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RESEARCHING, TRAINING, PROMOTING RESULTS
Research
Research
Studying tropical environments 9
Managing ecosystems and living resources 15
Understanding societies, improving health in the South 21
Strengthening Southern researchers’ capacities 27
Putting knowledge to productive use 30
Disseminating scientific culture and information 32
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STUDYING TROPICAL ENVIRONMENTSEnvironmental management and development in countries of the South are the chief goal of the Earth and Environment department (DME), working in collaboration with other French and foreign institutions.
ClimateThe climate and its variations in the tropics are de-termining factors for water resources, health and food security in those countries. In this connection the French and international African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis programme (AMMA) is working to improve understanding of the eco-systems affected by the monsoon. The programme mobilised many of the West African scientific community in 2003, particularly at the interna-tional symposium held in Puerto Novo in Benin. French and African researchers are also working in partnership to study the social impacts.For AMMA as for other programmes, the seven environmental monitoring networks that have ac-quired ORE status (Observatoire de recherche en environnement, a status conferred by the research ministry) are particularly useful. They provide long-term monitoring and run joint experiments with local partners. For example, the Amazone ORE has achieved some innovative results re-
garding sediment deposition by the Amazon river on its flood plain and the Atlantic ocean floor. De-position has been found to follow variations in the climate and is particularly linked to “la Niña”. Researchers are now studying the consequences of this phenomenon for carbon transfers, and the design of sediment traps.
DesertificationMeasuring the impacts of global climate change involves long-term monitoring of indicators that serve to quantify desertification, fluctuations in available water resources and changes in ecosys-tems. ROSELT, a desertification monitoring net-work now operational around the fringes of the Sahara, is implemented by the IRD’s Desertifica-tion service unit formed in early 2003. The prin-ciple is being extended to Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. In another connection a meeting in Mont-pellier on water regimes in Mediterranean dry-lands drew 250 participants from 35 countries.
Natural hazardsRegional co-operation programmes involving the IRD and monitoring geodynamic phenomena such as earthquakes and volcanoes produced re-sults in 2003. Scientific advances made through
this work give our local partners greater indepen-dence for managing their natural hazards.Working together, the IRD and CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) were able to identify the active structures after the Algiers earthquake in May. The IRD demonstrated its fast-response capability, mooring seismographs on the seafloor and successfully exploiting the data from them.In Ecuador, we are studying Pichincha, Atacazo and the other volcanoes that rise above the Quito region. Our local partner is the National Poly-technic School in Quito. Recent volcanic erup-tions were studied in terms of the compositions of the gases and rocks produced, and the role of the aquifers. A risk assessment for the Quito re-gion now under way will improve our Ecuadorian partners’ prevention capabilities.
Contact [email protected]
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Some parts of the oceans are known as “deserts” because they are lacking in nutrients. Half of the tropical South Pacifi c is just such a desert. This vast area –larger than Europe– has an average surface temperature of 27°C and receives no upwelling of deep, cold water rich nutrient salts. Since the water contains few nutrients, it does not promote the growth of phytoplankton, the fi rst link in the food chain.Yet colour satellite photos of this infertile part of the ocean show unusual concentrations of chloro-phyll –the green pigment of algal photosystems– associated with Rossby waves (which are caused by variations in wind and atmospheric pressure) and the consequent variations in ocean height.
Concentrations of organic matterWhy are the highest concentrations of chlorophyll routinely found in the warmest spots, where water accumulates as a result of passing Rossby waves? Normally, phytoplankton develops in the coldest areas, where deep cold water brings nutrients up from the ocean fl oor. IRD researchers and their colleagues (1) think the Rossby waves “rake” the ocean surface, concentrating fl oating debris in these areas where water that is warmer –because of greater exposure to the sun– accumulates.Where do these fl oating particles come from? Probably from organic debris produced by the biological activity –however limited– that takes place in upper, sunlit ocean layers. Instead of sinking to deeper layers, some of the debris may reach the surface, perhaps with the help of gas bubbles produced by bacteria during the fermen-tation process.
New light on the marine ecosystemUsing a specially designed model and direct mea-surements of chlorophyll concentrations at the ocean surface, scientists have been able to show that Rossby waves create convergence zones that form fronts where fl oating organic matter can readily accumulate. The on-site measure-ments were taken as part of the IRD’s quarterly “Geochemistry, Phytoplankton and Colour of the Ocean” surveys in the South Pacifi c between Ta-hiti and New Zealand (2).This work has shed new light on how the function-ing of the marine ecosystem is linked to global physical ocean dynamics. In addition, the for-mation of ‘oases’ providing food for fi sh is one possible answer to the question of how species survive in environments devoid of obvious food resources.
(1) IRD scientists at the LODYC climatology and dynamic oceanography laboratory at the Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace in Paris and the LEGOS space-based oceanography and geophysics labo-ratory in Toulouse, scientists at the MREN natu-ral environment research centre - CNRS/Univer-sité du Littoral UMR 8013.(2) Science, 302: 1548-1551 (2003). http://www.lodyc.jussieu.fr/gepco
Contact Yves Dandonneau: [email protected]
OCEAN OASES
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Patrick Lehodey, Oceanic Fisheries Programme,
New CaledoniaThe IRD scientists’ hypothesis could have a major impact on the manage-ment of marine resources, because it is highly likely that in the vast areas of our oceans that are largely sterile, zones where organic matter accumulates as a result of Rossby waves will attract large pelagic predators. Better knowledge of these phenomena will help us manage fi shing grounds better and protect endan-gered species like marine turtles. The IRD scientists’ work will also help us make more realistic spatial models of ecosys-tems, and in doing so support the plan of action adopted at the Johannesburg 2002 world summit on sustainable devel-opment, which called for the adoption of an ecosystems approach to fi shery management between now and 2010, and the protection of biodiversity in open sea ecosystems.
Contact: [email protected] web: http://www.spc.int/OceanFish/
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SEDIMENTS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF LA NIÑA
The Amazon basinThe Amazon is the world’s most powerful river. The fl oodplains traversed by this great river and its tributaries receive enormous deposits of sedi-ment. This is particularly true of the fl oodplains of Bolivia, where the Rio Beni deposits an esti-mated 100 million tonnes of material each year and the Rio Mamoré 150 million tonnes. These two Andean tributaries of the Rio Madeira con-tribute more than half the alluvia carried by the Amazon.
Sporadic depositsHitherto, scientists had thought that roughly the same amount of sediment was deposited each year, but a study involving scientists from the IRD’s HyBAm programme, the Universities of Washington and California Santa Barbara, and SENAMHI in La Paz, Bolivia (1) has shown it
is a sporadic phenomenon. There were few major deposits in the 20th century; researchers have identifi ed 11 events in 90 years analysed.Scientists took nearly 300 sediment cores in the fl oodplains of the Rio Beni and Rio Mamoré ba-sins. They measured the levels of the radioactive lead isotope 210 and, using a new model devel-oped at the University of Washington (1) to inter-pret the data, they were able to date the sediment layers accurately to within about one year. This revealed the irregular pattern of major deposits of material on the fl oodplain over time.
