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Le journal de l'IRD
n° 58 January-February-March 2011
Translator: Nicholas Flay
p. 7, 8, 9,10 Research
Human activity boosts dreaded mosquitoes
Of land and men: the major
issues of land tenure
Close watch on an eruption
© IRD / J. Montmarche
The eruption of Merapi which struck
the Indonesian archipelago (Java)
in autumn 2010 caused extensive
damage and loss of human life. Research scientists have acquired data on
this event by using a network of instruments deployed to observe the
volcano. According to these specialists, an event of this type happens
only every 80 to 100 years. The first
investigations show the volume of
magma ejected to be an estimated
100 million m3. Judging by the energy
and volumes released this eruption
was 30 times more powerful than
those that had occurred over the
previous decades. The range of
recordings made also refuted the
suggestion of the time that Merapi’s
eruption was triggered by the October 25 earthquake in the Mentawai
Islands, 1200 km from that point.
A
grarian reform programmes as a
force for development in countries
of the South was called into question in
the late 1970s. A long period of silence on
the subject followed, but now the land
tenure issue has come back strongly to front of stage, present in both political recommendations and academic deliberations on development.
Today it is explicitly associated with a set of crucial issues relating as much to tackling
poverty as to conditions of governance, the competitive integration of forms of
agriculture, or to the conservation of natural resources. In some countries, measures
for democracy have been a factor in the renewed interest in agrarian reforms.
Such processes concern either the ways of returning land to social groups expropriated by authoritarian regimes (South Africa, eastern Europe), or land redistribution
through market mechanisms assisted by the State (Brazil, India, Philippines, etc.).
More recently, rises in world raw materials prices have stimulated strategies of mass
land acquisition for food production, agrofuels or mineral exploitation by firms or
countries wanting to ensure the security of their stocks. More broadly, themes on
tenure security over land held by their users under an “informal” system, the recognition of the plurality of these rights and their growing commodification have become
core issues for social-group relations (within families as well as in local communities).
This is so in both rural and urban situations. Such issues are now a prime field for
public action.
This Sciences au Sud feature offers an overview of the questions emerging in the light
of land rights research.
p. 2 News
Aids: breastfeeding risk lower
F
or millions of seropositive women, most
of whom live in Africa, breastfeeding
carries the risk of passing Aids on to their
child. The probability of contamination is an
estimated 35% without any protection measures taken. If WHO recommendations hitherto in force are followed it still stands at
around 10%. The risk is now being reduced by half again, according to the authors of
the report entitled Kesho Bora, “a better future” in Swahili.
These investigations, conducted by an international consortium including a team from
the IRD, recently showed that breastfeeding is now possible with only 5% risk of
contaminating the infant. This fantastic advance, as WHO calls it, prompted a revision
of the directives in favour of antiretroviral treatment to be taken by mother or infant
throughout the period of breastfeeding, up to the age of 12 months.
p. 3 News
p. 4 Partners
Farming system and cultural heritage
South African revival
A
t the end of 2010, the indigenous
farming system of Rio Negro became the 21st intangible heritage recognized by Brazil’s National Historical and
Artistic Heritage Institute. This designation results from the combined efforts
of local associations, a Franco-Brazilian
research programme, an NGO and a
public institution.
This was the first time such an inscription had made special reference to
the notion of system and concerned heritage that was both biological and
cultural.
The designation turns on the knowledge and practices associated with the
management of space, the diversity of the plants cultivated, the material
culture and food heritage which stem from the crops produced. It is therefore
the local populations’ role in the domestication, selection and conservation of
phytogenetic resources which is brought into relief here.
p. 11 Valorization
Paceim: Business start-up in the Mediterranean
B
usiness creation is an ideal alternative to research for many PhD students from the
South who have been trained in France. Starting from this principle, the IRD has launched the initiative Programme d’Accompagnement à la Création d’Entreprises Innovantes
en Mediterranean (Paceim). Its inaugural meeting in Montpellier at the end of 2010
strengthened the momentum. In practical terms, around 30 candidates were invited to
present their project to about 20 delegates representing institutional and financial stakeholders from Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. The presentations represented a good range
of fields, from health to aeronautics by way of the environment and food production.
At the end of this first business competition 6 winning candidates were designated. They
will receive support in starting up their projects
S
outh Africa is becoming an essential player
on the African scientific scene. A sign of
the growing importance of this emerging partner, the IRD and the CNRS recently opened a common representation office in Pretoria. The IRD is
developing its South African partnerships and
has recently launched a joint international laboratory, designated Icemasa (International Centre
for Education, Marine and Atmospheric Science
over Africa), with the University of Cape Town,
the Université de Bretagne occidentale and two
South African ministries. The delegation in
South Africa also has the responsibility for coordinating a Europe-Africa partnership, involving
12 contributing countries – nine from Europe
and three from Africa – with the launch of an
Era-net for Africa, called Erafrica.
p. 13 World
Getting rid of onchocerciasis
A
new situation has emerged for onchocerciasis (river blindness) control. The
disease can be eliminated from some foci
simply by using drug treatments!
