Institut de recherche pour le développement

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IRD RA 2006_couv_angl 1/08/07 14:34 Page 1

Contents

Rice harvest, northern Laos

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IRD RA 2006_couv_angl 1/08/07 14:34 Page 2

••• IntroductionThe IRD around the world 4

Editorial 5A strategic turning point 6-7

The IRD in a nutshell 8Highlights of the year 9

••• Research for the SouthPriority programmes 12-29

Science guided by ethical principles and quality management 30Evaluation, publications and teaching 31

••• Training, sharing, finding applicationsSupporting scientific communities in the South 34-35

Applications and consulting 36Knowledge sharing 37

••• Working in partnershipInternational 40-43

French overseas territories 44Metropolitan France 45

••• Resources for researchScientific equipment: pooled resources 48-49

Human resources 50-51Financial resources 52-53

Information systems

•••AppendicesThe IRD’s decision bodies 55

Participation in scientific partnerships 56Central services 57

Research and service units 58-59IRD establishments around the world 60

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the IRD around the world

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Editorial

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2006 was a particularly importantyear for the IRD, with the signingof its objectives contract for the2006-2009 period, the appointmentof a new Director General andimportant progress on two issues.One was the discussions betweenhigher education establishmentsand research bodies that resulted inthe formation of AIRD, the Agenceinter-établissements de recherchepour le développement, and theother was the work on site policy.Finally, the decision to move theInstitute’s head office to Marseille is

intended to correct the over-centralisation of our research system.

International recognition of our research work by now needs no demonstration. Thisyear’s examples include a further increase in the number of scientific articles published intop-grade journals and important research findings such as the identification of thenatural reservoir of the HIV virus in chimpanzees and definitive proof of the existence ofthe mega-Lake Chad in the mid-Holocene. Our expertise (demonstrated for example involcanic risk prevention in Latin America and chikungunya control in the Indian Ocean)and our participation in major international programmes (AMMA on climate, the Santobiodiversity mission) reaffirmed the Institute’s position as a major player in research fordevelopment. As regards training, the increase in the number of teaching hoursdispensed and theses supervised illustrates our commitment to helping to structureSouthern scientific communities.

Michel LAURENTDirector General

Jean-François GIRARDChairman

Aside from the year’s results in the annual report, it is also worth noting the more gradualtrends in research for development. For the past ten years the IRD has identified with theconcept of “research for development”. This ambitious term has often been misused, andhas been understood even recently as referring almost exclusively to support for the leastdeveloped countries, in the name of international solidarity. This goal must of course stillbe pursued, and our focus on the millennium development goals is a strategic frameworkthat reminds us of it.

Nonetheless, science in general and research for development in particular cannot ignoreglobalisation, which in no way removes inequalities, power relations or risks – on thecontrary. In the context of globalisation, research for development has a range of goalsthat combine a concern for solidarity with concern for safety, security and empowerment.Moreover, many relevant scientific issues such as climate, emerging diseases, biodiversityand migration require a global approach both to understand them and to address theirconsequences. With challenges like these, research for development cannot rely solelyon the contributions of dedicated organisations. Nor can it do without Europeanpartnerships, or limit its field of activity to the developing countries. This is the newstrategy that must be elaborated and adopted, and this will be our task in 2007.

A strategic turning point for the IRD2006 marked a significant strategic watershed for the IRD. With the signing of itsnew objectives contract for 2006-2009, the Institute was given a new function asa government agency. To fulfil its new dual mission as research operator andagency for the South, it defined a scientific policy action plan and startedconsultations about restructuring its research facilities under a new site policy.

The new objectives contract, signed with the Government in mid-2006, gives the IRD anambitious framework for stimulating French research for development. The aim is for theInstitute to better adapt its scientific work to development needs, modernise itspartnerships with Southern scientific institutions, forge a network of Europeanpartnerships and increase its influence and presence in the major internationaldevelopment organisations.

Scientific and geographical priorities

The IRD will now be concentrating its research potential on scientific and geographicalpriorities defined in the light of the Southern countries’ main development challenges andthe broad lines of French development aid policy. The Institute’s core research streamswill henceforth be poverty reduction, international migration, emerging infectiousdiseases, climate change and natural hazards, water resources and access to water, andecosystems and natural resources. These are key issues for development, recognised assuch by the international institutions, and will be studied under multidisciplinary andcross-disciplinary programmes. The Institute’s geopolitical strategy will be based on fourmain priorities: increasing investment in Africa and the Mediterranean basin; making abigger contribution to the construction of the European research area; developingregional dynamics in the South; and promoting South-South partnerships.

Creation of the Agence inter-établissements de la recherchepour le développement (AIRD)

At the government’s behest, in 2006 the IRD founded the Agence inter-établissementsde la recherche pour le développement (AIRD). The agency has a threefold purpose. It istasked with amplifying French and European research efforts for development bymobilising the potential of research bodies and universities. It is intended to act as adriving force by stimulating strategic thinking, generating proposals and providingexpertise on research for development and scientific cooperation with the South. And itis to be an active force for building up Southern scientific communities as permanentfeatures of their regions. This latter goal will be pursued by supporting research teamsand researcher training, leading regional research programmes and providing scientificsupervision for regional technology platforms. AIRD is governed by a steering committeewhose members are representatives of French research bodies (Cirad, CNRS, CPU,Inserm, Institut Pasteur, IRD) and the main multilateral organisations, and qualifiedpersonalities representing the Southern continents.

The programmes set up by AIRD will be selected and guided by its steering committee.The system will be based on calls for proposals open to the scientific community in Northand South

Missions of AIRD and its steering committee • Conduct continuous discussion of the concepts of research for development

• Define relevant scientific topics for research for development

• Define priority themes for the agency’s programming

• Identify, mobilise and combine the skills and resources of all potential partners, North andSouth

• Issue calls for proposals and through these launch research-for-development programmes comprising a wider North-South scientific community

• Evaluate the research programmes launched and managed by the Agency.

The policy of research expatriation, missions to the South and temporary hosting ofSouthern researchers will be guided by the scientific relevance of the researchprogrammes and by the local importance of their topics. These must be spelled out bythe partners together. Lastly, the IRD will continue to contribute to the major earth andocean observation systems. Resources in this field will be augmented, with platformsdeveloped in partnership and open to a large number of users.

A new head office in Marseille

At their meeting at the end of 2006 the Board of Trustees voted to move the Institute’shead office to the Euroméditerranée site in Marseille. In March, the InterministerialCommittee for Regional Planning and Competitiveness had asked the IRD to examinethe possibilities for moving the headquarters out of the Île-de-France region, and aninterministerial mission had examined the applications of ten candidate cities. The movewill be an opportunity to further modernise working conditions at head office and will bringit to a region that already has close ties with Southern countries and with research fordevelopment.

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Action plan for a revitalised scientific policy

In October, the IRD defined its action plan for meeting the challenges of its new objec-tives contract. This plan will help the Institute complete the management modernisationand research work restructuring that began several years ago. It puts strong emphasison partnership with Northern and Southern organisations alike, and gives a key place tostrengthening Southern scientific communities to help them address today’s globalisedchallenges and progress towards self-reliance. To address the big issues of developmentthe IRD must focus its work and its teams more tightly, take a more horizontal approachand develop stronger partnerships. The Institute will be concentrating its scientific poten-tial, with fewer IRD-only research units and more participation in joint units. Abroad, wher-ever conditions allow, support will be given to international joint research units, as withthe UMR joint units in Metropolitan France.