The predominant role of climate variationsWhy does sedimentation occur in this episodic way in this part of the Amazon basin? Climate variations have a prime role. A correlation has been found between periods of major deposits
A partner’s
Rolf Aalto,Quaternary Research Center and
Department of Earth and Space Sciences,
University of WashingtonA new geochronologic model has enabled us to date the sediments in the Amazon basin fl oodplains of Bolivia and bring to light the irregularity of the main sediment deposits over time. In an article published in Nature N° 425 with our partners from the IRD, the University of California Santa Barbara and the National Meteorology and Hydrology Service in La Paz, we have shown that the frequency of the sedi-ment deposits -and hence the associated carbon, nutrient elements and heavy met-als- is closely dependent on high-water fl ow rates, which in turn are linked to La Niña climate events.This international collaboration involv-ing French, North American and South American experts is continuing, with funds from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the IRD and NASA. It will be looking at the processes of sedi-ment production, transport and storage throughout the river basins of Bolivia, Peru and Brazil
Contact: Rolf Aalto, [email protected]
VIEWPOINT
and La Niña events (La Niña is the cold phase of the ENSO climatic cycle). In most La Niña years over the last hundred years, violent rain-storms in the Andes caused intense mechanical erosion. For a large part of the sediment carried by the rivers to be deposited on the fl oodplain over the course of the year (up to 40% on the Beni plain), the water must have risen fast, and with fl ow rates of over 8,000 m3/s, destroying the small natural levees built up along the main courses of the two rivers.These measurements also enabled the research-ers to study the chronology over the last century of mercury trapped in fi ne particles deposited on the fl oodplains. In the past thirty years there has been a considerable increase in concentrations of mercury adsorbed by the clay fraction of the sediments. This has been the period of the latest gold rush, but also a period when new farmland has been colonised on the steep slopes of the Bo-livian Andes foothills.
(1) The team includes scientists from the IRD’s HyBAm programme (“Hydrogéodynamique actuelle du bassin amazonien”, working in the LMTG-CNRS-IRD-Université Paul Sabatier joint research unit), the universities of Washington and California Santa Barbara, and the Boliv-ian National Meteorology and Hydrology Ser-vice (SENAMHI) in La Paz. Data acquisition is conducted under the Amazone ORE monitoring programme.
Contact Laurence Maurice-Bourgoin: [email protected]
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Ever since its creation, the IRD has been running programmes to monitor tropical waters. Through these programmes we have built up time series that are particularly useful for studying global climate change. The Institute has two oceano-graphic vessels, Alis and Antea, and a group of engineers and technicians -including electronic engineers, computer experts and chemists- for performing complex operations with specialised equipment on the high seas.With these skills and resources, the “Marine re-search resources and ocean monitoring” service unit helps other IRD teams prepare and carry out missions and exploit the data collected and provides operational management for ocean ob-
servation networks. The ORE networks (Obser-vatoires de Recherche pour l’Environnement) are a case in point: two IRD ocean monitoring networks were granted ORE status when the re-search ministry set up the system in 2002. One of these, the Pirata network, studies climate change and the other, the SSS network, monitors sea sur-face salinity.In 2003, the Alis conducted 14 surveys in the Pa-cifi c. Two others took place in the Indian Ocean and three in the Atlantic, on ships belonging to the French fl eet and managed by Ifremer. Data gathered by the service unit were used to validate measurements from the Jason satellite (which monitors mean sea levels) and to provide addi-tional ocean colour data for the GeP&CO pro-gramme on phytoplankton populations (fi nanced by the French national programme PROOF). For the Pirata network, buoys equipped with sen-sors to measure meteorological conditions at the surface and sea temperatures directly beneath were put in place. They will be used to study cli-mate patterns in the Atlantic, such as the African monsoon for the AMMA programme. Under in-ternational arrangements, the IRD is responsible for the eastern part of the Atlantic, while fi ve moorings further west are the responsibility of Brazil. These data will also be used to validate the ocean circulation model developed by the Merca-tor partnership (1). Meanwhile some 15 thermosalinographs installed on merchant ships in the SSS network provided continuous measurements in all three oceans. Sa-linity is an essential parameter for understanding ocean dynamics and is used to assess the global freshwater balance. The salinity measurements
will also provide a valuable database for validat-ing the satellites that in future will make such observations from space.Last but not least, contracts between the “Ma-rine research resources and ocean monitoring” service unit and various IRD research units fa-cilitates the planning of seaborne activities by scientists involved in physics, biology and ecology programmes.
(1) The Mercator Océan group was created by the Cnes, CNRS/Insu, Ifremer, IRD, Météo-France and Shom to describe the state of the ocean at any time, anywhere on the planet.
Contact Jean-Paul Rebert: [email protected]
OCEAN OBSERVATION
FOR UNDERSTANDING AND PREDICTION
A partner’s
Claudio de OliveiraBrandão,
engineer at INPE (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais)
regional centre, Natal, BrazilOur partnership with IRD engineers under the Pirata-Brazil project included installing Brazilian current meters on the equator, for subsequent maintenance by France; organising a training course in acquisition and processing of oceano-graphic data; and participating in a sur-vey aboard the Brazilian navy’s ocean survey vessel Antares between Natal and Fortaleza. We are currently consolidating the Pirata 2001-2005 project and would like to develop a complete infrastructure in Natal to serve as a logistical base for the Pirata-Brazil project. This means that technical cooperation with the IRD, which helps to train our technicians and engineers, is vital for us.
Contact: Claudio de Oliveira Brandão
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CLOSELY OBSERVED DESERTSDesertifi cation is an irreversible process of land degradation in arid, semi-arid and sub-humid regions, caused by poorly-managed agricultural practices. The term is used when deteriorating soils and vegetation are unable to recover to their initial state. It is important for scientists to de-termine the thresholds of evolution and irrevers-ibility in the degradation process because, despite the protection measures taken over the past 25 years, desertifi cation is a continuing threat to the maintenance of soils, their ecological func-tions and their use.The purpose of the Long Term Ecological Moni-toring Observatories Network ROSELT (Réseau d’Observatoires de Surveillance Ecologique à Long Terme) is to improve knowledge of the mechanisms, causes, consequences and extent of desertifi cation in arid and semi-arid regions. The research is based on two main activities: setting up a network of local monitoring systems to ob-
serve land degradation and desertifi cation, and studying the relations between human communi-ties and their local environments.At present, the ROSELT network operates throughout the Saharan fringe in Africa. Thir-teen pilot monitoring units are in operation, in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia north of the Sahara and in Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Cap Verde and Kenya further south. To harmonise the methods they use to collect, process and store information, the monitoring units have produced methodological guides for monitoring biological, physical and socio-economic parameters con-nected with land degradation.Computerised local environment information systems have been set up to aid decision making. These systems are designed to integrate different types of biological, physical and socio-economic data and facilitate processing them for decision making purposes. The computer system will also
be used to share and catalogue the information gathered, past and present.The network took shape through constant inter-change between the local monitoring units and the regional co-ordination unit in Montpellier. The IRD’s Support and Training department provided training in the tools and approaches developed for partner organisations’ managers.ROSELT is thus the fi rst collective project con-ducting research into desertifi cation, and should ultimately supply the means for concerted man-agement of actions to control the process.
Contact Jean-Marc Dherbes [email protected]
A partner’s
Magatte Ba, of the Dakar-based Centre de
Suivi Ecologique and Senegal’s national ROSELT co-ordinator
Implementing the Sahara and Sahel Observatory’s ROSELT programme in the Ferlo region, Senegal, matches a real need in this country for long-term envi-ronmental monitoring. In particular, the regional co-ordination team at the IRD in Montpellier has helped the IRD’s partner institutes to strengthen their methodologi-cal capacities for gathering and process-ing local information. Senegal is an excep-tional network member in that it already had an institution responsible for environ-mental monitoring – the Centre de Suivi Ecologique. Research at the local level is among our international commitments for implementing national action plans for desertifi cation control. As well as the IRD team, the inter-disciplinary collaboration essential for environmental monitoring involves other Senegalese institutions and CIRAD’s drylands grazing unit.
Contact: Magatte Ba, [email protected]
www.cse.sn
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L I V I N G R E S O U R C E S S • L I V I N G R E S O U R C E S
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MANAGING ECOSYSTEMS AND LIVING RESOURCES
Living resources
Research
Development and sustainable management of ecosystems and natural resources exploited by communities in the South largely depend on those countries obtaining relevant scientific knowledge and advice. These ecosystems and resources may variously be forests, agricultural ecosystems or freshwater or marine environments. The IRD’s Living Resources department consists of nearly 380 researchers, engineers and technicians work-ing in partnership with southern researchers to study the living environment, always with a view to sustainable management and development.
