10
Institut de recherche pour le développement
fo
rs
ta
ff
io
n
ill
m
€1
08
.4
€1
32
.5
m
re illi
se on
ar fo
ch r
< Vanuatu
Research
for the South
Six research programmes
Climate change and natural hazards
Sustainable management of Southern ecosystems
Resources and access to water
Food security in the South
Public health and health policy
Development and globalisation
Excellence in research, guided by ethics
Annual report 2009
11
Climate change and natural hazards
Climatic fluctuations, climate change and their impacts now occupy
a central place in the science and policy agendas of all Southern
countries. The needs in this regards are many. The processes
involved are complex. To understand them, ground- and spacebased observation systems must be set up to monitor ocean and
atmosphere dynamics and the interactions between atmosphere,
ocean and land surface; past climates must be reconstructed and
modelling tools developed. With a better understanding of the
processes involved, regional climate variations can be better
predicted on the seasonal, annual and multi-year scales and climate
change forecasts for the next decades and century can be refined.
Semeru volcano/Indonesia
12
Institut de recherche pour le développement
tic
le
s
99
ar
m
.4
€5
40
re
s
ea
ch
ill
io
n
st
af
f
The danger posed to people and infrastructures by such natural
hazards as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides,
floods and extreme weather events is another priority concern for
many Southern countries. The IRD works to improve forecasting,
warning and prevention. Its researchers analyse the natural
backgrounds to these hazards, study the physical processes at
work, play a part in developing and maintaining monitoring systems,
study the ways in which populations perceive the risks, examine
physical and societal vulnerabilities and analyse public policy on
civil defence and crisis management and prevention.
Natural hazards in Ecuador
Ecuador and all the countries of the Andes lie close to
the zone of confrontation between the South American
continental plate and the Nazca oceanic plate of the
eastern Pacific. This generates intense tectonic activity,
causing repeated volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.
Ecuador’s population must cope again and again with
natural disasters, making lives and livelihoods insecure.
Risk prevention is therefore a vital issue, which scientists
are helping to address.
There are about forty volcanoes in Ecuador, some twenty of
which are active and pose a threat to the three million people
living in Quito and the Inter-Andean Valley. Researchers have
been observing an increase in volcanic activity over the past
decade: Pichincha and Tungurahua awoke in 1999 and
Reventador in 2002. Vulcanologists from the IRD and its
Ecuadorian partner institutions are monitoring these volcanoes
closely, especially Tungurahua which in 2006 erupted twice,
explosively, with devastating effects.
Field studies on Tungurahua have helped towards better volcano
risk management based on models of eruptive phenomena.
Field data and geophysical measurements were used to produce
computer reproductions of the areas affected by pyroclastic
flows. The results suggested, for example, that the town of
Baños on the side of the volcano could be under threat. At the
same time, analysis of the chemical composition of crystals
trapped in the matter ejected showed that the 2006 eruptions
Seismic survey/Ecuador
were due to the volcano’s magma reservoir recharging rapidly
shortly before the eruption.
At sea, advanced data inversion methods applied to marine
seismic data have enabled the scientists to locate major active
faults and model the structure of the Ecuadorian margin in three
dimensions. This has made it possible to estimate the recurrence
time of the recent major sea floor collapses linked to seismic
events and to reconstitute the tectonic and sedimentary
evolution of the forearc basins. The work reveals that Ecuador’s
geodynamics are strongly influenced by the subduction of the
undersea Carnegie ridge, a feature 200km wide and 2km high
on the Nazca plate.
Altogether, this research improves knowledge of the
mechanisms that cause natural hazards in Ecuador and also
helps to raise public and official awareness of risk prevention
issues.
Ecuador
/ Contacts: k.kelfoun@opgc.univ-bpclermont.fr;
pablo.samaniego@ird.fr; lepennec@ird.fr;
laurence.audin@ird.fr; collot@geoazur.obs-vlfr.fr;
nocquet@geoazur.unice.fr /
/ Publications: Bulletin of Volcanology (2009);
Journal of Geophysical Research (2009); Geología y
geofísica marina y terrestre del Ecuador desde la costa
continental hasta las islas Galápagos,
Ed. CNDM-INOCAR-IRD (2009) /
On land, a network of GPS and seismological stations has
been set up as part of the North Andes programme. The results
serve to estimate the degree of mechanical coupling along the
subduction boundary. They also reveal a major fault system
starting in the Gulf of Guayaquil, joining the eastern Andes
cordillera and continuing into Colombia, moving northeastward
at 7-8 mm/yr. To understand its seismic potential, the scientists
have studied the Pallatanga segment, considered to be the origin
of one of Ecuador’s biggest earthquakes. A trench was cut in
the active fault there to study its seismic history. Traces of four
major seismic events were identified and will shortly be carbon
dated. Preliminary results already show vertical movements of
one metre and lateral movements of ten.
Tungurahua volcano/Ecuador
PARTNER //
The Instituto Geofisico (IG-EPN), part of Quito´s National
Polytechnic School (Escuela Politécnica Nacional), is a technical
and scientific institute devoted to the study of seismology and
vulcanology. The goals of its research are risk reduction and
prevention, and it advises the Ecuadorian government on issues
connected with natural hazards. The partnership between
the IG-ENP and the IRD began over 20 years ago. It covers
several disciplines and involves a number of geophysics,
tectonophysics, vulcanology and seismology laboratories. The
collaboration has intensified over the past ten years, with the two
institutes running many joint projects. It is now planned to form
an International Joint Laboratory.
/ Contact: hyepes@igepn.edu.ec, Hugo Yepes,
Director, Instituto geofisico, Quito /
Rapport
Annual
d’activités
report 2009
2009
13
AMMA: understanding the African monsoon
West Africa
The monsoon cycle governs the lives of 300 million people
in West Africa; their water resources and harvests
depend entirely on the intensity and duration of the rains.
The monsoon brings over 80% of annual rainfall in less
than four months, from June to September. But over
the past forty years, significant changes in the seasonal
cycle have been recorded, with fewer major rainfall events
but also, paradoxically, increased overland flow. This
combination puts the people of the Sahel at greater risk
of both flooding and drought..
Under the international AMMA* programme, scientists are
studying the African monsoon in order to improve understanding
of the consequences of its variability for people in the region.
The project has involved nearly a thousand scientists from
different countries and has revealed the complexity of the
processes that condition the timing and intensity of the
PARTNER //
IRD teams have been working for some thirty years with the
AGRHYMET Regional Centre based in Niamey, Niger.
AGHRYMET’s missions are training, research and operational
monitoring of the wet season and vegetation. It is the only
centre of its kind in West Africa. In this capacity AGHRYMET
was one of the five African partners involved in setting up the
European-Union funded AMMA project. This opened the way
to the subsequent participation of 17 other African national
institutions. The collaboration continues through various projects,
including monitoring farm yields at AMMA-CATCH measurement
sites and participation in ground validation surveys for the
Megha-Tropiques mission. Megha-Tropiques is a dedicated
satellite monitoring precipitation in the intertropical belt. The
AMMA-CATCH site in Niger has been chosen as the validation
site for the deep convection systems characteristic of this part
of the world.
monsoon. Since 2002, IRD researchers have been particularly
involved in long-term observation systems monitoring land
surface (for vegetation and the water cycle), sea surface and their
interactions with the climate.
