21
EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH FOCUSED ON THE SOUTH
25
PRESERVING THE ENVIRONMENT
AND ITS RESOURCES
32
IMPROVING THE HEALTH
OF POPULATIONS
IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
36
UNDERSTANDING
THE EVOLUTION OF
DEVELOPING SOCIETIES
Excellence in research
focused on the South
IRD’s research priorities for the coming years fit with the global challenges
of climate change and the loss of biodiversity, food security, the emergence
of infectious diseases, and the increasing intensity and rising complexity of
globalisation. Understanding the effects of these planetary changes,
the adaptation of communities to their impacts, and the attenuation
of their consequences are major research challenges and core social issues.
Within this framework, IRD’s ambition is to closely link research excellence
with support for the development policies in the countries
and regions where it is active.
IRD - ANNUAL REPORT 2013
22
EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH FOCUSED ON THE SOUTH
Interdisciplinary research to respond
to the challenges of the South
Within the perspective of research partnerships with the
countries of the South and to strengthen its role as a finalised
research operator, IRD and its partners have established new
instruments: the LMI (joint international laboratories) and PPR
(regional pilot programmes).
Founded on knowledge of the field, the purpose of these joint
North-South initiatives is to strengthen the research capabilities of
research communities in the South, at the national and regional level,
by promoting North-South and South-South partnerships to respond
to major global development challenges. Most of the IRD units are PPR
and/or LMI stakeholders.
Consistent with the strategic priorities in the 2011-2015 performance
contract, the PPRs are coordination and governance structures for
North-South equality that bring together and organise a network of
various North-South research teams focused on mutual multidisciplinary objectives at the regional level. They work to foster greater
involvement of partners in the South in setting up, managing, and
steering programmes, strengthen the impact of research carried out
on communities in the South, support training and innovation, and
create a favourable context for obtaining co-funding for research in
the countries of the South.
Pathos-BIOS LMI
(international mixed
laboratory) team
IRD - ANNUAL REPORT 2013
In 2013, discussions conducted within the PPR framework helped
communities to come together and prepare submissions for major
invitations to tender. Even though the teams are faced with a new
operating mode, these multidisciplinary approaches, which combine
social sciences and/or health sciences with environmental science,
earth science, and life sciences, are gradually and naturally becoming
the standard for a growing number of programmes.
Research and training activities have addressed the priority
subject areas in the performance contract. The seven PPRs approved
by IRD in 2011 and 2012 contributed to promoting and supporting
multidisciplinary actions within their geographic and subject area
scopes: biodiversity, global changes, and health in central African
tropical rain-forests (FTH); rural communities, the environment, and
the climate in West Africa (SREC); environmental dynamics, resources,
and societies in Amazonia (AMAZ); heritage, resources, and governance
in Eastern and Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean (PAREGO);
public policies, communities, and globalisation in Sub-Saharan
Africa (POLMAF); risks, vulnerabilities, and their impacts in the Andes
(RIVIA); and soils, water, coastal areas, and at-risk communities in
South and Southeast Asia (SELTAR).
Launched in 2008, the LMIs are a working environment that has
been widely integrated by IRD teams and their partners. Located within
the partners’ premises, these operational structures have shared NorthSouth governance. The LMIs are based on a long-term commitment and
promote the development of research, training and innovation activities
based on joint projects using shared platforms (laboratories, equipment,
computer, document, and other resources).
In 2013, the founding North and South partners jointly evaluated
five LMIs:
• ICEMASA, International Centre for Education, Marine and
Atmospheric Sciences over Africa (South Africa, Cape Town);
• LBMV, Laboratoire de biotechnologie microbienne et végétale Microbial and plant biotechnology laboratory (Morocco, Rabat);
• CEFIRSE, Cellule franco-indienne de recherche en science de l’eau French-Indian Water Sciences Research Unit (India, Bangalore);
• Paleotrace, Paléoclimatologie tropicale: traceurs et variabilités Tropical Paleo-climatology: markers and variabilities (Brazil, Rio);
• OCE, Observatoire des changements environnementaux Observatory for environmental changes (Brazil, Brasilia).
Tropical rainforest
in Cameroon
The evaluation covered the LMI’s achievements and prospects
by considering research quality, as well as the organisational and
partnership foundations. These evaluations, which took place in a very
positive atmosphere at the end of 2013, will offer the basis for discussions
conducted with partners to consider their potential continuation.
This year, the Patho-BIOS (Biodiversité et biosécurité en Afrique
de l’Ouest - Biodiversity and Biosecurity in West Africa) LMI was also
created. It focuses on observing phytopathogenic agents. Reflecting the
dynamism of the teams, several new LMI projects have been submitted to
an invitation to tender launched in spring 2013. The evaluation procedure
in progress will lead to the creation of several laboratories, depending
upon available resources.
23
EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH FOCUSED ON THE SOUTH
42%
Publications: high visibility for IRD
The number of articles published by IRD researchers has increased
by approximately 12% in one year and reached 1,423 references in the
Web of Science, an increase of 57% since 2006. If we consider the scope
of the UMRs in which IRD is involved, this research production represents more than 3,450 articles1.
Publication visibility is still high: 56% of these articles were featured in high-impact journals in their category2 and more than 10% were
in peer-reviewed journals. Thus, 12 articles were published in Journal of
Hydrology, 9 in PNAS, 7 in Remote Sensing of Environment, 6 in Lancet
Infectious Diseases, 4 in Science, and 3 in Nature.
Each researcher contributes to two publications on average, and
nearly 11% of the 821 published research engineers or technicians have
written more than 5 articles.
The rate of joint publication with the countries of the South has now
reached 42%. This is especially notable in West Africa, as well as Latin
America and the Asia-Pacific region. These joint publications mainly
involve Brazil, Senegal, Cameroon, and Tunisia.
OF CO-PUBLICATIONS
TREND IN THE NUMBER OF PUBLICATIONS
BETWEEN 2006 AND 2012
with Southern partners
4,000
3,500
In social sciences, IRD researchers have published 272 articles,
58 books, and 245 book chapters identified in the Horizon database. A
new indicator specific to these disciplines was established in 2011 for
the performance contract. It is based on a reference base developed
according to criteria defined by the Aeres (Agence d’évaluation de la
recherche et de l’enseignement supérieur - Agency for the evaluation of
research and higher education). One hundred eighty five articles are in
this reference system, or 65% of the articles produced.
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
IRD STRICT
IRD UMR
The data reflect publications from 2012, as 2013 was not yet completed.
2
Subject categories in the Web of Science.
1
TREND IN PERCENTAGE
OF JOINT PUBLICATIONS WITH THE SOUTH
JOINT PUBLICATIONS WITH THE SOUTH
IN MAJOR REGIONS IN 2012
50%
250%
40%
200%
30%
150%
20%
100%
10%
50%
0%
0%
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
West and
Central
Africa
Latin
America
Asia,
Pacific
East Africa, Mediterranean
Southern
Africa,
Indian Ocean
Pepper harvesting
in Amazonia
IRD - ANNUAL REPORT 2013
24
EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH FOCUSED ON THE SOUTH
Ethical issues at the core of partnerships
Professional and research ethics are essential values for IRD.
Within this framework, the mission of the Comité consultatif de
déontologie et d’éthique (CCDE – Consulting Committee on Professional Conduct and Ethics) is to promote discussions on ethics in
research for development at the Institute.
Soil study
in South Africa
Contact: ccde@ird.fr
IRD - ANNUAL REPORT 2013
In 2013, the Committee’s activity was marked by a change in its
official mandate. The 3rd official mandate (2009-2013) chaired by
Professor Ali Benmakhlouf concluded with the conference on the
ethics of sustainable development, co-organised with the Fiocruz Aggeu
Magalhães Research Centre in Recife, Brazil.
