.50
33.12
6.27
6.91
6.68
36.74
38.41
39.80
TOTAL
95.09
19.86
114.95
Staff
Operating costs
and investment
Total
0.68%
1.26
Other income
and subsidies
92.06%
169.81
27.24%
By research department
52.12
Operating costs
and
non-programmed
investments
State grant
70.72%
135.32
184.46 M€
Personnel
• Natural hazards, climate and
non-renewable resources
• Sustainable management
of Southern ecosystems
• Continental and coastal waters
• Food security in the South
• Public health and health policy
• Globalisation and development
9.03
1.49
10.52
17.66
19.38
16.32
15.20
17.50
3.49
4.05
3.82
4.28
2.73
21.15
23.43
20.14
19.48
20.23
TOTAL
95.09
19.86
114.95
191.35 M€
Income from research contracts,
by origin (€M)
Expenditure of cross-cutting functions (€M)
28.50%
7.64%
0.97
International
institutions
3.62
Expenditure by major region (€M)
Other partners
(public and private sectors)
21.34%
2.71
French Ministries
and territorial
authorities
8.36%
15.99
5.48%
10.49
Asia
Latin America
0.53 %
8.03 %
1.01
1.02
Other countries
18.70%
European
institutions
27.87 %
3.54
French public
establishments
6.61 %
0.84
National Research
Agency
Annual report • 2006
Resources of the IRD (€M)
35.78
Africa and
Indian Ocean
Capacity building support
Consulting and industrial liaison
Scientific information and communication
International relations
Outreach activities
Scientific evaluation
In-service training
Contributions to partnerships
Naval resources
Other major scientific equipment
TOTAL
Staff
Operating costs
and investment
Total
0.64
0.65
4.75
8.58
2.24
0.30
0.00
0.03
1.02
0.00
2.43
0.55
2.04
3.19
0.22
0.35
0.93
2.13
5.03
0.79
3.07
1.20
6.79
11.77
2.46
0.65
0.93
2.16
6.05
0.79
18.21
17.68
35.87
11.11%
21.26
12.70 M€
Income from research contracts,
by origin (€M)
Earth and Environment Department
Living resources Department
Societies and Health Department
Other
Partnerships, contracts managed by the IRD*
Total in budget
Transferred to partners off-budget
TOTAL
55.83 %
French overseas
territories
3,63
3,20
4,07
0,99
0,81
12,70
2,22
14,92
106.83
191.35 M€
Metropolitan
France
Expenditure of support functions (€M)
Staff
Operating costs
and investment
Total
1.08
7.21
2.22
12.79
14.05
3.16
Social action
Information systems
Real estate operations
Territorial representations *
Central services
Other
0.00
2.47
0.00
7.68
11.87
0.00
1.08
4.74
2.22
5.11
2.18
3.16
TOTAL
22.02
18.49
40.51
*France and overseas territories (representation abroad is classed under “international relations” in table 2, cross-cutting functions.
* As part mainly of Europe, ANR or GIS contracts
53
Appendices
••• The
IRD’s decision bodies
••• Participation
••• IRD
structure
••• Research
••• IRD
Coffee embryo
in scientific partnerships
and service units
establishments around the world
Board of Trustees (at 1 July 2007)
Scientific council (at 1 July 2007)
Chairman
Chair
Jean-François Girard
Daniel Le Rudulier, faculty member, university of Nice, microbiology
Ministry representatives
Appointed members
••• Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation
Jean-Christophe Deberre, Director of development policies
Antoine Grassin, Director of scientific and university cooperation
Jean-Louis Arcand, faculty member, university of Clermont Ferrand, economics
Netij Ben Mechlia, faculty member, national institute of Agronomy, Tunisia (INAT), agro-climatology
Pascale Delécluse, research director, CNRS, oceanography
Stéphane Doumbe-Bille, faculty member, Jean Moulin university, Lyon 3, international law
Jacqueline Heinen, faculty member, university of Versailles St-Quentin en Yvelines, sociology
Michel Herzog, faculty member, Joseph Fourier university, Grenoble, plant biology
Newton Paciornik, technical adviser to the ministry of research, Brazil, energy, environment
Rémi Pochat, scientific director, central laboratory of the Public Works Dept, engineering, evaluations
Jean-Luc Redelsperger, research director, CNRS, climatology
Sergio Revah, faculty member, Metropolitan Autonomous University, Mexico, microbiology-biotechnology
Jean-Pierre Reveret, faculty member, university of Québec, ecology, environment
Barbara Romanowicz, faculty member, university of Berkeley USA, geophysics
Rodolphe Spichiger, faculty member, university of Geneva and Director of the Geneva Botanical Gardens, biology and
plant ecology
Mamadou Souncalo Traore, national Director of health, Mali, parasitology
••• Ministry of Education and Research
For research
Didier Hoffschir, Deputy Director for sustainable development
For higher education
Philippe Vidal, Coordinator, office of the Director General for higher education
••• Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industry
Éric Querenet de Breville, Civil administrator
••• Ministry for Overseas Territories
N...
