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Institut de recherche pour le développement
< Landscape/Morocco
Working in
partnership
Partnerships around the world
International
Overseas France
Metropolitan France
Annual report 2009
41
Mediterranean
Latin American Caribbean
8 sites
183 staff
41 individual grants awarded
10 emerging Southern research teams
supported
- Joint IRD-CNRS centre for Chile and Argentina established in
Santiago.
- Eurosocial Santé programme on access to health care and social
cohesion in Latin America closed.
- Year of France in Brazil, including: First Franco-Brazilian forum
on higher education and research in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paolo
and Belo Horizonte; travelling exhibition on “ocean and climate:
exchanges for life on earth”; symposium on “population biology
of Amazonian fish and fish farming” in Manaus; summer school
on satellite-based environmental monitoring in Brasilia.
- Two international joint laboratories on climate change (OCE) and
tropical palaeoclimatology (PALEOTRACES) created in Brazil.
- Cousteau Observatory for sea and coastal monitoring launched
in Mexico.
- International conference on biodiversity, “science at the service
of tropical rainforest management” held in French Guiana.
- TROPISAR airborne radar data acquisition survey conducted on
the forests of French Guiana.
- GOVTER research programme began, on “territories, governance
and methods of regulation: contribution to the charter of the
Amazonian nature reserve in French Guiana”.
- Symposium on the environmental impact of mining in the Andes
and Amazonia held in Lima, Peru.
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Institut de recherche pour le développement
3 sites
62 staff
21 individual grants awarded
4 emerging Southern research teams
supported
- S cientific cooperation framework agreement signed with the
Egyptian National Fund for science and technological development,
under Union pour la Méditerranée auspices.
- International joint laboratory for plant and microbe biotechnology
launched in Rabat, Morocco.
- International joint research unit working on mathematical and
computer modelling of complex systems opened in Marrakech
(Morocco).
- International seminar on river basin management and cooperation
in the Europe-Mediterranean region, and general meeting of the
Mediterranean Network of Basin Organisations (MENBO) in Beirut,
Lebanon.
- S ICMED programme on continental surfaces and interfaces in the
Mediterranean region, for sustainable development of Mediterranean agro-ecosystems, launched in Amman, Jordan.
-W
orkshop of the regional G-Wadi cooperation network on the
impact of climate change and management of water resources in
arid and semi-arid regions held in Amman, Jordan.
- International symposium on energy, climate change and sustainable
development held in Tunisia.
West and
Central Africa
6 sites
319 staff
61 individual grants awarded
4 emerging Southern research teams
supported
- AMMA summer school on climate change and water resources
held in Dakar, Senegal.
- In Senegal, four doctoral schools established with Cheikh Anta
Diop University in Dakar and two Biopass joint laboratories launched, on fish ecology and on the population biology of pests.
- “Support for institutions and networks” strand of the Sud Expert
Plantes programme began in Burkina Faso.
- Programme on “Contemporary Mali, support for human and social
sciences research” launched by AIRD.
- First forum of the AMESD programme on environmental
monitoring in Africa for sustainable development held in the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
- Speleological and ethnological reconnaissance expedition in
Bamiléké country in the West Cameroon highlands.
- International symposium on plant species held under the Great
Green Wall project, in Senegal.
- Ninth SITRASS seminar (international solidarity in transport and
research in Sub-Saharan Africa) held in Togo.
Partnerships around the world
Asia - Pacific
East and
Southern Africa
and Indian Ocean
4 sites
73 staff
20 individual grants awarded
4 emerging Southern research teams
supported
- Framework partnership agreement signed between the Kenyan
Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology and French
research institutes CIRAD, IFRA and IRD.
- Fifth pan-African conference on malaria held in Nairobi, Kenya.
- International joint laboratory on climate change opened in South
Africa.
- Sixth WIOMSA congress held and Run Sea Science project on
marine science in the Indian Ocean launched, in La Réunion.
- Symposium on “islands facing the challenges of sustainable
development” held in La Réunion.
- Master’s degree course in Water and Development established in
Ethiopia.
- The book Le Rift est-africain, covering numerous scientific aspects
of the East African rift valley, published.
