Research
for the South
Research
at the service
of development
€124
MILLION
FOR RESEARCH
Six major programs:
Natural hazards and climate
Sustainable management of Southern ecosystems
Water resources and access to water
Food security in the South
Public health and health policy
Development and globalisation
INCLUDING
€101.7
MILLION FOR
STAFF PAY
Annual report 2008 s
Research at the service of development
The IRD has a specific, original role among French research institutes.
It conducts research on themes important for development, at the
service of its partners in North and South alike. IRD research is
focused on the intertropical zone, with the priority goal of improving
the living conditions of vulnerable populations and empowering
Southern scientific communities.
The broad research themes are defined jointly with partner
institutions’ researchers. The scientific outcomes from the work are
joint publications, patent applications and a systematic sharing of
the knowledge acquired. With the synergy generated within the joint
research units, the IRD researchers manage their knowledge assets
together with their Northern partners, who are encouraged to work
in and with the South.
In this third year of its 2006-2009 objectives contract with the
government, the IRD pursued its research work under its six major
programmes which focus on six scientific priorities: Public policy
on poverty reduction and development; International migration
and development; Emerging infectious diseases; Climate change
and natural hazards; Water resources and access to water; and
Ecosystems and natural resources.
Because the research is carried out in parts of the world that are
unfamiliar to its researchers, the Institute requires that they adhere
to particularly demanding rules of ethics and professional conduct.
That is the reason for the in-house consultative committee on
professional conduct and ethics (CCDE).
Set up in 2000, the CCDE helps formulate and examine the ethical
questions that arise during field work. In its eighth year of existence
the Committee examined a dozen research projects, most of them
in biomedical areas. Half the projects examined concerned vectorborne diseases such as malaria and chikungunya, antiretroviral
treatment of AIDS or the nutritional transition in North Africa with a
sInstitut de recherche pour le développement
view to obesity prevention. It also considered the effects of mining
projects on the environment, particularly in New Caledonia. It
took part in some twenty national and international conferences
discussing matters of deontology in research for development.
Evaluation bodies renewed
The scientific council and its six committees, which are
the IRD’s forward thinking and individual evaluation
bodies, were entirely renewed and now have 186
new members. This time a higher proportion of the
membership are women - 35% as against 24% on
the previous council. As well as its usual activities, the
council and its committees assessed eleven proposals for
international joint laboratories, submitted in response to
the IRD’s first call for proposals. These laboratories will
have teams from the IRD and Southern research and
higher education institutes working together on a shared
platform − a new way of structuring scientific partnership
with Southern countries and a useful instrument in
pursuance of French policy in this regard.
The evaluation of the units is now handled by a new
body, the Agence d’évaluation de la recherche et de
l’enseignement supérieur (AERES). In 2008 AERES
assessed ten proposals to create or renew the mandates
of joint research units in which the IRD is involved,
including the international joint unit on Mathematical and
Computer Modelling of Complex Systems (UMMISCO).
Publications still on the rise
IRD researchers published about 1100 articles listed on Web of
Science. The number of articles published has been rising by about
10% a year since 2006. The number of internationally referenced
publications has doubled in ten years. Including published output
by joint research units of which the IRD is a member the total comes
to around 1800 articles.
Fifty-four per cent of IRD articles were in journals with a high impact
factor in their fields. More than 10% of articles were published in
top journals – for example 12 in Journal of Hydrology, 8 in Emerging
Infections Diseases, 5 in PNAS, 3 each in BioInformatics and Global
Biogeochemical Cycles, 2 each in The Lancet, Nature Cell Biology
and PloS Pathogens, 1 in Nature.
Ten researchers (14% of the researchers, engineers and technicians
who published in 2008) signed at least ten articles. Ninety-one
researchers signed at least five. The average number of articles
to which each researcher contributed was more than 1.9. The
proportion produced by joint research units of which the IRD is a
member rose significantly. With the collaboration generated by the
joint units, joint publication with other research institutes (CNRS,
Cirad, INRA, MNHN, Inserm etc.) rose from 49% of the total in 2007
to 61% in 2008, and joint publication with universities (Paris 6,
Montpellier, Toulouse, Aix-Marseille, Grenoble etc.) from 43% to
56%. In the human and social sciences, the number of publications
increased steadily between 2005 and 2007. There were 260 articles
in 2007, 30% more than in 2006, while for books and chapters of
books 2007 output was almost double that of 2005.
Soil study/Thailand.
The rate of joint publication with Southern countries was stable at
about 42%, the main partners involved being in Brazil, Cameroon,
Peru, India, Burkina Faso, Chile and Thailand. Joint publications
are increasing steadily in South America, Asia-Pacific, North Africa
and the Middle East. Seventy per cent of joint publications in West
and Central Africa concern health (roughly 110 publications). In
South Africa, however, joint publications with the IRD were fairly
evenly spread between the guideline themes.
IRD scientists gave approximately 6500 hours of teaching in higher
education establishments, one third of the total being in Southern
countries. Most teaching (68%) addressed Master’s students, in
France as elsewhere. Nearly two-thirds of the total teaching hours
were given in France, mainly in the research clusters of Montpellier
(32% of teaching hours in France), Ile-de-France (28%) and
Marseille (12%). Africa accounted for nearly 55% of teaching hours
in the South. Most of this was in West Africa (25% of all teaching
hours in the South) and North Africa (19%).
Teaching and research-based
training
IRD teams continued to provide continuing education, teaching
trainees in the use of various tools, survey methods, etc. They
dispensed 2350 hours of training, of which 55% were in the South.
Implementation of the site policy and the transformation of
research units into joint units led to a partial reorganisation of the
teams’ activities. Nonetheless, the IRD achieved a comparable level
of input into teaching and training in research to that of 2007.
Training for new researchers remained steady: 750 doctoral
students were being supervised by IRD scientists in 2008 and
110 theses were submitted. Some 60% of these students were
from Southern countries. Meanwhile some 710 interns, two-thirds
of them from Master’s courses or écoles d’ingénieurs, were being
supervised by IRD teams.
IRD articles listed on Web of Science
IRD human and social sciences publications, 2005-2007
1 200
300
1 100
1 000
1 000
219
913
800
679
580
600
566
599
726
259 260
250
201
200
760
138
150
622
193
100
Books
50
30
11
21
Scientific publications
51
46
Book chapters
22
Articles
0
400
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007 2008
2005
2006
2007
Figures at 25/03/2009. Source: Web of Science SCI base (Thomson-Reuters).