Jean-Michel Bedecarrax (substitute), sub-Director for employment and social,
educational and cultural affairs
External members
Monique Capron, Chair of the Board of Trustees, Inserm
Alain Arconte, Chair, Antilles-Guyane University
Catherine Brechignac, Chair, CNRS
Patrice Debré, Chair, Cirad
Bouli Ali Diallo, Rector, University of Niamey
Souad Lyagoubi, Former Minister of Health, Tunisia
Jean-Michel Severino, Director General, Agence française de développement
Staff representatives
Alain Froment, SNCS/FSU, doctor of medicine, representing research grade staff, Orléans
Marie-France Lange, STREM-SGEN-CFDT, sociologist, representing research grade staff, Bondy
Christian Valentin, STREM-SGEN-CFDT, soil scientist, representing research grade staff, Laos
Pascal Grebaut, SNTRS-CGT-IRD, biology technician, representing ITA grade staff, Montpellier
Irène Salvert, STREM-SGEN-CFDT, in-service training manager, representing ITA grade staff, Paris
Patrick Zante, SNPREES-FO, soil scientist, representing ITA grade staff, Montpellier
Annual report • 2006
T h e I R D’ s d e c i s i o n b o d i e s
Elected members
••• College I, IRD research directors
Jean Albergel, hydrology
Pierre Chevallier, hydrology
Georges de Noni, geography, research management
Jean-Paul Gonzalez, human virology
Emmanuel Grégoire, geography
Michel Tibayrenc, genetics of infectious diseases
•••College II, IRD researchers
Sylvain Bonvalot, geophysics
Dominique Buchillet, anthropology of health
Marie-Hélène Durand, economy
Michel Petit, remote sensing, hydrobiology
Yves Goudineau, anthropology
Yann Moreau, hydrobiology
•••College III, IRD engineers and technicians
Odile Fossati, hydrobiology
Yann Hello, geophysics
Michel Larue, research management, IRD representative in Indonesia
Scientific commissions
Chairs of sectoral scientific commissions (CSS) and research and applications management commissions (CGRA)
Yves Gaudemer, CSS1: physics and chemistry of the planetary environment
Dominique-Angèle Vuitton, CSS2: biology and medical science
Pierre Auger, CSS3: science of ecological systems
Émile Le Bris, CSS4: human and social sciences
Jean-Philippe Chippaux, CGRA 1: engineering and consulting
François Jarrige, CGRA 2: administration and management
55
IRD par ticipation
in scientific par tnerships
••• Groupements d’intérêt scientifique
OCEANOMED, Marine research hub in the PACA region
Sol, Sustainable management of soil heritage
Curare, University discussion centre for an environmental hazards agency
Institut Rhône Alpin des Systèmes Complexes, Complex systems institute
Silvolab, Tropical rainforest ecosystems in French Guiana
Pisciculture, Fish farming in Mediterranean and tropical regions
GRISCYA, Cyanobacteria
Europôle Mer, Marine science and technology
Génopôle Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon
Ceped, Linkages between population and development
Réseau Amérique latine, Information dissemination and facilitation of French social and human
sciences research on Latin America
IRSP, Public health research institute
BRG, Genetic Resources Bureau
IFB, French Biodiversity Institute
Aire développement, Scientific and financial support for scientific communities in the South
Génoplante recherche, Plant genomics
PRAM, Martinique Agro-Environmental Research Centre
CRVOI, Research and monitoring centre on emerging diseases in the Indian Ocean
Production of indicators on the research and innovation system
Research network in Île-de-France on sustainable development
••• Groupements d’intérêt public
Médias France, Global change and regional impacts
Mercator Océan, Ocean and climate forecasting
Nickel et son Environnement, National centre for research and technology on nickel
and its environment
ANRS, National AIDS Research Agency
Renater, National telecommunications network for technology, teaching and research
Ecofor, Temperate forest ecosytems
OST, Science and technology monitoring unit
••• Groupements d’intérêt économique