Plant and animal communitiesSeveral research units are working on improv-ing tropical crop yields, using the tools of genet-ics and genomics on maize, rice, cassava, millet, coffee and palm. Findings concerning gene flows between wild and cultivated millet varieties have advanced understanding of the process of domes-tication and have led to a new millet programme conducted by the French Biodiversity Institute in partnership with researchers from Niger and the international non-profit agricultural research or-ganisation ICRISAT.
Another research goal is to improve yields by de-fending crops against parasites and pests, from soil bacteria and nematodes to insects and ro-dents. To give one example, observing populations of phytoparasitic nematodes in sugar cane fields in South Africa has led to an understanding of the processes by which these species cause damage.
Microbial biodiversityBiodepollution and other economic uses for mi-crobial products are proving another promising re-search area for the IRD. In New Caledonia, an in-ternational symposium on re-vegetating degraded mining land was held at the Institute’s initiative.Several teams are working on soil microbiology and macrofauna. Other subjects of study include tropical forests, the future of protected areas and the economics of nature and the environment. In this last connection, a joint research unit on the economics of natural resources and the environ-ment, set up at the University of Madagascar in association with the IRD and the University of Versailles St Quentin, has achieved a satisfactory degree of independence thanks to the competen-cies acquired by our Malagasy partners.
Aquatic ecology and fishery scienceUsing the tools of genetics, ecology, modelling and systematics, we have units working on fishery ecology and biodiversity in lake, river, lagoon and marine ecosystems. For example, Peru has been recording valuable data on fish catches and the marine environment for the past 25 years. Now, with modern systematics methods, these data can be exploited to achieve an understanding of an-nual and seasonal fluctuations in the productivity of one of the world’s most fertile ocean regions. This operation is being conducted under a cross-disciplinary incentive action involving researchers from all three IRD research departments together with Southern research teams. Meanwhile in Sen-egal, several IRD research units, in partnership with the National Agricultural Science School in Rennes, helped the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar to set up and launch its University Insti-tute of Fishery and Aquaculture. The researchers will also be involved in teaching.
Contact [email protected]
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MILLET: CULTIVATING DIVERSITY
Millet has been an important plant for human ci-vilisation. In sub-Saharan Africa it is still, along with sorghum, a dietary staple. But population growth, climatic variability, environmental degra-dation, ineffi cient cropping methods and lack of research have combined to generate a shortfall in millet output. Conserving and utilising the genetic diversity of millet in Sahelian farming systems is therefore important from several standpoints, in-cluding food self-suffi ciency.Niger’s farmers mostly grow local varieties, each year using seed from ears selected from the previ-ous year’s harvest. Joint research unit UMR 1097 on “Human impact and dynamics of plant genetic diversity” is working in Montpellier and Niger to understand how smallholders’ farming practices affect the diversity of millet varieties in a chang-ing agricultural environment.The work has shown that genetic differentiation between local varieties is slight, although they still vary in their agronomic characteristics. This is due to the combined effects of considerable gene fl ow and farmers’ practice of seed selection.What are the practices that generate the gene fl ows? One is seed swapping, usually within the family or with another local farmer but some-times far from the village; the quality of the seed is uncertain. Another is the harvesting, in hun-
gry years, of weed millet – hybrids between wild and cultivated millet that grow near the fi elds. The weed millet spreads to the fi elds and re-duces yields. Thirdly, repeated sowings in times of drought also favour hybridisation between variet-ies with different cycle lengths.These fi ndings raise the question whether local varieties may be losing some adaptation capac-ity. Current research goals therefore include de-termining the genetic bases of certain adaptive characteristics and extending the geographical range of the study to assess possible genetic ero-sion in relation to environmental and agro-eco-nomic factors.This research will be conducted using collections made by the FAO and Orstom (as the IRD was then called) in 1976 and in a prospecting exercise conducted by the IRD, INRAN and ICRISAT (1) in late 2003. The work will focus on priority areas for in situ diversity conservation programmes for millet in Niger.
(1) INRAN: National Institute for Agricultural Research, Niger. ICRISAT: International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics.
Contact Jean-Louis [email protected]
A partner’s
Amoukou Adamou Ibrahim,
University of NiameyThe IRD has always worked in close and varied collaboration with Abdou Moumouni University, the Agronomy Faculty particularly. The University has made land available for experiments, its researchers have been directly involved in IRD-run programme, and the IRD has provided research-based training, host-ing postgraduate and PhD students in its laboratories in Niamey and Montpellier. Maintaining the Niamey biotechnology laboratory where the millet diversity research is conducted, with a view to Niger’s scientists taking it over, is sure to strengthen this partnership through future collaborative research programmes. This laboratory is an indispensable tool for training in plant biotechnology research, for Niger and for the wider sub-region.
Contact:Amoukou Adamou Ibrahim
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RUBBER GROWING:ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONSThe rubber tree Hevea brasiliensis, a native of the Amazon region, is grown in humid tropical coun-tries for the latex it produces – natural rubber, whose qualities are irreplaceable. The tree grows to more than 20 metres in height and, unlike other tropical crops like rice, coffee or palm which produce on a seasonal basis, rubber growing is source of year-round income and today employs about 30 million people in tropical countries.
Two major diseasesHowever, for several decades now latex produc-tion has been hampered by two diseases. One is tapping panel dryness, which is caused by over-exploitation of the tree, and the other is bark ne-crosis, which affects the base of the trunk and advances upwards to the tapping panel, causing the latex fl ow to dry up.First studied by the IRD in the 1980s in Côte d’Ivoire on behalf of the Michelin company, bark necrosis affects most modern rubber plantations, with varying severity depending on the location and the clone concerned. In 1999, at the request of rubber companies (1) and the French Rubber Institute, the IRD began work in collaboration with INRA and the Universities of Nancy, Abi-djan (Côte d’Ivoire) and Mahidol (Thailand), to quantify the incidence of the disease around the world, elucidate its mechanisms and recommend methods for controlling it.
An accumulation of limitationsSusceptibility to necrosis is genetically deter-mined and its incidence is linked to the crop
management system. The disease spreads from tree to neighbouring tree, suggesting that it is caused by a micro-organism that spreads in this way, but etiological studies have so far been in-conclusive. However, the research has shown that necrotic trees tend to be located in high-risk ar-eas –in particular, areas where the soil is more compacted and root growth more restricted. The necrotic trees show signs of water stress, espe-cially in the dry season. The overall pattern is that exogenous stresses caused by physical constraints (far more than chemical), climatic factors and crop management methods combine to disrupt the tree’s physiology and favour the emergence of the disease.In rubber trees, necrosis (cell death) seems to be connected with a poorly functioning cyanide metabolism. An imbalance between internal pro-duction of this toxin and enzymatic capacity to detoxify the tree are thought to cause the necro-sis to develop around the joint between graft and rootstock.This multi-disciplinary, multi-institution research should help to solve the worries of rubber com-panies in Africa and small planters in Asia. It is also providing a deeper understanding of the re-lationships between rubber tree, environment and disease.
(1) Société Internationale de Plantations d’Hévéas, Michelin and SOCFINCO.