Oceanographic data have revealed a key mechanism in the
timing of the monsoon. They show a correlation between the
formation of a cold water wedge in the Gulf of Guinea and the
first rains during the boreal summer. The formation of the cold
water wedge is linked to seasonal wind variations throughout
the equatorial Atlantic basin and to local gales blowing from the
South Atlantic. This advance in knowledge could lead to more
accurate forecasting of the start of the wet season, which would
be particularly useful to farmers.
Another crucial observation is that the water cycle has been
significantly disrupted, with a sharp decline in the August rainfall
peak in the Sahel. This deficit is linked to a decline in the
number of rainfall events during the middle of the wet season,
while the total length of the season has changed little. This
change in the seasonal cycle has a major impact on agriculture,
making it highly likely that there will be dry periods during
critical stages in crops’ growth cycles. Paradoxically, despite
the drop in precipitation, overland flow has increased
significantly throughout the Sahel. In the Niger, Senegal and
Volta river basins, for example, runoff has doubled locally
in some places, even though the flow rates where the waters
20° North
Intertropical convergence zone
Thermal front
Equator
Cold water wedge
Trade
winds
20° South
Institut de recherche pour le développement
* AMMA: African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses
/ Contacts:
thierry.lebel@ird.fr;
bernard.bourles@ird.fr /
/ Publications:
Journal of Physical Oceanography (2009);
Journal of Hydrology (2009) /
Launching a stratosphere balloon/Niger
/ Contact: s.traore@agrhymet.ne, Seydou B. Traore,
Head of the AGRHYMET Regional Centre’s surveys and research unit. /
14
converge at the mouths of these great rivers have diminished
by 40 to 60%. Similarly, the number, volume and duration of
temporary ponds have increased since 1975. These ponds are
an important resource in the Sahelian rangelands and are among
the main types of area where the aquifers are recharged.
The IRD and its African partners are committed to maintaining
long-term hydrological, oceanographic and environmental
monitoring.
It is crucial to record these changes and their impacts in order
to establish appropriate management practices for cropland
and rangelands in one of the regions of the world where
environmental and climate change has created the most serious
vulnerability.
Sustainable management of Southern
ecosystems
Tropical aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems contain exceptional
biological wealth and provide local populations with important
resources from seas, forests, lakes, rivers and bush. But many
particular marine, coastal and continental environments remain
poorly known to science and many are endangered by human
activities, particular over-exploitation of their resources by overfishing,
deforestation and urbanisation, or by global climate change.
IRD scientists study tropical biodiversity, agrosystems and marine,
coastal and continental aquatic ecosystems. The overall aim of the
research is to ensure that biotopes and the uses made of them
remain viable through appropriate management methods that meet
the imperatives of sustainable development.
tic
le
s
ar
27
7
m
71
0.
€2
112
re
s
ea
rc
h
st
af
ill
io
n
f
Rice field/Madagascar
Working in close partnership with Southern researchers, the IRD
teams are helping to empower humankind to meet these great
global challenges. Their contribution is to specialise in original
research fields such as coral reefs, aquaculture, tropical rainforests,
desertification, soils and drought resistance in plants. They also
play a part in the global effort to inventory tropical biodiversity by
conducting field expeditions and managing herbaria. In this way
they are enhancing scientific knowledge and contributing towards
sustainable management of natural resources while advocating
the establishment of conservation areas such as protected marine
reserves.
Annual report 2009
15
Amazonian mangroves: exemplary adaptation
Guiana
Mangrove forests grow in the intertidal zone in tropical
regions. They fulfil many functions for communities
living in these coastal areas, providing fish and protection
against storms and coastal erosion. But they are fragile
ecosystems. Since 1980 human activities such as
aquaculture and urbanisation have destroyed over 35% of
the world’s total mangrove area. With sea levels rising and
the severity of natural hazards increasing, sustainable development of the mangrove forests has become a necessity.
It is urgent to assess the impact of expected coastal
changes on these ecosystems. In order to do that, it is
crucial to understand how the mangrove species have
managed to adapt to the severe environmental constraints
they encounter at the interface between sea and land.
PARTNER //
These ecological findings are the fruit of multidisciplinary work
conducted in partnership with the Instituto de Pesquisas
Científicas e Tecnológicas do Estado do Amapá (IEPA,
Amapá Institute for Scientific and Technological Research).
IEPA’s mission is to manage and promote scientific and
technical knowledge for the protection of the environment and the
development of natural resources, in the interests of the
population of the State of Amapá, Brazil, which shares a border
with French Guiana. The IEPA’s research areas (geology,
phytotherapy, dynamics of aquatic ecosystems and the
geochemistry of water and sediments, etc.) make it a particularly
suitable partner for the IRD, with which it has been collaborating
for some years.
/ Contact: valdenira.ferreira@iepa.ap.gov.br,
Valdenira Ferreira dos Santos, Researcher, IEPA /
16
Institut de recherche pour le développement
The Amazonian coast extends from the Bay of São Luis in Brazil
to the Orinoco delta in Venezuela. The combination of massive
discharge of sediment and freshwater from the Amazon into
the ocean and a stable, northwest-flowing coastal current has
created 1200 km of mudflats, the longest such stretch
in the world. The coast of French Guiana in particular is
being constantly remodelled by recurrent, very large-scale
hydro-sedimentary processes. Major technical and financial
resources are needed to dredge the silt from the harbour estuary
or pile rocks on beaches to protect nearby houses.
tidal regime combine to transform the environment into a gigantic “propagule net’ of several hundred hectares.
French Guiana’s mangroves seem to have adapted well to this
constant instability. Analysis of the changes in the area of
mangrove forest since 1950 confirms that the ecosystem is able
to compensate for repeated, massive destruction of the mudflats
by the swell. This regeneration is an exception among the world’s
mangroves today; the more common trend is an inexorable
regression. The research has shown that across this region as a
whole, the ecosystem has been able to withstand the erosion by
re-establishing itself very quickly on new mud deposits formed
and protected by the swell. The dominant mangrove species on
the coastline, Avicennia germinans, can rapidly colonise the
whole of a new mudflat because it matures early and produces
floating propagules* that remain viable for 100 days, can take
root in five days and can grow at a rate of up to 2.25m a year.
Colonisation is all the faster when sediment deposition and the
* Propagule: a plant reproductive structure and means of propagation.
Madagascar
Coast of French Guiana
This multidisciplinary research has thus improved knowledge of
the mechanisms at work in the mangrove ecosystem of French
Guiana and explained its natural capacity to withstand many
environmental challenges. The methods and results achieved in
Amazonia could be used in endangered regions, for example to
establish guidelines for restoring vulnerable ecosystems.