Dial, Development of investigations into long-term adjustment
Génavir, Management of oceanographic survey vessels
••• Groupements européens d’intérêt économique
Edctp, European Developing Countries Clinical Trials
Ecart, European Consortium for Agricultural Research in the Tropics
••• SAS Société par action simplifiée
Génoplante Valor, Management and exploitation of intellectual property rights resulting from the
Génoplante programme
••• Groupements de recherche (GDR)
ACOMAR, Analysis, understanding and modelling of marine biology archives
DIWOOD, Diversity, establishment and functioning of organisms associated with marine wood falls
••• National programmes
PNEC, Coastal environments
LEFE, Environment and Earth’s fluid envelopes
PNTS, National remote sensing programme
AMMA, African monsoon multidisciplinary analyses
ECCO, Continental ecosphere: environmental hazards
RELIEFS, National earth reliefs programme
••• Regional programmes
ZONECO, Marine resources in the New Caledonia exclusive economic zone
ZEPOLYF, Inventorying and mapping of sea mounts in the French Polynesian exclusive economic zone
••• Federative Research Institutes
Lyon
IFR 41, Ecology, genetics, evolution
Marseille
IFR 86, Agro-industrial biotechnology (BAIM)
IFR 134, Economics and human and social sciences of health, Aix-Marseille
Montpellier
IFR 119, Tropical and Mediterranean continental biodiversity
IFR 122, Montpellier Institute of Biology
IFR 123, Languedoc Institute for Water and Environment Research (ILEE)
IFR 127, Plant development, diversity and adaptattion – genes and phenotypes (Daphné)
IFR 129, Aquatic ecosystems: human impact, functioning, products
Paris
IFR 071, Institute for the science of medicines (ISM)
IFR 101, Ecology, biodiversity, evolution, environment
IFR 106, Environment and management of rural areas (EGER)
••• Competitiveness hubs
Mer-Bretagne (Sea-Nergie), in Brittany
Q@limed, on food and quality of life in the Mediterranean region, in Languedoc Roussillon
Risques, on risk management and local/regional vulnerability, in Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur
Mer Sécurité Sûreté (MSS): sea, safety, security and sustainable development, in Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur
Orpheme, on emerging and orphan diseases, in Languedoc Roussillon and Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur
Agronutrition en milieu tropical,on food and agriculture in tropical regions, in La Réunion
Chairman
Director General
Secretary General
Jean-François Girard
Michel Laurent
Vincent Desforges
at 1 July 2007
Earth and environment department
Living resources department*
Societies and health department
Capacity-building support
Consulting and industrial liaison
Information and communication
Jacques Boulègue
Bernard Dreyfus
Jacques Charmes
Alain Leplaideur
Eva Giesen
Marie-Noëlle Favier
Legal affairs
Head office administration
International relations
French overseas dependencies
Scientific programming and regional
action
Evaluation and indicators
Information systems
Hervé Michel
Jean-Charles Linet
Daniel Lefort
Roger Bambuck
Christian Marion
Benoît Lootvoet
Gilles Poncet
Legal affairs
Headquarters administration
Accounting office
Hortense Moisand-Renard
Christian Altairac
Jean Fohrer
Annual report • 2006
Central ser vices
* To 28 February 2007 : Patrice Cayré
57
Research and ser vice units (US)
(at 1 July 2007)
••• ARDUIN Pascal - US 9
SDEE - Demographic, epidemiological and
environmental monitoring
pascal.arduin@ird.fr
www.ird.sn/activites/niakhar/
••• ARFI Robert - Unit 167
CYROCO - Cyanobacteria of shallow tropical waters.
Roles and controls
robert.arfi@ird.fr
www.com.univ-mrs.fr/IRD/cyroco/index.htm
••• AUGER Pierre - Unit 79
GEODES - Mathematical and computer modelling of natural, biological and social complex systems
pierre.auger@ird.fr
www.ur079.ird.fr/
••• BARTHELEMY Daniel - Unit 123
AMAP (UMR) - Botany and bioinformatics
of plant architecture
