Le journal de l'IRD
n° 45 July-August 2008
Translator: Nicholas Flay
Abstracts for the international issue
O
For an examination
of food security policies
in Africa
p. 2 News
Influence of the tide cycle
A
n IRD-led research team has found
that the tide cycle has an alternating influence amplifying factor and compensator on sea-level rise associated with
global warming.
© IRD/O. Dangles
he recent
revival of
media
and
political interest in food
security has
been prompted by an accumulation of factors. These include the difficulties of ensuring food supplies for a
growing mass of rural and urban people living in insecure situations, repeated criticisms of States’ poor management of food
shortages (in Ethiopia, Niger and
Zimbabwe) and, more recently, the deterioration of food supply (short-term gap
between needs and resources).
Since 2001, IRD field research has been
focusing on the management of food-insecurity risk in the countries of the Sahel and
neighbouring terrains of West Africa
(Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal).
© IRD/A. Aing
T
ver 60% of people living in the rural
areas of the North Andean
Cordillera (7000 km stretching from southern Venezuela to northern Chile) are
now living below the poverty line. Fewer
than half of these populations have
access to health services and 70% show
malnutrition-related problems. Although
the specific reasons for this situation vary
from area to area, the problems associated with population pressure, soil erosion,
extreme climatic conditions and political
and economic stability are just some of
the impediments to this region’s development.
The past ten years have seen the emergence in the North Andean countries of
three species of moths of the Gelechiidae
family whose caterpillars are voracious
ravagers of potatoes, one of the region’s
main food crops.
In this situation the IRD unit “Biodiversité
et évolution des complexes plantesinsectes ravageurs-antagonistes” is working in partnership with the Pontifical
Catholic University of Ecuador to develop
a research programme in that country
with the objective of improving prevention and
control
of
the threats
these pests
present.
2/ What do you expect to come out of
cooperation with the IRD?
Our wish is that, in addition to the action
that is developing with the people of the
Andean region, the IRD will establish a relationship of direct cooperation with
Ecuador for developing and carrying
through extensive changes in the health
sector.
As part of this cooperation, another
important aspect would be the development of research on subjects like the
impact of mining, the effects of global
warming or those environmental problems which are the macrodeterminants
of health.
p. 7 Research
Furthering South-South cooperation
Young students in contact
with research
Remote sensing as a tool
for sustainable development
O
A
© IRD/JP.Montoroi
© IRD/C.Proisy
n December 13 and 14 2007, Mexican and Moroccan scientists met in Rabat, Morocco, at a seminar entitled
“Recompositions socio-économiques face aux défis de la mondialisation” “Socio-economic adjustments in the face of globalization challenges”. This was the second stage of a three-meeting series, driven by the IRD and its
representatives in Morocco and Mexico. The topics of the three meetings – International
migration (Paris 2006), Adjustments in the productive sectors (Rabat 2007), Water
(Mexico City 2008) – were chosen because they are high-priority questions for development in both countries.
A
T
he French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs
has assigned the IRD, in its capacity as agency, with the
management of the AIRES-Sud programme (Integrated
Support for the Strengthening of Scientific Teams of the
South), intended for research teams from the countries of Africa and the Indian Ocean of
the Priority Solidarity Zone.
This programme’s novelty is in its design to promote a strong movement towards participation in the solution of development questions among the scientific communities of the
South. This it does by giving them the means to reinforce their capacities in research,
training, expertise and transfer.
© IRD/M. Dukhan
New drive to strengthen the South’s
scientific capacity
ngola, is one of a group of countries, with the Democratic Republic
of Congo and Sudan that suffers 70% of
all cases of Human African Trypanosomiasis (HTA). This infection, also known
as sleeping sickness, is linked to the
combined action of a parasite, the
trypanosome, with a vector, the Glossinid
tsetse fly. The IRD research unit “Trypanosomoses” has been installed in the
country since 2006.
It conducts research with its Angolan
partner the Institute to Combat and
Control Trypanosomiasis (ICCT) of the
Ministry of Health, at the Trypanosomiasis
Hospital of Viana. This establishment’s
laboratory has been renovated and
equipped for research by the IRD, and was
inaugurated recently. Its purpose is to
support work on trypanosome genetics,
clinical development of the disease and
the efficacy of treatments, in partnership
with the ICCT and Agostinho Neto
University of Luanda.