/ Contact:
christophe.proisy@mpl.ird.fr /
/ Publication:
Continental Shelf Research (2009) /
Mangroves/French Guiana
Cataloguing biodiversity in tropical rainforests
Tropical rainforests had been little affected by human
activity in recent centuries. Now they are increasingly
being altered and degraded by global changes such as
over-exploitation, urbanisation and climate change. To
manage and conserve these natural areas sustainably,
it is essential to catalogue the plant and animal species
that comprise them. Systematics, which fell into disuse
in the 1960s and “70s, is now in favour again and active
systematics research is building up an inventory of
knowledge on plant biodiversity.
There are a multitude of tropical rainforest floras whose species
remain unknown. Increasing awareness of the urgent need
to explore them and of the scale of the task, coupled with the
emergence of new genetic marker techniques, has revitalised
systematics work. The IRD is actively involved, conducting
research, building up herbarium collections and recording the
data. The herbaria are vital technological and scientific centres
for research into plant biodiversity in the South. They are a
heritage of prime importance and an essential tool for identifying
species and understanding their ecology.
In New Caledonia, where the vegetation is highly original and
vulnerable, the laboratory managing the Nouméa herbarium is
conducting research into mechanisms of diversification and
evolution in the local flora. One focus of study is the endemic genus Codia, a member of the Cunoniaceae family of tree
Codia incrassata/New Caledonia
species that is emblematic of New Caledonia. The work
has brought to light some fundamental reproduction and
hybridisation mechanisms shaping their evolution. From
the DNA of species in this genus, the scientists have shown
that more than half are the result of cross-breeding between
species. Some possess new morphological traits that neither
parent species has, a fact that highlights the importance of
hybridisation in plant diversification.
In Amazonia, the partnership between scientists at the Cayenne
herbarium and Brazilian teams working in the eastern Amazon
has served to clarify and improve understanding of the
systematics of one fraction of the Rubiaceae family, itself highly
diverse and an important part of the flora in all tropical
rainforests. The comparative analysis of two genera, Posoqueria
and Molopanthera, whose kinship has recently been
demonstrated, revealed for the first time a functionality they both
have and which enables these plants to literally “catapult’ their
pollen to a distance. These discoveries on plant morphology
are an excellent illustration of the diversity of reproductive
and adaptive strategies developed by plants in tropical
environments.
These two examples show the importance of systematics, where
inquiry into the origins of biodiversity meets investigation of its
determinants. A crucial task for the future is to computerise the
Forest/ French Guiana
botanical knowledge held in the herbaria and make it available
online. Botanical research on tropical rainforests is providing
a better understanding of the origin of biodiversity and paving
the way towards effective strategies for conserving this living
heritage of the Southern countries.
Guiana
New
Caledonia
/ Contacts: piero.delprete@ird.fr;
jerome.munzinger@ird.fr; pierre.couteron@ird.fr /
/ Publications: Annals of the Missouri Botanical
Garden (2009); Molecular Ecology (2009) /
PARTNER //
The Laboratoire Insulaire du Vivant et de l’Environnement
(LIVE) is an emerging research unit at the University of New
Caledonia (UNC). It is working on the particularities connected
with endemism, notably adaptive mechanisms and functional
units in island ecosystems of the southwest Pacific. The team
has defined four major topics combining basic and applied
research: plants’ adaptation to metals; interactions between
microorganisms, metals and plants in mine soils; biomolecules of
endemic plants; adaptation of fish to environmental fluctuations.
The cooperation between LIVE and the IRD is the natural
sequel to earlier collaborations with the UNC and is consolidated
by joint supervision of theses, particularly on the diversity, origin and
evolution of New Caledonia’s Cunoniaceae, a tree family both
units are studying.
/ Contact: hamid.amir@univ-nc.nc,
Pr Hamid Amir, Manager, LIVE /
Annual report 2009
17
Resources and access to water
In very many Southern countries the question of water resources
and access to water is central to the entire issue of human and
economic development.
Under the impact of global changes and the increasingly marked
direct impact of human activities, pressure on water resources
for farm irrigation is mounting and competition and conflict over
access to water are becoming more acute. In this context a proper
understanding of water resource dynamics and an ability to predict
the future of surface and underground resources in quantitative and
qualitative terms is an important challenge.
Institut de recherche pour le développement
ar
8
24
.2
8
m
tic
le
s
ill
io
af
st
€2
6
ea
rc
h
14
2
18
n
f
Well/Niger
re
s
The IRD’s multi-disciplinary competencies in this field are
recognised nationally and internationally. Using ground-and spacebased observation systems, sampling surveys and analyses,
IRD scientists make quantitative and qualitative assessments,
investigating the biophysical mechanisms involved at different
scales of time and space, and their interactions. They develop
modelling tools to improve understanding of the mechanisms and
the interactions between scales. They also analyse the ways in
which water resources are allocated and socially and technically
managed. They analyse public policy on the issue with a view to
proposing ways forward towards integrated, innovative and socially
acceptable water resource management, at both catchment and
hydrological system scales.
Bolivie : impact of mining on environment and health
The mineral wealth of the Bolivian Amazon and Altiplano
regions has been known since Pre-Hispanic times.
Gold, silver, tin and zinc have been mined intensively for
centuries. Mining these deposits releases into the environment large quantities of lead, cadmium and arsenic,
well known for their toxicity. But poverty and great
economic dependence on these industries have too
often led to neglecting their impact on health and the
environment.
Whether released into the environment by natural phenomena
or human activity, trace metals affect ecosystems and present
a health hazard for local communities. Examples are the
mercury that has accumulated in the stream networks of the
Amazon basin, the arsenic that is sometimes naturally present in
water and the lead and cadmium pollution dispersed by mining
and metallurgy.
For several years, multidisciplinary teams from the IRD and their
partners at the University of San Andrés in La Paz have been
studying the impact of metal pollutants on the environment,
ecosystems, health and society. The research focuses on the
Amazonian part of Bolivia, where gold is mined, and at an altitude
of 3600m on the Altiplano, where major multi-metal ore deposits
are exploited.
The scientists are particularly focusing on the dispersion of
mercury from the eastern slopes of the Andes and its effects
on communities in Amazonia around the major rivers of the
Health survey/Bolivia
Andean foothills. Pollution has been monitored throughout
the food chain; human exposure proves to be closely linked to
consumption of fish. The contamination is less severe in
Bolivian Amazon communities than has been recorded in French
Guiana and central Amazonia.
Since 2007 the TOXBOL project, funded by the ANR*, has
been conducting cross-cutting research into the origin and
environmental and human impact of these pollutions. It is
focusing particularly on Oruro, a major mining town in an
ecologically remarkable region of the Bolivian Altiplano.