barthelemy@cirad.fr
www.amap.cirad.fr/
••• BOTTERO Jean-Yves - Unit 161
CEREGE (UMR) - European centre for research and
education in the environmental geosciences
jybotter@cerege.fr
••• BOURGUET Denis - Unit 22
CBGP (UMR) - Centre for population biology and management
dircbgp@supagro.inra.fr
www.montpellier.inra.fr/CBGP
••• CHARVIS Philippe - Unit 82
GEOAZUR (UMR) - Géosciences Azur
direction@geoazur.unice.fr
www-geoazur.unice.fr
••• CHAVANCE Pierre - Unit 7
OSIRIS - Monitoring and information systems
for tropical fisheries
pierre.chavance@ird.fr
www.ird.sn/activites/sih/index.htm
••• CHENORKIAN Robert - Unit 184
ESEP (UMR) - Prehistoric economies, societies and
environments
chenorkian@mmsh.iniv-aix.fr
••• CHOTTE Jean-Luc - Unit 179
SeqBio - Soil bio-functioning and carbon sequestration
jean-luc.chotte@ird.fr
www.mpl.ird.fr/SeqBio
••• COLIN Jean-Philippe - Unit 95
REFO - Land tenure regulations, public policy and stakeholder reasoning
jean-philippe.colin@ird.fr
••• CORMIER-SALEM Marie-Christine - Unit 169
Natural heritage, territories and identities
marie-christine.cormier-salem@ird.fr
••• COT Michel - Unit 10
Mother and infant health in tropical environments:
genetic and perinatal epidemiology
michel.cot@ird.fr
••• COTTON Fabrice - Unit 157
LGIT (UMR) - Tectonophysics and internal
geophysics laboratory
fabrice.cotton@obs.ujf-grenoble.fr
www-lgit.obs.ujf-grenoble.fr
••• COUDRAIN Anne - Unit 32
GREAT ICE - Glaciers and high altitude water resources –
climatic and environmental indicators
anne.coudrain@ird.fr
www.mpl.ird.fr/hydrologie/greatice/
••• COURET Dominique - Unit 29
URBI - Urban environment
dominique.couret@ird.fr
www.ur029.ird.fr
••• CREUTIN Jean-Dominique - Unit 12
LTHE (UMR) - Laboratory for the study of transfers in
hydrology and environment
jean-dominique.creutin@ird.fr
www.lthe.hmg.inpg.fr
••• CUNY Gérard - Unit 177
(UMR) - Trypanosomiasis in humans,
animals and plants
gerard.cuny@ird.fr
••• DELAPORTE Éric - Unit 145
(UMR) - HIV/AIDS and associated diseases
eric.delaporte@ird.fr
••• DELAUNAY Daniel - Unit 13
MMP - Migration, mobility, settlement dynamics
and territorial dynamics
daniel.delaunay@ird.fr
www.ur013.ird.fr
••• FICHEZ Renaud - Unit 103
CAMELIA - Characterisation and modelling of exchanges in
lagoons under terrigenous and human influences
renaud.fichez@ird.fr
www.ird.nc/CAMELIA/
••• DELPEUCH Francis - Unit 106
Nutrition, diet, societies
francis.delpeuch@ird.fr
www.mpl.ird.fr
••• FONTENILLE Didier - Unit 16
Characterisation and control of vector populations
didier.fontenille@ird.fr
www.mpl.ird.fr/vecteur/
••• D’HERBES Jean-Marc - US 166
Evaluation and monitoring of the causes, mechanisms and
consequences of desertification in arid and semi-arid
regions
jean-marc.dherbes@ird.fr
••• FREON Pierre - Unit 97
ECO-UP - Structure and functioning of exploited upwelling
ecosystems: comparative analyses for an ecosystem
approach to fisheries
pierre.freon@ird.fr
www.sea.uct.ac.za/marine/idyle/
••• DREYFUS Bernard - Unit 40
LSTM (UMR) - Laboratory for the study of tropical and
Mediterranean symbiosis
bernard.dreyfus@ird.fr
••• DU PENHOAT Yves p.i. - Unit 65
LEGOS (UMR) - Laboratory for space-based geophysics
and oceanography research
directeur@legos.obs-mip.fr
www.obs-mip.fr/legos
••• ECHEVERRIA Manuel - Unit 121
LGDP (UMR) - Plant genomics and plant development
manuel.echeverria@univ-perp.fr
••• EYMARD Laurence - Unit 182
LOCEAN (UMR) - Oceanography and climate laboratory:
experiments and numerical approaches
laurence.eymard@ird.fr
••• FAURE Yves-André - Unit 23
DEVLOC - Local urban development.
Dynamics and regulation
yves-andre.faure@ird.fr
••• FERRARIS Jocelyne - Unit 128
CoRéUs - Biocomplexity of coral ecosystems
in the Indo-Pacific
jocelyne.ferraris@ird.fr
www.ird.nc/COREUS/
••• GARIN Patrice - Unit 183
G-EAU (UMR) - Water management, stakeholders and uses
patrice.garin@cemagref.fr
••• GONZALEZ Jean-Paul - Unit 178
CTEM - Emergence of diseases: territories and conditionss