Part of this effort will be a site policy designed to construct the necessary synergies withlocal partners, give greater visibility to research-for-development issues and concentrateeffort and human and material resources on the scientific priorities of the objectivescontract.

Alongside the research there must be training, scientific outreach and consultancy work.The conjunction of research and training remains an absolute priority, and there is strongdemand from the South for training for tomorrow’s scientists. The involvement of IRDresearchers in training, especially for international Master’s degrees, will be strengthenedand formalised, with closer partnerships with universities in North and South. Thecontinuum between research and teaching is now consolidated with the creation ofcollaborative chairs. Under this system, the IRD supports a joint research project by tworesearchers, one from the North and one from the South. The two researchers undertakea research-for-development project that must include training at doctoral or Master’slevel.

7Access to water is a priority

Key figures of 2006

79

179

6,000

140

800

€170 million in government subsidies

€12.70 million own resources

71% allocated to staff pay

129 Thesis grants

5 Master’s grants

20 inservice training grants

4 scientific exchange grants

828 researchers

1, 013 engineers and technicians

390 local permanent staff

43% of staff

53% of expatriate staff work in Africa

117 long-term missions

includ 29 joint units with other French research bodies or Universities

M€ budget

staff

staff working outside Metropolitan France

research and service units

grants paid toSouthern scientists

hours of teaching given by IRDresearchers and engineers

51% in France

49% abroad

The IRD in a nutshellResearch for development

Founded in 1944, the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement is a French publicresearch institute working for the development of the Southern countries. It operates underthe joint authority of the French Ministries responsible for research and for overseasdevelopment.

Its work is focused on the relationship between humans and their environment in connectionwith the world’s great development challenges - climate change, managing natural hazards,access to water, protecting ecosystems, food security and public health, internationalmigration, poverty reduction etc.

In France and abroad

Over 800 researchers and 1,000 engineers take part in major research programmesaiming for sustainable development. The IRD has five establishments in metropolitanFrance and five in the French overseas territories. It works in Africa, around the shores ofthe Mediterranean, in Asia, the Indian Ocean, Latin America and the Pacific. All in all itoperates in forty countries.

Partnership

IRD research is conducted in partnership with Southern institutions under national,European and international programmes. It provides training and network facilitation tobuild up the capacities of Southern scientific communities and help them integrate intothe international scientific community. It also plays a part in transferring knowledge andfinding applications for research results with economic and social actors in the South,always with a mind to the interests of partner countries.

Mobilising the scientific community for the Southern countries

Through its part in AIRD, the new inter-establishment Agence inter-établissements de larecherche pour le développement, the IRD has the task of mobilising French andEuropean universities and major research bodies on research issues connected withdevelopment.

supervised theses

scientific publications(excluding human sciences)

43% of theses jointly signed with Southern partners

200

2,231

956 of which

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Highlights of the year

New Director General appointedProfessor Michel Laurent, specialist in behaviouralneuroscience, former Chairman of Méditerranée-Aix-Marseille University and Vice-Chairman of the Conferenceof University Chairpersons, was appointed DirectorGeneral of the IRD for a three-year mandate.

2006-2009 objectives contract signedBrigitte Gerardin, Deputy Minister for cooperation,development and the Francophone countries, FrançoisGoulard, Deputy Minister for higher education andresearch, IRD chairman Jean-François Girard and DirectorGeneral Michel Laurent signed the Institute’s newobjectives contract (2006-2009), which lays down itspriorities for the next four years.

New inter-establishment agency forresearch for development (AIRD)The IRD founded this agency at the request of theInterministerial Committee for International Cooperationand Development, to stimulate the French research effortfor development. Its members are education and researchestablishments working for development in Southerncountries.

Monitoring the Amazonian environmentby satelliteSEAS Guyane, inaugurated in 2006 in Cayenne, FrenchGuiana, is an environmental monitoring platform thatenables researchers to make direct use of Spot andEnvisat satellite images of the Amazonian region.

Combating Chikungunya in La RéunionFollowing its participation in the consultancy mission onthe chikungunya outbreak, launched by the research andhealth ministries in 2005, the IRD is now leading a majorresearch programme in La Réunion to improve knowledgeof the mosquitoes that transmit the disease.

Towards a tropical pelagic ecosystems monitoring systemThe European FADIO programme, in which the IRD wasthe lead institution, completed its work in 2006 after fouryears of research and oceanographic surveys. Theprogramme developed and tested electronic tags relayedby satellite uplink, automating the collecting of data onlarge pelagic fish. With these tools researchers will be ableto set up a system for monitoring tropical pelagicecosystems.

2006 Santo expedition in the PacificThe Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, the IRD and theNGO Pronatura led a major international expedition toinventory biodiversity on the island of Espiritu Santo inVanuatu. It lasted five months and involved 150researchers from 25 countries, exploring the island fromthe treetops to the ocean depths. Some twenty IRDscientists took part and much use was made of theInstitute’s logistical resources, particularly theoceanographic vessel Alis. What follows now is severalyears’ work to identify the 10,000 animal and plantspecies collected and make a detailed analysis of theisland’s biodiversity.

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Research fo r the South

Climate research, equatorial Andes

••• Priority programmes

••• Science guided by ethical principles and quality management

••• Evaluation, publications and teaching

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Desertification in Tunisia 11

The IRD’s research addresses the world’s main development challenges, focusing on six majorthemes: natural hazards and climate, ecosystems, access to water, food security, health, andglobalisation. In 2006 it once again achieved important results, many of which were publishedin international journals. The selection of results presented here covers all the Institute’s fields ofinvestigation and reflects research for development conducted in multidisciplinary and interna-tional partnership. The research mobilised 115 million euros in 2006, including €95 million forstaff.

Natu ra l hazards and c l imate

Understanding to adapt to climate changeGlobal warming is now an undeniable fact. It is largely the result of human activity, andparticularly of the increasing quantities of greenhouse gases released into the atmos-phere. It is having major repercussions on populations in the South, who are particu-larly vulnerable and dependent on their environments. It is becoming urgent not onlyto reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also to apply strategies enabling populationsto adapt and cope with climate change.By enhancing knowledge, research plays a front line role in risk management and inmaking populations less vulnerable. IRD research in this field is based on the UnitedNations recommendations on climate change. Its aim is to observe and analyse evermore closely the climate changes of today and past eras and to study their impacton the planet. Particular emphasis is laid on the future of water resources, animal andplant species, tropical ecosystems (forests, coral reefs, lakes and lagoons, deserts etc.)and the health of populations.

Prevention and management of natural and environmental risksEarthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, tsunamis and floods: such are the naturalhazards facing the people and environments of Southern countries. These are disas-ters that recur, sometimes seemingly at random, and are expected to become moreintense in future. Then there are the risks incurred by human activity, such as atmosphe-ric and environmental pollution. To reduce the impact of human activities, the IRD isconducting research into the processes that underlie such hazards and the events thattrigger them. Our researchers are involved in setting up and running observation andearly warning networks and in educating the populations concerned. IRD researchconcentrates on severe seismic events, the eruptive dynamics of volcanoes close tolarge towns, the potential impact of climate change and the mechanisms that causedesertification.