Annual report 2008 s
Natural hazards and climate
Natural hazards are not spread uniformly across the globe. Earthquakes,
volcanic eruptions, landslides, tsunamis and floods are all most likely to occur
in Southern countries. Research has a leading role to play towards managing
these hazards and reducing the vulnerability of populations at risk.
The IRD plays a part in establishing and running early warning and monitoring
networks, helping to improve seismic hazard management. It also considers
it a priority to educate communities at risk. Its research in this field focuses
primarily on the eruptive dynamics of volcanoes close to major towns and on
high-intensity seismic events.
An increasing number of IRD scientists are analysing the hazards connected with
climate change and desertification. Global warming caused by increasing emissions
of greenhouse gases is now an established fact. Extreme events like drought,
hurricanes and floods are becoming more frequent and more intense. To better
understand the causes and consequences of such climatic disruptions, the IRD is
studying past and present-day climates and ecosystem trends. Modelling is one fastdeveloping tool the scientists use to take their research to deeper levels and analyse
more precisely the impacts on tropical aquatic and land-based ecosystems and on
health. Remote sensing and environmental monitoring systems are also precious tools
for advancing analysis and predicting natural phenomena and their consequences.
Urbanisation/Bolivia.
56
sInstitut de recherche pour le développement
RESEARCH
STAFF
€10.01
MILLION
105
ARTICLES
IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE HUMBOLDT CURRENT
ECOSYSTEM
The Humboldt Current system off the coast of Peru and Chile,
an outstandingly productive marine ecosystem, receives the
full impact of climatic disturbances moving in from the Pacific.
Researchers from the IRD and the Instituto del Mar del Perú
(IMARPE) are producing the first scientific overview of the
ecosystem in 20 years and working to assess the role of global
warming in the changes now taking place. This is of major
importance for achieving a sustainable fishery.
The Humboldt Current is a system of currents flowing more or less
parallel to the coast, with an upwelling of cold water from the
depths that is coupled with the trade winds system. This ecosystem
periodically undergoes severe climatic stress. For months at a
time, warm El Niño or cool La Niña episodes disrupt the system of
winds, rainfall, ocean currents, sea temperatures and sea oxygen
levels. As well as these shorter-term ocean-atmosphere oscillations
the ecosystem undergoes variations on the scale of decades or
centuries, as palaeoclimatic research has revealed.
The Humboldt Current system covers less than 1% of the world’s
ocean surface but provides more than 10% of global fish catches.
The exceptionally high productivity is due to a strong upwelling
that brings nutrients and cold water to the surface along the
coast. These nutrient-rich waters, about 16°C at the surface,
encourage the growth of plant and animal plankton that constitutes
the first link in a food chain involving large numbers of fish species.
ecosystems elsewhere. But because these processes are
particularly intense in the Humboldt Current system, it
is an excellent laboratory for examining the impact of
climate change on living marine species.
Paradoxically, this upwelling imposes strict environmental
constraints. It reduces oxygen levels in the water, forcing many
fish species to concentrate in a small volume of water near the
surface. This oxygen minimum zone is the world’s largest and most
intense, and also the closest to the sea surface. Unexpectedly,
research shows that the region contributes to global greenhouse
gas emissions, partly because of the denitrification that occurs in
its acidic, oxygen-poor water.
The impact of climate change on the Humboldt Current ecosystem
is already perceptible, with the zone of oxygen-depleted water
expanding. Some marine species, unable to withstand the
constraints of a shrinking habitat, have had to leave the area.
Others have adapted to the ecosystem’s fluctuations. Peru’s
anchovies, for example, have proliferated and now support the
world’s largest single-species fishery.
The oxygen depletion and acidification caused by global warming
affect not only Peruvian and Chilean waters but also ocean
[ Contact: arnaud.bertrand@ird.fr ]
[ Publication: Progress in Oceanography (2008) ]
PAR TNERS
The Instituto del Mar del Perú (IMARPE)
is a specialist technical institute of the Peruvian Ministry of Production,
under the supervision of its Fisheries department. Its mission is to
study the sea and its resources off the coast of Peru. It advises the
Peruvian government in matters concerning industrial and artisanal
fishery, aquaculture, other uses of marine resources, and the conservation
of biodiversity and the marine environment. IMARPE research concerns
physical, chemical, biological and biogeochemical processes. Subjects
range from the El Niño phenomenon to the ecosystem approach to fisheries.
The current cooperation between the IRD and IMARPE began in 2001.
It is focused on multidisciplinary study of the Humboldt Current
system and its resources, particularly pelagic fish (anchovies). It
includes an important initial and lifelong training component,
with Master’s and doctoral courses.
Fishing/Peru.
El Niño damage/Peru.
Annual report 2008 s
THE AMAZON FLOODPLAINS: CARBON SINK
The role played by humid tropical ecosystems in the
global carbon cycle is not yet well understood.
Since 2000 IRD researchers and their Brazilian
partners have been studying the floodplains along
the Amazon River and its tributaries to improve
understanding of how these ecosystems function and
in particular how they store carbon in their sediments.
PA RT N E RS
Department of Environmental
Geochemistry, Fluminense Federal
University, Niteroi
Established in 1972, the Department of Environmental Geochemistry
is one of the oldest university departments studying surface
geochemical processes in Brazil. In 1991 the department established
a graduate school for Master’s and doctoral studies which is now
considered a benchmark program in the geosciences field in Brazil.
In the past 25 years cooperation between the Geochemistry
Department and the IRD has generated numerous Master’s and
doctoral theses as well as many publications, lectures and teaching
units. Focusing on such fields as palaeoclimatology,
lake sedimentology and molecular and organic geochemistry,
the partnership should soon extend to new sites in the
Andes region under various South-South
cooperation projects.
Numerous studies have shown that the Amazon forest accumulates
carbon by fixing atmospheric CO2 at a rate of 1.6 billion tonnes a
year. However, there seem to be considerable inter-annual variations
and the forest may also, under certain conditions, emit more carbon
than it absorbs. The rivers and swamps of the Amazon basin are
major sites of gas emission into the atmosphere, including CO2.