jean-paul.gonzalez@ird.fr
••• GOURIOU Yves - US 191
Ocean observing systems and operations at sea
yves.gouriou@ird.fr
•••GRUENAIS Marc-Éric - Unit 2
ASSA - Health in Africa: health systems and actors
marc-eric.gruenais@ird.fr
www.vcharite.univ-mrs.fr/shadyc/accueil.html
••• GUILLAUD Dominique - Unit 92
ADENTHRO - Human adaptation to tropical environments
during the Holocene
dominique.guillaud@ird.fr
www.orleans.ird.fr/UR_US/adentrho.htm
••• HAMON Serge - Unit 188
DIA-PC (UMR) - Diversity and adaption of cultivated plants
serge.hamon@ird.fr
••• HERRERA Javier - Unit 47
DIAL - Development, institutions and long-term analysis
javier.herrera@ird.fr
www.dial.prd.fr/
••• LHOMME Jean-Paul - Unit 60
CLIFA - Climate and agro-system functioning
jean-paul.lhomme@ird.fr
••• JOLIVET Marie-José - Unit 107
Cim - Identity construction and globalisation
marie-jose.jolivet@ird.fr
••• LIVENAIS Patrick - Unit 151
LPED (UMR) - Population-environment-development
laboratory
patrick.livenais@ird.fr
www.lped.org
••• JOSSE Erwan - US 4
ACAPPELLA - Hydro-acoustics applied to fishery and aquatic
ethology and ecology
erwan.josse@ird.fr
www.brest.ird.fr/us004/index.htm
••• MARSAC Francis - Unit 109
THETIS - Tropical tuna and pelagic ecosystems:
taxis, interactions and exploitation strategies
francis.marsac@ird.fr
www.brest.ird.fr/ur109/index.htm
••• KERR Yann - Unit 113
CESBIO (UMR) - Centre for the study of the biosphere from
space
yann.kerr@cesbio.cnes.fr
www.cesbio.ups-tlse.fr
••• MERLE Olivier - Unit 163
(UMR) Magmas and volcanoes laboratory
olivier.merle@ird.fr
wwwobs.univ-bpclermont.fr
••• LAE Raymond - Unit 70
RAP - Adaptive responses of fish shoals and populations
to environmental pressure
raymond.lae@ird.fr
www.ird.sn/activites/rap/index.htm
••• LALLEMANT Marc - Unit 174
IRD-PHPT - Clinical epidemiology, mother and infant health
and HIV in Southeast Asia
marc.lallemant@ird.fr
••• LANGE Marie-France - Unit 105
Knowledge and development
marie-france.lange@ird.fr
www.ur105.ird.fr/
••• LAVELLE Patrick - Unit 137
BIOSOL (UMR) - Soil functioning and biodiversity
patrick.lavelle@ird.fr
www.bondy.ird.fr/biosol
••• LEGENDRE Marc - Unit 175
CAVIAR - Characterisation and utilisation of fish diversity for
integrated aquaculture
marc.legendre@ird.fr
••• LE GUYADER Hervé - Unit 148
(UMR) - Systematics, adaption, evolution
herve.le-guyader@snv.jussieu.fr
••• MICHON Geneviève - Unit 168
Environmental dynamics between forest, agriculture and biodiversity: from local practices with nature to conservation policy
genevieve.michon@ird.fr
••• MOISSERON Jean-Yves - Unit 102
Public intervention, spaces, societies
jean-yves.moisseron@ird.fr
••• MONTEL Jean-Marc - Unit 154
LMTG (UMR) - Laboratory for the study of mechanisms and
transfers in geology
montel@lmtg.obs-mip.fr
www.lmtg.obs-mip.fr
••• MORETTI Christian - US 84
Biodival - Knowledge of tropical plant resources
and their uses
christian.moretti@ird.fr
www.orleans.ird.fr/UR_US/biodival/index.htm
••• MORIZE Éric - US 28
CHRONOS - Age and chronophysiology in fish and aquatic
molluscs
eric.morize@ird.fr
••• NEPVEU Françoise - Unit 152
(UMR) Pharmaceutical chemistry of natural substances and
redox pharmacophores
francoise.nepveu@ird.fr
••• NICOLE Michel - Unit 186
RPB (UMR) - Plant resistance to pests and diseases
michel.nicole@ird.fr
••• OBERDORFF Thierry - Unit 131
AMAZONE - Macro-ecological approach to aquatic biodiversity
in continental waters
thierry.oberdorf@ird.fr
••• ORTLIEB Luc - Unit 55
PALEOTROPIQUE - Tropical palaeo-environments and climate
variability
luc.ortlieb@ird.fr
••• SILVAIN Jean-François - Unit 72
BEI - Biodiversity and evolution of plant/insect-pest
antagonist complexes
jean-francois.silvain@ird.fr
www.cnrs-gif.fr/pge/index.html
••• SIMONDON François - Unit 24
Epiprev - Epidemiology and prevention: environment and
efficacy of interventionss
francois.simondon@ird.fr
www.mpl.ird.fr/epiprev
••• THEBE Bernard - US 19