63researchers

10,5 M€

77scientific publications

Volcanic hazards

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With a chain of forty major volcanoes running through it, Ecuador is a uniquecountry for volcanology. The IRD has been running an ambitious programme therefor more than ten years now, in close collaboration with the Instituto Geofísico,Escuela Politécnica Nacional (IG-EPN) in Quito. This exemplary partnershiprevealed its full potential in the summer of 2006, when Tungurahua, one of thecountry’s most active and dangerous volcanoes, erupted violently. Thevolcanologists detected that an eruption was imminent and the local populationwas quickly evacuated.

In 1999, Tungurahua awoke from a slumber that had lasted for more than eighty years.Since then, it has been through a succession of calm periods and phases of large or smalleruptions. In these disquieting circumstances, the IRD’s Magmas and VolcanoesLaboratory team focused their researches more closely on the eruptive mechanisms andon volcanic risk management, examining ways to improve preventive measures andprotect the local population. The IRD and IG-EPN pooled their efforts with NGOs todevelop information and early warning systems and draw up evacuation plans.Meanwhile the Instituto Geofísico set up an observatory to monitor the activity of thevolcano in real time (seismic activity, deformation, emissions of gas and solid matter, etc.).The researchers also set about reconstituting the eruptive history of Tungurahua over thepast 3,000 years by analysing the geographical distribution and geochemical nature ofthe eruptive deposits it has spewed out in the past, using carbon 14 to date the deposits.They identified several cycles of activity, each lasting a few hundred years with an averageof one eruption per century during these periods. The frequency of violent eruptions

proves particularly high. Modelling the dynamics of these past eruptions enabled thescientists to identify the probable paths of future nuées ardentes and so establish a mapof high-risk areas, which the two institutes published.

Armed with the eruptive history and the risk map, the scientists enabled the communityto avoid the worst in the summer of 2006. On 14 July, a 13-kilometer column of gas andash rose above Tungurahua. The alarm was raised and 1,500 people were evacuatedfrom high-risk areas shortly before the column fell back onto the mountainside. On 16August a second alarm was raised owing to exceptionally strong seismic signals. Withina few hours 3,000 people had left the area; the only casualties were six people who hadremained in the high-risk area. The ash flows and deposits of volcanic debris, ten metresdeep in some places, devastated the area up to 10 km from the crater, destroyingvegetation, crops and some homes. The ash and deposits will be analysed so that thescientists can model the volcano’s dynamics more accurately.

Tungurahua: to p ro tect the people

••• Contact: lepennec@ird.fr

••• Publication: Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research

Tungurahua volcano, Ecuador

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A partner’s viewpointPablo Samaniego, director of the IG-EPN/IRD New Partner Team, Quito

The IG-EPN is responsible for volcano surveil-lance and risk assessment in Ecuador. It is con-stantly improving its maps of existing hazardsand is eager to adopt any new method, espe-cially methods for quantifying volcanic phe-nomena. The latest techniques derive fromadvances in research and modelling, especiallyof pyroclastic flows. Our cooperation with theIRD, which began in 1995, is essential and willcontinue to drive progress in knowledge of

Ecuadorian volcanism. The new team, set up in 2004, shares this ambitious objective, com-bining basic knowledge with hazard monitoring on several volcanoes, includingTungurahua. With Tungurahua, the collaborative research has enabled us to improve ourknowledge of the volcano’s explosive activity over the past 3,000 years, especially thanksto painstaking field work and numerous radiocarbon datings. This research was essentialfor understanding and predicting the events of 14 July and 16 August 2006.

Since 2000, French researchers have launched a vast internationalmultidisciplinary programme to improve understanding of the African monsoonand its variations. In 2006, exceptional resources were mobilised for large-scalefield surveys. The African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses programme isfunded by five great French organizations, the European Union, the NERC (UnitedKingdom) and NASA and supported by the major international organisationsconcerned with the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP).

The West African monsoons have been seriously disrupted for nearly forty years now,causing droughts on an unprecedented scale and of unprecedented duration in the wholearea and particularly in the Sahel. Are these changes a result of regional factors likedeforestation and other human activities or do they prefigure major changes in the globalclimate system? Launched in 2000, the AMMA programme – African MonsoonMultidisciplinary Analyses – is intended to provide essential new knowledge on thedynamics of the monsoon, improve weather forecasting models, better grasp futureclimate trends and determine the impact of the monsoon’s variability on water resources,farm productivity and human health.

The key to the monsoon lies in the complex interactions between earth, atmosphere andocean. These not only govern the dynamics and variability of the African monsoon but alsoplay a critical role in the earth’s climate as a whole. The AMMA programme is thereforecentred on in-depth measurement surveys of these major systems, combined withmodelling studies. Oceanographers, hydrologists, atmospheric experts, meteorologistsand climatologists from five French research institutes (CNES, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD andMétéo France) will be working until 2010 alongside 40 other European institutions to studythe variability of the monsoon from day to day, season to season and year to year. Thereare AMMA committees in Africa, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.

2006 was a key year for the programme. The monsoon was observed and recordedintensively for several months running. Powerful instruments were deployed to analyse theocean, atmosphere and land surface on a large scale. Six research planes recorded datathat was used to assess atmospheric chemistry and dynamics during and after thepassage of the squall lines. For the first time in the world, four types of balloons were usedsimultaneously to add further atmospheric measurements. Sounding balloons providedvertical profiles of temperature, moisture, wind and pressure. Balloons sent in the lowerlayers drifted from the Gulf of Mexico to the boundaries of Sahara. Balloons sent in theupper troposphere (15,000 m) were deployed in the tropical eastern jet stream from LakeChad to the Caribbean. Stratospheric balloons were also used. Three oceanographicvessels were deployed in the Gulf of Guinea to explore atmospheric fluxes and measurewater salinity and temperature and ocean currents. Land-based instrument platformsrecorded rainfall, hydrological parameters, aerosols and gas emissions.

These observations will be continued for the next ten years. All their data and the resultinghigh-quality models and forecasts will provide the foundations for the FSP Ripiecsa project,launched at the end of 2006 to examine the impact of climate change on West Africansocieties.

The A f r ican monsoon in the spot l igh t

••• Contact: thierry.lebel@ird.fr

••• Publication: Bulletin of the American meteorological society

An African network, partner in the AMMA programmeTo create a solid African competency hub in matters of climate changeand its impact in West Africa, the AMMA programme is working withAMMA-NET, a network of over 200 African scientists. In coordinationwith the IRD, the network fosters intra - African collaboration as well asNorth-South exchanges. The universities are extensively involved, as arethe meteorological offices and hydrology authorities of fourteen WestAfrican countries, and five major regional centres - Centre de recherchemédicale et sanitaire (Cermes, Niger), Centre africain des applications dela météorologie pour le développement (Acmad, Niger), Centre agro-hydro-météorologique (Agryhmet, Niger), Agence pour la sécurité de lanavigation aérienne en Afrique et à Madagascar (Asecna) and the Institutinternational d’Ingénierie de l’Eau et de l’Environnement (EIER, Burkina

Faso). The aim is to promote African research focusing on practical application and associatedtraining schemes. IRD grants for doctoral research and in-service training are playing a deci-sive role in the research training programmes that have begun.