Contact Daniel Nandris: [email protected]
A partner’s
Bertrand Vignes,Director,
Natural rubber department, Michelin, Clermont-Ferrand
Concerned for its natural rubber sup-plies in the long term, Michelin has an interest in all fi elds that may enhance performance in rubber growing. Dry tap-ping panels are a particular problem, a very limiting factor for yields. Following a request from Michelin in Côte d’Ivoire in the 1980s, ORSTOM revealed the phe-nomenon of bark necrosis. The current IRD team is very multi-skilled and open, and has done some remarkable work; in the fi eld they have taken a range of mea-surements in a large number of sites, and their scientifi c analysis is also impressive. Their fi rst fi ndings cover all the factors that combine to favour necrosis, and this will already help us in choosing cropping methods. As planters, we noticed that the researchers’ dynamism and enthusi-asm was a major motivating factor for all those working in the plantations.
Contact:[email protected]
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On the open sea, some fi sh such as tropical tuna are attracted by objects fl oating on the sea sur-face. These fl oating objects – known as Fish Ag-gregating Devices (FAD) – may be natural objects such as coconuts, tree trunks or other debris, or specially designed and intentionally placed in the water by fi shermen.Why do tuna and other species gather under FADs, and how long do they stay there? This puzzling behaviour was a good opportunity for scientifi c research: since FADs attract high con-centrations of fi sh, they are good places to study
fauna that are otherwise diffi cult to observe. The FADIO project (Fish Aggregating Devices as Instrumented Observatories of pelagic ecosys-tems), which is fi nanced by the European Union’s Directorate General for research and includes a number of European research organisations, is using FADs to observe the pelagic ecosystem and study this aggregating behaviour.
Pelagic ecosystem observatoriesFADIO conducts marine surveys in the Indian ocean, using such diverse observation instruments as sonars, hydrophones and video equipment. Re-searchers also surgically embed electronic tags in tuna, sharks, dolphinfi sh and king mackerel, to fi nd out how long the fi sh remain around FADs. The FADIO scientists, working in collaboration with the University of Hawaii, have been able to establish that tuna can stay close to a FAD for anything from a few minutes to three months without leaving; their length of stay is thought to be affected by environmental factors. Fisher-men and tuna ship owners contribute signifi cantly to the project by taking scientists on board and passing on valuable information – such as FAD locations – that they would normally keep to themselves for reasons of competition.Early fi ndings have enabled the researchers to develop tools for their investigations: buoys equipped with sonars to estimate the quantity of fi sh aggregating and their depth, or even identify
fi sh size and species. In the future, such buoys may become permanent tools for monitoring the pelagic ecosystem, helping scientists understand the behaviour of tuna and other species, their spatial dynamics and the state of populations. They will provide indispensable scientifi c data for sustainable ecosystem management of both small and industrial-scale tuna fi sheries.
Contact Laurent Dagorn: [email protected]
A partner’s
Rondolph Payet,Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA)
Our participation in the FADIO programme enables us to play an active part in international efforts to ensure sustainable exploitation of tuna stocks, which are an important source of income for the Seychelles islands. The presence of IRD scientists in the Seychelles is an opportunity for us to get involved in a major research programme and receive training in new techniques such as electronic tag-ging and acoustics. Through the IRD, we are in con-tact with a number of European research organisa-tions, which helps us extend our skills for managing local resources and for responding to international calls for proposals.
Contact: Rondolph [email protected]
VIEWPOINT
FISH AGGREGATING
DEVICES
Systematics is the science of classifying living things. It provides a conceptual framework within which to examine the organisation of nature and its evolution. Current developments in genetics are providing new ways to look at the genealogy of living things and test reproductive isolation between populations. As a result, the biological and geographical boundaries between species can be determined more exactly. The IRD is ideally placed for systematics research because it works in tropical regions, where species biodiversity is greater but not as well known.Because rational fi shery management, optimi-sation of fi sh farms and conservation of fi sh re-sources all depend on more advanced systematics research, the IRD is conducting such research on several economically important fi sh species. With anchovies and other important fi sh such as sole and alfonsino, molecular genetic markers have been used to test the hypothesis of interfertility between populations; their classifi cation has been revised as a result.
New species identifi edCan genetic variations between fi sh species be linked to their geographical distribution? Mo-lecular biology research on the Mediterranean anchovy has shown that there is a barrier to re-production between populations in estuarine and coastal waters, and those in the open sea. So coastal anchovies and deep sea anchovies in the
same region, though nearly identical in appear-ance, are in fact separate species. But there is no signifi cant difference between deep sea anchovy populations in regions as far apart as South Africa and the Mediterranean. Given the biologi-cal characteristics associated with the notion of species, these results have important implications for sound management of anchovy stocks in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.Research into fi sh molecular genetics found an-other application in Indonesia. With a combina-tion of genetics, biometry and osteology, research-ers have shown that several species of Indonesian river fi sh were poorly identifi ed, even though local people have been using them, in some cases, for a very long time. For example, IRD scientists and their Indonesian partners recently identifi ed and described thirteen new species of catfi sh (Pan-gasiidae and Clariidae) and aruana (Osteoglos-sidae). Breeding stock must be identifi ed and characterised precisely before aquaculture meth-ods can be standardised or any attempt made to improve productivity. Genetics can be used to design management protocols for breeding stock that respect the diversity of natural populations while avoiding species mixing and the consequent involuntary creation of hybrids.
Contact Philippe Borsa: [email protected]
Laurent Pouyaud: [email protected]
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FISH SYSTEMATICS AND GENETICS
A partner’s
Dr Sudarto, Indonesian Research Institute
for Aquaculture (RIFA)We have been conducting research into local fi sh species with the IRD since 1996, and the work has demonstrated the fi sh farming potential of the large Pangasius djambal catfi sh. We have also been able to describe and interpret the systematic and phylogenetic rela-tionships between several families of economically important fi sh. The IRD’s expatriate scientists and engineers have provided real support and have helped us improve our skills in genetics, husbandry and nutrition. Results of the IRD’s sup-port have included two doctoral theses, numerous publications, staff training in techniques for breeding and raising lar-vae, the organisation of two international workshops and the creation of laborato-ries for molecular and biochemical analy-sis. Our government, well aware of the possible spin-offs from this partnership, has begun to build premises at the Depok station to house further, related projects. We now aim to extend our studies to other families of edible fi sh (Bagridae) and several highly prized ornamental spe-cies that are currently overfi shed.
Contact: Dr SudartoRIFA (Bogor, Indonesia)
VIEWPOINT
S O C I E T I E S A N D H E A L T H • S O C I E T I E S A N D H E A L T H
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The Societies and Health department has 27 re-search units of its own including one service unit, and is involved in six joint research units. Its work covers the broad fields of social science and health and the interface between them, with researchers drawn from a wide spectrum of disciplines.
Addressing new issuesThe scientific work reveals a dynamic balance be-tween disciplines in which the IRD has been accu-mulating expertise for many years –e.g. geography, demography, anthropology and medical entomol-ogy– and more recently developed disciplines and issues like molecular biology, genetics, the epidemi-ological transition, and anthropology and political science applied to public health research. Research is also taking new approaches to many questions: interactions between societies and environmental hazards, analyses of poverty and its determining factors, migration, stakeholder strategies, the new cultures and new solidarities from which identities are defined, and the issue of conflict, which has be-come a full-scale research subject in its own right.
Results in health and social sciencesAs the research units entered the last phase of the programmes for which they were mandated three years earlier, they published articles in scientific
journals or works of synthesis. In health, the Institute’s priority was to seek prophylactic or therapeutic measures against the major endemic parasite diseases such as malaria, virus diseases like AIDS, and emerging diseases. Findings were published on the origin of simian immunodefi-ciency virus in the chimpanzee and on the mode of propagation of Ebola in great ape populations. In collaboration with INSERM, work on Chagas disease, which affects over 18 million people in Latin America, resulted in identifying a viru-lence factor in Trypanosoma cruzi. And after a thirty-year struggle, onchocerciasis was finally eradicated in some twenty countries thanks to the IRD’s work under the aegis of the World Health Organisation.In the social sciences, extensive studies resulted in a historical perspective on relations between France and Africa. Research on how labour has been affected by changes in Vietnam over the past fifteen years also produced results. Also worth noting is the publication of lexicons and gram-mars of Amerindian languages and Creoles in the Guyanas.Several research teams made their mark in noted events such as the assessment workshop on the PAL+ programme (1) in Anglet in April 2003, the “Northern families, Southern families” sym-posium in Marseille in June, “Comparative views
of Madagasca” in Paris in October and a work-shop on “Food studies to improve nutritional situations in West Africa” in Ouagadougou in November. A series of events were organised in connection with International Freshwater Year.