The Amazon floodplains, called varzeas, are rarely taken into
account in carbon cycle studies. Yet they account for roughly 5 to
8% of the Amazon basin’s area and, unlike the rivers, support a
very high biomass. Research by the IRD and its partners shows
that over the last century, the varzeas have accumulated large
quantities of organic carbon − in the range of 30 to 100 grams per
square metre per year. Much of this is due to the presence of swamp
forest and aquatic plants such as macrophytes and phytoplankton.
Preliminary estimates of carbon accumulation in the varzeas give
a value of about 30 million tonnes of carbon per year for the whole
of the Amazon floodlands. However, manmade changes on the
floodplains could undermine their function as carbon sinks. Is there
not a risk that advancing forest clearance, dredging, dam building
and other human activities to the detriment of the swamp forest
will upset a balance that has lasted thousands of years?
Conducted in close collaboration with the IRD’s Brazilian partners
Fluminense Federal University in Niteroi, the University of Brasilia,
the Mineral Resources Development Company and the National
Water Agency of Brazil, this study opens new prospects for research
into the accumulation of carbon elsewhere in the basin, in the
Iquitos region in Peru.
[ Contact: patricia.turcq@ird.fr ]
[ Publication: Oecologia Brasiliensis (2008) ]
Taking sediment cores/Brazil.
Amazonia/Brazil.
sInstitut de recherche pour le développement
Sustainable management of Southern
ecosystems
Tropical ecosystems contain an exceptional wealth of biodiversity and living
resources which humanity needs to conserve over the long term. Every year,
Unesco is adding new tropical sites to its world heritage list, examples being
the New Caledonia lagoon and the kaya sacred forests of Kenya. However,
these ecosystems are often jeopardised by over-intensive use of their
resources (overfishing, deforestation etc.), poorly managed urbanisation and
climate change.
To help Southern countries develop harmoniously, the IRD conducts research
into biodiversity and into optimal, integrated, sustainable resource use. It adds
to knowledge of biodiversity and focuses on conservation and beneficial use.
As regards natural resource use, over the years IRD research teams, in close
partnership with Southern scientists, have become expert in specific areas such as
freshwater aquaculture, coral reefs, laterite soils and drought resistance in crops. IRD
researchers also put their knowledge to good use in work with their Northern partners,
who are encouraged to work for sustainable management of Southern ecosystems.
Rice field/India.
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RESEARCH
STAFF
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MILLION
240
ARTICLES
Annual report 2008 s
ENDANGERED CORAL ECOSYSTEMS: MARINE PROTECTED
AREAS COULD HELP
Coral reefs, which are home to thousands of fish species,
are today threatened with extinction. The cause: global
warming, which is killing the corals as ocean temperatures
rise. In collaboration with an international team, the
IRD has measured the long-term impact of El Niño on
Indian Ocean corals and the fish communities that live
on and around them. It is a major study that is now
producing practical recommendations for maintaining
coral reef biodiversity.
PA RT N E RS
International involvement
This major region-wide study would not have been possible
without close collaboration among scientists working in the
Indian Ocean. In addition to the IRD’s CoRéUs research unit, the work
involved scientists from the University of Newcastle (United Kingdom),
James Cook University, Townsville (Australia), the Wildlife Conservation
Society of New York (United States) and on the French side
the Universities of Reunion (ECOMAR), Marseille
and Perpignan.
The cause of coral bleaching is well known. Coral polyps live in
symbiosis with microscopic algae called zooxanthellae which
provide them with the nutrients they need for growth. When
sea temperatures rise even a few degrees, the polyps expel the
zooxanthellae even though they are vital to their survival. They then
become exhausted, starve to death and lose their colour, leaving
only their white skeletons.
We know that coral bleaching disrupts the reef ecosystem, but its
effects on fish populations had never been studied on a large scale.
Work published by an international team including an IRD scientist
has revealed the impact on fish communities of the mass coral
bleaching event caused by the intense El Niño episode of 19971998. The study covers some sixty coral reef sites in the Indian
Ocean, including nine in a marine protected area where fishing has
been banned since the mid-1960s. It makes a comparative analysis
of data on fish and coral populations collected in the mid-1990s
and in 2005 in the Maldives, the Chagos Archipelago, Kenya, The
Seychelles, Tanzania, Mauritius and La Reunion.
This extensive study shows that when coral communities that are
normally home to hundreds of fish species decline, changes occur in
the diversity, size and structure of their fish populations. It reveals
that those fish that depend directly on the corals for protection
and/or food are the hardest hit by coral bleaching caused by
global warming. And although the fish are larger and more densely
distributed in marine protected areas, the researchers have found
that the corals there do not revive any more quickly than elsewhere.
This might be partly because the protected areas are close to the
equator, where ocean waters warmed most intensely in 1998.
In view of this, the scientists recommend that protected areas be
established far enough from the equator to minimize heat stress on
the coral reefs and ensure the survival of the many fish species that
depend on live coral.
[ Contact: pascale.chabanet@ird.fr ]
[ Publication: PloS ONE (2008) ]
Bleached coral/La Réunion.
Sea bed/Madagascar.
sInstitut de recherche pour le développement
FARMING THE GIANT OF THE AMAZON
and physiological peculiarities. The main difficulty is that it is
impossible to distinguish males from females outside the short
breeding season. The empirical method fish farmers had been using
until now was to stock huge ponds. This was not very profitable as it
rarely allowed more than one breeding pair per hectare.
restock wild areas with Arapaima. A program is planned for
Lake Imiría, south of the city of Pucallpa in Peru, where there
are now no more than a few dozen specimens.
[ Contact: jesus.nunez@ird.fr ]
[ Publication: Fish Physiology and Biochemistry
(2008) ]
Known as paiche in Peru and pirarucu in Brazil, Arapaima gigas is
the largest freshwater fish in South America. Some adults can grow
to over three meters long and weigh nearly 200 kg. Arapaima gigas,
which has flavoursome flesh and no small bones, lives in natural
pools and slow-flowing areas of rivers. It has been intensively
fished since the early 18th century. The natural population of the
species is in constant decline and is now estimated at somewhere
between 50,000 and 100,000 individuals.
To increase yields while reducing pressure on wild Arapaima
populations, the IRD and its partner the Instituto de Investigaciones
de la Amazonia Peruana at Iquitos in Peru have developed two
minimally invasive methods for determining the sex of an individual
by means of a simple blood test. One consists of measuring levels
of male and female hormones; the other is based on testing for
vitellogenin, a protein synthesized in the livers of sexually mature
females. By establishing hormone levels, the researchers can
determine sex with 95% accuracy in adults and 100% in immature
fish. With the vitellogenin tests, which only works with adult fish,
they correctly establish the sex of 100% of the individuals tested.