Measurements of metal contamination in the region reveal high
concentrations in fish – above the regulatory limits in force in
Northern countries. Accumulation of mercury along the food
chain has been recently revealed in Lake Uru-Uru, one of the
main fishing lakes in Oruro department. The impact of mining
on biodiversity has been clearly established using an indicator
of biological integrity in streams.
The human impact is being measured in children, the most
vulnerable pollutant receptors. Measurements have been taken
in schools in five areas of the town very differently situated with
regard to potential pollution. The results show that children in
the miners’ districts are far more affected than those in more
socially favoured districts. The main metals found in their
bodies were lead and arsenic. Boys seem more affected than
girls, apparently because of their play behaviour out of doors.
This work has enabled the scientists to identify the most
Water pollution/Bolivia
heavily polluted areas and map the risks. The health impact
is still being assessed, for example using a mother-and-infant
cohort, paying special attention to the neurological development
of the newborns. Perceptions of these pollutions and their
consequences are also being studied, using population
surveys.
Bolivia
*ANR: French national research agency
/ Contacts:
jacques.gardon@ird.fr (health);
david.point@lmtg.obs-mip.fr (chemistry);
francois-marie.gibon@ird.fr (ecology);
hubert.mazurek@ird.fr (geography) /
/ Publication:
International Journal of Health Geographics (2009) /
PARTNER //
Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA) in La Paz is the
country’s largest university with nearly 70,000 students and
3,000 degrees awarded per year. Much of Bolivia’s research
potential is concentrated here. Given the cross-cutting nature of
the joint research, the IRD is collaborating with several Master’s
degrees in chemistry, ecology, biology, health and geography.
The partnership between the IRD and UMSA began in the 1970s
and has continued uninterrupted ever since. In recent years
several emerging UMSA research teams have received IRD
support. Except in the social and educational sciences, Bolivia
has no doctoral school for students wishing to continue after
their Master’s; this is one of the next big steps to enable UMSA
to increase its research potential in biology, medicine and the
earth sciences
/ Contact : rectora@umsa.bo,
Teresa Rescala Nemtala, Rectoress, UMSA /
Annual report 2009
19
Conserving water resources in South India
Though destined to be one of the great powers of the
21st century, India is still an emerging country whose main
activity is agriculture. Farming accounts for 92% of water
consumption, 39% of which is taken from aquifers.
With the coming climate changes and ever-increasing
population pressure, increased natural hazards and
chronic water shortages are expected in many parts of
the sub-continent, even those with sufficient rainfall.
One of the greatest challenges facing South India, where
population and industry are both growing fast, is to
maintain its food self-sufficiency without sacrificing the
water resource.
India
One of the flagship projects of the Indo French Cell for Water
Sciences* is studying the impact of variations in rainfall and
land use on water resources in South India. The site chosen
for study is the catchment of the river Kabini, a tributary of the
PARTNER //
The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (IISc), founded
in 1909, is a high level research and training centre working in
almost all fields of science and technology. It has 2600 students
and 1300 permanent staff including 520 research staff.
Collaboration between the IISc and IRD began in 2000 with the
formation of the Indo French Cell for Water Sciences (IFCWS),
which in 2009 became an International Joint Laboratory involving
Indian scientists from the IISc’s earth and environmental sciences
division and French researchers from several joint research units
in which the IRD is a partner. The IFCWS is an original framework
for geoscience and environment research into water issues in
India. The researchers are currently working on catchments and
on the impact of mining, topics which are to be broadened to
include satellite-based hydrology and the human sciences.
/ Contact : muddu@civil.iisc.ernet.in, Muddu Sekhar,
Associate Professor, civil engineering department, IISc /
20
Institut de recherche pour le développement
Kaveri. This catchment is particularly sensitive to variations in
the flow of the southwest monsoon, and mean annual rainfall
declines from 6000mm at the upstream end of the basin to
500mm a year downstream. The research setup involves two
small experimental catchments, a forested one where human
activity is excluded (Mule Hole) and one that is partly
farmed (Maddur). Measurement stations are used to monitor
hydrological, geochemical and climate trends; the aim is to
monitor for a full ten-year cycle. Together with the project
on the river Nyong in Cameroon, the Kabini experiment is
part of the French project ORE-BVET**, which uses tropical
experimental catchments to improve understanding of the water
cycle and biogeochemical cycles and to describe the dynamics of
weathering and erosion processes in tropical environments. The
scientists are also studying the impact of human activity on the
natural environment.
The first results have served to describe the structure of the soil
cover and aquifers at Mule Hole, to quantify aquifer recharge
and to estimate biogeochemical and hydrological flows. The
research highlights the important role of underground
circulation in determining the chemical balance of the catchment.
It has also shown a significant difference between past and present
denudation rates, which have increased from 10mm to
28mm/1000 years. Particular care was taken to design original
hydrological and hydrological-geological models that can
establish scenarios to monitor changes in an ecosystem
rendered vulnerable by climate change. In the Maddur
Mule Hole catchment/India
basin, surveys among villagers show that changes in cropping
practices have affected resource quality and quantity. The
farmers used to grow rainfed crops such as rice and millet but
now use irrigation to increase the number of harvests and grow
more cash crops, including banana and sugar cane. In addition
to intensive pumping from the aquifer, these crops require large
amounts of fertiliser, which pollutes the groundwater. These
findings open up many prospects for studying larger catchments
and for developing effective water resource management more
generally.
*International Joint Laboratory IFCWS
** environmental research monitoring unit – experimental catchments in the tropical zone
/ Contacts:
jean-jacques.braun@ird.fr; jean.riotte@ird.fr /
/ Publications:
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (2009);
Journal of Hydrology (2009) /
Access to water/India
Food security in the South
Tensions over farm prices, energy crops competing for land with
food crops and massive acquisitions of farmland in the poorest
countries are three recent developments which, combined with
sustained population growth, have made food insecurity once
again a topical issue, especially in Africa. World food prospects look
increasingly grim. Water shortages, soil degradation, climate
change, growing poverty, epidemics, mushrooming urbanisation
and inappropriate governance are all factors that accentuate the
food security problem in many Southern countries and put their
populations in a vulnerable position.
ic
le
s
19
9a
rt
m
48
€2
5.
14
4r
es
ea
rc
h
st
ill
io
af
f
Farmers’ market/Bolivia
n
To respond to these problems, IRD research teams are working
to improve farm yields while maintaining soil fertility. Improving
scientific knowledge of plant biology and physiology lays the
groundwork for breeding new varieties faster and identifying
the plants best adapted to particular climates and soils. Also
contributing to this workstream are the Institute’s innovative pest
control projects.
To eliminate hunger, undernutrition and malnutrition while managing
natural resources in a sustainable way is a multidisciplinary
challenge for development in the South. Food vulnerability is still a
major problem in most countries, especially in the Sahel. IRD teams
work to identify the most vulnerable communities and optimise the
timing of interventions by public authorities, NGOs or other actors.
Developing appropriate government policies on food security is
now crucial.