Fifteen directives were issued on research protocols during the last
two sessions, which also helped publish two general directives: the first
on the ethics of disseminating research information to the southern
countries, and the second on crowdfunding or participatory financing
for research.
The report from this official mandate lists recommendations
covering the dissemination of directives from the Committee,
the strengthening of its role as “independent authority”, and the
improvement of the treatment and visibility of environmental questions.
A new committee chaired by Anne-Marie Moulin, Physician and
Philosopher of Science, was established in October 2013 with the
following focus:
• An expansion of the number of consultations on questions
concerning the environment, climate, and humanities and social
sciences.
• The development of an ethical culture at IRD, which represents
a tool for conducting research, an enrichment and expansion of
research activity conducted in a collegial atmosphere.
• Greater cooperation between the ethics committees of French
universities and research institutions (Inserm, CNRS, Cirad,
universities, etc.) and the National Consultative Committee on
Ethics.
• A coming together with ethics committees in the southern
countries where IRD is working as well as with the Francophone
International Bioethics Network.
COMPOSITION OF THE COMITÉ CONSULTATIF
DE DÉONTOLOGIE ET D’ÉTHIQUE (CCDE)
The CCDE consists of nine people named for four years (20132017):
• Chairperson: Anne-Marie Moulin, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Doctor of Medicine, specialising in tropical diseases and
parasitology. Research Director Emeritus at the CNRS.
• Tereza Lyra: doctor, researcher at the Aggeu Magalhaes in la
Fiocruz, Brazil, and teacher at the Faculty of Medicine at Pernambuco
University in Recife, Brazil.
• Bansa Oupathana: Deputy-Director in charge of Administration
and International Development in the cabinet of the rector of the
University of Health Sciences in Vientiane, Laos.
• Jean-Daniel Rainhorn: international health expert and Director
of the Centre de recherche et d’étude pour le développement de
la Santé (CREDES – Centre for Research and the study of Health
Development) in Paris.
• Florence Roghain: Assistant Professor at the University of Montpellier 2
and director of the Montpellier research in management group.
• Nathalie Verbruggen: agronomics engineer, Professor at the
Free University of Brussels and Director of the Plant Physiology and
Molecular Genetics Laboratory.
• Bernard Taverne: anthropologist and physician, research fellow
at the TransVIHMI Joint International Unit.
• Oumara Malam Issa: University Professor of Geosciences, IRD
representative to Niger.
• Audrey Dubot-Peres: Virologist and Research Engineer at IRD.
25
AMÉLIORER LA SANTÉ DES POPULATIONS DU SUD / DES RECHERCHES D’EXCELLENCE TOURNÉES VERS LES SUD
1
26
EVALUATING SEISMIC DANGER IN ECUADOR
Preserving the environment
and its resources
27
PLAGUE MONITORING AND CONTROL
IN MADAGASCAR
28
PAST CLIMATES FOR ANTICIPATING
THE FUTURE
29
In close collaboration with the partner countries, scientific
researchers from the IRD Environment and Resources Department
are studying the characteristics of tropical continental and aquatic
environments, the global changes affecting them, and their
effects and related risks
Focused on the IRD subject priorities in the performance contract, these studies concern
primarily volcanic and seismic risks and hazards, climate variability, water resources, the
dynamics of natural and human-exploited systems, the conservation of biodiversity, food
security, and the sustainable management of sensitive environments (forests, coastlines,
glaciers, etc.). In 2013, a significant share of the units’ research, training, and innovation
activities were conducted as part of structural mechanisms in the South: LMIs and UMIs
(joint international units), environmental observatories, pooled instruments, shared
technological programs and platforms, etc. As priority sites for research, knowledge
development, and strengthening the resources of research teams in the South, these
mechanisms are intended to better understand and sustainably manage spaces and species,
as well as to test hypotheses and scenarios within the current framework of climate change,
strengthened by the effects of anthropic pressures.
WHAT GROUNDWATER RESOURCES
ARE AVAILABLE IN AFRICA?
30
MORE PRODUCTIVE
AND RESISTANT VARIETIES OF RICE
31
GROUPER: SMALL FISHERIES
IN SENEGAL IN QUESTION
908
RESEARCHERS,
ENGINEERS AND
TECHNICIANS
958
ARTICLES
Contact: der@ird.fr
IRD - ANNUAL REPORT 2013
26
EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH FOCUSED ON THE SOUTH / PRESERVING THE ENVIRONMENT AND ITS RESOURCES
EVALUATING
SEISMIC DANGER
IN ECUADOR
City of Quito
in Ecuador
PARTNER HUGO YEPES
Geophysics institute of Quito, Peru.
“ Work to estimate the probability of seismic danger in
Ecuador was started in 2007 with IRD. Already by the 1990s,
IRD and the Geophysics Institute had worked together to study
earthquake scenarios for the city of Quito, highlighting the
significant risk in the Ecuadoran capital for the first time. The
current work is more quantitative and is being used in the new
version of the Ecuadoran Construction Standards. We hope to
reduce the seismic vulnerability of new buildings and engage
in a long-term program to reinforce existing structures to
reduce the risk.”
ECUADOR
IRD - ANNUAL REPORT 2013
Seismic risk is a major problem for Ecuador. To better
understand the seismic potential of the region
and anticipate future events, researchers from IRD
and the Geophysics Institute of Quito catalogued past
seismic events.
E
cuador is characterised by significant seismic activity in the
Ecuadoran Sierra, as shown by the 1949 earthquake with
6,000 victims in the provinces of Tungurahua, Cotopaxi,
Chimborazo and Bolívar. The risk also affects the coastal part
of the country, subject to the eastward movement of the Nazca plate.
From the coastal regions to the Andes cordillera, several major cities
including Quito, the capital, with 2.5 million inhabitants, are subject
to a potential threat. A broad prevention and evaluation program for
the seismic danger was launched to develop earthquake resistance
regulations.
Through the study of several existing databases, IRD seismologists
and their partners developed a unified and homogeneous catalogue
of seismicity based on five centuries of seismic events. They analysed
and catalogued earthquakes occurring between 1587 (shortly after the
arrival of the Spanish) and 2009 in the Andes cordillera, and during
the past 120 years in the coastal zone. This long-term analysis helped
obtain an inventory that is as representative as possible of the level
of seismic activity in the region under study.
The methods available to the researchers for characterising
an earthquake have changed over time. The first measurement
apparatus, installed at the start of the 20 th century, could only
record the strongest earthquakes (those of magnitudes greater than 7).
With the international networks of seismological stations that
appeared in the 1960s, it became possible to detect and locate most
earthquakes of a magnitude greater than or equal to 4.5. In the 1990s,
the Geophysics Institute of Quito developed a network of stations
providing more accurate instrument-based estimates of locations and
magnitudes. In 2009, this same institute established a catalogue of
the earthquakes occurring before the implementation of measurement
instruments and whose intensity was deduced from effects on people,
the environment, or buildings. The researchers analysed these
intensities to determine the magnitudes and locations of these socalled “pre-instrumental” earthquakes. The final catalogue covers
5 centuries, and contains 10,823 “instrumental” (of a magnitude
greater than 3) and 32 major “historical” earthquakes. The geographic
distribution of these events provides a first inventory of the high-risk
regions in Ecuador. Thus, in the cordillera, the specialists estimate
approximately a 30% probability that an event of magnitude 6 or
greater will occur in the next 20 years.
This long-term project is a first step toward quantifying the
seismic danger. Researchers are currently working on developing
earthquake recurrence models for Ecuador. These models rely on
the unified catalogue of seismicity, as well as on the study of active
faults and plate speeds measured by geodesics. Their objective is
to estimate the probabilities of movements occurring in the earth,
essential information for establishing an earthquake-resistant
construction code.