OBHI - Hydrological monitoring systems and engineering
bernard.thebe@ird.fr
www.usobhi.net/
••• OUAISSI Ali - Unit 8
Pathogenics and epidemiology of the trypanosomatids
ali.ouaissi@montp.inserm.fr
••• THOLOZAN Jean-Luc - Unit 180
LMBEC (UMR) - Microbiology and biotechnology
of hot environments
jean-luc.tholozan@ird.fr
••• QUEIXALOS Francisco - Unit 135
CELIA (UMR) - Centre for the study of indigenous
languages of America
qxls@vjf.cnrs.fr
••• TRAPE Jean-François - Unit 77
Malaria research in tropical Africa
jean-francois.trape@ird.fr
http://gemi.mpl.ird.fr
••• QUENSIERE Jacques p.i. - Unit 63
C3ED (UMR) - Economics and ethics for environment
and development
jacques.quensiere@ird.fr
www.c3ed.uvsq.fr
••• TREGEAR James - Unit 192
Palm species
james.tregear@ird.fr
••• RENAUD François - Unit 165
(UMR) - Genetics and evolution of infectious diseases
francois.renaud@ird.fr
••• ROUSSOS Sevastianos - Unit 185
Bio Trans - Biodiversity and functional ecology of microorganisms for processing recalcitrant compounds
sevastianos.roussos@ird.fr
••• SELIM Monique - Unit 3
Tem - Labour and globalisation
monique.selim@ird.fr
www.ur003.ird.fr
Annual report • 2006
••• HUYNH Frédéric - US 140
ESPACE - Assessments and spatialisation of environmental
data
frederic.huynh@ird.fr
www.espace.ird.fr
••• VALENTIN Christian - Unit 176
SOLUTIONS - Soils, land use, degradation and rehabilitation
christian.valentin@ird.fr
••• VOLTZ Marc - Unit 144
LISAH (UMR) - Laboratory for the study of
soil/agrosystem/hydrosystem interactions
voltz@ensam.inra.fr
www.sol.ensam.inra.fr/
••• DME: units in the Earth and Environment Department
••• DRV: units in the Living Resources Department
••• DSS: units in the Societies and Health Department
••• SERVAT Éric - Unit 50
HSM (UMR) - HydroSciences Montpellier
eric.servat@ird.fr
www.hydrosciences.org/
59
IRD establishments
a r o u n d t h e w o r l d (at 1 July 2007)
FRANCE
Head office
213, rue La Fayette
75 480 Paris Cedex 10
Tél : + 33 (0)1 48 03 77 77
Centre de Bretagne
Claude Roy
BP 70 - 29280 Plouzané Cedex
Tél. 02 98 22 45 01
brest@ird.fr
Centre d’Ile de France
Maurice Lourd
32, avenue Henri Varagnat
93143 Bondy Cedex
Tél. 01 48 02 55 75
bondy@ird.fr
Centre de Montpellier
Georges De Noni
911 avenue Agropolis
BP 64501 - 34394 Montpellier cedex 5
Tél. 04 67 41 61 00
montpellier@ird.fr
Centre d’Orléans
Yveline Poncet
5 rue du Carbone
45072 Orléans Cedex 2
Tél. 02 38 49 95 00
orleans@ird.fr
FRENCH OVERSEAS
TERRITORIES
French Guiana
Jean-François Daniel
BP 165 - 97323 Cayenne cedex
Tél. (05 94) 29 92 92
guyane@ird.fr
Martinique - Caribbean
Marc Morell
BP 8006 - 97259 Fort de France cedex
Tél. 05 96 39 77 39
martinique@ird.fr
New-Caledonia and South Pacific
Fabrice Colin
BP A5 - 98848 Nouméa Cedex
Tél. (687) 26 10 00
nouvelle-caledonie@ird.fr
French Polynesia
Jacques Iltis
BP 529 - 98713 Papeete - Tahiti
Tél. (689) 50 62 00
polynesie@ird.fr
La Réunion
Alain Borgel
IRD - BP 172
97492 Sainte-Clotilde cedex
Tél. (02 62) 29 56 29
la-reunion@ird.fr
AFRICA
South Africa, Mozambique
Jean-Marie Fritsch
IRD auprès de l’IFAS - P.O. Box 542
Newtown 2113 Johannesburg
66, Margaret Mcingana Street
(Market Theatre Precinct)
Tél. (27 11) 836 05 61/64
afrique-du-sud@ird.fr
Bénin, Togo
Bruno Bordage
IRD/SCAC
Ambassade de France à Cotonou
128 bis rue de l’Université
75351 Paris 07 SP - France
Tél. (229) 21 30 03 54
benin@ird.fr
Burkina Faso
Jean-Pierre Guengant
01 BP 182 - Ouagadougou 01
Tél. (226) 50 30 67 37 / 39
burkina-faso@ird.fr
Cameroon
François Rivière
BP 1857 Yaoundé
Tél. (237) 2220 15 08
cameroun@ird.fr
Congo (République du)
François Rivière
Centre DGRST/IRD
BP 1286, Pointe-Noire
Tél. (242) 94 02 38/37 45
congo@ird.fr
Côte d’Ivoire
Philippe Solano p.i.
IRD/SCAC
Ambassade de France à Abidjan
128 bis rue de l’université
75351 Paris 07 SP
cote-ivoire@ird.fr
Tunisia
Antoine Cornet
IRD - BP 434
El Menzah 4 - 1004 Tunis
Tél. (216 71) 75 00 09 / 01 83
tunisie@ird.fr
Egypt
Nathalie Bernard-Maugiron p.i.