To stem the decline, the so-called Giant of the Amazon has now
been put on the IUCN red list of threatened species and fishing
is regulated. Some farms have started up, but captive breeding
has proved problematic because of the species’ behavioural
With breeding under better control, Arapaima farming could become
one of the world’s most profitable forms of fish farming, with up to
4000 fry per brood reaching as much as 12 kg each after only 12
months’ growth. The IRD researchers’ findings will also be used to
The Amazon and its tributaries are home almost a tenth of global
biodiversity in freshwater fish. But intensive fishing of Arapaima
gigas, the "giant of the Amazon" threatens the survival of the
species in the region, and hence its biodiversity. Fish farming
opens prospects for conservation. The first results from research
in Peru on the sexing of these fish should help to make captive
breeding of the species more economically profitable while also
ensuring its survival.
PA RTNER S
The Instituto de Investigaciones de
la Amazonia Peruana (IIAP) is a decentralised
public research institute founded in 1979 with a view to improving
quality of life for the peoples of the Amazon. Its main mission is
research towards sustainable development and natural resource
conservation in the Amazon region of Peru. The IIAP conducts basic
and applied research to inventory, characterise and evaluate natural
resources and to promote their rational use and industrialisation as part
of the region’s economic and social development. In the fish farming
sphere, under the Paiche project that began in 2006 a joint team of
researchers from the IRD research unit CAVIAR and from the IIAP’s
aquatic ecosystems programme have developed a method for sexing
Arapaima. The IIAP’s important contribution included making its
infrastructure and the experimental station in Quistococha, Iquitos
(Peru) available for the work. The project also received Peruvian
funding (INCAGRO).
Arapaima gigas.
Fish farm/Peru.
Annual report 2008 s
Water resources and access to water
Water has become a major challenge for sustainable development in Southern
countries. It is estimated that nearly one billion people have no access to
clean water and two-and-a-half billion are without sanitation facilities. One of
the United Nations Millennium Development Goals is to reduce these figures
by 50% by 2015 − a particularly ambitious aim when the world population
and its water needs are growing constantly.
IRD scientists are working to locate usable water reserves and improve
management of this vital resource. They are studying the water cycle in
the catchments of major world rivers such as the Amazon, Senegal River
and Mekong. They measure not only available quantities but also the water’s
physical, chemical and ecological properties. This is important, because many
aquatic ecosystems are being damaged by human activity, especially estuaries,
lagoons and mangrove swamps in coastal areas. The teams use computer models
based on field observations to evaluate the resource, its variability and conditions for
accessibility.
Working with Southern partners, the IRD is helping to introduce sustainable water
management that reconciles its different uses − in the home, on farms, in industry and
for energy production.
Scarce water/Morocco.
140
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205
ARTICLES
LAKE CHAD: ADAPTING TO A FLUCTUATING RESOURCE
Lake Chad, located in the heart of the Sahel strip, is a vital
water resource for fishermen, herders and crop farmers in
the countries that border its shores − Niger, Nigeria, Chad and
Cameroon. The lake has undergone enormous changes in recent
decades. A multidisciplinary research program involving the IRD
and partner institutions North and South was set up to study the
hydrological, climatic and anthropogenic factors behind these
changes.
Fifty years ago, Lake Chad covered 20,000 km² − almost a
freshwater sea. With the droughts of the 1970s and 1980s it shrank
very rapidly to approximately 2000 km². This had considerable
human consequences: many living by the lake had to move away,
many had to find new work.
The research the IRD is taking part in is aimed at understanding
the relationship between climate, water resources and the uses of
those resources. Along the river Komadougou Yobé which flows into
the lake at its northwestern end, rapid expansion of farmland and
irrigation has caused several problems. Much water has been lost
through evaporation; pollutants have infiltrated the groundwater;
soil salinisation has set in. South of the lake, surveys among the
Cameroonian population show the impact of human activity on
the distribution of water in the floodplains. Through this work, the
teams − comprising of hydrologists, geologists, agronomists and
geographers − are developing an overall understanding of the
changes affecting Lake Chad.
The research is also aimed at more effectively forecasting
environmental changes for the coming decades. Scientists
are working to develop hydrological and climate models. Lake
bottom sediments hold an extensive record of past fluctuations in
lake levels, and these data are being used to extend the models
over a time scale far longer than can be achieved with ground
measurements alone. Preliminary cores have been taken, marking
the start of this ambitious project. The analyses will be mainly
based on geochemical measurement of mineral and organic matter
taken from the sediments and on observation of bio-indicators −
diatoms, pollen grains and phytoliths.
is managing part of the investigations. This research should expand
further in the next few years, drawing all the countries bordering
on the lake into partnership, since all are concerned by the
issue of water resources, their use and their future.
[ Contacts: pierre.genthon@ird.fr;
florence.sylvestre@ird.fr; guillaume.favreau@ird.fr ]
[ Publications: Two international conferences in 2008
(San Francisco and Houston) ]
The program is of region-wide importance and involves a large
number of researchers. In Niger, with the aid of its centre in Niamey,
the IRD has long-standing partnerships with the Department of
Water Resources in Niamey, the Regional Hydraulics Department
in Diffa and Abdou Moumouni University in Niamey. In Chad, the
IRD works closely with the National Research Support Centre, the
University of N’Djamena and the Ministry of the Environment, Water
and Fishery Resources. In Cameroon, the University of N’Gaoundere
PA RTNER S
The Soil Science Laboratory, Faculty
of Agronomy, Abdou Moumouni
University, Niamey.
This laboratory, in collaboration with the joint Hydrosciences research
unit in Montpellier, is analysing soils and subsoils in connection with
agricultural development in the Komadougou Yobé river valley and in
a polder of Lake Chad. Agriculture in the region has been expanding
fast; to achieve sustainable development it is essential to gain a sound
knowledge of water availability, particularly groundwater, and the
quantitative and qualitative impacts that current farming practices
are having on the resource. Another preoccupation is the severe
constraints imposed by climate change and by the dams, canals,
dikes and polders built for water management on the inflowing
rivers and around the lake.
Lake Chad seen from space, 2001.