Céline Beauval – ISTerre Joint Research Unit (CNRS - IFSTTAR – IRD – Université
Grenoble 1 – Université de Savoie)
celine.beauval@ird.fr
Resource: Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
Population of Quito
27
PRESERVING THE ENVIRONMENT AND ITS RESOURCES / EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH FOCUSED ON THE SOUTH
The bubonic plague is an endemic zoonosis in
many countries, but the factors responsible for the
persistence of this highly virulent disease remain
poorly understood. IRD researchers and their partners
studied host rodent populations in Madagascar. Their
results shed new light on monitoring and controlling
this disease.
T
Black rat, disease carrier
in Madagascar
PLAGUE
MONITORING
AND CONTROL IN
MADAGASCAR
PARTNER MINOARISOA RAJERISON
Director of the Central Plague Laboratory, Malagasy Ministry
of Health, Pasteur Institute of Madagascar.
“Since its introduction in 1898, the plague has been a
public health problem in Madagascar. The Central Plague
Laboratory is a WHO collaborating centre. Responsible
primarily for the diagnosis and monitoring of epidemics, it
also has a mission to monitor breeding-grounds and vectors.
Since 1993, a collaboration with IRD has helped develop
research on the ecology of rodents, with the goal of better
targeting the fight against the disease.”
MADAGASCAR
he bubonic plague, caused by the Yersinia pestis bacillus,
was the source of three pandemics in the history of
humankind, the last one having started at the end of the
19 th century. In present times, its persistence in many
countries in rodent populations is responsible for cases and even
epidemics in humans. But while the number of officially declared
cases in humans around the world is low (an average of 2,322 cases
and 176 deaths were recorded each year between 1987 and 2009
according to the WHO), the plague remains a deadly disease without
adequate antibiotic treatment, and it can propagate very rapidly.
Therefore, monitoring the rodents and fleas that are the vectors of
the disease is a public health priority.
With nearly one third of the human cases recorded since 1987,
Madagascar is one of the most significant plague outbreak sites in
the world. The disease has been endemic there since the 1920s in the
Hautes Terres (Central Highlands) region. IRD researchers and their
partners from the Pasteur Institute of Madagascar and the Ministry
of Health focused on populations of black rats, Rattus rattus, the
primary hosts for the plague in this region. For the first time, they
showed two factors that help explain the persistence of the disease
in Madagascar: first, the presence of rats resistant to the disease in
the Hautes Terres region, which helps maintain populations of hosts
and vectors after epidemics; and secondly, the dispersion potential
of the rodents, which varies in relation to topography. Thus, their
theoretical models suggest that the plague was first able to persist in
the mountainous regions because of populations of rats connected by
dispersion rates that were neither too high, able to carry the disease
in a limited way, nor too low, to allow recolonisation of the area after
an epidemic. The secondary evolution of resistance in black rats
reinforced this persistence over the long-term.
The researchers also conducted genetic studies to determine
the factors behind the rats’ resistance to the disease. Thus, they
identified nine genes coding proteins in the immune system or
Blood samples from
black rats
involved in fighting pathogens. These preliminary results open
up prospects for better understanding the infectious and immune
processes in question and for finding new therapeutic pathways.
Thus, this work is contributing new knowledge on the factors
behind the persistence of the plague in Madagascar, and in natural
plague outbreak sites in general. It could help establish more
targeted, less expensive, and more effective monitoring and control
strategies.
Carine Brouat – carine.brouat@ird.fr
and Jean-Marc Duplantier – jean-marc.duplantier@ird.fr
CBGP Joint Research Unit (Cirad – Inra – IRD – Montpellier SupAgro)
Resources: Plos Computational biology, Plos Neglected Tropical Diseases, Molecular Ecology
IRD - ANNUAL REPORT 2013
28
EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH FOCUSED ON THE SOUTH / PRESERVING THE ENVIRONMENT AND ITS RESOURCES
The intertropical zone is especially exposed to climate
risks, and the countries of Africa, Asia, Oceania,
and Latin America are suffering the full force of the
dangers. The reconstruction of paleo-climates and
paleo-environments at various space and time scales
helps better predict extreme events, anticipate their
catastrophic effects, and understand the potential
consequences of climate change.
PAST
CLIMATES FOR
ANTICIPATING
THE FUTURE
Sediment coring
in Lake Chad
PARTNER DR MOUSSA ISSEINI
Director of the scientific and technical Research - Ministry of Higher
education and Scientific Research, Chad.
“IRD is a strategic partner of the Chad regarding research
for the development. This historic partnership enters a new
phase with the signature of a framework agreement of
scientific and technical cooperation between the scientific
Chadian Ministry of Research and the IRD. This agreement
identifies 4 priority programs of which the study of the
paleoclimatic variability of the Lake Chad. The research led
with Cerege on the paleoclimatic variability of the Lake Chad
allowed to obtain decisive results. The training of Chadian
students participates in this dynamics of cooperation which
represents for us an example to be followed.”
CHAD
IRD - ANNUAL REPORT 2013
I
n one century, average temperatures on the surface of the earth
will have risen by an average of 0.7°C to 0.8°C and, according
to various scenarios, they should be 1.1 to 6.3°C higher than
current temperatures by 21001. The warming of the climate on
a planetary scale is primarily due to human activities that emit socalled “greenhouse” gases. This global temperature increase is leading
to the melting of glaciers, rising sea levels, changes in precipitation,
changes in the salinity of oceans, the intensification of hurricanes,
and change in ranges of distribution for certain species. To study past
climates, researchers rely on true natural archives, ice and glaciers,
lacustrine and marine sediment, and coral and carbonate concretions
(speleothems). The various layers of accumulated matter trap organic,
inorganic, and biological components over time. These markers provide
precious information about the successive states of the atmosphere,
the biosphere, and the hydrosphere.
The analysis of pollen grains collected from sediment from
Lake Chad has helped researchers to reconstitute the plants and
precipitation that were prevalent in the region 6,000 years ago, during
the middle Holocene era. These results are especially interesting since,
during this period, the Sahara gradually became the desert that we
know today. The study of pollen and the reconstitution of precipitation
in this era thus provide indications about the adaptation of plants to
climate change. This can help develop models useful to understanding
current changes in a similar context of a warming climate.
Research is also being conducted in Latin America where IRD
researchers and their partners are studying relationships between the
ocean and the atmosphere. In fact, the dynamics of the ocean and
interactions with the atmosphere, especially in tropical regions, have
major repercussions on climate change around the world. The objective
is to reconstruct the evolution of the ocean’s surface temperature. In
particular, researchers are interested in changes to the upwelling2 zone
in Peru under the effect of alternating warm and cold periods during
the past 2,000 years. Their results show a difference in productivity
in these areas of cold water upwelling in relation to the atmospheric
temperature and provide a better understanding of the mechanisms
involved in the regulation of the climate by ocean currents.
Another study was conducted on concretions collected from the
Palestina cave in Peru. It helped researchers to reconstruct changes in
the South-American monsoons over the past 1,600 years with accuracy
of approximately 5 years.
By simultaneously using various types of climate archives to
describe the historic successions of climate types, changes in sea levels,
and extreme events on a regional scale, the work conducted by the IRD
researchers and their partners will thus help anticipate the changes
to come and refine scenarios and medium-term projections for water
resources, plant and animal production, and food security.
Information from the 4th report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change –
2007 report on climate change.
Upwellings of nutrient-rich cold water.