However, it is still essential to be equipped
with the means to continue applying the
strategies already used for straightforward
control. Surveys conducted in Mali, Senegal and then in six other countries, in areas
where the combat against infection has been waged for over 10 years, shows that the
parasite load is now very low in both human populations and the vectors.
So low even that when treatments are discontinued, the parasite eventually disappears
by itself.
p. 15 World
Biodiversity in the western Amazon Basin
researchers are currently involved in more than 60 research programmes in the Amazon
Basin. The themes are highly varied, but most concern the management of natural resources.
These were the key topics in the workshop “Origines de la biodiversité et utilisations innovantes
de la diversité moléculaire et génétique” organized by the IRD and several Peruvian institutions
and universities. The event produced fruitful discussions and exchanges between specialists in
the diversity of living organisms, decision-makers responsible for natural resources management
in the region and students.
p. 5 Partners
RD
p. 16 World
R
Excerpt from the interview with Éric Garnier, deputy director
of the Centre d’Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive de Montpellier
esearchers from the Centre National de Recherche sur l’Environnement in
Madagascar have engaged
microscopic soil fungi and the
IRD to ensure the continuing
survival of baobab populations.
The soil microflora plays a
fundamental role in the development of tree seedlings by
improving their mineral nutrition and water uptake. The
plants which accept the association of their roots with
“mycorrhizal fungi” benefit
from a highly effective boost.
This particular kind of association is mycorrhizal symbiosis.
© DR
The baobab
and the fungus
SAS : What are the features specific to the countries of the South?
Éric Garnier : The countries of the South are particularly concerned by development policies which require ecological dimensions to be taken into
account. Advances in agroecology should bring solutions for sustaining sufficient agricultural production while limiting damage to ecosystems associated
with unsustainable industrial agriculture. For example, developing management practices that preserve the mineral cycles by making use of the actions of soil organisms
is a promising way for maintaining high production levels without degrading the environment.
These questions are particularly significant in the poorest countries whose populations are still
highly dependent on the biodiversity and natural resources (water, forest and so on). One of the
major challenges of the XXIth Century will be to transfer what we know of the great principles
in ecology to agriculture.
Finally, the Earth’s most important biodiversity hotspots are situated in the countries of the
South, particularly in the tropical forests. A major objective, probably more political than scientific, would be to work towards stopping the deforestation whose long-term consequences can
only be disastrous.
© Wikimedia
I
p. 16 Forum
Mobilization, media
and… the fall
of Hosni Moubarak
L
ess than one month after Zine elAbidine Ben Ali was deposed in
Tunisia, Hosni Moubarak relinquished
power, after a social and political
uprising sparked by a call to take to
the streets from young people rallied through the many Internet social networks. Their
first appearance in public dates back to 2008, with the call for a general strike from
“Jeunes du 6 avril” to support workers of Mahalla el Kobra. Their call did not have the
intended effects that day. The true change from the “virtual to real” can be attributed
to the “call from Tunisia” with the success of the “Day of Anger” of 25 January. The
link between the rallies and the media was particularly evident over those days which
changed Egypt. Apart from the ”decentralized” form of dissent, without precise
political or ideological leadership, the street battle was paralleled by a media battle.
This relationship between public rallying and the media is not new. From 2006 on, a
fundamental change in the relationship between the citizens and the State apparatus
appeared, notably with an exponential growth in social movements borne by the most
strongly dominated social categories. The phenomenon can be attributed to the
process of “demonopolization” of the media, especially with the development of the
private independent press, the increase in the number of talk shows on the satellite
and national TV channels and then Internet. Although the media are no substitute for
the power of the social logics at work, in an authoritarian context the media is crucial
as ally for getting the protesting activists seen and hence for protecting them.
Consult the articles in full on the IRD Internet site: http://www.ird.fr
✆ IRD / M. Boussinesq
he effects of human activity on the environment
can be a boon for some of
people’s enemies!
In Africa, they contribute to
an increase in the harmfulness of malaria spreading
mosquitoes.
Anopheles gambiae, the main
vector of what is the worst
killer tropical disease, has
succeeded in adapting to the
new environmental conditions generated by the extension of human occupation, and is even thriving in them.
© IRD / A. Nikiema
p. 2 News
T
© Rado Rasolomampianina
© IRD / L. Emperaire
✆ Center of Volcanological and Geological Hazard Mitigation (Indonésie)
p. 2 News
© IIRD / S. Fanchette
Abstracts for the international issue