Actions recognised and supportedIn social sciences and health, the trend towards outside funding, already noticeable in 2002, was confirmed this year. Funds were obtained under the research Ministry’s joint incentive actions (ACI) and through calls for tender from the French national institute for AIDS research and the French Biodiversity Institute. National agen-cies like the French development agency AFD, international and foreign organisations like the National Institute of Health, World Health Or-ganisation, UNAIDS and the European Commis-sion also actively helped the IRD’s programmes in these fields.
(1) PAL+ programme: joint instigative research pro-gramme on malaria and associated transmissible dis-eases, set up by the research Ministry in 1999.
Contact [email protected]
UNDERSTANDING SOCIETIES, IMPROVING HEALTH IN THE SOUTH
Societies and Health
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The Ebola virus was identifi ed for the fi rst time in the Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire) in 1976. In the past few years, several sudden outbreaks have occurred simultaneously in the Republic of Congo and Gabon, making control of Ebola virus infection a major health priority for both countries.This particularly virulent virus is transmitted by direct contact. Mortality rates are high, as are the social and economic consequences. Only pre-vention and the isolation of affected people can so far be used to limit its spread, as there is no drug treatment and no vaccine.Researchers from the IRD and its partners (1) have been studying the conditions under which the virus is transmitted from its still unknown animal reservoir to man. The sub-type of the virus that is found in this part of Africa is usually transmitted to man from carcasses of gorilla, chimpanzee and duiker. In humans, it causes a haemorrhagic fever which in 80% of cases leads to death within a few days.Epidemiological observations between 2001 and 2003 in Gabon and the Republic of Congo suggest
there are several concomitant epidemic chains, each from a different animal source. Genetic analysis of the virus from samples of infected human blood confi rmed the existence of several chains and showed that each of these resulted from transmission of a different viral strain.A major increase in mortality among some animal species before and during the human outbreaks was observed. Gorilla and duiker populations fell by 50% between 2002 and 2003 in the 320 km2 Lossi sanctuary in the Republic of Congo, and chimpanzee populations by 88%. Analysis of samples taken from dead animals showed they were infected by the Ebola virus and found a dif-ferent strain of the virus in each carcass, confi rm-ing the multiplicity of strains that has been found in humans.The new data show that infection among the great apes happens through direct mass contami-nations from animal reservoirs of the virus when environmental conditions are favourable. Humans become contaminated at a second stage, through contact with carcasses of animals susceptible to the virus, such as great apes or duikers.
Our detection and diagnosis of Ebola infection in these carcasses should therefore primarily lead to the introduction of preventive measures against human outbreaks. The same teams are now working to describe the environmental con-ditions required for an outbreak to occur among primates and to identify the virus’s natural host.
(1) This research involved the IRD, the Centre Interna-tional de Recherches Medicales in Franceville, Gabon; the National Institute for Communicable Disease (NICD), South Africa; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA; the Wildlife Conserva-tion Society (WCS), USA; ECOFAC, the European programme for conservation and rational use of forest ecosystems in Central Africa; and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Contact Eric Leroy: [email protected]
EBOLA: FROM THE NATURAL RESERVOIR TO MAN
A partner’s
Faustin Boukoubi, Minister for Public Health,
GabonWhen the Centre International de Recherche Médicale de Franceville (CIRMF) was created, its main mission was to combat sterility. This was both a public health problem and an economic problem because at that time Gabon’s small population size, low fertility rate and high rate of sterility were a serious handicap for the country’s development. Today, the redirection of the CIRMF’s activities and its work with the IRD on malaria, AIDS and Ebola haemorrhagic fever are perfectly in accordance with the Health Department’s views. Research must be a tool for development, and programmes must take into account the country’s foremost public health preoccu-pations. The Health Department is there-fore very pleased to co-operate with the IRD and hopes this co-operation will soon be extended. But if we want to be sure to take public health concerns into account, Gabonese researchers must be involved more fully and collaboration with the hospitals also needs to be improved. These two points are the challenges for our promising partnership.
Contact:Director General for Health, Prof. Pierre-André Kombila
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One priority for international organisations is to combat micronutrient defi ciencies, which are a public health problem for most of the world’s population. Iron defi ciency, the cause of most cases of nutritional anaemia, affects around 3.5 billion people and has many damaging con-sequences, particularly for cognitive development in infants and maternal morbidity and mortality.
Suitable strategiesIn Vietnam, reducing nutritional anaemias was part of the Health Ministry’s national action plan for 2001-2010, conducted by the National Insti-tute of Nutrition. The programme concerns young children and women of reproductive age, which are the main high-risk groups. The researchers took two approaches: nutrient supplements, using a new weekly plan for high-requirement target groups, and food fortifi cation, a longer-term ap-proach designed for the population as a whole.A weekly preventive iron and folate supplement improves the iron status of pregnant women and women of reproductive age. Iron defi ciency is rarely found on its own, and is often combined with defi ciencies in iodine, vitamin A and zinc. Two studies of infants measured the effects and interactions of either iron-zinc supplements or iron-micronutrient supplements in the form of chewable tablets, and demonstrated a signifi cant improvement in health status.Regarding strategies for the broader population, two assessments under controlled, real-life condi-tions showed that regular consumption of an iron-enriched version of the widely-used condiment nuoc-mam produced a signifi cant improvement
in iron status. Following these results, Vietnam’s National Institute of Nutrition is to receive funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to extend the project nation-wide.Another study, in partnership with GRET (1), showed the positive impact on infants’ growth and iron status of locally-manufactured food supplements with added micronutrients. These results aroused the Asian Development Bank’s interest in a wider use of this approach.
Implications beyond VietnamThe work in Vietnam was discussed at several meetings of experts and has contributed to inter-national discussions about assessing iron status. Most of the research has received funding from outside the IRD and has been carried out under multi-country programmes. The IRD will be pur-suing its work in Vietnam and other countries, and will start working on the impact of more varied diets and such public health measures as infec-tion control and promotion of breast-feeding.
1) GRET (Groupe de Recherche et d’Echanges Tech-nologiques) is an NGO.
Contact Jacques Berger: [email protected]
COMBATING MICRONUTRIENT
DEFICIENCIESA partner’s
Prof. Nguyen Cong Khan,
Director, National Institute of Nutrition, Hanoi, Vietnam
Controlling micronutrient defi ciencies is one of the National Institute of Nutrition’s main goals. It is essential for improving the Vietnamese people’s nutritional status, especially the women and children. There is no single solution to the problem and we must combine different approaches. Nutrient supplements are still necessary, but fortifying habitual foods must also play an increasing role in the coming years. The results of the research con-ducted in co-operation with the IRD will help towards nationwide public health actions making appropriate food supple-ments and fortifi ed foods available to the population. Efforts must be continued to fortify other foods and encourage the population to follow nutritional advice and improve its dietary habits taking full advantage of local products.