1
2
Florence Sylvestre – CEREGE Joint Research Unit (Aix-Marseille Université CNRS - IRD – Collège de France)
florence.sylvestre@ird.fr
Abdel Sifeddine – LOCEAN Joint Research Unit (CNRS – IRD – Muséum national
d’histoire naturelle – Université Pierre and Marie Curie)
abdel.sifeddine@ird.fr
Resource: Climate of the Past
Cave in Toronto National Park
in Bolivia
29
PRESERVING THE ENVIRONMENT AND ITS RESOURCES / EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH FOCUSED ON THE SOUTH
WHAT
GROUNDWATER
RESOURCES
ARE AVAILABLE
IN AFRICA?
Geophysics training
in Burkina Faso
PARTNER NICAISE YALO
Coordinator of the Aqui Benin JEAI. “The ‘Aqui-Benin’ JEAI of the Laboratoire d’hydrologie
appliquée (Applied Hydrology Laboratory) at the University
of Abomey Calavi is devoted to capacity building in the
area of aquifer prospecting and modelling in Benin.
Our collaboration with IRD helps train students and
researchers in the practice of geophysical prospecting.
Thus they will be able to better serve Benin in both the
private and public sectors. The new knowledge acquired will
enable researchers from Benin to improve the integrated
and efficient management of groundwater resources to
achieve the Millennium Development Goals.”
NIGER
Using surface water is often problematic for African
populations as this vital resource can be lacking in
the dry season in semiarid zones. It is also sensitive
to various types of contamination. Groundwater is
an interesting alternative but it often remains poorly
understood. Through modern sub-soil investigation
techniques, studies conducted by IRD researchers
and their partners allow better quantification of
groundwater and its renewal, thus permitting its
sustainable management.
D
espite the progress made through the Millennium Development
Goals, only 45% of rural Africans have access to an improved
water supply to meet their domestic needs. Tens of thousands
of wells and boreholes have however been constructed in recent decades, but many of them do not produce enough water to meet
the needs of the people. To capture groundwater in sustainable ways,
structures must be installed both to enable the desired operating flows,
and also to have sufficient storage and renewal capacities to guarantee
these flows over the medium term.
In semi-arid regions, agriculture is a key resource whose development can be hindered by a lack of surface water. Researchers have
conducted studies near the city of Diffa, in extreme Southeast Niger
where pepper farming, a significant source of income for the local people,
has contributed to increasing irrigation needs. They sounded the aquifer
in the Komadougou river valley along a major geophysical transect. They
created a map of water resources down to a depth of 100 m by using
cutting-edge techniques: proton magnetic resonance and temporal electromagnetic surveys. The data collected will make it possible to position
future wells in the most promising areas. They also discovered that this
aquifer is not protected by clayey strata, which makes it vulnerable to
the un-managed use of fertilisers. Thus, these studies will be useful to
authorities for establishing sustainable water management as part of
the local agricultural development strategy.
Approximately 40% of the African continent is covered with ancient
rocks in which the volume of groundwater and well operating flows exploiting bedrock aquifers are typically low. In Benin for example, 40% of
the wells drilled are unusable (flow rates too low to supply a small rural
community of approximately 250 people) and less than 20% produce
enough water to supply an urban community. Also, important studies
Proton magnetic resonance
measurements in Niger
have been conducted since 2013 as part of the GRIBA (Groundwater Resources In Basement rocks of Africa)1 project in Benin, Burkina Faso, and
Uganda. Sponsored by IRD, it aims to quantify the volumes and renewal
of groundwater stored in bedrock aquifers, and to develop management
scenarios through hydro-geologic modelling. GRIBA is also committed to
supporting the development of a network of African researchers working
on these questions. Through an innovative and reproducible approach,
the stocks of groundwater that can be mobilised for human needs were
quantified for the first time in the major geological bedrock units in
Benin. The renewal rates for the water were calculated. Their behaviour
can be simulated based on various demand (demographic pressure) and
pluviometry change (climate variation) scenarios.
1
GRIBA brings together the European Union and the African Union.
Marc Descloitres – marc.descloitres@ird.fr
and Jean Michel Vouillamoz - jean-michel.vouillamoz@ird.fr
LTHE Joint Research Unit (CNRS – IRD – Université Joseph Fourier
Grenoble 1)
Resource: Journal of African Earth Sciences
For more information: Website for the GRIBA project: http://projet-griba.com/
http://projet-griba.com/
IRD - ANNUAL REPORT 2013
30
EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH FOCUSED ON THE SOUTH / PRESERVING THE ENVIRONMENT AND ITS RESOURCES
MORE
PRODUCTIVE AND
RESISTANT
VARIETIES OF RICE
Student working on
a sterile host
PARTNER PROF. DO NANG VINH
Co-director of the LMI RICE, Project Director at the Institut de
génétique agronomique (Agronomical Genetics Institute), Vietnam.
“In Vietnam, rice is not a cultivated plant, rice is life.
The research conducted by the LMI RICE is a database
of molecular genetics discoveries to supply rice
selection and improvement programs in Vietnam and
other Asian countries. This research is linked with
molecular biology training activities on rice and other
cultivated tropical species, which are very useful to aid
development.”
VIETNAM
IRD - ANNUAL REPORT 2013
Vietnam is especially threatened by the consequences
of climate change and the repeated emergence of
new species of rice viruses and other pathogens. IRD
researchers and their partners are conducting genetic
studies to identify the elements that will help create
new, more productive, and resistant varieties.
I
mproving cultivated species and adapting agricultural customs
and practices to the effects of climate change is a major shortand medium-term challenge for communities in the South. The
two major rice production basins in Vietnam, the Mekong Delta
and the Red River, are particularly threatened by global warming. On
the one hand, this is translated by a significant drop in the levels of
these rivers, creating a lack of water, and on the other hand, by a rise
in sea level which leads to soil contamination from salt. The average
sea level has increased 20 cm over the past 50 years. Simulations show
a rise of approximately one metre by 2100, which would lead to the
loss of nearly 31,000 square km of arable land. Additionally, Vietnam
is affected by the recurrent emergence of new species of viruses and
other pathogens such as nematodes. However, maintaining a high
level of rice production is essential for food security in the country
and to meet increasing needs abroad. The development of new, more
resistant rice varieties would help maintain yields.
The activities developed within the framework of the LMI RICE 1
are based on functional genomics and biotechnologies to identify
new genes involved in the resistance of rice to abiotic and biotic
stresses and in its productivity. In particular, the research is focused
on studying the development of rice root structure. In fact, a deep,
branched root structure helps the plant to make optimal use of the
water resources available in the soil. Researchers have identified
several regulatory genes that could modify root development and thus
the plant’s ability to resist drought. They are studying the diversity of
the main genes that control these characteristics in Vietnamese rice
collections. They will then conduct functional studies to determine
the exact role of the genes studied and to promote the development
of new varieties that are better adapted to moisture constraints.
Other genetics studies are focusing on the development of panicles in Asian and African rice varieties. In fact, the number of grains
per panicle, which is dependent on the level of branching, is one
of the major characteristics that determine productivity. The genes
involved will be able to be used in local rice improvement programs.
Viruses and nematodes, against which no phytosanitary treatment is effective, regularly cause highly significant yield losses. At
the end of 2006, due to the serious consequences of two rice viruses
in the Mekong Delta, the government temporarily banned rice exports.
Recently, a new syndrome due to another virus spread rapidly in
the centre and north regions. IRD researchers and their partners are
studying the relationships between the plant and these pathogens to
better understand the mechanisms involved in the infection and to
identify genes that are resistant to the viruses and to nematodes. In
time, the researchers’ goal is to develop multiple, lasting resistances
to these bio-aggressors through genetic engineering.
By mobilising IRD teams and teams from the South, the research
conducted within the LMI RICE framework will help develop more
resistant rice varieties that are better suited to global climate change.