The monsoonarrives

Opération terrain en Nouvelle Calédonie

Launching stratosphere

balloons

Sustainable management of Southern ecosystems

The many ecosystems of the intertropical belt – deserts, rainforests, major rivers, oceans,savannah, mountains – are home to most of the world’s biodiversity. Over-exploitationof their resources (intensive fishing, for example), deforestation for the timber trade or forfarming, cultivation of highly vulnerable marginal land, ill-controlled urbanisation and cli-mate change are all factors that threaten this biodiversity. It is essential to think aboutthe importance and heritage value of biodiversity so as to manage it sustainably.IRD researchers, along with their partners from North and South, are inventorying thisbiodiversity. They study the organisation and complex functioning of tropical ecosys-tems – terrestrial, continental, aquatic and marine.To enable Southern researchers to rapidly appropriate the methods developed fordata acquisition and sustainable environmental management, the IRD offers themuseful technologies ranging from modelling tools and remote sensing tools to simpleoceanography equipment, marine acoustics technology and physical-chemical ana-lysis laboratories adapted to local conditions. Research findings are of immediate rele-vance to local practices and policies addressing the challenge of sustainabledevelopment.Both in observation and experimentation, the IRD is concerned with the physical-chemical properties of nanoparticles in the present and past environment (soils andlaterites, forest fires, lagoons etc.)

144researchers

21,15 M€

183publications

Quinoa farming in Bolivia

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An international group of botanists and ecologists, including a team from theBotany and bioinformatics of plant architecture unit, (AMAP), has been studyingthe structure of the Amazon forest, which is under severe threat fromdeforestation and climate change. Their work, published in Nature, shows that inspatial terms the forest is organised along two main axes.

The Amazon forest is the largest area of tropical rainforest in the world and a vast reserveof biodiversity that is in daily increasing danger. This ocean of green, which looks souniform at first glance, is in fact very diverse in structure and floristic composition. At atime when the forest is being ever more rapidly fragmented, felled and converted tofarmland, it is essential to analyse this variability in order to understand it in terms ofresource availability and renewal and the stability and resilience of the ecosystem underthe impact of local and global changes.

Until now, knowledge of the forest remained fragmented because the data were gatheredfrom small, one-hectare areas very irregularly scattered around Amazonia. On the initiativeof a Dutch botanist from the University of Utrecht, most of the teams conducting theseinventories have joined forces in the Amazon Tree Diversity Network to look at this “forestcontinent” as a whole. The network has put forward a model of variation in local treespecies diversity for the whole of the pan-Amazon (Amazonia and the Guyana Shield).More recently, the network has brought together the data from major national forestinventories, which are less precise botanically but cover much wider areas. This

exceptional set of data provided the basis for an analysis of the main floristic andstructural characteristics of the forest at the pan-Amazon scale.

The results show that the forest is structured along two main axes, running southwest tonortheast and northwest to southeast. These axes seem to correspond to variations incurrent and past environmental conditions. The first axis follows the main gradient of soilfertility while the other seems to be linked to variations in the duration of the dry season.This structuring matches that obtained for local species diversity. In the northeast(Guyana/Surinam/French Guiana), where diversity is relatively low, the predominance ofspecies with hard, dense wood and large seeds that do not scatter far indicates a forestthat has not been greatly disturbed (slow regeneration). In the western Amazon, naturaldisturbance is more intense and the predominant tree species have smaller seeds thatscatter more widely and need ideal conditions to germinate. Here local species diversityis higher. These results confirm, on a large scale, the link between regeneration dynamicsand species diversity which AMAP researchers have already shown at the local level.

The Amazon ian fo res t unve i led

••• Contacts: daniel.sabatier@ird.fr and jean-francois.molino@ird.fr

••• Publication: Nature

Fossil insects in Amazonian amberWith others in an international team of palaeontologists and geologists, IRD scientists havebeen working for years to understand the evolution of Amazonian biodiversity over the past20 million years of successive geological transformations. They have looked at palaeo-environmental and bio-stratigraphic evidence (fossil plants and vertebrates), and in northernPeru they have found several palaeontological deposits in geological environments very different from today’s. The team unexpectedly discovered pieces of amber containing fossil insects and acarids dating from the mid-Miocene. The fossilised resin had trappedseveral flies, wasps, various other insects and in one case a mite stuck on a thread of spider’s silk. This is the first discovery of its kind in the western Amazon. It proves that theregion’s wide terrestrial biodiversity existed from an early epoch. We now know that 12 to15 million years ago, this region was a delta opening onto an inland sea bordered by denseforest, in a climate that even then was hot and humid.

•••••• Contact: patrice.baby@ird.fr

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The IRD is closely involved in the Desert Margins Programme, whose aim is to haltland degradation in sub-Saharan Africa and open the way to sustainable farmingthere. The programme is supported by the United National EnvironmentProgramme and the World Environment Fund.

More than 120 million people in the countries of the sub-Saharan African desert fringedepend on crop farming, livestock and natural resources for their survival. But low rainfall,recurrent droughts and the spread of extensive farming have resulted in widespreaddestruction of plant cover and consequent soil erosion. The Desert Margins Programmestarted up in 2003. Its purpose is to help these populations restore degraded landthrough active research conducted in partnership, and to build up their competencies inmanaging fragile ecosystems.

IRD researchers and their partners in the national institutes of Senegal and Burkina Fasohave been studying the methods that Sahelian farmers use to regenerate degraded soils.A particular example is the zai system, in which the crop is sown in shallow pits dug outto concentrate water and nutrients. The researchers have made a comparative typologyof farms according to soil type, the availability of organic matter and the soil rehabilitationmethods used.

Examining ways to add organic matter to the soil and so increase farm output in asustainable manner, they have been testing local composting methods and the factorsthat determine the agronomic quality of the finished compost. They have assessed thefertilising properties of different types of compost in greenhouse trials with common cropspecies – maize, sorghum, millet and cowpea. Their findings confirm that it is importantto control moisture levels in the materials during the composting process, and that adding

natural tricalcium phosphate, which is available in the region, could further improve theperformance of the compost while beneficially increasing phosphate levels in the soil.Outreach sessions have been held in villages to help farmers improve their compostingmethods and fertiliser use.

To improve ecological management of degraded soils, the researchers have beenstudying the possibility of better integrating trees with crops. With the farmers they havebeen monitoring a zai agro-forestry system developed from bare soil, and they havestudied the use of forest produce such as medicinal plants and wild foods.

The project has also shown by adding soil that has been worked over by termites onecan significantly enhance symbiosis between ligneous species and fungi, increasing theplants’ resistance and growth rates. This effect has also been successfully tested inmarket garden crops (IRD patent applied for).

Today, innovative practices such as erosion control structures in the fields combined withnew cropping practices have succeeded in increasing tree and herbaceous cover insome parts of the Sahel, shedding a more optimistic light on the usually depressingpicture of constant deterioration in the Sahel’s dryland ecosystems.

To ha l t land degradat ion in sub-Saharan A f r ica

••• Contact: michel.lepage@ird.bf

••• Publication: Science of the Total Environnement et Geoderma

A partner’s viewpointSouleymane Ouédraogo, national coordinator of the Desert Margins Programme, Institutde l’environnement et de recherches agricoles (Inera), Burkina Faso

Preparing a field with zaï pits, Burkina Faso

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The IRD is on the steering committee in Burkina, and has been responsible for characterising sites and studying desertification control methods in the North and Sahel regions of the country. The research has mainly focused on improving the zai technique so as to increase yields and upgrade marginal lands, and on identifying theprocesses involved in the decline of biodiversity.