Lake Chad 1963-2001.
Annual report 2008 s
UNDERSTANDING FLOW RATE CHANGES IN RIVERS OF
THE AMAZON BASIN
The Amazon basin is the world’s largest river basin,
covering some six million km². Understanding changes
in the flow rate of the Amazon and its tributaries is
crucial for local people, whose livelihoods depend on
river transport and fishing. The IRD and its partners,
who have been studying water resource trends in the
region for more than twenty years, aim to achieve that
understanding.
PA RT N E RS
Universidad Nacional Agraria
La Molina, Lima, Peru
With its partners, the University conducts international research
programs and its Master’s and doctoral degrees in water resources have
a region-wide reputation. The University is fully engaged in cooperative
research and, with the Servicio Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología,
is one of the Peruvian partners in the HYBAM monitoring system. Data
from HYBAM are used by all students involved in its projects. New
resources have recently been allocated, with the creation of a water
analysis laboratory at La Molina University. This initiative results from
close collaboration with the IRD. In November 2007, to further develop
research partnerships between France and Peru, an agreement was
signed between the IRD and the Strategic Alliance, a group of three
universities in Lima.
With a flow rate of 209,000m3 per second, the Amazon is the
world’s most powerful river. For many years it and the vast basin
it feeds were under-documented in terms of rainfall patterns and
hydrology. Since 2003 the IRD and partners, mainly the region’s
universities and meteorology and hydrology institutes, have been
running the environmental monitoring system HYBAM ("Hydrology
and geodynamics of the Amazon Basin"). Until then, measurements
had been limited to rainfall in the Brazilian Amazon. HYBAM has
extended these measurements and now has fifteen stations, in
Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. With the new flow
data they have provided it is now possible to study fluctuations in
streamflow throughout the Amazon basin.
The research program is also examining the factors that influence
stream regime: rainfall and atmospheric circulation. Correlating
the hydrology with the winds of tropical South America shows that
streamflow is predominantly shaped by climate.
The IRD scientists, in close collaboration with partners (mainly
the Universidad Agraria La Molina in Lima, Peru), are now taking
a regional approach to study variations in the Amazon River’s flow
rates in relation to those of its tributaries. The work has revealed
a general decline in low water flow rates, but flood flow trends
that differ between the northwest and southwest of the basin.
This explains how low-water levels have dropped while major
Amazon flood episodes have continued, as observed in recent
years with the drought of 2005 and the devastating flood of 2006.
[ Contacts: jcelod@locean-ipsl.upmc.fr;
jean-loup.guyot@ird.fr; jrlod@locean-ipsl.upmc.fr ]
[ Publications: International Journal of Climatology/
Journal of Hydrology ]
These findings are the fruit of a strong partnership with scientists
and engineers in all the countries of the Amazon basin. They pave
the way for the construction of hydrological models that will help
predict streamflow trends and hence environmental vulnerability
and the safety of the region’s people.
Rio Napo/Ecuador.
Flooding/Brazil.
sInstitut de recherche pour le développement
Food security in the South
By 2050 the world population will have reached nine billion. Food security in
many Southern countries is already affected by population growth combined
with increasing poverty, the globalisation of food markets, fluctuating energy
and farm commodity prices, competition between energy crops and food
crops, the purchase or renting by rich countries of land in poor countries,
and climate change.
To address these issues, IRD researchers are examining how to adapt
agricultural production systems to increase yields while protecting the
environment and minimising erosion. In partnership with Southern research
teams, they are conducting a number of innovative projects including pest
control studies and research into the adaptation of African grain crops to particular
soil conditions and to climate change. Other programmes focus on public policy
measures to improve the productivity and management of natural resources.
The IRD also conducts research into malnutrition, in Africa especially. The health
situation is beginning to change in some Southern countries as the epidemiological
transition kicks in. So the IRD is now also working on the diseases of civilisation −
obesity, diabetes and cardio-vascular disease.
Market/Burkina Faso.
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FOOD INSECURITY IN AFRICA
Marked recent trends in Africa are tensions over farm prices,
competition from energy crops and large-scale buy-ups
of farmland in the poorest countries. Coupled with
sustained population growth, they have made food
insecurity in Africa a topical issue again, while the
global food outlook also seems to be worsening. As
economic insecurity increases in town and country,
governments, international organizations and welfare
institutions are routinely accused of mismanaging
scarcity. But while food security increasingly depends on
economic circumstances, it is also a fundamentally social
and political phenomenon
PA RT N E RS
The University of Ouagadougou has been
involved in field research on food security led by the IRD since 1999,
and even longer in work on malnutrition. A survey methodology
suitable for use among pastoralists and farmers in the
Sahelian-Sudanian zone has been developed. It takes into account
the variability of agricultural potential, unequal access to resources
and stakeholder behaviour. The focal point is the concept of
food vulnerability as applied to a society or territory.
This collaboration between the IRD and the Geography Department
has borne fruit in several scientific articles and a book published by
L’Harmattan. It has also served as a field school for geography students,
raising their awareness of the risk and its management, and will soon
be the subject of a Master’s degree. The partnership continues in
Ouagadougou with research on food vulnerability in relation to
patterns of mobility and sociability.
We speak of food insecurity when individuals no longer have access
to enough wholesome, nutritious food to fulfil their metabolic needs
and lead an active life. Since 2001, teams from the IRD have been
examining how the risk of food insecurity is managed in Burkina
Faso, Mali and Senegal. Their research has shown that risk indicators
such as drought, remoteness and land degradation are not always
relevant in the long term: the most vulnerable communities are
not necessarily the ones living where environmental constraints
are most severe. Vulnerability to food insecurity can be reduced
when the crisis is anticipated and managed locally, for example
by stocking resources or by diversifying economic activity. Power
relations and social hierarchies also play a part by increasing
inequality, as does commodity speculation.
Back in 2005, when Niger was in the throes of a widespread and
highly publicized food crisis, researchers began analysing the
effects of government regulations, international aid and markets
on local situations. They are also studying the political aspects of
crisis management, assessing the role of international development
agencies, governments, marketing networks and civil society in
the fight against food insecurity. In 2006 and 2007, interviews
with these stakeholders were conducted in Bamako and Dakar to
analyse their strategies and interactions. Surveys conducted in
Ouagadougou in 2008 and 2009 were designed to show how food
survival is organised in connection with mobility and sociability.