Annual report 2009
21
Agriculture in the Andes threatened by insect pests
Ecuador
Ensuring the Andean region’s security in matters of
economy, environment and food is a major challenge
today. At present over 60% of rural dwellers in the
northern part of the Andes live below the poverty line,
fewer than half have access to health services and 70%
present malnutrition problems. In this situation, insect
potato pests such as potato moths, weevils and leaf
beetles are a major problem since potatoes are the
region’s principal food crop. Potato moths were
accidentally imported from Central America and Peru thirty
years ago; they proliferated rapidly and are now a threat
to crops and food security for a whole rural population.
PARTNER //
The Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (PUCE,
Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador) has been working
with the IRD for over ten years, researching natural resource
development and food security. The biology faculty at PUCE is
one of the best in the northern Andes. It has scientists of world
repute particularly in plant ecology and herpetology, a modern
research station in the western Amazon and Master’s degree
courses in conservation biology. This IRD-PUCE collaboration
has been sanctioned by inclusion in several regional research
programmes and by the publication of numerous articles in
internationally recognised scientific journals. The partnership is
ongoing, including training Ecuadorian students in France and
developing new research programmes on modelling biodiversity
dynamics, for example.
/ Contact: arbarragan@puce.edu.ec,
Alvaro Barragan, Professor of entomology, PUCE /
22
Institut de recherche pour le développement
Rural communities in the Andes farm mainly on steep slopes
at altitudes between 2000m and 4500m, where productivity is
limited by both climate and soil quality. These extreme farming
conditions increase the crops’ susceptibility to the stresses
associated with phytopathogenic microorganisms and insect
pests. Researchers have shown that Andean farmlands are
particularly susceptible to biological invasions; they offer a
multitude of habitats and microclimates, making it easy for
invasive species to settle, coexistent with native species and
proliferate. In the past ten years three moth species of the
Gelechiideae family (gelechiid moths or potato moths) have
become established in the northern Andean countries. Their
caterpillars, barely a centimetre long, are major potato pests
and in Ecuador cause about €250,000 worth of losses every
year, threatening the food security of thousands of smallholder
families. The impact of the caterpillars, which can ravage
entire stocks of potatoes in a few months, has forced farmers
to change their habits, including the length of time they store
their potatoes. This makes them more vulnerable to fluctuations
in market price, which can vary between 2 and 30 dollars per
quintal within a few months. A further factor for vulnerability
is the marked decline in the diversity of the potatoes farmers
grow. The 15-20 mainly native varieties of thirty years ago have
shrunk to 2 or 3 today.
To improve the food security of local populations the IRD
scientists and their Ecuadorian partners are focusing
their research on (a) developing models to predict the
pests’ population dynamics, (b) studying the role of Andean
agrobiodiversity as a barrier to emerging threats from invasive
species and (c) developing new pest control methods. Insect
pests are usually favoured by rising temperatures,
increasingly simple farm landscapes and increasing trade. This
means that the risks to food security caused by proliferation
of insect pests are likely to increase in the northern Andes in
the coming decades. In this situation the scientists’ different
approaches, particularly the modelling work, offer tools to help
the farmers adapt to global change. This is the purpose of the
international programme INNOMIP*, coordinated by the IRD
and involving Ecuadorian, Peruvian and Bolivian partners.
*INNOvative approaches to Managing Insect Pest risks in the Andes (2009-2012)
Potato moth damage/Ecuador
/ Contact: olivier.dangles@ird.fr /
/ Publication: Journal of Applied Ecology (2009) /
Market/Bolivia
Food vulnerability in Sahelian towns
In the past, national food security monitoring systems
have focused on rural areas, where the food was produced,
the majority of the population lived and the risk of food
insecurity was highest. But in West Africa as in the rest of
the developing world, the ongoing demographic transition
and galloping urbanisation mean that food vulnerability is
increasing among urban households.
The concept of food security refers to the long-term
availability of and access to sufficient, adequately nutritious,
culturally acceptable food. Until recently malnutrition was less
common in towns than in rural areas, mainly because food
supply was greater, less seasonally variable and more diverse.
But this is no longer the case. Urban poverty is spreading, and
it reveals sharp disparities in social, economic and nutritional
situations. Identifying the most vulnerable urban households is
therefore crucial for preventing food crises.
Two systems for assessing such vulnerability use simple
questionnaires to measure households’ situations in this regard.
One uses a scale of perceived food insecurity and the other a
Millet/Burkina Faso
food diversity score. Since 2007 IRD teams have been using
these questionnaires to monitor trends in the nutritional and
dietary situation in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
The first results show that these low-cost, quickly obtainable
indicators give a good picture of urban households’ food
situations in the region and are therefore useful for monitoring
food security. On the other hand their predictive power, and
therefore their ability to target assistance, are limited. The
research shows that the indicators are sensitive to structural
and cyclical factors. It shows how closely they are linked to
households’ actual consumption (as established by very full
surveys run in parallel) and to households’ socioeconomic profiles and dietary behaviour. Monitoring of the
situation from 2007 to 2009 confirmed that more than half
Ouagadougou’s households felt they were in a persistent
state of food insecurity, reflected in a significant drop in the
diversity and nutritional quality of their diets. Everyday
consumption of oilseeds, red meat, poultry, dairy products
and fruit fell significantly at the time of the food price crisis.
The study shows that the hardest hit families were poor, large
families with an elderly and poorly educated household head.
Nutrition survey/Burkina Faso
In 2009 the study’s focus moved to Bobo Dioulasso, while
African institutions using the same indicators began monitoring
other towns in the region, such as Banjul in Gambia.
Burkina Faso
/ Contact: yves.martin-prevel@ird.fr /
/ Publication: FANTA project report – AED (2009) /
PARTNER //
The Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé (IRSS,
Health Science Research Institute) is part of Burkina Faso’s
Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique et Technique
(CNRST). It has for many years been one of the academic
institutions most actively involved in the partnership with the IRD.
It comprises two departments conducting health research, one
in biomedical and public health and one in medicine, pharmacy
and traditional pharmacopoeia. The IRSS and the IRD pool their
skills to find solutions to Burkina Faso’s principal health problems.
Another aspect of the partnership is knowledge transmission,
which in practical terms means joint supervision of students and
doctoral students. There are plans for an Emerging IRD Partner
Team (JEAI, Jeune Équipe Associée à l’IRD) to work on nutrition.
The JEAI system is designed to encourage the formation of new
research teams in Southern countries and to empower new or
recently-formed teams.
/ Contact : dirss@fasonet.bf,
Pr Blaise Sondo, Director, IRSS /
Annual report 2009
23
Public health and health policy
Better health in developing countries is one of the millennium
development goals. It is an essential factor for human development;
with a healthier population, growth and poverty reduction can move
ahead.
The poorest countries are particularly hard hit by major diseases
such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Disease hampers human
and economic development. The intertropical zone is also the
main incubator for emerging diseases, particularly viral diseases,
sometimes with global repercussions.