Contact:Prof. Nguyen Cong Khan
VIEWPOINT
DESERTIFICATION AND RESOURCE
USE IN THE JEFFARA, TUNISIA
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The Jeffara region in south-eastern Tunisia lies on the northern fringe of the Sahara desert. It has all the features of an arid region: annual rainfall between 150 and 200 mm, skeletal soils and considerable particle movement. Recent de-velopments are population growth, more inten-sive farming, greater use of water for irrigation (particularly for olive growing), urbanisation and tourism (especially on the island of Jerba). All this increases pressure on groundwater resources, increases the risk of environmental degradation and raises the question of how sustainable devel-opment is to be achieved here.The multi-disciplinary programme “desertifi ca-tion in the Tunisian Jeffara: practices, resource use and the future of the rural populations” (2001-2003) involved researchers from Tunisia’s Institut des Régions Arides and the IRD along-side the Gabès and Médenine local authorities’ development agencies. It received funding from the French Scientifi c Committee on Desertifi ca-tion under a call for proposals by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The two main issues addressed were (a) access to and management of natural resources in a catchment basin, taking water as a major vector of agricultural, economic and environmental change, and (b) decision aids for implementing desertifi cation control measures.Focusing on society-environment interactions, the programme put the desertifi cation process in the
Jeffara in perspective and considered the ques-tions it raises in a more broadly strategic context aimed at reconciling environmental conservation with social and territorial equity and economic development.Among the programme’s main results were pro-posals to reshape strategy on the following sub-jects: the viability of agro-pastoral activities, land tenure dynamics, competition between sectors for water, and the new dangers arising from the marketisation of this vital resource. In this con-text, initiatives for increasingly multi-functional use of the countryside, with alternative forms of tourism, promotion of traditional knowledge, etc., should be encouraged.The need for deliberate public policies for deserti-fi cation control and rural development is undeni-able in a region with such severe limitations. But the programme also showed the need to open up fora for negotiation among private users and pub-lic institutions, with a view to concerted natural resources management and collective choice of development options that will benefi t all parts of the region and all its stakeholders.
ContactDidier Genin: [email protected]
A partner’s
Houcine Khatteli, Director General,
Institut des Régions Arides, Médenine, Tunisia
Tunisian co-operation with the IRD goes back to the early 1970s, almost the same time as the founding of the Institut des Régions Arides in 1976. The co-operation was at fi rst limited to natural resources (ecology and soil science); later, it was extended to the social sci-ences, with the DYPEN research collec-tive working on population dynamics and environment between 1990 and 1998. That programme produced knowledge and methodologies on the subject of interactions between human activity and change in natural environments. The multi-disciplinary Jeffara programme has continued that work. It has given us a better understanding of the complex issue of desertifi cation, helped us evalu-ate ecological changes and proposed guidelines for agricultural development, water resource management and other multisectoral initiatives to ensure that development is sustainable. Other strong points were the training provided and the involvement, right from the outset, of the local development agencies. For these agencies, decision aids for socio-economic development and natural resource con-servation are of vital importance.
Contact: [email protected]
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A new approach in development economics tries to connect a country’s long-term development trends with political factors, particularly those concerning democracy and governance. The qual-ity of a country’s institutions and the degree of trust its citizens have in them affect people’s wel-fare, sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly through the effi cacy or otherwise of economic policies.Researchers in the IRD-DIAL (1) research unit on “Growth, inequalities, population and the role of the state” have been addressing this issue. They are exploring how households see their liv-ing conditions and diffi culties and how they view their country’s institutions in terms of effi ciency and manner of operating. Although the latter two aspects are rarely measured quantitatively, the unit’s researchers have developed an origi-nal methodology for the purpose. They have been running surveys with this methodology in several countries of Africa and Latin America, in coop-eration with national statistics institutes, Afrisat and the Andean Community.
Surveys on citizen participation in PeruThe research in the Andean countries began in 2003 with Peru, where the Peruvian Institute of Sta-tistics conducted a survey among 16,650 house-holds and over 75,000 individuals. The originality of the survey design was that for the fi rst time it coupled the usual questions on poverty and liv-ing conditions with more specifi c questions about governance, democracy and values, in the offi cial statistical framework.
These “surveys on citizen participation” pro-duced some unexpected fi ndings. Contrary to one widespread idea, corruption tends to spare the poor. However, this fi nding masks the fact that the cost of corruption does affect the poorest, dissuading them from making use of public ser-vices. In the political fi eld, although profoundly disillusioned with the democratic transition, the population continues to massively support demo-cratic principles and is not seduced by the lure of authoritarianism or even populism among the most disadvantaged. The results of this work were presented in the last Global Corruption Report, recently published by Transparency Interna-tional (2).
Extending the research to the other Andean countriesThe research has now been extended to all the Andean countries. Citizen participation surveys based on the experience acquired in Peru and several African countries are being co-ordinated by the Andean Community Secretariat, with tech-nical support from IRD researchers. The work is now part of Metagora, an international pro-gramme to measure governance, democracy and human rights funded by the European Commis-sion, France and other donors.
(1) DIAL: Développement et intégration international, a partnership between the French Development Agency (AFD) and the IRD’s research unit UR047 (Growth, inequalities, population and the role of the state). DIAL is the main focus of UR047’s work.(2) http://www.globalcorruptionreport.org
Contact Javier Herrera : [email protected]
François Roubaud : [email protected]
A partner’s
Guilermo Lecaros and Dante Curonisy,
experts at the Andean Community, based in Lima
The Andean Community (CAN) is a regional organisation with fi ve member countries, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. In 2001, the Presidents of the member countries launched a programme to combat poverty, exclusion and social inequality in the region. The collabora-tion between the IRD and the national statistics institutes has provided train-ing for participants in methods already used in Africa to measure household liv-ing conditions and how households view governance and democracy. The analy-sis, conducted in common, has already produced an assessment of the results so far, published in 2003. Following the citizen participation survey in Peru, our collaboration continues with surveys of the same kind now getting underway in the other Andean countries.
Contact: [email protected]
VIEWPOINT
LIVING CONDITIONS, GOVERNANCE AND DEMOCRACY IN PERU
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The IRD always aims to assist partners in their development and help them achieve indepen-dence. Alongside our research, consultancy and industrial relations work, we directly seek to strengthen Southern research capacity in a last-ing way. The Support and Training department de-signs and organises various forms of training and support for scientific communities in the South.
Rigorous evaluationBefore the department goes into action, potential partners are met and research arrangements are evaluated. All projects are submitted to experts who, besides the criteria of quality and relevance, pay particular attention to each project’s poten-tial spin-off for the local and regional scientific environment. The core concerns underpinning the department’s policy and organisation are the cre-ation of collective competencies and consolidation of existing teams working in uncertain situations.
Suitable forms of supportDifferent partner communities have different needs, and we must provide suitable responses. Support means scientific support first and fore-most, so that the teams can familiarise themselves with the latest advances in their fields and join the relevant international networks. Then comes financial support, always targeting the aspects that need consolidating: field work, mobility or feedback, for example.Regarding individual support, which is always designed with a view to strengthening a team,
we offer a varied range of aid in the form of in-ternships, doctoral and post-doctoral fellowships, short-term scientific exchanges and in-service training. All in all, 264 fellowships were awarded in 2003.A new form of support introduced in 2002, the “young IRD partner teams”, targets young teams that lack the necessary maturity and proven re-sults to win recognition. This form of support con-tinued in 2003, with eight new projects selected.The department also handles support procedures on behalf of other operators such as the Foreign Ministry’s CORUS programme and GIS AIRE Développement.
Giving our partners responsibilityTo give maximum responsibility to our partners, our approach is based on dialogue, operations are subject to contract, and partners are left free to choose their own research subjects. From trans-mitting new skills and competencies to consoli-dating existing teams, our support for research teams helps to build up critical mass, diversify skills, develop projects and individual careers and capitalise on knowledge so as to ensure that com-petencies will be maintained.