- CRVOI research centre for monitoring and research on emerging
diseases in the Indian Ocean opened in La Réunion in the
presence of the Prime Minister.
6 sites
190 staff
17 individual grants awarded
3 emerging Southern research teams
supported
- F irst Lao-French conference on research for development held in
Vientiane.
- “ Doctoriales” training seminars for doctoral social sciences
students held in Vietnam.
- T he book A la découverte des villages de métier au Vietnam, on
the craft villages of Vietnam, published in three languages (French,
English and Vietnamese).
-W
orkshop on the human impact on water resources and soils held
in Bangalore, India.
- T wo innovative fish farms set up and seminar held to present the
IRD’s fish farming technology offering, in Indonesia.
- T ARASOC survey: exploration of benthic fauna on two chains of
seamounts off the southwest coast of Tahiti.
- Second congress of French research in the Pacific held in Tahiti.
- International symposium on stability, security and development in
the South Pacific held in Nouméa.
- Inventory of biodiversity and typology of habitats conducted,
as part of establishing the World Heritage status of the northern
lagoon reefs in New Caledonia.
- Submarine geodesy mission in Vanuatu.
Annual report 2009
43
International
The IRD is an original form of institution, well established
in the intertropical zone, and works actively to mobilise
its Northern partners on overseas development issues
and establish technological facilities for research in the
South. In 2009 it used its international network of centres
and offices to consolidate its links with research and
education structures in developing countries and its place
as a European leader in research for the South.
An active member of institutional networks such as Inconet and
Era-net, the IRD plays a part in building Europe’s research area.
It argues for the importance of research for development and of
the Southern science communities’ involvement in designing and
conducting that research. Strengthening bilateral relations with
organisations and funding agencies in other European countries,
it encourages them to give more consideration to partnership with
developing countries. Designing and organising research projects
in direct collaboration with Southern partners also helps them to
integrate into international networks. The European Union currently
supports fifty-four projects organised in this way; the IRD is
coordinating partner for fifteen of them.
The Institute’s deployment policy in the five regions defined as
priorities involves setting up overarching supranational projects. Five
international joint laboratories were created in 2009: one in Morocco,
on plant and microbe biotechnology; one in South Africa, on climate
change; two, in Brazil and Chile, working on environmental change;
and one in India working on water resources.
West and Central Africa
In Cameroon, where the IRD celebrated 60 years of presence, a new
research coordination centre was opened for the French AIDS and
viral hepatitis research agency ANRS. New agreements were signed
with three Cameroonian research institutes and the University
of Yaoundé I. In Senegal Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar,
Gaston Berger University in Saint-Louis and the Institut Sénégalais de
Recherche Agricole have all initiated innovative collaborative projects.
For example, 2009 saw the opening of the first business incubator
in West Africa and of a joint fish biology and ecology laboratory. In
Gabon, framework agreements were signed with the Centre
International de Recherches Médicales in Franceville and the Centre
National Gabonais de la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique.
Anchovy fishery/Peru
Craft village/Vietnam
Caast-net research and technology network
The Caast-net network, funded by the European Union and involving some twenty European
and African partners, was created to organise collective discussion about collaboration in science
and technology. Its formation coincided with the revival of cooperation through a new strategic
partnership in which one strand is science, space and information and ICT. Discussions
will focus on collaboration in health, energy and the social sciences. The work
programme will also include dissemination in Africa of information about the 7th EU
framework agreement.
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www.caast-net.org/
Institut de recherche pour le développement
East and Southern Africa
In this region the year was marked by formal confirmation of
cooperation with Kenya. Under the aegis of the French embassy,
the Kenyan Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology
signed a framework partnership agreement with French research
institutes CIRAD and the IRD, both of which have a permanent
presence in the country. Meetings were held under the eighth priority
of the Africa-European Union strategic partnership, as the Kenyan
minister was chairing the conference of African countries’ research
ministers. The drive towards balanced partnership instruments was
reflected in the creation of an international joint laboratory on climate
change, in which the main partners are the University of Cape Town
and the South African environment ministry.