1
LMI Rice Partners: Vietnam: Agronomical Genetics Institute (AGI), University of Science
and Technology of Hanoi (USTH), Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Science (VAAS), France:
Université Montpellier 2.
Pascal Gantet – LMI RICE
pascal.gantet@univ-montp2.fr
Resources: Virus Genes, Gene Exp. Patterns, Trends in Plant Science
For more information: the LMI RICE website: https://sites.google.com/
site/lmiricevn/
In vitro rice plant
regeneration
31
PRESERVING THE ENVIRONMENT AND ITS RESOURCES / EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH FOCUSED ON THE SOUTH
The emblematic fish of Senegal, the white grouper or
“thiof”, is becoming increasingly rare. IRD researchers
and their partners have shown that the falling numbers
are due to the expansion of artisanal fishing. They
recommend better management of small fisheries and
regulations on exports.
Fishing pirogues
in Senegal
GROUPER:
SMALL
FISHERIES IN
SENEGAL
IN QUESTION
PARTNER DR DJIGA THIAO
Research Coordinator at the Centre de recherches océanographiques
de Dakar-Thiaroye (CRODT - Dakar - Thiaroye Centre for Oceanographic
Research).
“The collaboration between IRD and the CRODT led to
the completion of my doctoral thesis, which contributed
a broad view of the trend in various key dimensions
of the Senegalese fishery over recent decades, as
well as the challenges for sustainably managing the
sector. We then conducted other studies on Senegalese
fisheries, published in prestigious journals. Maintaining
and intensifying this collaboration is highly desirable,
especially in the area of research production and
capacity building through stays in various IRD
research units.”
SENEGAL
T
he 700 km of Senegalese coast are some of the most wellstocked fishing grounds in the world, and fishing now provides nearly 70% of the animal protein requirements for the
Senegalese people. In the past 30 years, artisanal fishing has
developed considerably. Under pressure from global demand, the fleet
has expanded from 3,000 dugout canoes in 1980 to more than 12,000
today, and now accounts for two thirds of the country’s fish catch. The
majority of boats now have GPS navigation tools and sounders enabling
them to detect fish. They travel long distances, beyond territorial waters.
This improvement in fishing practices and the growing number of fishers
do however exert increasingly heavy pressure on fishery resources.
IRD researchers and their partners at the Centre de recherches
océanographiques de Dakar – Thiaroye (Centre for Oceanographic Research in Dakar – Thiaroye) are studying the trends in grouper stocks
in the region between 1974 and 2006. This fish, which even recently
provided the base for the national dish, “thiéboudiène”, is becoming increasingly rare in market stalls and has reached an exorbitant price per
kilogram. Researchers have shown a correlation between the expansion
of artisanal fishery - considered until then as a sustainable alternative
to industrial fisheries - and the decrease in grouper populations. In fact,
this hermaphroditic species is especially vulnerable to overfishing: it is
born female, and then changes sex at the age of approximately 12 years,
when it reaches 80 cm in length. Yet, the largest individuals, and thus
the males, are the preferred catch. This leads to an imbalance between
males and females, which threatens the reproductive capacity of the
fish and stock renewal.
This study highlights the necessity for developing a conservation
strategy incorporating management of the artisanal fleet and reduction
of the pressure that it exerts on the resource. In particular, the researchers recommend reducing subsidies that are incentives to continually
increase fishery capacities. They also recommend regulating exports,
which lead to an increase in the price per kilogram, to limit the economic
value of the species. The establishment of taxes and implementation of
awareness campaigns could be envisioned.
Seine fishing
in Senegal
Philippe Cury – EME Joint Research Unit (IRD – Ifremer
– Université Montpellier 2)
philippe.cury@ird.fr
Resource: African Journal of Marine Science
For more information: watch the video of Philippe Cury’s researches
Philippe Cury: http://youtu.be/6wEqQIC6F-4
IRD - ANNUAL REPORT 2013
32
33
NEW LIGHT SHED ON THE ORIGIN
OF PLASMODIUM VIVAX MALARIA
IN HUMANS
34
WHAT ARE THE RISK FACTORS
FOR LIVER CANCER IN PERU?
35
2
Improving the health
of populations in the South
HIV/AIDS: LIMITING RESISTANCE
TO TREATMENT
Among the Millennium Development Goals, the health of populations
holds a major place and remains one of the main challenges
for research in the South. Studies have been conducted in close
collaboration with many researchers in the North and South.
258
RESEARCHERS,
ENGINEERS, AND
TECHNICIANS
492
ARTICLES
Infectious diseases and, in particular, those related to poverty (malaria, HIV infection, and
tuberculosis), rare or neglected diseases, and emerging infectious diseases have been widely
studied. In addition to basic research, better prevention, access to health care and medications,
innovations in diagnostic methods, treatments, vaccines, and vector control have been addressed.
So-called “lifestyle diseases” (cancers, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity), the main
causes of morbidity and mortality in the countries of the North, are occurring more frequently in
the countries of the South. Because of this, they have been incorporated into the department’s
areas of study. Nutrition remains a major problem in the countries of the South, and is being
studied broadly by researchers at the Institute. Lastly, the environment and health area occupies
a growing share of interdisciplinary action and collaborations with other research institutions
within the Aviesan Alliance.
Contact: dsa@ird.fr
IRD - ANNUAL REPORT 2013
33
IMPROVING THE HEALTH OF POPULATIONS IN THE SOUTH / EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH FOCUSED ON THE SOUTH
NEW LIGHT
SHED ON THE
ORIGIN OF
PLASMODIUM
VIVAX MALARIA
IN HUMANS
PARTNER BENJAMIN OLLOMO
Researcher at CIRMF - Director of the Biodiversity, Ecology,
and Parasite Evolution team.
“Gabon is currently developing eco-tourism as one
path for diversifying its economy. Since 2002,
13 national parks have been created, covering an
area of more than 30,000 square km. Most are
inhabited by great apes such as gorillas and
chimpanzees. Yet, for several decades, studies have
shown that emerging and infectious diseases are
originating in these primates (HIV, Ebola, etc.). To evaluate
the risks for people, we conducted this study on malaria
in collaboration with IRD. The results show that in these
areas there is a risk of the parasites transferring from
apes to humans and vice versa. They will be useful in
establishing new prevention strategies.”
GABON
The second leading cause of malaria around the world,
Plasmodium vivax, is still relatively unknown. A study
conducted by IRD researchers and their partners is
contributing new information on its origin and evolution,
in great apes and Humans.
T
he WHO recorded 207 million cases of malaria in 2012 around
the world and 627,000 deaths, primarily among African
children. This disease, transmitted to Humans by a vector
mosquito is due to the Plasmodium parasite, of which the
two main species are Plasmodium falciparum, especially prevalent
and deadly in Africa, and Plasmodium vivax, prevalent especially in
South America and Asia.
There are still many gaps in knowledge about the evolution
and origin of Plasmodium vivax. Although it is absent from human
populations in Central Africa (as they are largely resistant to this
parasite), it has been discovered recently in great apes in the same
region. Until now, no link had been established between parasites
circulating in the great apes of Africa and in Humans in other regions
of the world.
A study conducted in Gabon has just contributed new
information. The researchers analysed and compared the genetic
information carried by Plasmodium vivax in the great apes of Africa
(gorillas and chimpanzees) and humans from around the world. Then
they showed that the parasites in the great apes formed a distinct
and much more diversified genetic group than that of the parasites
in Humans. This result suggests an older origin of the African simian
line. Therefore, this parasite would have undergone two distinct
waves of expansion over its evolutionary history. The first, quite
probably from Asia, would be the source of the line discovered in
African great apes. The second, occurring later, would have led to the
contemporary human line. Supplemental studies will help determine
the Asian or African origin of this second wave.