The IRD’s health research concerns transmissible and emerging
diseases, mother and infant health and strengthening countries’
health systems. Health researchers and social scientists work
hand in hand to combat these tragedies. Better access to
treatment, the development of new diagnostic tools and treatments
and more intensive research efforts in these fields are essential for
Southern countries.
24
Institut de recherche pour le développement
n
ar
3
40
€2
7.
74
m
tic
le
s
ill
io
af
f
st
rc
h
ea
re
s
These projects cannot succeed without the involvement of the
human sciences and an ecosystem approach to health; with that
involvement, approaches can be proposed that are applicable in
the local situations concerned and solutions put forward that are
viable in the long term.
Health/Laos
13
2
Mother and infant health is one of the priority research strands.
The IRD is focusing research on reproductive health, the risk of HIV
transmission from mother to baby and childhood malaria.
HIV/AIDS in Cameroon: decentralised access to treatment is effective
Among the countries of West and Central Africa,
Cameroon is one of those where effective antiretroviral
treatment for patients with AIDS has made most progress.
From a few hundred in 2001, the numbers receiving
treatment had increased to more than 78,000 by late 2009.
As early as 2002, with a serious AIDS epidemic under way,
the Cameroon government launched an ambitious
programme to facilitate access to retroviral drugs
throughout the country. Using generic drugs and
supported by international funding for AIDS control, the
authorities introduced a bold policy of decentralising
AIDs care management.
At the request of the Cameroon Ministry of Health, researchers
from IRD and its partner institutions set up a large-scale
evaluation to measure the strengths and limitations of this
decentralisation throughout the country’s ten regions. In 2006,
the French national AIDS research agency ANRS helped to fund
four bilateral multidisciplinary projects in social science, public
health and biomedical research.
Analysis of the research shows the feasibility and efficacy
of the Cameroon government’s approach. It was feared that the
decentralised HIV/AIDS clinics in district hospitals would not
achieve results as good as in the central and provincial services
because the district clinics have fewer human resources and use
simpler methods of care. In fact the results achieved in terms of
restoring the immune system, case monitoring and quality of
life are at least as good and sometimes better on some criteria,
such as patients’ regularity in taking the drugs. Similarly, the
time lag between diagnosis of HIV infection and the first care
consultation is significantly shorter in the district clinics. As
seems logical, these clinics are also found to reach a more
rural population, less educated and often living below the
poverty line, so helping to improve equity in access to
treatment.
non-profit health insurance system to cover costs. Nonetheless,
the Cameroon example illustrates the success of a global policy
involving several social, scientific, political and international
dynamics.
Cameroon
/ Contact: fred.eboko@ird.fr /
/ Publications: Télescope (2009) ;
Accès décentralisé au traitement VIH/sida ;
Évaluation de l’expérience camerounaise,
Ed. ANRS collection Sciences sociales et sida (2010) /
The decentralisation of the Cameroon health system has
facilitated and conditioned access to multi-therapies. Continued
access to treatment is further facilitated by the fact that since
May 2007 all antiretrovirals have been free; but it is hampered
by the structural limitations of the health system’s operation. To
continue to extend access to treatment at a time of global crisis
there are several problems to be solved. These include the AIDS
programme’s dependence on international aid (over 80% of
funds), the human resources crisis and the lack of an adequate
Health centre/Cameroon
AIDS prevention
PARTNER //
ANRS-Cameroun is an offshoot of the French national agency
for research on AIDS and viral hepatitis (Agence Nationale de
la Recherche sur le Sida et les hépatites virales, ANRS). The
ANRS has been working with the government and scientific
community of Cameroon for over a decade. With the creation
of ANRS-Cameroon, the research teams have a tool for their
work and a lever for coordinating HIV/AIDS research. The
collaboration is a partnership between the IRD, INSERM, the
Pasteur Institute, Yaoundé central hospital and the University of
Yaoundé. Current research is on HIV infection and its virological
and clinical aspects. In the past five years, the ANRS has
supported more than 20 research projects including seven
designed to assess decentralised access to antiretroviral
treatment.
/ Contact: koullasinata@yahoo.fr, Pr Sinata Koulla-Shiro,
Head of ANRS-Cameroun /
Annual report 2009
25
H1N1 flu: La Réunion case study
La Réunion
The emergence and pandemic reach of the AH1N1 flu
virus focused attention on every aspect of the illness:
scientific, economic, political and social. In La Réunion,
researchers applied the CoPanFlu protocol and acquired
detailed knowledge of a number of aspects. These
included individual and collective probabilities of
infection; factors associated with the flu’s very
variable clinical manifestations; characterisation of
the immune response; efficiency of preventive and
therapeutic methods; and behavioural changes and
social and economic consequences of a pandemic.
PARTNER //
The Centre de Recherche et de Veille sur les Maladies
Emergentes dans l’Océan Indien (CRVOI, Centre for research
and intelligence on emerging diseases in the Indian Ocean) was
formed in 2007 on a decision by the French government, in response to the Chikungunya epidemic in the region. It is based in
La Réunion but its work is regionwide in scope. It is a partnership
structure with the legal status of a Groupement d’Intérêt Scientifique responsible to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of
Higher Education and Research. The partners involved are other
institutions in La Réunion and the research bodies IRD, CNRS,
INSERM, CIRAD, INRA, InVS, Pasteur Institute and AFSSA. The
action programme’s four themes are: multidisciplinary investigation of infectious diseases in the Indian Ocean region; training
and supervision of students and emerging researchers; science
and technology intelligence based on systematic exploration of
data on infectious diseases affecting the region; and regional
cooperation with other Indian Ocean countries.
/ Contact: www.crvoi.org /
26
Institut de recherche pour le développement
The AH1N1 flu epidemic reached La Réunion in July 2009, the
southern winter providing suitable conditions. The IRD and its
partners at the Centre de Recherche et de Veille sur les maladies
Emergentes dans l’Océan Indien (CRVOI, see box) conducted a
prospective study of the flu outbreak. Called CoPanFlu-Réunion,
it used the same protocol as the CoPanFlu study in metropolitan
France, based on a prospective population survey. This avoided
the biases of hospital and medical data and made it possible to
evaluate the epidemiological parameters as well as the clinical,
virological and evolutional characteristics of the AH1N1 flu
as actually expressed in the community. A human and social
sciences module was added to assess the population’s
perceptions of the pandemic risk and the resulting behavioural
changes.
The study was funded by central and regional government
authorities and used active cohorts identified earlier for
Chikungunya surveys. This meant that the researchers were
able to start the survey two weeks after the identification of the
first case imported to the island and almost synchronously with
the first case of transmission on the island. The study covered
2120 individuals in 767 households. 1969 blood samples were
collected at the start of the study and 1803 at the close, after the
epidemic had ended.
The serological study based on the 1HA test revealed notable
particularities in this flu epidemic. It affected more than a third
of the cohort as a whole, affecting the under-20 age group more
H1N1 flu virus
than the rest. Over 70% of under-20s were affected at the peak
of the epidemic. Subjects over 60 were largely spared owing
to pre-existing immunity. Compared to rates of clinical attack,
estimated at 12.5% of the population, these figures suggest that
more than two cases in three may present few or no symptoms.