Mediterranean
In line with Europe’s neighbourhood policy and the project for a
Mediterranean Union, the Institute’s scientific cooperation with
North Africa and the Middle East was strengthened. The work has
generated a regional momentum involving South-South exchanges,
mainly with countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (Senegal and Niger) and
Latin America (Mexico). A highlight of the year was the start of work at
the international joint unit on mathematical and computer modelling
of complex systems, headquartered in Marrakesh. Also in Morocco,
a new international joint laboratory has just been created to work
on plant and microbe biotechnology. These two initiatives are
Signing of the CORUS agreement
housed within universities, fostering a linkage between research and
training. Collaboration with the Egyptian authorities was renewed,
with the signing of a framework agreement with the Egyptian Science
and Technology Development Fund.
Latin America
Institutional agreements were renewed with most Latin American
partners and new cooperative projects begun, particularly in
Bolivia. Several 2009 events reflect the Institute’s widespread renown
in Latin America: an IRD representative joined the Mexican Academy
of Science, the Christopher Augur prize for biotechnology research
was created in Mexico and the Bolivian parliament gave official
recognition to the Institute’s work for the environment. As joint
organiser of the international conference on metal pollution in the
Andes and Amazonia, the Institute promoted regional exchanges
between research scientists in the Andean countries. Scientific
cooperation is now better structured: one international joint
laboratory on palaeoclimatology and one on environment were
created on the occasion of the IRD Director General’s visit to Brazil. In
Mexico, the Institute took part in the creation of the Jacques Cousteau
marine and coastal observatory, the regional centre for the protection
of the environment in Tabasco and the regional biomedical research
centre for infectious diseases in Veracruz.
Asia
Work in Asia was supported by well-established local institutions in
partnership with French or French-language universities and research
centres. The Institute strengthened relations with the Vietnamese
Academy of Science and Technology and was involved in developing
regional cooperation on sedentary farming around the Mekong and
on nutrition. An international joint laboratory on water science was
created in India. A Vietnamese branch of the joint research unit UMMISCO (mathematical and computer modelling of complex systems)
was created, with training a core strand of its work. Also in Vietnam
the Institute organised ‘Doctoriales’ seminars for young Vietnamese,
Cambodian, Laotian and Thai social science students.
/ Contact: dri@ird.fr
EUROsociAL Santé,
European-Latin American collaborative health project
EUROsociAL Santé is one of five strands in an ambitious programme funded by the European
Commission to promote social cohesion in Latin America. From 2006 to 2009 the IRD
coordinated the work of a consortium of sixteen European and Latin American institutions
including ministries, national public health schools, foundations and universities. More than two
hundred seminars, visits and workshops were held, promoting access to health as a vector of
social cohesion. More than thirty French institutions and 100 French experts were mobilised to
support the introduction of reforms in the region.
http://www.eurosocialsalud.eu/
Annual report 2009
45
Overseas France
New Caledonia
The Institute conducted an inventory of the main biological groups
in the Grand Lagon Nord – algae, corals, fish and invertebrates
– to establish the relationship between biodiversity and the reef
habitats mapped from satellite images. The ANR’s SOLWARA project
was launched. This research aims to understand fluctuations in El
Niño events in the south-western Pacific and is part of an international
programme involving physical oceanography work by a dozen
countries. It is supported by the main global climate research
institutions. Also in 2009, an agreement was signed with the Institut
Agronomique Calédonien, IFREMER, the Pasteur Institute and the
University of New Caledonia to pool molecular biology equipment.
French Polynesia
The creation of an observatory for long-term monitoring of
terrestrial and marine ecosystems in the South Pacific (GOPS,
Grand Observatoire de l’environnement et de la biodiversité terrestre
et marine du Pacifique Sud) involved a number of French universities
and research bodies*. The research topics identified at this stage are
marine ecosystem monitoring; island biodiversity; variability, climate
change and natural hazards; and changes in uses and management
of natural resources in the South Pacific. On the subject of local and
global changes, the 11th Pacific Science Inter-Congress brought
together over 700 scientists from throughout Asia and the Pacific.
French Guiana
Banana plantation/Martinique
The IRD plays a driving role in environmental
protection, health and improvements to farming methods
in the French overseas territories, where it has five centres.
These are stable bases for French research in the tropics, from
which the impact of science can spread and partnerships
can be established throughout the surrounding regions.