The IRD has been supervising several Burkinabe students and has brought us its expertisein training courses designed to foster technology transfer. Through the collaboration withInera and other African partners, the IRD’s work has helped us develop greater consistencyin research work and has introduced new desertification control technologies. The workhas resulted in a better understanding of the interactions between climate, vegetation andhuman activities.

Water resou rces and access to wate r

Integrated management of water resourcesProviding clean drinking water in Southern countries is one of the great challenges ofthe 21st century. Even today there are a billion people in the world with no access todrinking water and one and a half billion with no sanitation. This situation could worsenin the near future as the world population’s water requirements continue to increase.Locating water resources, making them accessible to the people who need themwhile making sure they are managed sustainably – these are crucial keys to develop-ment. Integrated resource management based on sound knowledge of the watercycle makes it possible to meet the vital need for access to water at every scale fromvillage to region to river catchment. This is the focus of IRD research in this field.

Sustainable development of coastal environmentsCoral reefs, coastal systems such as estuaries, lagoons and mangrove swamps, fresh-water systems: to protect aquatic ecosystems and use them sustainably it is essentialto understand how they function and how they are affected by human activity. IRDresearch also addresses the need to reduce the impact on these ecosystems and theirbiological resources of the increasingly serious degradation caused by water extrac-tion, pollution etc. Another research area is fish biology and population dynamics – anessential basis for developing balanced, integrated aquaculture.

133researchers

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137scientific publications

Burkina Faso

To protect the biodiversity of the world’s coral reefs, the internationalorganisations have adopted planet-wide conservation strategies including a system of Marine Protected Areas. An international team that includes IRD researchers has shown that at the global level this system is not working, andhas sounded the alarm for a more suitable world network of marine reserves to be set up.

One of the goals announced at the world sustainable development summit in 2002 wasto have 20 to 30% of the world’s coral reefs protected by 2012. The establishment ofMarine Protected Areas (MPAs) was supposed to contribute to that goal by reducing thedamage done to the reefs by human activities such as over-fishing and pollution.Although the effectiveness of these protected areas has often been studied locally, it hadnot previously been quantified on a global scale. The IRD centre in New Caledonia, theUniversity of Auckland in New Zealand and several international institutions conductedthe first global assessment. They made a database including the area covered by coralreef in each country, how much of that area is designated as MPAs, and how effectivethe protection is. The Biocomplexity of coral ecosystems of the Indo-Pacific unit inNouméa was responsible for mapping the world’s coral reefs from satellite images.

All in all, 980 MPAs covering 98,650 km2 were identified and recorded – 18.7% of theworld’s total coral reef area. However, the study showed that although MPAs aredesignated, it is rare for their management rules to be properly implemented. Worldwide,less than 0.1% of the reefs where fishing is theoretically prohibited are actually protected

Ocean floors off Madagascar

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against poachers. Management efficiency varies from country to country but is particularlyweak in those areas where coral reef biodiversity is high, as it is in the Caribbean andIndo-Pacific. Moreover, 85% of the coral reefs in these marine reserves are exposed tolocal hazards such as pollution, coastal development or over-fishing. And 40% of MPAsare no bigger than one or two square kilometres, so they cannot provide adequateprotection for the many fish species that pass through them and are endangered in otherparts of their range.

Only 2% of the world’s coral reefs are in Marine Protected Areas where the legislation isproperly enforced. The research team therefore suggests that a more effective worldnetwork of marine protected areas be established, with reserves of 10 km2 each, somefifteen kilometres apart. This would mean creating 2,500 new MPAs. This kind of networkwould allow more effective protection for nearly 26,000km2 or 5% of the world’s coralreefs – still far short of the official target.

Protecting our coral reefs: towards an effective world network

••• Contact: andrefou@noumea.ird.nc

••• Publication: Science

Towards sustainable management of French Polynesia’smaxima clam

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Tridacna maxima, the maxima clam or small giantclam, is close to extinction in many parts of thePacific but is still remarkably abundant on someislands of French Polynesia. However, these clamsare highly prized on the Tahitian market and are indanger of over-fishing. It is difficult to predict howthe clams, which congregate in shallow parts of the lagoons, will react to over-fishing. To identify

measures that will provide for sustainable management, the French Polynesia fisheriesdepartment and the IRD teams in Tahiti and Nouméa made a survey of clam stocks, population dynamics and clam catches on several islands. For these isolated lagoons, thescientists recommend joint management by all stakeholders as the only realistic strategyfor making sure that recommendations are followed. The idea is to foster a more uniformspatial distribution of fishing, set up a network of breeding refuges, establish an initial quotaand monitor the state of the ecosystem using a set of indicators. Management actionswould change according to the indicator measurements.

Faced with a severe water supply problem, the Mexico City metro area mustexploit new resources, further away from the city each time. Five years ago, IRDresearchers and their Mexican partners launched a programme of surveys in theValle de Bravo basin to study its water regime and water quality.

Supplying water to Mexico City in a sustainable manner presents three major challenges.In the first place, the city’s population stands at 20 million today and is increasing by 3.5%a year, so water demand will continue to increase. Secondly, the city has alreadyexhausted its own water resources. The groundwater has been over-exploited and is notadequately renewed because urbanisation has reduced the areas where precipitation caninfiltrate and recharge the valley’s aquifers. The over-exploitation of groundwater causessubsidence and also ruptures pipes, causing an estimated 35% of the city’s water to leakfrom the mains network. Lastly, policy makers should consider whether the currentapproach of extracting more and more water from further and further away is sustainablein the long run.

The Valle Bravo basin, some hundred kilometres from Mexico City, currently suppliesnearly 10% of Mexico City’s water. Scientists from the Instituto Mexicano de Technologíadel Agua, the Colegio de Postgraduados and the IRD’s Environment and hydrologytransfers research laboratory in Grenoble are running a programme called AMHEX(AManalco Hydrology Experiment) to study the impact of farming and deforestation of theValle de Bravo hillsides on the valley’s water regime and water quality.

Large amounts of data on hydrology, rainfall, climate and water quality have beencollected in the Loma sub-catchment, which is representative of the Valle de Bravo’senvironment and land use. Analysis of the data and modelling of the processes involvedshow that the components of the water cycle vary widely in time and space. However,runoff is very low in this basin, which limits the risks of erosion, surface water pollutionand silting of the Valle de Bravo reservoir. Drainage of deep groundwater and aquiferrecharge are the main water transfer processes at work. Although there are highconcentrations of fertiliser, nitrates especially, in groundwater beneath farmers’ fields,pollution levels in the surface waters remain within acceptable limits.

These results confirm that groundwater is the main water resource in this region and thatfarming has not yet had a marked impact on its quality. The challenge now is to preservethe quality of the water and solve the problem of sharing the basin’s water equitablybetween local communities and Mexico City’s inhabitants.