P.O. Box. 26 - 12 211 Giza, Egypt
Tél. (202) 2362 05 30
egypte@ird.fr
LATIN AMERICA
Guinea
IRD - BP 1984, Conakry
Kenya
Jean Albergel
IRD Kenya, ICRAF
United Nations Avenue, Gigiri
P.O. Box 30677 00100 Nairobi
Tél. (254 20) 722 4758
kenya@ird.fr
Mali
Gilles Fédière
IRD - BP 2528 - Bamako - Mali
Tél. (223) 221 05 01
mali@ird.fr
Morocco
Henri Guillaume
IRD - BP 8967 - 10000 Rabat Agdal
Tél. (212) (0) 37 67 27 33
maroc@ird.fr
Niger
Gilles Bezançon
BP 11416 - Niamey
Tél. (227) 20 75 38 27
niger@ird.fr
Senegal, Cape-Verde, The Gambia,
Guinea-Bissau and Mauritania,
Christian Colin
BP 1386 - CP 18524 Dakar - Sénégal
Tél. (221) 849 83 30
senegal@ird.fr
Bolivia
Jean-Joinville Vacher
CP 9214 - 00095 La Paz
Tél. (591 2) 278 29 69 / 42
bolivie@ird.fr
Brazil
Pierre Sabaté
CP 7091 - Lago Sul
71619-970 - Brasilia (DF)
Tél. (55 61) 32.48 53 23
bresil@ird.fr
Chile
Gérard Hérail
IRD - Casilla 53 390 - Correo Central
Santiago 1
Tél. (56 2) 236 34 64
chili@ird.fr
Ecuador
Bernard Francou
Whymper 442 y Coruña
AP 17 12 857 Quito
Tél. (593 2) 250 39 44
equateur@ird.fr
Mexico
Abdelghani Chehbouni
Calle Cicerón N°609
Col. Los Morales, Polanco
C.P. 11530 México, D.F.
Tél. (52 55) 52 80 76 88
mexique@ird.fr
Peru
Pierre Soler
Casilla 18 - 1209 - Lima 18
Tél. (51 1) 441 32 23
perou@ird.fr
ASIA
Indonesia
Michel Larue
Wisma Anugraha
Jalan Taman Kemang 32 B
Jakarta 12730
Tél. (62 21) 71 79 21 14
indonésie@ird.fr
Laos
Daniel Benoit
BP 5992 - Vientiane
République du Laos
Tél. (856 21) 45 27 07
laos@ird.fr
Thailand
Michel Tibayrenc
IRD Representative Office
French Embassy
29, Thanon Sathorn Tai
Bangkok10120
Tél. (66 2) 627 21 90
thailande@ird.fr
Viêt-nam
Jacques Berger
Ambassade de France - service culturel
57 Than Hung Dao - Hanoï
Tél. (84-4) 972 06 29
vietnam@ird.fr
INDIAN OCEAN
Madagascar
Christian Feller
BP 434 - 101 Antananarivo
Tél. (261 20) 22 330 98
madagascar@ird.fr
EUROPEAN UNION
Patrice Cayré
CLORA - IRD - 8 avenue des Arts
B1210 Bruxelles - Belgium
Tél. 32 2 506 88 48
bruxelles@ird.fr
Cover
©IRD – Michel Dukhan
left to right
©IRD – Pierre Chevallier
©IRD – Philippe Chevalier
©IRD – Alexandre Ganachaud
©IRD – Claudine Campa
©IRD – Alain Borgel
©IRD – Ronan Lietar
Contents
©IRD – Bernard Moizo
©IRD – Bernard Francou
©IRD – Jean-Michel Boré
©IRD – Vincent Simonneaux
©IRD – Joël Orempuller
©IRD – Claudine Campa
page 5
©IRD – Olivier Dargouge
page 7
©IRD – Marie-Lise Sabrié
page 9
©IRD –
©IRD –
©IRD –
©IRD –
©IRD –
©IRD –
Olivier Dargouge
Olivier Dargouge
Ronan Lietar
Michel Dukhan
Ifremer/Fadio
Jean-Michel Boré
page 10
©IRD – Bernard Francou
page 11
©IRD – Vincent Simonneaux
page 12
©IRD – Jean-Philippe Eissen
page 13
©IRD – Arnaud Vallée
©IRD – Yvan Repetto
page14
©IRD – Roger Fauck
©IRD – Johanna Derrider
page15
©IRD – Jean-Pierre Rafaillac
page 16
©IRD – Bernard de Mérona
page 17
©IRD – Edmond Hien
page 18
©IRD – Alain Rival
page 19
©IRD – Pierre Laboute
©IRD – Claire Garrigue
page 20
©IRD – Cécile Duwig
© IRD – Claude Dejoux
page 21
©IRD – Michel Dukhan
page 22
©RD – Alain Ghesquiere
page 23
©IRD – Mathilde Savy
©IRD – Claire Mouquet-Rivier
page 24
©IRD – Jean-Jacques Lemasson
page 38
©IRD – Vincent Simonneaux
Document produced by the Information and Communication Department
dic@paris.ird.fr
page 39
©IRD – Marc Pilon
@IRD July 2007 - Coordinator: Marie-Noëlle Favier - Editing and production
monitoring: Claire Roussel - Pictures from Indigo Base: Claire Lissalde and
page 40
©IRD – Patrick Blanchon
©IRD – Vincent Simonneaux
Danièle Cavanna - Maps: Elisabeth Habert and Catherine Valton - Graphic
design: Mazarine Image - Printing: imprimerie Jouve - Distribution: unité
diffusion, Bondy - English translation: Harriet Coleman - Revision: Yolande
page 41
©IRD – Michel Grouzis
©IRD – Hubert Forestier
Cavallazzi.