This confirms that AH1N1 was a largely benign pandemic.
The CoPanFlu-Réunion survey confirms the importance of
responsive, operational research in the face of an epidemic.
It provided observations and data that cannot be obtained
outside the epidemic period. The scientific knowledge acquired
through this project has led to a better understanding
of the local, regional and international dynamics of the
pandemic and has resolved some uncertainties.
/ Contact:
koussay.dellagi@ird.fr /
CRVOI laboratory/La Réunion
Development and globalisation
The aim of globalisation is to extend trade until the world becomes
a “global village” where all countries and all people have access
to the same development possibilities. In practice the process
reveals sharp disparities not only between North and South but also
between different countries of the South.
To analyse the human and social factors in development the
IRD calls on disciplines ranging from biology to economics and
anthropology to geography. Its research in this field focuses on three
major issues that are of decisive importance for Southern countries:
reducing poverty and inequality, international migration and
governance for sustainable development.
Poverty reduction is a key issue for development policy. Aspects
of the problem studied by IRD researchers are access to public
services (jobs, education and health care), the effects of rapidly
increasing urbanisation and assessment of official and private
development aid.
a
an r tic
d le
bo s
ok
s
55
2
m
91
€2
6.
19
3
re
s
ea
rc
h
st
ill
io
n
af
f
Shanty town/Bogota
The globalisation process has intensified population movements.
Research on this subject focuses on the determinants of migration
movements and their consequences for societies and the
environment, the reworking of social and territorial space and the
identity issues it engenders.
Other research strands provide relevant food for thought towards
creating a form of governance that will reconcile economic
development and environmental protection.
Annual report 2009
27
Justice and society in Senegal
The modernisation of Senegal’s judicial system is an
essential component of that country’s strategy statement
on poverty reduction and its national programme for
good governance. It is a concern which the international
community also shares. In 2006 the Senegalese Ministry
of Justice responded to this shared concern by launching
the computerisation of the country’s criminal justice
system. The IRD, in collaboration with Cheikh Anta Diop
University (UCAD), provided technical and scientific
support.
Senegal
PARTNER //
The Ministère de la Justice du Senegal has been working
in scientific partnership with the IRD since 2002, computerising
and networking the country’s judicial services. Senegal is a
pioneer in this field. Several other ECOWAS member States want
the experiment to be adapted to their own judicial systems. The
IRD’s role in this mission is to provide support and expertise for
the project, with a special focus on respect for the individual’s
fundamental rights. For citizens, the computerisation of the
penal system will make justice more accessible, ensuring greater
transparency in legal proceedings and hence greater real equity
before the country’s judicial system. In this spirit, the Ministry and
the IRD are considering the creation of an international centre
for research into law, demography and development that would
combine training and research in these fields.
Since 2004, the programme has been extended to the social
and family justice systems. Thanks to this work, it is now
envisaged to form a joint research laboratory under CEPED*
and the Senegalese Ministry of Justice to analyse the judicial
data. The aims are to help define public policy and to conduct
scientific research using a series of anonymised annual
databases built up since 2000 with some 100,000 individual
records a year. The data shed light on several social phenomena
regarding children, the family and migration.
In this last connection the research has achieved a first major
result. Waves of emigration to the Canary Islands triggered a
penal response, which Northern countries had suggested to the
Senegalese authorities in compliance with the spirit of the UN
Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Air and
Sea (2000). Migration was treated as a legally reprehensible act
and the migrant as a delinquent; in 2006, 1487 people trying
to leave Senegal by sea were prosecuted. In fact the migration
was the expression of a strong social demand. Analysis of the
data shows that it was not run by international criminal networks
but simply by Senegalese people, mainly fishermen suffering
from the fishery crisis, who offered their navigational skills
to explore a new emigration route. In view of these findings,
Senegal has adapted its penal policy to the reality, with due
respect for migrants’ rights. In this context the recent emigration
Migration to the Canary Isles
Mauritanie
URBAIN
ST LOUIS
RURAL
Pikine
DAKAR
/ Contact: mandiogou@gmail.com, Mandiogou NDIAYE,
First Technical Adviser to the Minster of Justice, Senegal /
28
THIES
Rufisque
Mbour
Joal-Fadiouth
Gambie
Institut de recherche pour le développement
Pointe
St George
Guinée
ZIGUINCHOR
by sea reveals the increasing complexity of migration routes to
be the collective dimension of the strategies employed – raising
questions about Europe’s “new frontiers” in Africa.
More generally, the legal data have enabled the Senegalese for
the first time to make a detailed analysis of the social dimension
of delinquency, an issue of major relevance for development
aid policies. This programme is also a contribution to scientific
reflection on the ethics of knowledge production and
dissemination and access to information.
*UMR Centre population et développement (joint research unit involving IRD, INED and
Paris-Descartes University)
/ Contact: nelly.robin@ird.fr /
/ Publication: Cahiers de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (2009) /
Clandestine emigration /Senegal
Biodiversity: developing local products
Sorghum, quinoa, coffee, argan oil and redbush tea are
among the many Southern country products that have
a strong regional and cultural identity. To reconcile
rural development with the conservation of biological and
cultural diversity, ways must be found to add value to such
produce. One way is to introduce standards, origin labels
or other forms of certification that create a link between
sustainable farming systems, the quality of a product of
known origin, and profitability. Equitable sharing of the
profits from biodiversity is another major international
challenge for disadvantaged populations.
Might the economic and ecological future of Southern countries
lie in the local produce of their regions? At any rate there is
a very widespread trend, with initiatives to promote Southern
produce and strengthen links between local communities and
their environments. It is driven by sustainable development
policies encouraged by international bodies. The initial
impulse came with the 1992 Rio conference and the Convention
on Biological Diversity, which recognised the importance of the
knowledge, traditions and innovations of local communities and
indigenous peoples. It is also a response to growing consumer
enthusiasm for produce of known origin and the preferences of
informed, engaged consumers and citizens.
Drying coffee/Ethiopia
Adding value to Southern specialities and their associated
production systems is based on recognising that quality can
be linked to a place of origin and its resources, knowledge
and skills. Southern communities have indeed started to make
a commercial asset of their agricultural and dietary heritage.
Redbush tea in South Africa, argan oil in Morocco, Ethiopian
coffee, Vanuatu’s tuber crops, Brazilian meat and quinoa from the
Andean highlands have already set out to conquer the world.
The South is organising the marketing of such products with
the help of various institutional, economic and legal instruments
including geographical indications like the French AOC and the
European PDO, eco-certification and fair trade labels.
Three main trends can be identified: promotion of local products
and specialities for local economic development; policies
on conservation and development of biological and cultural
diversity that take such potential into account; and their
harnessing for the broader purposes of identity- or territorialbased claims and demands.