Food crises, particularly the 2008 crisis, hold many lessons for
governments and Sahelian societies. The hunger riots of 2008
were not due to an overall scarcity since the markets were still
well supplied. Nor could it be called a famine or simply a "hungry
gap" problem. The crisis resulted from a combination of complex
phenomena. These included soaring world prices for staple
foods, which the usual solidarity systems could not cope with;
simultaneous market deregulation in different geographical areas;
and late or inadequate response by the governments concerned.
Town dwellers, who used to be the least affected by malnutrition,
are no longer spared.
For more than two decades food supply has been left to market
forces. Food self-sufficiency, family farming and the active
involvement of society and government that they imply should
be promoted anew. The researchers recommend addressing the
food crisis from a firmly geographical and political standpoint,
rethinking farm and food policy to bring government action into
the equation again.
[ Contact: pierre.janin@ird.fr ]
[ Publication: Hérodote (2008) ]
Meal/Senegal.
Granaries/Niger.
sInstitut de recherche pour le développement
SAHEL: CEREALS ADAPT TO CHANGING CLIMATE
The Southern countries’ agricultural output, and hence their
peoples’ food security, is strongly affected by climate change.
This is particularly true in the Sahel, which has suffered periods of
extreme drought since the 1970s. One major issue for the region’s
food security is to conserve the diversity of its traditional staple
crops, millet and sorghum. The IRD and its partners are studying
the impact of social and environmental changes on the varieties
of both these cereals. The work is revealing how tremendously
adaptable they are.
The population of the Sahel has doubled in twenty-five years. In
Niger, for example, the acreage under crops has doubled. But yields
are declining and there is a growing imbalance between supply and
demand. Sahelian agriculture is facing a major challenge: how to
meet the needs of a growing population despite climate change and
the increasing scarcity of new land to farm.
In this situation it is of vital importance to understand how millet
and sorghum, the Sahelian zone’s main cereal crops, respond to
climate change. Since 2003 IRD researchers have been studying the
evolution of diversity in millet and sorghum varieties. Their partners
in this work are from Cirad, the Institut National Agronomique du
Niger, the Agrhymet Regional Centre and ICRISAT*. Their analysis is
based on comparative study of samples of local varieties which IRD
researchers collected in 1976 and 2003 in 79 villages throughout
Niger’s cereal growing area.
Comparative analysis of the samples reveals the extraordinary
diversity of local millet and sorghum varieties. And it shows that this
diversity is not diminishing, despite changes in social and climatic
conditions. The scientists also note that local varieties have been
adapting to climate change; the millet has been flowering earlier
and producing smaller ears. They conclude that millet production is
possible even when rainy seasons are shorter.
*ICRISAT: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics.
[ Contact: yves.vigouroux@ird.fr ]
[ Publication: Theorical and Applied Genetics
(2008) ]
In order to better manage agricultural biodiversity and meet the
challenges of Sahelian agriculture, IRD geneticists in collaboration
with Southern teams are also looking at the genetic bases of these
adaptations. They are taking into account a range of factors,
including changes in farming practices.
Farmers’ seed selection and management practices are among
the factors that must be understood and incorporated in any
sustainable resource management strategy. Hybridisation between
wild and cultivated forms and between cultivars must also be
taken into account. The species’ own genetic adaptations, partly
offsetting climate change, could help to ensure the future of
Sahelian agriculture.
PA RTNER S
The Agrhymet Regional Centre
is a specialist agency of the Permanent Inter-State Committee
for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS). The Centre’s member
countries are Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau,
Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal. The Agrhymet Regional Centre
was established in 1974 and is located in Niamey, Niger. It provides
training, information and research on food security, desertification
control and natural resource management.
Millet varieties/Niger.
Millet harvest/Senegal.
Annual report 2008 s
Public health and health policy
The IRD’s health research focuses mainly on mother and infant health and
on combating emerging diseases and the major diseases of poverty. A priority
aspect of all these issues is access to health care.
AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis mainly affect the poorest countries,
particularly Sub-Saharan African countries. These three diseases are
a significant brake on development, threatening to cancel out the progress
made last century in terms of life expectancy and economic activity. To
combat these plagues, better access to existing treatments is essential. It is
also vital to strengthen research in Southern countries so as to develop more
appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic tools and more effective preventive
measures.
New diseases still emerge primarily in the intertropical zone. This is due to
environmental disruption and changes in socio-cultural behaviour: closer proximity
between humans and animals, deforestation and other forms of intrusion into
biotopes. Lack of research on these issues makes matters worse. Research must
propose measures that are applicable in local conditions. And it must continue to address
such neglected tropical diseases as leishmaniasis, dengue and trypanosomiasis.
Maternal and infant morbidity and mortality are high in Southern countries. The IRD’s
work in this connection focuses on several areas: reproductive health; prevention of HIV
transmission from mother to foetus; genetic and perinatal epidemiology; and the specific
features of malaria in children. In these fields social science research is essential, to
provide an understanding of the cultural, religious and social factors that can hamper access
to health care.
Health/Burkina Faso.
109
sInstitut de recherche pour le développement
RESEARCH
STAFF
€26.68
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ARTICLES
CHIKUNGUNYA EPIDEMIC IN LA RÉUNION: THE "TIGER MOSQUITO"
EXTENDS ITS RANGE
Chikungunya is a viral infection transmitted by mosquitoes.
It affects thousands of people in the Indian Ocean, India and
Central Africa. In 2006, an outbreak of unprecedented scale
struck La Réunion and other islands in the southwest of the
Indian Ocean. This prompted researchers from the IRD and their
partners to conduct a thorough study of the biology and habitats
of the mosquito responsible for the epidemic. Their work
highlights the insect’s outstanding adaptability, which makes it
a particularly dangerous vector.
The chikungunya epidemic that hit Réunion Island in 2006 affected
more than a third of the population. This disease had previously
been regarded as benign, but severe and sometimes fatal clinical
forms were now observed for the first time.
It had long been thought that the mosquito Aedes aegypti
was the primary vector of chikungunya. Now, researchers from
the IRD, in partnership with Cirad*, the Institut Pasteur, the
University of La Réunion and the DRASS** have shown why and
how the biology of another mosquito, Aedes albopictus makes it
a formidable vector for the chikungunya virus on Réunion Island.
Originally from Asia, the so-called "tiger mosquito" is spreading
its range dramatically and can now be found on every continent.