The researchers also showed that transfers from apes to Humans
or vice versa are possible. Thus, a parasite belonging to the African
simian line of Plasmodium vivax was isolated in a patient returning
from travel in the forests of Central Africa as well as in a species of
sylvan mosquito known for biting Humans. They also found a case of
a chimpanzee living in a reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo,
infected by a strain that was very close genetically to the Plasmodium
vivax in Humans.
Chimpanzee
in Gabon
These discoveries contribute to resolving an already quite old
paradox, which is the infection of travellers with Plasmodium vivax in
Central Africa, while this parasite was considered to be absent from
human populations in this region. They also raise the question of the
potential role played by great apes as a reservoir for the parasite for
Humans, which singularly complicates the strategies implemented
to eradicate the disease in human populations.
Franck Prugnolle - franck.prugnolle@ird.fr
and Christophe Paupy - christophe.paupy@ird.fr
and François Renaud - francois.renaud@ird.fr
MIVEGEC Joint Research Unit (Université Montpellier 1 –
Université Montpellier 2 – CNRS – IRD)
Resources: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PlosOne
IRD - ANNUAL REPORT 2013
34
EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH FOCUSED ON THE SOUTH / IMPROVING THE HEALTH OF POPULATIONS IN THE SOUTH
Liver cancer is the sixth most common cancer worldwide
WHAT ARE THE
RISK FACTORS
FOR LIVER
CANCER IN PERU?
Clinical consultation
in Inen
PARTNER DR ELOY RUIZ
Cancer surgeon at Inen in Lima, Peru.
“Over my thirty years of surgical practice, I have observed a
decrease in the average age of cancer patients. We hope that
the financing awarded to our partner IRD will help contribute
to the understanding necessary to eliminate this phenomenon.
We also hope that the anti-cancer molecule discovered
recently by members of the PHARMADEV unit, and which won
the Innovation-Sud 2013 prize from IRD, will give new hope to
our patients.”
IRD - ANNUAL REPORT 2013
PERU
age of 40, most often with cirrhosis or hepatitis B or C.
incidence of the disease in abnormally young subjects,
the majority of which do not have any of the risk factors
classically associated with liver cancer and originating in
one region in the Andes.
T
he number of cases of liver cancer has doubled world-wide
over the last two decades, due to the increase of hepatitis
viruses, particularly in West Africa and South-East Asia
where they are highly endemic. The disease, also known
as “hepatocarcinoma” or “hepatocellular carcinoma”, now causes
almost 700,000 deaths per year around the world, according to
the WHO. There are currently very few available chemotherapy
treatments, which are often of debatable effectiveness and
economically unaffordable for the populations in question. Chemoembolisation, the injection of the medication directly into the
cancerous tumour, may help reduce its size, but the surgical operation
leading to its ablation is almost always used as a last recourse. These
major operations remain difficult to implement for the vast majority
of patients, nearly 85% of whom live in developing countries.
To make up for the lack of knowledge on liver cancer in Latin
America, the researchers performed a statistical analysis of clinical
cases of the disease in Peru, the country with the highest incidence
of the disease on the continent. They sifted through demographic
characteristics, risk factors and causes for more than 1,500 patients
from throughout the country, admitted between 1997 and 2010 at
the Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas (Inen) in Lima.
Their results show that 50% of the individuals affected do not meet
the typical profile of those at risk. They are young people with an
average age of 25; some are even children, who for the most part do
not have the hepatitis B or C virus nor do they suffer from cirrhosis.
In addition, a third of those affected are women, contrary to findings
elsewhere in the world, where the sex ratio is much more unbalanced
“in favour” of men. A vast majority of patients had giant tumours
larger than 10 cm in diameter.
Researchers also observed that patients came from the southeast
part of the country and more particularly from the Andean regions
of Apurímac and Ayacucho. Such a specific geographic area could
Stéphane Bertani – stephane.bertani@ird.fr
and Éric Deharo - eric.deharo@ird.fr
PHARMADEV Joint Research Unit
(Université Toulouse 3 – IRD)
Resource: PLOS one
For more information:
Watch the video of Eric Deharo’s researches Eric Deharo:
http://youtu.be/ZJxJRQ24Yy4
indicate factors related to the environment and way of life of the
people affected. The initial analyses appear to eliminate any foodrelated source, linked to the local population’s consumption of
agricultural products containing mycotoxins, substances produced
by fungi, known to be one of the risk factors for liver cancer. The
theory of poisoning due to soil and water contamination by pollutants
from human activities in the region has yet to be explored. The
researchers also envision the potential for a genetic field favourable to
the appearance of the disease or of an unidentified infectious agent.
Thus, teams from IRD, INRA, and the Pasteur Institute, working in a
consortium, recently obtained major financing 1 to expand this study.
This project could help show new risk factors for liver cancer in
Peru. Better knowledge of the processes involved in this disease could
open up possibilities for new prevention and treatment strategies.
1
As part of the 3rd cancer plan - ITMO CANCER of the Alliance nationale
pour les sciences de la vie et de la santé (AVIESAN - National Alliance for
life and health sciences).
35
IMPROVING THE HEALTH OF POPULATIONS IN THE SOUTH / EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH FOCUSED ON THE SOUTH
Through recent progress on access to antiretroviral
treatment, seropositive people are now living longer and
in better health. However, HIV/AIDS remains one of the
major public health problems around the world, especially
in countries with low or moderate incomes. A broad
study contributes new data on resistance to treatment in
southern countries.
HIV/AIDS:
LIMITING
RESISTANCE TO
TREATMENT
I
HIV study
in Yaoundé
PARTNER CLAVER ANOUMOU DAGNRA
Deputy Director of the National HIV-STI Reference Centre,
Director of the National Mycobacteria Reference Laboratory, Togo. “This is the first major study of virological failure and
resistance to antiretrovirals in Togo. The results showed
high failure rates and illustrate the difficulties encountered
with access to these treatments. Today, antiretroviral
coverage has significantly improved, but this leads to new
challenges: the creation of new treatment sites, availability
and training for medical staff, reinforced monitoring, access
to biological monitoring tools, etc.”
TOGO
n recent years, significant progress has been made in screening
and treating HIV/AIDS. However, 35.3 million people are still living
with the virus, and since the start of the epidemic, 36 million have
died according to the WHO. Efforts must continue, especially in
the countries of the South, where populations are especially affected
by the disease. The WHO has established some recommendations for
implementing antiretroviral treatments and patient monitoring in this
region of the world. They help monitor the effectiveness of treatments
in the absence of biological monitoring tools such as the measurement
of the viral load, and resistance assays, used routinely in wealthy
countries. The economic and social context, and the necessity, or even
urgency, of treating a very large number of people in the South justify
these recommendations, but their effectiveness is still in question.
The ANRS 12186 study, coordinated by IRD and its partners1, was
conducted between 2009 and 2011 in seven countries in the South,
including five in Sub-Saharan Africa (Burkina Faso, Cameroon,
Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, and Togo) and two in South-East Asia
(Thailand and Vietnam). The main objective was to evaluate the
success of antiretroviral treatment in seropositive patients treated
in national health structures and according to the WHO treatment
recommendations. The researchers conducted virological analyses on
3,935 patients after 12 or 24 months of treatment. The results obtained
were highly variable from one country to another despite fairly similar
contexts and identical treatment recommendations. Thus, virological
failure rates were less than 5% in Burkina Faso and Thailand but
reached nearly 25% in other countries such as Togo.