Consolidating partner teams’ social and scientific environmentsTo develop an enabling environment for research programmes, we undertake actions to optimise the scientific and social environments the teams
work in. This includes local institution building, generating synergy through joint projects, re-source pooling, providing communication and in-formation resources, and supporting documenta-tion centres and libraries. The department hopes in this way to facilitate the emergence or devel-opment of fruitful local scientific cultures and to help research establish local roots and forge links with decision makers.
Contact [email protected]
STRENGTHENING SOUTHERN RESEARCHERS’ CAPACITIES
Breakdown of individual support grants by type, 2003
Short-term scientificexchanges
79
In-service training grants
44
Doctoral theses
141
North Africa and Middle East
25East Africa
and Indian Ocean
17Central Africa
33
West Africa
104Latin America and Caribbean
68Asia
17
Geographical breakdown of individual support in 2003
The subject of Carolina Parada Véliz’ doctoral thesis was modelling the impact of environ-mental and ecological dynamics on the repro-ductive behaviour of anchovy in the Benguela system, off the South African coast. She con-ducted her research at the University of the Western Cape, under a French-South-African partnership. Her work provides new insights for managing pelagic fisheries, which are the most susceptible to climatic disruptions. Dr. Parada Véliz was awarded the Christiane Doré prize and the quality of her work also earned her a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Marine Fisheries Service in Seattle, USA.
For this operation, the support and training department combined forces with three IRD research units – Idyle for biological ocean-ography, Géodes for modelling, and R061 for eco-ethology of pelagic marine fish. It involved co-operation between the IRD and two Uni-versities, Western Cape in South Africa and Concepción in Chile. This three-sided co-oper-ation should become formal in a future Idyle programme on fishery structure in Western and Southern Africa and South America. The IRD strongly encourages this type of co-oper-ation, in which our partners are involved at every stage of the scientific process.
Contact Carolina Parada VélizIdyle research unit:
Support and training figures for 2003Individual support grants 264Doctoral thesis 141In-service training 44Scientific exchange 79
Support for teams (number of operations) 159• AIRE développement 31(Agency for investment in research abroad, c. €27,000 per team per year)• CORUS-Campus 79(programme financed by the French foreign ministry with IRD as executive secretariat, c. €20,000 per team per year)• Young IRD partner teams (c. €20,000 per team per year) 21• “Social sciences in Africa” call for proposals 28(programme financed by the French foreign ministry, run by CODESRIA and the IRD, c. €27,000 per team per year)
Institutional support (€192,000 in 2003) 12Training courses 2Teams and centres 4Seminars and workshops 6
A new maestría in BoliviaThere is no degree higher than the maestría in Bolivia, and that degree does not qualify graduates to study for a doctorate in France. This gave rise to the idea of consolidating the maestría course in biology and biomedical science at the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés. Based on a network of local partners, the new maestría now involves a hard core of Bolivian researchers and local institutions as well as IRD units working in Bolivia.
Upgrading the maestría involved the participation of new local institutions and improvements to the academic framework, with a common-core sylla-bus, seven options and international lectures. In the first year (2002-2003) there were some twenty students, selected through a new and more rigorous procedure. The best students have been offered the chance to follow on with a doctorate in France.
After two years’ collaboration, the maestría is becoming the backbone of the new IRD co-opera-tion policy in Bolivia. Three projects for Young IRD partner teams are directly attached to it.
Contact Celeste Rodriguez, director of the maestría
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Young IRD partner teams in 2003
A “young IRD partner team” is a particular form of partnership between a Southern team and an IRD research unit, designed to build local competencies and aiming, from the outset, to make the Southern researchers independent.In 2003 the scientific committee in charge of assessment and selection received 31 applications. Assessment is based on four criteria: consistency between the team’s composition and its project, the scientific quality of the programme, prospects for the young team’s de-velopment, and the quality of its partnership with the IRD unit. Eight teams were selected for a two-year period, bringing the number of young partner teams currently receiving support to 21.
AFRICA AND LATIN AMERICACountry Southern partner team IRD research unit
CameroonInstitut de recherches géologiques et minières (IRGM)
Water, environment and health in Central Africa Hydroscience (R050)
Côte d’IvoireÉcole nationale supérieure de statistiques, et d’économie appliquée (ENSEA)
Population dynamics in Côte d’Ivoire
Population/ environment/ development laboratory (R151)
SenegalUniversité Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) and Institut sénégalaise de recherche agricole (ISRA)
Peri-urban farming in the Niayes area
Biological interactions in tropical soils used by man (R083)
SenegalUniversité Cheikh Anta Diop
Developmental physiology of perennial tropical plants
Developmental biology of perennial tropical crop species (R142)
Bolivia Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA)
Parasite immunology Mother and infant health (R010)
ChileUniversidad de Antofagasta Sedimentology
and palaeoenvironments
Tropical paleoenvironments and climate change (R055)
(PALEOTROPIQUE)
EcuadorInstituto Geofísico, Escuela Politécnica Nacional (IG-EPN)
Vulcanology team Volcanic processes and hazards (R031)
EcuadorQuito Municipal Council
Urban environment and development Urban environment (R029)
Nutrition: successful support in the Congo
The food and nutrition research team formed in 1994 with research-ers from Marien N’Gouabi University and the Republic of Congo Directorate General for Research, has become a stable centre of excellence in food and nutrition research. After receiving scientific and financial support from the agency AIRE Développement from 1996 to 2003, this multi-disciplinary team, directed by Thomas Silou, recently wrote up a self-assessment report. Establishing the impor-tance of carbohydrates and fats in covering the energy and nutritional needs of Brazzaville’s residents, the team has worked to identify opti-mum production conditions for several local foods: oil from the pulp of the bush-butter tree, food-quality citronella essence and fermented cassava paste. It has also played an active part in creating the Insti-tute for Food and Nutrition Research and organising the doctoral training in “Processing agricultural resources for food” at the Marien N’Gouabi University.
The research team now maintains its contacts with similar bodies in Benin and Cameroon, and also with the IRD, through the “Nutrition, food, societies” research unit and the technical facilities available at the Pointe-Noire IRD centre. This kind of collaboration illustrates the many-sided nature of AIRE Développement support – support that is essential for improving Southern research capability.
Contact [email protected]
The Consulting and Industrial Relations depart-ment continued to expand its activities in 2003. On the intellectual property front, seven new pat-ents were applied for. Six of these are in biotech-nology or biochemistry, mostly for applications in health or agriculture. The seventh is for test equipment for hydrology laboratories. Two option contracts for licenses were signed, one for break-ing down sugars and one for bread-making. And a sub-license was granted to a small producer in the Congo, to produce Plumpy brand nutritional supplement for undernourished children.Income from institutional consultancy contracts increased by 180% over the course of the year.On the business start-ups side, a tropical aqua-culture engineering project involving the IRD and CNRS was accepted at the Languedoc-Roussillon business incubator in Montpellier.
Expert group reviewsIn 2003 a monitoring committee was set up and two expert group reviews were published. One of these is on developing countries’ scientific diasporas and how those countries could benefit from them, the other on optimising dengue fever control in Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana. Three more expert group reviews were launched, on organic farming in Martinique, eco-nomic uses for natural substances in Polynesia, and trachoma in the Sahel.
Quality managementFollowing the adoption of the quality manage-ment approach to research, we took measures to raise awareness in the Institute and the in-sect pest laboratory in Montpellier obtained ISO 9001 certification.
Contact [email protected]
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PUTTING KNOWLEDGE TO PRODUCTIVE USE FISH FARMING WITH TILAPIA
The IRD, CNRS and the University of Montpellier 2 had been conducting research into intensive pro-duction of tilapia and fish farm effluent recycling. Languedoc-Roussillon Incubation, a regional business incubator for innovative start-ups, provided support for a new company formed on the basis of this work. It is an innovative project involving productive use of all the organic waste produced; the fish farm efflu-ent is processed in lagoons, producing phytoplankton and zooplankton that are then used to feed the fish. The tilapia market holds promise, with sales in Europe increasing and world fish stocks stagnating. A proto-type of the fish farming system will soon be built in Senegal, and once the first tilapia farm has proven itself, the company will be able to move on to other, similar projects.