Water supp l ies to Mex ico C i t y

••• Contact: michel.esteves@hmg.inpg.fr

••• Publication: Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis

Mercury contamination in the Amazon basin Mercury contamination of streams and rivers is a worrying issue in the Amazon basin. Goldmining and deforestation both add considerably to the problem by facilitating erosion ofmercury-rich alluvial sediments and soils. IRD researchers have shown that the Rio Beni inBolivia is contaminated as far as 200 km downstream of the tributaries where alluvial goldis exploited. The data show high concentrations of mercury in the carnivorous fish and inindigenous populations who eat them regularly. In utero contamination of foetuses has alsobeen revealed – a very worrying phenomenon in view of the severe damage mercury cando to the nervous system. However, there are other factors that can interfere with a child’sneuro-motor development, such as malnutrition, micronutrient deficiency, some parasitediseases and the mother’s health. To clarify the situation, an in-depth study of these com-munities’ exposure was conducted. It showed that communities whose way of life is close-ly dependent on river resources are at greater risk than communities who use a wider rangeof resources. This research was presented at an international symposium on Metals,Environment and Health held in La Paz, Bolivia, and organised by Marc Roulet.

Water balance, Loma basin

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Mexico.

•••••• Contact: maurice@lmtg.obs-mip.fr

Food secur i t y in the South

Farming system productivityIn many parts of the South, low farm yields combined with rapid population growth hasled farmers to cultivate new land that is poorly suited to agriculture. The result has beendeforestation and land degradation. The challenge now is to continue to increase foodproduction so as to meet future needs, but without damaging or endangering the envi-ronment. The goal of the IRD teams’ most basic research is to help improve yields fromfarmland while maintaining soil fertility, minimising erosion and reducing inputs. They areworking to improve understanding of plant biology and physiology and identify the gene-tic mechanisms responsible for specific varietal characteristics. The results will speed upthe process of breeding varieties adapted to particular soil and climate conditions. Moreefficient pest control is also essential for improving crop yields, and this requires a morethorough knowledge of crop pest biology.

Food policyEliminating hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition while ensuring sustainable mana-gement of natural resources is a major development challenge. With today’s rapidscientific and technological progress, it is now essential for government policies to takeinto account the needs of farmers, consumers and the environment together. The IRD’sresearch in this field focuses on identifying appropriate policies, based on incentivemeasures that local policy makers can introduce to improve the efficiency of food sys-tems and encourage farmers to increase their output while managing their naturalresources in a sustainable manner.

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21Otavalo market, Ecuador

Rice, the first cereal humans ever cultivated, is a vital resource for many Southerncountries. In Africa, rice yellow mottle virus is a major problem, causingconsiderable damage and heavy losses at harvest. Prophylactic measures havebeen employed to limit the spread of the disease, but the best hope is to breednew varieties using natural resistance genes found in the gene pool.

There are a few rare traditional rice varieties that are resistant to rice yellow mottle virus(RYMV) and show no damage once infected. However, these varieties do not have theagronomic qualities required for intensive irrigated rice growing and flooded cultivation,where the disease does most damage. An IRD team (CNRS/IRD/Perpignan Universityjoint unit) has been working for several years to identify the genes responsible for theresistance.

The scientists have identified a major gene, called Rymv1, in which minor mutationsconfer total resistance against most strains of the virus. In a healthy plant, this gene isinvolved in protein translation. In an infected plant, the virus probably interacts with thegene’s product and uses it to multiply. The scientists have found that small mutations inthis gene are responsible for the resistance. They probably do not alter the protein’sperformance of its main functions, but no doubt prevent it from interacting with the virus,which cannot then progress to the next stage of the infection cycle.

Meanwhile a team of virologists from the Plant resistance against pests and diseases unithas identified strains of the rice yellow mottle virus that can bypass this resistance gene.This property is due to mutations in one of the proteins of the virus. The two approachescan now be used together to determine the molecular mechanisms involved in theinteraction between the rice protein and the virus protein. This knowledge will enablescientists to imagine more effectively how best to use the resistance gene in the long run.

The findings should be of practical use in improving rice production in countries affectedby the rice yellow mottle virus. The IRD has already succeeded in transferring theresistance gene to some agronomically important varieties by conventional cross-breeding, and the lines obtained have been given to national research institutions (in Côted’Ivoire, Senegal, Madagascar and Guinea) and to international centres like the AfricaRice Center. It is planned to run experiments with these institutions to verify theeffectiveness of the resistance gene in field conditions and envisage its use on a largerscale in rice breeding programmes, using marker-assisted breeding.

Improv ing r ice g row ing in A f r ica

••• Contacts: laurence.albar@ird.fr et alain.ghesquiere@ird.fr

••• Publication: The Plant JournalJournal General of Virology

A partner’s viewpointMarie-Noëlle Ndjiondjop, head of the Molecular Markers Laboratory, West Africa RiceDevelopment Association (WARDA/ADRAO), Cotonou, Benin

WARDA has been collaborating with the IRD for over ten years now to identify genes that con-fer natural resistance against the rice yellow mottle virus. The aim is to use them to improve ricevarieties using marker-assisted breeding. The centre is now developing this technique with thenational agricultural research institutes in Burkina Faso, Gambia, Guinea and Mali, to transfer theRymv1 gene and speed up the process of developing new rice varieties with resistance to thevirus. The resistant lines will also be made available to rice breeding networks such as the Westand Central Africa Rice Network, which will evaluate them more thoroughly with a view to including them in national breeding programmes. As well as providing training in molecular techniques to students and to staff in charge of plant breeding, WARDA is helping to set up ineach of these four countries a molecular markers laboratory that will enable qualified national staffto transfer RYMV resistance genes, or other valuable genes, into elite rice varieties.

Traditionalrice variety,

Africa

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In the Sahel countries, it is a constant challenge to identify the most vulnerablepopulations so as to prevent food crises and malnutrition. Research by the IRD inBurkina Faso may help to address the challenge. Nutritionists andepidemiologists have shown that analysing dietary diversity in the period beforethe “hungry gap” (the annual grain shortage) is a simple and effective way ofassessing nutritional vulnerability.

In Burkina Faso, in partner-ship with the Institute forResearch in Science andHealth and the Universityof Ouagadougou, theNutrition, food and societies unit conducteda programme on thenutritional vulnerability ofwomen, and particularlyon the diversity of theirdiets. Maternal malnutri-tion deserves specialattention because itaffects the growth and

development of the child, starting an inter-generational cycle of malnutrition that is hardto break.

The researchers have shown that the dietary diversity score is a good indicator of thequality of the diet and the nutritional status of adults, particularly mothers of young chil-dren, in impoverished rural areas. Diversity can be measured by asking individuals howmany different food groups they consume in 24 hours. Recently the work has shown,unexpectedly, that diets become more varied towards the end of the May-to-September“hungry gap” when cereals stocks run out. The increase can partly be explained by thearrival of the rains and the resulting flush of pasture and green growth including such edi-bles as groundnuts, Bambara groundnuts, vegetables and wild fruit. The researcherstherefore recommend studying the degree of variation in the diet in March and April, justbefore the hungry gap usually begins. In this period the grain shortage may be starting,and the rains have not yet begun. This is the moment when groups of women at great-est risk of food shortage and malnutrition can be identified by means of a simple ques-tionnaire.

Armed with these initial findings, theresearchers joined forces with theBurkina Faso Nutrition Department andDirectorate General of AgriculturalForecasting and Statistics. Togetherthey have demonstrated the usefulnessof applying this diagnostic tool to identi-fy nutritional vulnerability in the popula-tion as a whole.