Spreading IRD’s international presence
T
he theme-oriented networks of advanced research aim to
promote projects of scientific excellence of international
scope. They generate a critical mass of researchers around a solid
core of research units implanted in a particular geographical zone. The IRD has joined several of these networks, alongside different partners with such centres as Toulouse, Montpellier
and Paris. The Institute is also a prime mover in structures similar to RTRAs (‘Thematic
Networks for Advanced Research’) but devolved to the health sector, the Centres thématiques de recherche et de soins (CTRS) (‘Thematic Health Therapeutic Research Centres’).
p. 3 News
Illicit migration
Small-scale fishing concerns just provide a service
© IRD/V.Turmine
ork recently published involving an IRD research scientist has identified the real role of
small-scale Senegalese and Mauritanian fishing concerns in the flow of West-African
migrants to the Canary Islands. Contrary to frequently expressed ideas, this sector is neither
the cause nor the true organizer of this migration.
© IRD/C. Lévêque
p. 4 Partners
W
ood understanding of the changes
taking place in our environment, subjected to the stresses of global, regional
and local-scale changes is essential. This
demands a comprehensive approach: study
of the processes at work and their interactions, an ability to record the temporal
changes and developments occurring in
systems and therefore regularly to produce
and provide pertinent, reliable data for the
scientific community. Moreover, it necessitates the development of modelling tools
that open ways to understanding and predicting the changes under way.
The first objective is indeed at
the core of environment-oriented research programmes,
yet
long-term observations received
insufficient attention in the
various calls for
proposals issued. This prompted the introduction of a certification label scheme
(Observatoires
de
Recherche
en
Environnement – ORE) for these observation systems and the provision from 2002
onwards of specific means, linked to calls
for proposals, by the French Ministry
responsible for research and the organizations for supporting this activity, considered to be a strategic one.
p. 12 IRD world
p. 6 Training
AIRES-Sud
New lab in Angola
G
1/What briefly is your government’s
current health policy?
Health was considered by our government
as a strategic issue and a symbol of the revolution. That translates by an increase in
investment in this area, the improvement of
health networks and universal access to
health care and medicines.
p. 5 Partners
Morocco-Mexico
p. 13 IRD world
Sleeping sickness
Environmental research
observatory
with Caroline Chang Campos,
Ecuador’s Minister for Public Health
© IRD/M.Carrard
T
Interview
t the moment when Young People’s
Clubs for research and development
are preparing to celebrate their 10th anniversary, the 2007-2008 session has
enabled senior school pupils from
Cotonou, Quito and Montpellier to discover the world of research. Beyond that,
they have had the opportunity to meet
each other through joint involvement in
case studies on water or climate related
questions.
These initiatives the IRD has organized will
also be a chance to generate relations
between young people from different
continents.
This ambition
has taken shape
this year with a
visioconference
where nearly
400 young people were able to
discuss biodiversity and related issues.
T
he IRD’s capabilities in operational
remote sensing has never ceased to
gain momentum. SEASnet, the network
for Survey of the Environment Assisted by
Satellite, continually observes the Earth’s
intertropical zone. The system now yields
a range of satellite information intended
for research scientists and decision-makers alike, to provide keys to an everimproved understanding of major environmental issues.
p. 2 News
Aids in Africa
Prevention among couples:
both partners must be
involved
R
esearch Research work in the Ivory
Coast coordinated by an IRD team
demonstrates the importance for pregnant
women to talk to their spouse about the HIV
screen testing made available for them.
p. 15 IRD world
Leading Ebola and Marburg researchers meet in Libreville
abon is one of Ebola virus’s endemic zones. On the occasion of the 4th International Symposium on Filoviruses, this country recently brought together the
community of researchers who are working on this family of pathogens. The IRD was
closely involved in this event, which gave the opportunity to present the most recent
results in this field.
G
Consult the articles in full on the IRD Internet site: http://www.ird.fr
© IRD/E. Deliry Antheaume
M
ichel Griffon, agronomist and economist, Deputy Director General of
the French National Research Agency (ANR),
goes over the causes of the food crisis. He
suggests a set of measures to meet the
food security challenges and gives a broad
outline of the types of agriculture that
should be made priorities in the developing
countries.
he 1st September will see IRD
headquarters set up anew in
Marseille after the August move
from Paris. The IRD Board of Trustees
chose the city for the high standard
of its application to host the
Institute, the impressive vitality of
research activity of its region and
position in the Euro-Mediterranean
zone. Marseille also has strong cultural and economic orientations
towards the South.
p. 10 Research
© IRD/JP. Robert
Marseille soon IRD’s new
home
p. 15 IRD world
©IRD/ T. Lebel
Interview
Plant-consuming insects
and food security
in the Northern Andes
p. 1, 8, 9 et 16
Food security
p. 1 News