During the epidemic phase, a study was made of the vector’s larvae
and adults, to determine its geographical distribution, its ecological
niche and its abundance dynamics during the rainy season (the
austral summer) and the dry winter season. Observations were
made in mountain areas to assess the maximum altitude at which
the tiger mosquito was present.
*Cirad: French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development.
**Drass: Regional Department of Health and Social Affairs.
Madagascar
[ Contacts: didier.fontenille@ird.fr ]
[ Publication: Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases
(2008) ]
This research shows that Aedes albopictus colonises many homes
in urban and suburban areas. The females will lay their eggs at the
edge of any small water body created by humans (such as waste
tyres, oil drums, cans, broken bottles or flower pots) or found in the
wild (cut bamboo stems, hollows in rocks in the ravines, etc.).
Fieldwork and laboratory studies of the mosquito’s longevity,
fertility and food preferences show that it has a remarkable ability
to adapt to different environments and climates. This makes the
"tiger mosquito" a real danger to the inhabitants of La Réunion
and surrounding islands, and indeed to the entire world, Europe
included. The study of Aedes albopictus is therefore of crucial
importance for preventing further outbreaks by appropriate vector
control measures.
PA RTNER S
The DRASS (Regional Department
of Health and Social Affairs) of La Réunion
is a key partner for the IRD on the island. It is a department of
the French Ministry of Health and is in charge of vector control for
chikungunya, dengue and malaria on the island. Close collaboration
with a team of IRD researchers has enabled this public health body
to be involved in the latest conceptual developments in vector control.
Its officers now receive continuing education through seminars held
by IRD researchers or through direct participation in research projects.
This enables the DRASS to fulfil its mission more effectively and to
offer alternatives to conventional insecticide-based vector control.
In return, the DRASS provides the IRD with staff, equipment
and knowledgeable, pragmatic advice on the feasibility and
effectiveness of the innovative approaches to vector control
the researchers suggest.
Mosquito breeding ground/la Réunion.
Aedes albopictus.
Annual report 2008 s
CIGUATERA, A NEW HAZARD FOR THE INTERTROPICAL ZONE
Occurring throughout the tropics, ciguatera is a form of food
poisoning caused by eating certain species of fish contaminated with toxins from micro-algae that live on coral reefs.
100,000 cases of severe poisoning are recorded every
year. The symptoms are gastrointestinal and neurological:
diarrhoea, vomiting etc., itching extremities and a
reversal of the sensations of hot and cold. Research
by IRD scientists suggests that a new mode of
contamination has arisen which could disrupt the
lifestyles of tropical island populations.
PA RT N E RS
The Louis Malardé Institute (ILM)
in French Polynesia has officially been a partner of the IRD
since July 2007. It works to protect public health and hygiene and
the natural environment of French Polynesia. Since 1967, ILM research
into toxic microalgae has focused on ciguatera; it was the ILM
that discovered the microorganism responsible for the contamination.
In 2009, part of the laboratory should be joining the Polynesian Centre
for Island Biodiversity Research, currently the IRD centre,
in Arue.
The people of French Polynesia and New Caledonia are particularly
at risk of ciguatera. Humans contract this form of poisoning by
eating the flesh of contaminated carnivorous fish − species at the
top of the food chain. The fish become contaminated when coral
reefs deteriorate, which mostly occurs as a result of human activity.
When this happens, the reef habitat is colonised by Gambierdiscus,
a genus of dinoflagellate microalga that secretes a toxin. There is
no specific treatment for ciguatera other than certain plants used
in traditional medicine, whose effectiveness is currently being
assessed.
Between 2001 and 2005, an acute form of ciguatera was declared
among members of the Hunëtë tribe on the New Caledonian island
of Lifou. Thirty-five cases with more severe and rapid symptoms
than in the classic form of the illness were identified. Researchers
from the IRD and their partners embarked on a thorough study
in the area, where the coral reef had been destroyed to make it
easier to launch the fishing boats. Their research shows that the
cyanobacteria carpeting the dead coral in places are producing
toxins similar to ciguatoxins. They have contaminated herbivorous
fish and also some species of shellfish that the fishermen consume,
such as giant clams. Contamination of marine invertebrates had
never previously been observed. The researchers’ toxicology tests
suggest a new type of contamination due to these cyanobacteria
and not to the classic ciguatera toxins. The same correlation
between human impact, cyanobacteria blooms, toxicity in giant
clams and a ciguatera zone has since been observed on the island
of Raivavae, French Polynesia, in collaborative work with the
Institut Louis Malardé.
With cases of poisoning becoming increasingly frequent and severe,
the people of Lifou are turning away from fish and shellfish, hitherto
the staples of their diet, to eat more meat. Such a sudden change
in dietary habits favours the emergence of cardiovascular disease.
Global warming is likely to exacerbate the proliferation of toxic
cyanobacteria. As ocean temperatures rise, degradation of coral
ecosystems and fishing grounds will worsen. This could jeopardize
the way of life of the many tropical populations who live from the
sea, forcing them to adopt new dietary habits to the detriment of
their health.
[ Contact: dominique.laurent@ird.fr ]
[ Publication: Harmful Algae (2008) ]
Giant clam/New Caledonia.
Sampling fish/New Caledonia.
sInstitut de recherche pour le développement
Development and globalisation
IRD research in this field covers three major themes: public policy to combat
poverty and inequality; international migration; and governance for sustainable
development.
The first Millennium Development Goal the international community adopted
was to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. The IRD is addressing this goal
from several angles: employment and the labour market, particularly in the
informal sector; access to and quality of education; access to health services;
and the impact of public and private aid.
International migration (South-South and South-North), particularly from SubSaharan Africa to the Mediterranean and Europe, is a major development issue
at a time when inequalities are increasing and more restrictive policies are limiting
migration opportunities. IRD research in this sphere concerns the determinants and
consequences of migration on societies and their environments, and changes in the
demographic composition of territories and societies, notably urbanisation. Another
research area is the building of diaspora organisations and networks, the potential
these hold for development, and the consequent reshaping of identities.
Governance for sustainable development is studied from the standpoint of global
policies and their impacts at the local level, particularly as regards biodiversity
conservation and environmental management. The IRD takes account of traditional
knowledge and the developing practice of treating nature as heritage, adding a new
dimension to the drive for better, appropriate, accepted, effective governance.
Mobility and transport/Niger.