This study also shows that in the event of treatment failure, the lack
of diagnostic tools such as measurement of the viral load favours the
appearance of resistance. In fact, the definition of treatment failure is
based on clinical, immunological, and virological criteria. In countries
with limited resources, only clinical and immunological criteria (CD4
lymphocyte assay) are typically explored. Rigorous patient monitoring,
proper management of medication inventories, and strategies for
Antiretrovirals
limiting the number of “dropouts” and improving treatment compliance
are therefore necessary.
The researchers also showed the feasibility and reliability of
sampling on filter paper (DBS) as a simple, inexpensive, alternative
tool to virological monitoring in the South. This technique is especially
well suited to decentralised access to antiretroviral treatment.
Thus, these results show that the approach taken by the WHO can
function in some countries of the South provided that treatment of HIV
infections is well organised. However, virological measurements seem to
be an essential and necessary monitoring tool for limiting the emergence
of a resistant virus.
1
AC11-AC12 Group at the Agence nationale de recherche sur le sida et les hépatites virales
(ANRS - National Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis).
Avelin F. Aghokeng - avelin.aghokeng@ird.fr
and Ahidjo Ayouba - ahidjo.ayouba@ird.fr
and Martine Peeters - martine.peeters@ird.fr
TransVIHMI Joint International Unit (Université Montpellier 1 – IRD - Université
Cheikh Anta Diop – Université Yaoundé 1)
Resources: Clinical Infectious Diseases, Journal of Clinical Microbiology
IRD - ANNUAL REPORT 2013
36
DES RECHERCHES D’EXCELLENCE TOURNÉES VERS LES SUD / AMÉLIORER LA SANTÉ DES POPULATIONS DU SUD
37
PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH
IN THE MARQUESAS
38
HAITI, FOUR YEARS
AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE
39
3
Understanding the evolution
of southern communities
MIGRATION DYNAMICS
223
RESEARCHERS,
ENGINEERS, AND
TECHNICIANS
272
ARTICLES
58
BOOKS
245
BOOK
CHAPTERS
Social science research conducted by IRD aims to understand
the ways southern communities function and the relationships that
they develop with their natural, social cultural, economic,
and political environment.
The research focuses on three major areas of study: development and governance;
vulnerabilities, inequalities and growth; borders and social and spatial dynamics.
Researchers attempt to decipher the human and social factors that condition community
development processes. In 2013, Aeres evaluated the units in the Paris region. With
seven renewals and the creation of two new units in 2014, these evaluations attest
to the excellence of the work conducted by the researchers. This year also saw the
start of Med-Inn-Local, a program for innovation in the promotion of local specificities
in remote Mediterranean areas. The MediTer LMI developed and implemented this
program in partnership with Moroccan, Tunisian, and French teams. Since the end
of 2013, IRD has also been part of the Alliance for Research in Humanities and Social
Sciences, Athena.
Contact: dso@ird.fr
IRD - ANNUAL REPORT 2013
37
UNDERSTANDING THE EVOLUTION OF SOUTHERN COMMUNITIES / EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH FOCUSED ON THE SOUTH
The cultural and natural heritage of the Marquesas is
considered to be very rich and has been the subject of
many studies. On the other hand, its heritage associated
with the sea has been studied very little. The PALIMMA
project, conducted by IRD, the Agency for Protected
Marine Areas, and the association Motu Haka, is primarily
intended to identify, summarise, and develop new
knowledge about the coastal and marine cultural heritage
of the Marquesas by developing a participatory approach.
Participatory mapping
session
PARTICIPATORY
RESEARCH
IN THE
MARQUESAS
PARTNER SOPHIE-DOROTHÉE DURON
Agency for Protected Marine Areas, Director of the French Polynesia
office.
“One of the major innovations of PALIMMA was to
establish a «marine heritage reference» team.
These people from civil society were trained and directly
incorporated into the interdisciplinary team. The original
form of the team conducting PALIMMA, which brought
together Marquesan civil society (representatives,
people, and the cultural and environmental federation
of the Marquesas Motu Haka), natural area management
technicians (Agency for Protected Marine Areas), and
researchers (IRD), is essential to the success of these
studies in benefiting civil society and decision-makers,
within a management perspective.”
FRENCH
POLYNESIA
F
rench Polynesia comprises 118 islands spread over 5 million km²
of maritime area. Consisting of 5 archipelagos (Austral,
Gambier, Marquesas, Tuamotu, and Society), this area is
home to nearly 15,050 km² of highly diverse coral ecosystems.
At 2,000 km from Tahiti, the Marquesas archipelago is located in the
equatorial zone, north of the Polynesian maritime area. It is comprised
of 13 high islands that are nearly free of coral reef construction. Six
islands are inhabited and have a population of 9,000 inhabitants.
Recent aerial and oceanographic campaigns have helped confirm
the remarkable character of the natural marine environment of the
archipelago. In fact, its isolation from other islands has generated
exceptional endemism. Near the equator, the Marquesan waters
also benefit from significant trophic enrichment. The estimated
abundance of coastal fish species, open-ocean fishing, and the
observation of many higher predators, such as sharks and marine
mammals, attest to this richness. In the 1990s, consideration of the
exceptional nature of the Marquesas was acknowledged with the
launch of the registration process for becoming a UNESCO world
heritage site. In parallel, Polynesian authorities started discussions
on creating a managed marine area.
The PALIMMA project is intended to develop knowledge about
the cultural heritage associated with the coast and the ocean in and
around the Marquesas and to develop a management framework
through a resolutely participatory approach. In fact, the marine world
is especially important in Polynesian culture, and more specifically in
Marquesan culture, whether concerning major migrations, navigation
techniques, or fishing. The lack of barrier reefs places the coast in
direct contact with the ocean. Mythology, arts, and language attest to
this osmosis between humans and the ocean. For the IRD researchers
and their partners, the goal is first to produce accessible and shared
knowledge about coastal and marine cultural heritage by integrating
both the point of view of the “experts” and that of the general
population. To do so, the participatory mapping method implemented
will be supplemented with interviews to clarify the data collected.
These results will help incorporate the concept of cultural heritage
associated with the ocean into the perspective for creating a managed
marine area and supplement the maritime segment of an application
to register the archipelago as a UNESCO heritage site. The involvement
of local populations in these research and management processes will
help co-construct a territory in the anthropological sense of the term,
which is to say to create a social bond among the various participants.
By relying on the participation of elected officials and inhabitants, the
researchers will analyse the heritage creation processes and the place
of cultural heritage associated with the ocean within the framework
of programmed management of natural areas.
Through its participatory approach, the PALIMMA project
will involve civil society in advance and lead to the development
of proposals for best incorporating users into the processes for
managing and protecting their heritage.
Pierre Ottino-Garanger – UMR PALOC (IRD – French National Museum
of Natural History)
pierre.ottino@ird.fr
Petroglyph discovered by a Marquesas Island
guide on the island of Fatu Hiva
IRD - ANNUAL REPORT 2013
38
EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH FOCUSED ON THE SOUTH / UNDERSTANDING THE EVOLUTION OF SOUTHERN COMMUNITIES
HAITI, FOUR
YEARS AFTER THE
EARTHQUAKE
Life in the camps
in Haiti
PARTNER MRS DANILIA ALTIDOR
Director General of the Haitian Institute for Statistics and Computing.
“The earthquake on 12 January 2010 caused injuries, loss of
human life, and significant deterioration of housing conditions
for the people. It was important to measure the impact of the
earthquake on all living conditions to provide decision-makers
with a baseline at the time of the shift from emergency
management to restarting development, and long-term
structural actions. The partnership with DIAL and the INSEE
has been highly fruitful. The discussions have been of high
quality, and our young technicians have benefited from a
knowledge transfer to successfully carry out the preparatory
work and field operations. We hope that the collaboration with
IRD will continue with the collection and analysis of the data
as well as with the implementation of new surveys.”