These results have aroused the interestof international institutions such as theInternational Food Policy ResearchInstitute, the WHO and the FAO. Thefamine in Niger in 2005 revealed theweaknesses of existing early warning systems, which are mainly based on price monitoring and farm output volumes. The research is now continuing in nine Sahel countries as part of NUSAPPS (Nutrition, Sécurité alimentaire et Politiques publiques auSahel), a programme jointly run by the IRD, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and theComité permanent inter-Etats de lutte contre la sécheresse dans le Sahel (CILSS).

Diagnos ing nut r i t iona l vu lne rab i l i t y in Bu rk ina Faso

••• Contact: yves.martin-prevel@ird.bf

••• Publication: The Journal of Nutrition

A partner’s viewpointDramane Coulibaly et Amadou Mactar Konaté, Permanent Secretary of the Comité permanent inter-Etats de lutte contre la sécheresse dans le Sahel (CILSS), Ouagadougou

23

In 2005, a year when the food situation was difficult in the Sahel, the IRD nutritionists shednew light on the causes of malnutrition and the relevance of the indicators currently used.As part of the programme on “Nutrition, food security and public policy in the Sahel” setup by CILSS with the support of the French foreign affairs ministry, they took part in missions to assess the nutritional situation in nine countries of the Sahel. In future, dietarydiversity surveys to assess nutritional vulnerability in rural populations and the search fornutritional vulnerability indicators applicable to urban areas will make it possible tostrengthen food crisis prevention and information systems. A process of collaboration fornutritional monitoring in West Africa is taking shape.

Nutrition research, Burkina Faso

Nutrition survey, Burkina Faso

Pub l ic hea l th andheal th po l icy

Access to health care is a priority in the social science of health and must systemati-cally accompany any research undertaken in this field.

Combating the main diseases linked to poverty: AIDS, malaria, tuberculosisAIDS, malaria and tuberculosis are commonest in the poorest countries – sub-SaharanAfrica especially. They undermine a country’s economic activity and hamper develop-ment. To combat these scourges, apart from improving access to existing treatments,which is vital, it is also essential to intensify research and the development of newdiagnostic methods and treatments, and to improve the quality of research in Southerncountries.

Environment and emerging diseasesAny sudden change in the natural environment such as deforestation, water engineering works or urbanisation, can facilitate the emergence of disease. Takingaccount of such environmental impacts on health is a recent advance in developingcountries. These countries are facing profound changes, both environmental andsocial, and they have become incubators for new diseases such as SARS and bird fluthat are making an impact worldwide. Meanwhile the developing countries are no lon-ger spared the diseases of civilisation. Health research requires an ecosystemicapproach that will produce methods applicable to local situations and solutions thatare viable over the long term.

Mother and infant healthWomen are especially vulnerable with respect to health because of the risks connec-ted with pregnancy and childbirth. And through their childcare role, they also ensurethe health of future generations. Reproductive health, the risk of mother-to-infant trans-mission of the AIDS virus, malaria in pregnant women and factors that can affect thehealth of mother and infant are therefore important aspects of the IRD’s healthresearch. Similarly, the roles and work society allocates to women (a long-neglectedfactor, along with gender inequalities and gender issues in general), should be essen-tial strands of research, especially in terms of their impact on health.

114researchers

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Health centre, Senegal

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By showing that the chimpanzee is the natural reservoir of the virus that hascaused the AIDS pandemic, and by discovering that the gorilla also carries a virusclosely related to HIV-1, IRD scientists have pinned down the origin of the AIDSvirus and confirmed that it has been transmitted across species, from apes tohumans. These results have been published in Science and Nature.

Today, twenty years after the first cases of AIDS were identified in humans, some 40 millionpeople are infected with the virus. Where, when and how or why did the virus develop? Totry to answer this question, the HIV/AIDS and associated diseases unit (a joint unit withMontpellier I University) has been running an international project in partnership with the armyresearch centre in Yaoundé, the Cameroon Ministries of health and research and theUniversity of Alabama in the United States.

Right back in 1989, IRD researchers in Gabon had found a pet chimpanzee carrying a virussimilar to HIV-1, suggesting that this species might be the virus’s natural reservoir. However,as few contaminated apes were found after that, some doubt remained on the question. Tostudy this protected species without disturbing it, the team developed an original and non-invasive method of diagnosis based on analysing faeces. Over a four-year period researchers

gathered over a thousand samples of chimpanzee and gorilla faeces. For the first time theydiscovered that the virus is in fact widespread in wild chimpanzees. To be precise, only thesub-species Pan troglodytes troglodytes, which lives in the Congo basin, is naturally infected,by two of the three known groups of the virus (groups M and N). Later, to the surprise of all,the researchers found a virus similar to the third HIV-1 group (group O) in gorillas.

These findings confirm that there has been transmission from apes to humans. Thecontamination is thought to have occurred through hunting accidents or consumption of apemeat, probably in the 1940s. Many factors then played some part in its propagation. Theupheavals connected with migration and massive urbanisation, mass medicine practices(injection with unsterilised needles) are all factors that contributed to the initial spread oftoday’s epidemic.

The team has also shown that a plethora of simian retroviruses exists in Central Africa, wherecontacts between men and apes are more frequent than they have ever been, mainly owingto massive deforestation and the resulting population movements. These viruses having beenisolated, screening tests have been developed and are currently being used in Cameroon ona surveillance basis, to forestall the risk of a new pandemic emerging.

This research has received support from the Agence nationale de recherches sur le sida(ANRS) and the NIH.

Track ing the sou rce o f theA IDS v i r us

••• Contacts: eric.delaporte@ird.fr and martine.peeters@ird.fr

••• Publication: Science and Nature

Dengue haemorrhagic fever: first steps towards a treatment

••• Contact: francisco.veas@ird.fr

••• Publication: EMBO reports

Gorillas carry a virus related to HIV-1

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The dengue fever virus affects some 60 to 100 million people around the world. The mostsevere form of the disease, which is spreading fast in tropical countries, causes plasma toleak from the blood vessels and can lead to shock and sometimes fatal haemorrhaging. Sofar there is no specific treatment or vaccine for the disease and the only preventive measure is vector control. In Montpellier, researchers in the Emerging virus diseases unit incollaboration with the University of Mahidol in Thailand, ImmunoClin Ltd, the CNRS (Centrenational de la recherche scientifique) and Inserm (Institut national de la santé et de larecherche médicale), have identified the mechanism that causes the leaking blood vesselsand haemorrhaging. They found that the viral infection causes enzymes to be producedwhich destroy the cement that binds together the cells of the blood vessel walls. The actionof these enzymes can be specifically blocked with molecules that can be used in humans.These original results open the way, for the first time, towards a treatment for dengue fever.

African human trypanosomiasis, a parasite disease transmitted by a tsetse fly’sbite, is a widespread problem in sub-Saharan Africa. Although the alarmingupsurge recorded over the past 20 years seems to have been halted, the illnessstill threatens millions of people and some countries could still suffer epidemicoutbreaks. IRD researchers have shown that some individuals are particularlysusceptible to the disease, so the way is open to look for genetic risk factors.

Once injected by a tsetse fly (glossina) bite, the trypanosome (the parasite responsiblefor the disease) multiplies in the bloodstream and then infects the central nervous systemcausing a confused mental state, sensory and motor disorders and serious disturbedsleep patterns. The disease is most easily cured if it is diagnosed early, as existingtreatments are more effective at the start of the illness, before the parasite breaks throughthe blood-brain barrier.