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KENYA SACRED SITES LISTED BY UNESCO
The kaya forests are a major feature of Kenya’s coastal
strip. They were originally residential sites, the earliest
founded in the sixteenth century, but are now regarded
as sacred − and endangered. They play a central role
in the identity and imagination the Mijikenda, a group
linguistically related to the Bantu. IRD researchers
and the Kenyan scientific authorities have revealed the
historical and symbolic value of the kaya in the region
around Mombasa. Their goal is to protect them and
encourage local communities to get involved in managing
their heritage.
PA RT N E RS
The National Museums of Kenya runs
22 museums throughout the country. It is a government institution,
guardian of Kenya’s cultural and natural heritage and an academic
benchmark for research and training. It organises exhibitions and
hosts two research centres, the Research Institute of Swahili Studies of
Eastern Africa (RISSE) and the Institute of Primate Research (IPR). It
also maintains buildings, manages large collections of fauna, flora
and traditional crafts, conserves three listed heritage sites and coordinates
the management of international conventions on biodiversity
and endangered species, gene banks, etc. National Museums of Kenya
has research agreements with several Western museums and institutions
and has been conducting research with the IRD since 2000.
They are currently collaborating on three topics:
-The Mijikenda coastal strip (Corus project);
-The consequences of slavery in the coastal zone (a JEAI team);
-fish biodiversity in wetlands of the River Tana estuary.
According to oral tradition, the ancestors of the Mijikenda moved
down from the north, driven by the advance of a hostile pastoral
group. Starting in the 16th century they built some fifty defensive
fortifications called kaya on wooded hills. In the 19th century, life
having become more peaceful, the Mijikenda began to settle outside
the forests. The original kaya were placed in the care of the elders,
as sacred sites and burial places. Strict rules were introduced to
ensure the sanctity of the forests: no wood or vegetation can be
cut and certain places with a strong magic power are the exclusive
reserve of the elders. It is because they have been treated as
inviolable sanctuaries that the kaya are now so ecologically rich.
Many endemic birds and butterflies have been identified there.
Bound in with a living cultural tradition, the kaya are even today the
focus of magical-religious ceremonies such as rituals for rain and
for the well-being of the community. Unesco has now listed several
kaya as World Heritage Sites. The National Museums of Kenya,
which initiated that step, have been trying since 1992 to protect
this heritage in the face of population growth, deforestation,
farming and uncontrolled tourism.
It was research by the IRD and the National Museums of Kenya that
underpinned the Unesco listing of three of the five sacred sites in
Sacred ceremonies/Kenya.
sInstitut de recherche pour le développement
Rabai, near Mombasa, in July 2008. The researchers had shown
that these kaya have a particularly strong symbolic and identity
value for the Mijikenda in Rabai, for historical reasons related to the
slave trade and colonization. This work was part of a comparative
study to identify contemporary issues connected with the use of
ceremonial sites in Uganda, Kenya and Madagascar. Research is
still ongoing under a Corus program and in conjunction with an
ecotourism project in Rabai. This project, funded by the French
Embassy in Kenya, is designed to involve local people in preserving
their heritage.
The work has shown that ethno-historical research into the
construction of identity can lead to practical measures to protect
and safeguard natural and cultural heritage.
[ Contact: marie-pierre.ballarin@ird.fr ]
[ Publication: International Seminar on Sacred sites,
heritage and identity in East Africa (2008) ]
CONFLICT AND PROSPECTS FOR PEACE IN CÔTE D’IVOIRE
Since the attempted coup of September 2002, Côte d’Ivoire
has been struggling to overcome a military and political crisis
that has split the country into areas controlled by government
forces in the south and rebel forces in the north. Identity-based
tensions between communities have worsened and many people
have been displaced. In the hope of creating the conditions for
a lasting peace, the European Commission has supported eight
reconciliation programs entrusted to international bodies. It
called on the IRD for scientific expertise to help formulate a
strategy to assist national reconciliation.
The aid programs in Côte d’Ivoire were aimed at restoring basic
services that had been damaged or destroyed, such as education
and health. Others were intended to rekindle the local economy
and stimulate activities to regenerate incomes, or to ease tensions
between population groups. This included setting up village peace
committees, supporting community radio stations, disseminating
messages of peace, educating people in human rights and bringing
displaced people home.
Operational analysis of the programs and subsequent field
observations among beneficiary groups revealed several stumbling
blocks. NGO operations had focused on the effects of conflict rather
than the issues involved. While some were able to remove obstacles
to the return of displaced people, others failed to reduce inter- or
intra-community tensions. The government, focusing on conflict
settlement by electoral means, did not create favourable conditions
for support for human rights.
A program of this kind would generate synergy among the (still
too scattered) local initiatives by associations and local
NGOs seeking lasting settlement of the remaining tensions
between communities.
The experts recommended that NGOs analyse as rigorously as
possible the thorny issues at the root of the conflict, whether
political, social, educational or related to land tenure. They also
recommended that they apply the concept of crisis cycles developed
by the European Commission. The "crisis cycle" concept brings out
the notion of "structural stability", characterised by sustainable
economic development, democracy and respect for human rights,
and the ability to manage change without resorting to conflict.
The outline of a new program to support the process of decentralised
governance in high-risk areas was drawn up. Under this program,
government would step in to restore social cohesion between
different communities. Equitable mechanisms for negotiation
between communities, landowners and users would be introduced to
ensure long-term security of tenure. Education and health services
would be improved. Access to clean water would be improved by total
privatization of the distribution system. Destroyed houses would be
rebuilt. The army and police would receive regular pay to re-establish
security for all and create the minimum conditions for the rule of law.
[ Contact: eric.lanoue@ird.bf ]
[ Publication: Report to the European Commission
(2008) ]
PA RTNER S
Under a series of international
agreements, the European Commission
has funded seven projects to ease tensions and promote reconciliation
and tolerance among communities in Côte d’Ivoire. Funding came
from ECHO and the framework programs were the Post-Crisis
Emergency Support programs, the Program to Support Decentralisation
and Territorial Planning and the European Initiative for Democracy
and Human Rights. The World Bank provided additional funding.
The main aim of these projects was to facilitate reconciliation
between groups and within divided communities by strengthening
local capacities for crisis management and prevention.
Refugees/Côte d’Ivoire.
Education/Côte d’Ivoire.
Annual report 2008 s