This international taste for produce of known origin is a good
opportunity for the Southern countries, but it also creates a need
for tools to protect such goods. Otherwise rural communities
can be plundered of their resources, their farmers’ knowledge
appropriated by others and commercial firms can usurp their
Coffee advertisement
claims. Special care is also needed to prevent quality declining
as production is intensified to meet demand from a fastexpanding market.
For these approaches to succeed, producers must be able to
organise, identify suitable markets for their products and learn
about intellectual property rights to protect their resources
and skills.
Africa
Asia
Latin
America
/ Contact: marie.cormier@ird.fr /
/ Publication: Autrepart (2009) /
PARTNER //
The geography department at Abdou Moumouni University
(UAM) in Niamey, Niger, has been working with the IRD since
2001. It has several research laboratories and units providing
services in research, supervision and training in physical, human
and economic geography and cartography. Research topics
on heritage, regional development and natural resource
management have been particularly central focuses of the
partnership with the IRD. The university, founded in 1971, aims
to be an institution at the service of development. Each year it
takes in more students, adding to its energy and momentum
and making it more attractive for research. In 2009 over
9000 students were registered at the university.
/ Contact: flsh@intnet.ne, Dr Boureima Amadou, geographer,
Dean, Faculty of arts and human sciences (FLSH) /
Annual report 2009
29
Excellence in research, guided by ethics
Research in partnership
Quality publications
In 2009 the IRD continued to strengthen its collaboration with
higher education establishments and other bodies in France and
internationally. It supported 60 research units of which 53 are
managed with partners. In a year, the proportion of joint units
increased from 74% to 88%. They are assessed by an outside body,
AERES, but the IRD’s scientific council also examined the joint units’
projects to check that they match the Institute’s missions and policy.
The IRD’s own units, particularly those whose mandates were
extended while awaiting their conversion to joint units, were assessed
by the scientific council and scientific committees.
The number of scientific review articles rose by some 10% to reach
1540 articles including about 1250 listed on Web of Science, nearly
2500 including all articles signed by members of joint research
units, and nearly 290 articles in the human and social sciences. The
Institute increased its visibility: 57% of its articles were published
in journals with a high impact index in their category and 12% in
top quality journals. For example 27 were published in Journal of
Hydrology, 9 in Clinical Infectious Diseases, 5 in Journal of Infectious
Diseases and in Journal of Climate, 4 in PNAS and 3 each in Nature,
Science, PloS Medicine and PloS Pathogens. Of the 750 researchers
and engineers who published, nearly 14% signed more than five
papers and the average number of papers per IRD signatory was
around 2.
A new form of collaboration was introduced: the international joint
laboratory (LMI). These operational research and training structures
will enable researchers and lecturer-researchers to develop lasting
relationships with their counterparts, to pool knowledge and research
tools and to make their work more visible. They will be based on
the premises of Southern partner institutions. Five such units were
formed, to work on plant and microbe biotechnology (Morocco),
climate change (South Africa), environmental change (with Brazil
and Chile) and water resources (India).
As a consequence of the IRD policy of making joint research units the
general rule, the rate of co-publication with universities (Montpellier,
Paris 6, Toulouse, Aix-Marseille etc.) increased from 49% to 65% in
a year, and co-publications with other French research bodies and
establishments (CNRS, CIRAD, INRA, MNHN etc.) from 51% to 66%.
The rate of co-publication with Southern countries, mainly Brazil,
Yam apex encapsulation
Numbers of IRD publications
in the human and social sciences, 2005 to 2008
Numbers of IRD articles listed
on Web of Science, 2000-2009
1 400
Article
1 000
250
800
200
200
0
2000
Institut de recherche pour le développement
Book
Scientific editing
2006
2007
2008
150
400
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Figures as at 31/01/2010. Source: Web of Science SCIE database (Thomson-Reuters).
2009
Number of publications
Number of articles
600
30
Book chapter
300
1 200
100
50
0
2005
Cameroon, Senegal, South Africa and Thailand, stood unchanged
at 41%. The number of co-publications with other African countries
showed a sharp rise of +12%. Health issues were the subject of 58%
of co-publications with West and Central Africa and 34% of copublications with Asian countries. In Latin America, the majority of
jointly published articles were on water issues and natural hazards.
Guided by ethics
A distinguishing feature of research for development is that it adopts
a collaborative approach based on the principle of equity. Rules
of professional conduct and ethics must be adhered to in an
international context of strong competition in science and
technology and fierce economic competition as trade and finance
become increasingly global.
In 2000 the IRD formed an independent in-house consultative body,
the consultative committee on professional conduct and ethics
(CCDE). The purpose of this committee is to help the researchers apply the rules of professional conduct and ethics. It also
addresses and advises on ethical questions to which existing law
provides no answers. In 2009 the committee was asked for opinions
on three biomedical research projects (on HIV, malaria and nutrition).
It also examined the files for two company formations initiated in
the Institute’s laboratories, one on monitoring marine ecosystems
and one on extraction of floral essences. Other questions submitted
to it concerned recruitment of experts and assessment of scientific
excellence.
Apart from these recurrent activities, the committee started to develop
an interactive training module on ethical thinking, designed to raise
the awareness of researchers, doctoral students and partners and
prompt them to consider these issues when designing their projects.
The CCDE and the Cameroon Ministries of research and innovation,
higher education, health and the environment organised a seminar
on “research ethics and sustainable development: challenges and
perspectives” in Yaoundé.
Dominique Lecourt, chair of the CCDE, came to the end of his second
mandate after seven years in the post. After election in September
the renewed committee held its first meeting under its new chair,
Ali Benmakhlouf, professor of philosophy at Nice-Sophia Antipolis
University and member of the national consultative committee on
ethics.
Nutrition survey/Tunisia
Including 2 international joint units (UMI), 51 joint research units (UMR), 5 research units (UR),
research units (UR) and 2 service units (US). Data as at 1 January 2010.
Estimation based on 2008 data.
1
2
COMPOSITION of the ETHICS COMMITTEE
Chair : Ali Benmakhlouf, doctor of philosophy, professor at Nice-Sophia-Antipolis University
Ahmadou Lamine Ndiaye, veterinary doctor, honorary rector of Gaston Berger University in Senegal
Manuela Carneiro Da Cunha, doctor of anthropology, chair of the Brazilian anthropology association and adviser to UNESCO
and UNCTAD (UN Conference for Trade and Development)
Jean-Claude André, director, European Centre for advanced training and research in scientific calculus, Toulouse
Roger Guedj, professor, co-director of the CNRS organic chemistry laboratory, Nice-Sophia-Antipolis University
Vladimir de Semir, associate professor of science journalism, director of the science communication Master’s course at Pompeu
Fabra University, Barcelona
Sandrine Chifflet, research engineer, CAMELIA unit
Marie-Danielle Demelas, historian, Professeure des Universités, IRD representative in Bolivia
Bernard Taverne, anthropologist with the HIV/AIDS and Associated Diseases unit.
Screening for malaria /Benin
Annual report 2009
31