HAITI
IRD - ANNUAL REPORT 2013
Following the earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010,
a study conducted by IRD researchers and their partners
analyses post-quake living conditions and assesses
the impact of the earthquake on Haitian society.
I
n Haiti there have been just over 50 natural disasters since
1900, and during the last decade, the country has been hit every
year either by a tropical hurricane or by major flooding. The
earthquake on 12 January 2010 had unprecedented consequences:
thousands of public buildings and residences were destroyed or
damaged, and tens or even hundreds of thousands of people died. More
than one million displaced persons were housed in 1,500 temporary
camps. Faced with this drama, emergency aid and then reconstruction
programmes were rapidly implemented.
As part of the project for the Évaluation d’impact du séisme en
Haïti (EISHA - Evaluation of the Impact of the Earthquake in Haiti)
financed by the National Research Agency, coordinated by the DIAL
unit, IRD researchers, and their partners, compared the results of
a 2012 survey on household living conditions after the earthquake,
conducted with 20,000 people throughout the country, to those from a
previous statistical survey conducted in 2007. They offer two snapshots
of household situations taken at a five-year interval. They help describe
the overall trends in society, and more specifically in the labour market,
before and after the earthquake. In parallel, researchers conducted a
biographical study, by re-interviewing nearly 600 households surveyed
in 2007 in the Port-au-Prince agglomeration. Thus, they were able to
learn their individual paths and understand the dynamics of each one
(career, geographic, and residential mobility, restructuring within the
household, etc.).
The researchers provided a summary of the economic situation
in Haiti that was both predictable and unexpected. Conditions have
significantly deteriorated, as witnessed by the decrease in median
household revenue of 57% between 2007 and 2012. Less clearly
apparent, other indicators also show this deterioration: the drop in
unemployment from 17 to 14%, the exceptional increase in labour
force participation rate of nearly 10%, and the return to agriculture
as a means of subsistence (from 38% of working people in 2007 to
47% in 2012). In fact the drop in unemployment attests to the fact that
Haitians have been forced to accept jobs that do not correspond to their
education level or goals. Similarly, the increase in activity, observed
in particular among young people, reflects the increase in the number
of youth who, from the age of 10, must work to contribute to family
Impact of the earthquake
in Haiti
income, to the detriment of school or higher education. Therefore we
are seeing a weakening of society and a real explosion in inequality.
This study also provides a first assessment of the impact of aid. In
fact, international aid has primarily been focused on the Port-au-Prince
agglomeration and on those living in camps. On the other hand, the
countryside and provincial towns had the majority of the victims and
damage despite being further from the epicentre of the earthquake
located under the capital. Moreover, most of the displaced people were
hosted by other households, thanks to a surge in solidarity among
Haitians who took an especially active role in emergency actions after
the earthquake, without receiving aid from international channels.
Thus, the most fragile groups (rural inhabitants, women, young people,
and Haitians of limited income) are paying the highest price for the
catastrophe.
Therefore, this work offers an overview of the major trends at
work in Haiti now. Such an analysis is a necessary prerequisite for
improving public policies - including preventive ones - for managing
natural disasters and international aid, the effectiveness of which is
now being called into question
Javier Herrera – javier.herrera@ird.fr and François Roubaud - francois.roubaud@ird.fr
and Claire Zanuso - zanuso@dial.prd.fr
UMR DIAL (IRD – Université Paris-Dauphine)
Resources: Seminar for the presentation of the preliminary results, Port-au-Prince, 2013.
Conference: “Four years after the earthquake in Haiti: What impact on the people and what
consequences for public policies?” Ministry of the Economy and Finance, 2014.
For more information: Website for the EISHA project: http://www.desastres-naturels.fr/fr
39
UNDERSTANDING THE EVOLUTION OF SOUTHERN COMMUNITIES / EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH FOCUSED ON THE SOUTH
With the intensification of the globalisation process,
demographic and migration dynamics have become the
subject of numerous scientific studies. IRD researchers and
their partners are studying these South-North and SouthSouth movements, their determining factors and their
consequences.
MIGRATION
DYNAMICS
Futuristic project for the
Dakar airport
PARTNER HASSAN BOUBAKRI
University of Sousse. “The University of Sousse and the URMIS unit have
conducted joint studies on migration and asylum
movements in Tunisia since the 2011 revolution,
as part of the MiCoDév2 programme. The studies have
focused on legal migrants in Europe who have tried
to reinvest their savings in the creation of companies or
activities in their native regions, but also on migrants
who have returned after being deported following
illegal residence. These works have given rise to joint
publications and student training.”
SENEGAL
S
tudies are therefore being carried out on African migrations.
While the political authorities are focusing their attention on
migrations to the West, 86% are actually intra-continental. As
an extension to the “intra-African policies and migrations”
focus area of the Polmaf1 regional pilot project, the primary objective
of the “Terrains revisités en migrations africaines” (Revisited land in
African migrations) workshop was to gain a better grasp of African
migration contours and, more specifically, intra-African ones. The
new migration maps, stimulated by new departures to Asia and Latin
American and the impact of events in Côte d’Ivoire and Libya were
therefore analysed. A variety of players are involved in migration
management: migrants take their religion with them, but religious
institutions and denominational NGOs also apply religious boundaries
along the way, offering new forms of assistance to these potential
followers. On the other hand, migrants finance candidates’ political
campaigns and contribute to changing attitudes within African
societies, challenging vote-catching practices.
Migration is also accompanied by processes of empowerment and
reorganisation of marital and family roles. Wives no longer necessarily
wait in the country for their migrant husbands for instance, and while
some children are unable to accompany their parents abroad, others
use unlawful means to join them with their own resources or leave on
their own.
Researchers are also taking an interest in return migration: these
migrants are no longer seen as major models of success, seemingly
being gradually replaced by the business man or politician. Moreover,
unlike in the past, they can no longer be distinguished by their
extravagances and do not always display external signs of wealth.
Scientists have shown how ordinary returns envisaged by ever less
heroic migrants took place, alongside hasty returns, made in the
context of emergency policies.
Other works carried out in collaboration with the Colegio de la
Frontera Norte in Tijuana are addressing the policies implemented
in the native countries, the role of international organisations,
migrants’ access to rights and statuses, changes to migratory
Border zone
in North Mexico
routes and the destruction of individual and family projects. Return
migration also questions traditional theories in terms of circulation,
fluidity of affiliations and transnational logics; the closure of borders
produces new situations of illegality, unfinished migration journeys,
rigidification of statuses and forms of house arrest and dependency.
This work has been conducted in the United States / Mexico / Central
America area from the north border of Mexico, specifically the city of
Tijuana, where many migrants deported by the United States can be
found, and in the Europe/ West African area from the cities of Agadez
(thoroughfare to Libya and fallback city) and Niamey (capital of Niger,
a point of departure to an international destination and also a point of
return, presenting not only economic but also social opportunities).
1
2
Public policies, societies, globalisation in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Migrations, Globalisation and Development Cooperation.
Sylvie Bredeloup - UMR LPED (Aix-Marseille University – IRD)- sylvie.bredeloup@ird.fr
Françoise Lestage - francoise.lestage@univ-paris-diderot.fr
and Elisabeth Cunin - elisabeth.cunin@ird.fr
UMR URMIS (IRD-Paris Diderot University, Nice Sophia Antipolis University)
Resources: “Terrains revisités en migrations africaines” workshop, October 2013, Dakar.
Procesos de repatriación. Experiencia de las personas devueltas a México por autoridades
estadounidenses, Paris Pombo, Maria Dolores, 2010.
IRD - ANNUAL REPORT 2013