page 42
©IRD – Olivier Dargouge
©IRD – Vincent Simonneaux
©IRD – Bernard Moizo
Marie-Laure Beauvais, Ouidir Benabderrahmane, Samira Ben Touhami,
The following people took part in the editing:
Catherine Bonte, Jacques Boulègue, Dominique Cavet, Marie-Simone
Chandelier, Jacques Charmes, Samuel Cordier, Ariel Crozon, Sylvain Dehaud,
Patrick Fayard, Eva Giesen, Malika Gravelier, Florence Lafay, Régine
page 25
©IRD – Cécile Neel
page 43
©IRD – Pascal Dumas
page 26
©IRD – Andre Garcia
page 44
©IRD – S. Janel
©IRD – Michel Dukhan
Laurence Quinty Bourgeois, Marie-Christine Rebourcet, Ghislaine Thirion.
page 45
©IRD – Aster 2006
Laurence Albar, Serge Andrefouet, Patrice Baby, Sylvie Bredeloup,
page 46
©IRD – Joël Orempuller
Michel Esteves, André Garcia, Alain Ghesquiere, Isabelle Guérin,
page 27
©IRD – Michel Dukhan
page 28
©IRD – Thierry Ruf
page 29
©Laurence Vallet
©IRD – Daniel Delaunay
page 30
©IRD – Michel Dukhan
page 32
©IRD – Jean-Michel Boré
page 33
©IRD – D.R.
page 34
©IRD – Christian Hartmann
page 35
©IRD – Jean-Marc Hougard
©IRD – Céline Ravallec
page 36
©IRD – Patrick Fayard
©IRD – Patrick Fayard
page 37
©IRD – Johanna Derrider
©IRD – SCAC / Ambassade de France
©IRD – Mina Vilayleck
Annual report • 2006
PHOTO CREDITS
Lefait-Robin, Benoît Lootvoet, Daniel Lefort, Alain Leplaideur, Rémy Louat
Régis Menu, Bernadette Murgue, Harry Palmier, Alain Poulet, Anne Pruvot,
Scientific examples:
Jean-Philippe Colin, David Courtin, Eric Delaporte, Daniel Delaunay,
Michel Lepage, Jean-Luc Le Pennec, Laurence Maurice, Jean-François
Molino, Yves-Martin Prével, Daniel Sabatier, Francisco Véas.
page 47
©IRD – Jean-Jacques Lemasson
page 48
©IRD – Ronan Lietar
©IRD – Marc Morell
©IRD – Nadine Fievet
The IRD would like to thank the following for their testimonies:
Dramane Coulibaly, Amadou Mactar Konaté, Marie-Noëlle Ndjiondjop,
Flobert Njiokou, Souleymane Ouédraogo, Pablo Samaniego.
page 49
©IRD – Christophe Maes
©IRD – Yann Hello
©IRD – Sylvain Bonvalot
©IRD – ASTER 2006
©IRD – Michel Dukhan
©IRD – Marie-Eve Miguères
page 50
©IRD – Marie-Noëlle Favier
page 54
©IRD – Claudine Campa
page 61
©IRD – Bernard Moizo
61
Ask for the CD-ROM
in three languages
( Fr e n c h , E n g l i s h , S p a n i s h )
by e-mail: dic@ird.fr
Institut de recherche
pour le développement
Rapport d’activité 2006
Ve r s i o n f r a n ç a i s e
English version
Ve r s i ó n c a s t e l l a n a
1/08/07
14:34
Page 2
Contents
Rice harvest, northern Laos
Annual report • 2006
IRD RA 2006_couv_angl
63
1/08/07
14:34
Page 1
Institut de recherche
pour le développement
IRD • ANNUAL REPORT 2006
IRD RA 2006_couv_angl
Annual report 2006
IRD
2 1 3 r u e La Fa y e t t e - F- 7 5 4 8 0 Pa r i s C e d e x 1 0
T é l. + 3 3 ( 0 ) 1 4 8 0 3 7 7 7 7 - Fa x + 3 3 ( 0 ) 1 4 8 0 3 0 8 2 9
w w w. i r d. f r