Contact Sylvain [email protected]
PLACING HOPE IN THE DIASPORASThe French Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked the IRD to consider how Southern countries could benefi t from their expatriate scientists to further their development. Fourteen experts formed a panel to address the issue. They consid-ered how to defi ne a diaspora and examined the facts on the ground, the forms these diasporas take and the factors affecting how they function. Then they considered under what conditions pub-lic support would be useful, for the host country and for the country of origin.
The brain drain is happening on a huge scale. About two-thirds of expatriate students from the South remain in the host country to live and work. Africa has about 10% of its students abroad, a fi g-ure signifi cantly higher than other parts of the world. A third of these African students come to France. All in all,
the experts consider that a third of the scientifi c and
technical potential of Southern countries is liv-ing in the North.
These expatriates are not indifferent to the fate of their home countries, and many of them form or join expatriate organisations. Some of these diasporas receive support from the home coun-try or host country. Support for scientifi c and technical diasporas should allow for the uncer-tainties underlying any support policy and should avoid substituting for support for local research programmes. Scientifi c and technical co-opera-tion agencies may fi nd in the diasporas a promis-ing vector that has so far been under-used.
Contact Jean-Baptiste [email protected]
DENGUE IN MARTINIQUE, GUADELOUPE AND FRENCH GUIANA
Dengue fever is now among the world’s most widespread diseases trans-mitted by insect bites. Two-fi fths of the world population are exposed to the disease and, according to World Health Organisation estimates, 50 million new cases are recorded each year. In its severe forms the dis-ease can be fatal, but at present the only control methods are preventive measures and the severe forms are diffi cult to detect.
The health authorities of Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana commissioned the IRD to conduct an expert group review on optimisa-tion of dengue control. The panel suggested several ways to reduce the threat: rationalising mosquito control with the help of the population, improving the use of insecticides, setting up a dynamic local and regional monitoring network mainly involving doctors and health workers, and improving patient care.
GÉNOPLANTE: FRUITFUL PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP
The IRD has been playing an active part in Génoplante, a partnership of scien-tifi c interest (GIS), since 1999. Génoplante is an unusual structure in that it involves all the French publicly funded research bodies working on plant genetics (INRA, CNRS, CIRAD and the IRD) as well as French seed fi rms. Its purpose is to strengthen top-level research and competitiveness in a sector dominated in recent years by American research institutes and companies.
A large part of Génoplante’s research has been aimed at understanding basic plant processes, using thale cress (Arabidopsis) and rice as model species. The IRD’s participation makes productive use of knowledge and competencies acquired by our rice research units and their partnerships with Southern research bodies.
Among the results of the programme’s fi rst phase were 59 publications. An assess-ment of the 1999-2003 period confi rms that this original public-private partner-ship and its combination of work on model plants and economically useful plants have made it possible to generate new resources for improving crop species, consolidate technology platforms and start collaboration with similar German, English and Spanish organisations. It has brought European research up to par with global challenges in this sector.
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Part of the IRD’s purpose is to disseminate sci-entifi c culture and information. This means pro-viding our researchers with access to information of high quality, making the Institute more visible to decision makers and partners, and playing an active part in public debate so as to make science accessible to a wider public. These are the tasks of the Information and Communication department.
Access to scientifi c informationThe part played by computer technology and the Internet in disseminating scientifi c information and making it accessible to researchers increases every year. The IRD made full use of these tech-nologies in modernising its documentation system – a major operation! Researchers also now have effi cient on-line services available wherever they work, with access to the Francis database, Cur-rent Contents, CAB Abstracts, GeoRef and Web of Science. In 2003 the number of electronic journals with articles available on-line rose from 1,400 to 2,700.The IRD’s document base acquired 2,000 new references in 2003. More than 57,000 docu-ments can now be found in the Horizon database, and 65% of these have been digitised and are available on the Web. This helps to spread infor-mation and, in particular, share it with Southern countries and their scientifi c communities.In the publishing fi eld, the IRD published or co-edited some thirty books and atlases in 2003,
with French or other editors. The proportion of publications in foreign languages increased sharply, the aim being to deliver research results to the people of the partner countries concerned.On the cartography side, alongside actions in sup-port of training and research teams, highlights this year were a trilingual exhibition on sustain-able development and a major work of synthesis on the environment in the Republic of Guinea.
DISSEMINATING SCIENTIFIC CULTURE
AND INFORMATION
PUBLICATIONS BY IRD RESEARCHERS CITED IN THE SCIENCE CITATION INDEX (SCI) (1)
IN 2003Scientifi c activity made signifi cant progress in 2003, as witness the 650 A rating publications (social sciences excluded) listed in the Science Citation Index. This was 6% more than in 2002 and 12% more than in 1999.
In the natural sciences and life sciences, there was one publication per head of research staff. Forty-eight authors published fi ve articles or more, ten signed eight articles or more and two signed more than ten.
The mean impact factor of the journals (number of citations received by an article) was 2.4. Some twelve articles were published in journals with very high impact factors such as Nature, Sciences or The Lancet. For applied biology and ecology journals, the coeffi cient was 1.5. For sciences of the universe it was 1.8, for biomedical research 2.2 and for pure biology 2.9. It is over 13 for multidisciplinary journals (includ-ing 3 in Nature and 4 in Sciences). The number of joint publications also increased.
(1) The fi gures are based on the number of researchers working in the disciplines covered by the SCI; they therefore exclude the social sciences.
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Socially responsible scienceThe IRD is eager to intensify the dialogue be-tween science and society. This year, we organised close to a hundred public lectures and debates so that researchers could meet the general public. As part of International Freshwater Year, we pro-duced a travelling exhibition in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Researchers were also active in some fi fteen sci-ence clubs set up to stimulate awareness of sci-ence among the young.
Higher profi leThanks to the periodical Sciences au Sud (includ-ing summaries in English and Spanish), scientifi c news sheets and considerable efforts addressed to the media (over 1,200 press articles in 2003),
the IRD now receives more exposure in the press, on radio and on televi-sion.The Institute’s presence on the Inter-net also continues to expand. In addi-tion to the main website at www.ird.fr, 25 IRD centres and 50 research units now have their own websites.The latest website is Canal IRD, where web-surfers can view 26 short science news videos. The Indigo image base, which can also be accessed via the Web, now contains 23,000 images.Films and scientifi c symposia –about forty sym-posia in 2003– also give the Institute a higher profi le, nationally and internationally.
Contact [email protected]
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THE QUITO YOUNG SCIENCE CLUBHigh school students in Quito are studying potato insect pests.
Students at the La Condamine high school in Quito and the Latacunga and Machachi agricultural schools joined a research and development youth club. With their teachers and a researcher from the “Pathogen diversity and potato moth control” research unit, they are working to develop control methods against a devastating pest and to study the socio-economic impact of the damage it causes. The young people tested a control method using one of the insect’s natural enemies, fi rst in the laboratory and then in the fi eld. They also ran surveys in the markets of southern Ecuador to describe the impact of pests on the potato trade. Working on a fully-fl edged scientifi c programme like this, young people gain an insight into the importance of research for development. One reason for the club’s success was the choice of a subject of vital importance throughout the Andean region, where the potato is everyone’s staple food. This was an original teaching experiment, and a short fi lm was made in the process.
Contact [email protected]
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The Institute’s presence on the Inter-net also continues to expand. In addi-tion to the main website at www.ird.fr, 25 IRD centres and 50 research units