Under the deployment policy for French Guiana, the research
centre became an inter-institute research campus, part of the
French Guiana university cluster. Two major regional programmes,
launched when the SEAS Guyane satellite receiving station started
up, completed their work: EREMIBA, monitoring epidemics in French
Guiana and PROCLAM, on coastal ecosystems from Saint-Laurent
to the State of Maranhão in Brazil. Deeply involved in the study of
Amazonian biodiversity and ecosystems, the IRD was joint organiser
of an international conference on ‘Science at the service of
tropical rainforest management’. It also took part in the airborne
TROPISAR survey, acquiring radar data on the French Guiana forests.
/ Contact: dri@ird.fr
46
Institut de recherche pour le développement
Martinique
The CARIBSAT programme was launched, with the Université des
Antilles et de la Guyane as partner and the backing of the Martinique
regional government and Europe. Its aim is to provide the Lesser
Antilles with a dynamic geographical atlas using satellite images.
This new diagnostic tool will constitute a planning aid for decision
makers and will help to raise public awareness of environmental
issues and the need to protect marine ecosystems, mangrove forests
etc. Three major agricultural research programmes are under way:
on varietal innovation, designing innovative cropping systems, and
environmental risk management. The Institute is also coordinating
the regional cooperation programme CARAIBE-Hycos, in which
twelve Caribbean countries are working together on questions of
water resource management and conservation.
La Réunion
La Réunion hosted key meetings including the 6th congress of
the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association. A research
agreement on vector control was signed with the regional health and
social affairs authority and the CRVOI, the French monitoring and
research centre on emerging diseases in the Indian Ocean. With the
creation of the SEAS-OI satellite receiving station, remote sensing
is now another major research strand for the IRD and its partners in
La Réunion. The Institute’s collection of coffee varieties – 34 species
and 600 genotypes – was awarded OECD Biological Resource Centre
status. It is the fruit of a partnership with the local authorities (Conseil
Régional and Conseil Général), CIRAD and the Mascarin national
botanical conservatory.
*IRD - Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Université de Nouvelle-Calédonie - Université de Polynésie
Française - Université de Perpignan - IFREMER - EPHE - CNRS (INSU et INEE) - Muséum National
d’Histoire Naturelle - Institut Agronomique Calédonien
Marine exploration/French Polynesia
Metropolitan France
Working with some forty higher education establishments
and research bodies, the Institute consolidated its position
in the regions by taking a more active part in decentralised
initiatives. It launched partnerships that pool resources
in multi-institution science hubs working for the
development in the countries of the South.
To foster the establishment of a national research for development
offering, the Institute continued to open its centres, networks and
resources to its partners. Its two centres in metropolitan France took
an active part in the process; a project for an international campus
was launched in Bondy and a building for plant science research and
training is being built in Montpellier.
On 11 March a memorandum of understanding was signed with the
Conférence des Présidents d’Universités with a view to mobilising
all French establishments on issues connected with overseas
development. A first call for proposals was issued, for a Research and
Training for Development project. With great success: 31 universities
put forward 44 projects between them, 16 of which were selected.
With this type of call for proposals the IRD means to fully play its
part as France’s Agency for research in the service of development in
Southern countries.
IRD-CNES agreement
As part of consolidating links with other research bodies, the Institute
signed a framework agreement with the CNRS to work more closely
together for the benefit of new researchers in developing and emerging
countries. It also signed a framework agreement with the CNES with
a view to offering new space-based instruments for studying climate
and environment problems in Southern countries. The Institute also
joined two of France’s four alliances of research bodies: AVIESAN, for
work on life sciences and health, and ANCRE, for energy.
/ Contact: dpr@ird.fr
Plant sciences building
in Montpellier
Jointly funded under the State-Region plan contract, a building
for research into the adaptive capabilities of tropical crops is
under construction in Montpellier. The teams to be based
there work with Southern partners on the biological
mechanisms involved in plant development (flowering, fruiting,
rhizogenesis etc.) and genetic diversity. These scientists are
teaching in several Master’s courses and most of them
supervise doctoral students from Africa, South America and
Southeast Asia. The new building will house an e-learning
unit to provide a distance learning service – an approach that
particularly suits the IRD’s missions.
Plant sciences/Montpellier
Training/Bondy
Annual report 2009
47