The disease can take either of two forms, depending on the species of trypanosomeconcerned. The “acute” form is more virulent and progresses faster than the other,“chronic” form. However, the reality is more complex. Some people infected by thespecies responsible for the chronic form exhibit a severe, fast-developing illness whileothers have no symptoms at all. This variability in symptoms cannot be explained byenvironmental factors alone and suggests that some individuals are particularlysusceptible to the disease. Individual susceptibility has been shown in animals: mutationsof genes involved in the immune system have an impact on the development of thedisease.

A team in the Mother and infant health in tropical environments unit is studying theinfluence of mutations in genes coding for four immune system proteins (cytokines) onthe appearance of the disease in humans. Two studies were conducted in two separatetransmission areas of the disease, Sinfra in Côte d’Ivoire (502 people included, of whom190 were affected) and Bandundu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (353 peopleincluded, of whom 135 were sick). Comparing the frequency of mutations in these genesin healthy and sick subjects, the researchers found two mutations, affecting the genes ofcytokines IL10 and IL6, that seem to protect a person against trypanosomiasis whereastwo other mutations, affecting the genes of cytokines TNFα and IL1α , make them moresusceptible to the disease. This work was conducted in partnership with the nationaltrypanosomiasis control programmes of Côte d’Ivoire and the Democratic Republic ofCongo.

To confirm the link between these mutations and individual susceptibility totrypanosomiasis, collaborative studies are being conducted by two IRD units, CIRDES inBurkina Faso and Bordeaux II University. The results will enable the scientists tounderstand the relations between humans and the trypanosomiasis parasite and, in thelong run, to envisage developing original ways to control the disease, both therapeuticallyand prophylactically.

Genet ic suscept ib i l i t y to s leep ing s ickness

••• Contacts: andre.garcia@ird.fr et d.courtin@gmail.com

••• Publication: Infection, Genetics and Evolution et Trends in Parasitology

A New IRD Partner Team (JEAI)Flobert Njiokou, head of the African human trypanosomiasis JEAI team, Yaoundé,Cameroon

By what mechanisms do the human trypanosomiasis infection areas in Cameroon manageto persist, with periodic outbreaks? To answer that question, our new team, created in 2002and supported by the IRD, is working to identify the animal reservoirs of the disease andestimate the frequency of contact between tsetse flies and vertebrate hosts. Thanks topartnership with the IRD unit in Montpellier, we have been able to develop new techniques.To date, we have shown that both wild and domestic animals harbour trypanosomes thatcan infect humans and so constitute a reservoir for the disease. Our expertise in molecu-lar analysis of the tsetse fly’s blood meals has enabled us to show that the insect carriestrypanosomes from humans to animals and vice versa, so ensuring the survival and resurgence of infection areas.

Our partnership with the IRD is decisive when it comes to setting up and monitoring projects, help with publication, transferring technology and training students under jointsupervision.

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Trypanosomiasisscreening,

Republic of theCongo

Deve lopment andglobal i sa t ion

Reducing poverty and inequalityTo reduce poverty and inequality: this is a major goal for development policies and oneof the goals the international community has set itself. IRD research addresses the issuefrom several angles: the multidimensional aspects of poverty (monetary, human, time-related, etc.); access to public services (education, health, water, transport, etc.); the waythe labour market operates; and the impacts of public and private development aid.

International migration and developmentThe globalisation process has accelerated the movement of the factors of productionbut has curbed the movement of labour. Population movements across the world’s mainfracture lines have intensified (e.g. Europe/North Africa/sub-Saharan Africa), especiallywhere the income gap is widest. This has made international migration a major issue fordevelopment. The IRD’s research in this field has several focuses: the determinants andconsequences of migration on societies and environments; the measurement of mobi-lity at the level of town, region and country and its impact in terms of territorial and socialrecomposition; the formation of networks and diaspora organisations and the reconstruc-tion of identities that migration gives rise to.

Better governance for sustainable developmentThis research contributes facts and ideas towards sustainable development – develop-ment that will combine economic development in developing countries with environ-mental protection. It stands at the interface between societies and nature, but also atthe interface between local practices and official and international policy on biodiversityconservation and environmental management. It takes account of local practicesand how they can contribute to defining the dimensions of a better form of governance, one that would be at once appropriate, accepted and efficient. The twomain aspects considered are access to and conservation of resources, and urbanisa-tion and access to services.

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27Street children in Ecuador

There has been renewed interest in the land tenure issue in recent years owing topersistent poverty and increasing inequality in the rural societies of the South, and thegrowing number of conflicts arising from competition for access to land in areas wherethere is much movement between town and country. Access to land is now posited asan essential factor in many poverty reduction policies and the land tenure question hasagain become a major issue for public policy as for the international institutions and forresearch on sustainable development in Southern countries.

The Land tenure regulation, public policy and actors’ strategies unit, which involvesresearchers from a number of social science disciplines, is addressing the question fromseveral angles. Under what conditions are public measures conceived and implemented?What are the roles of social relations and the real estate market in access to land? Whatis the relationship between land tenure dynamics and production dynamics? The researchers’ empirical and theoretical approach focuses especially on the relationsbetween actors and institutions (institutions in the sense of economic and socio-politicalground rules).

The research is being conducted in South America and Africa, in partnership with nationalinstitutions: the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) in Mexico, SanMarco National University in Peru, the Institut d’ethno-sociologie at the University of Codyin Côte d’Ivoire and Ngaoundéré University in Cameroon.

This is comparative research. It is helping to explain the distance between what isexpected of policies to recognise tenure rights and provide security of tenure, their

practical implementation and their unforeseen effects. In particular, it has shed fresh lighton the importance of issues within families and between generations in situations whereland tenure policy implementation is blocked or inverted, or gives rise to conflict. Thisgoes far beyond the usual interpretation in terms of intra- or inter-community tensions.Côte d’Ivoire is one example here.

In 2006, the researchers played an important part in organising an internationalsymposium in Montpellier on “At the frontier of land issues: social embeddedness ofrights and public policy”. The research conducted by the unit and its partners hascontributed especially to the European research programme on “Changes in LandAccess, Institutions and Markets in West Africa”. The researchers have also been workingin the mobilising project entitled “Support for rural land tenure policy design”, so providingmaterial for discussions within the French development agency AFD and the Ministry forForeign Affairs on land tenure policy in the countries of the South.

Access to land: a major public policy challenge

••• Contact: colin@supagro.inra.fr

••• Publication: International symposium “At the frontier of land issues” May 2006 - Montpellier (http://www.mpl.ird.fr/colloque_foncier)

Impacts and limitations of microfinance By enabling individuals or families to manager their cash flow better, microfinance makesthem less vulnerable - which is in itself a positive outcome. However, it has made scarcelyany contribution to reducing poverty and inequality. Such are the findings of a research programme in India conducted by the Population-environment-development unit, which setout to analyse the impact and limitations of microfinance at the individual and family levelsand also at the level of business sectors and local employment markets. The researchersfound that microfinance has no significant impact on job creation. Moreover it exacerbatesthe exclusion of the poorest people, because microfinance services are ill adapted to theirvery varied and complex needs. It also involves a growing number of inexperiencedproviders and is inadequately coordinated and regulated. These findings, based on a number of partnerships, North and South, with microfinance networks and organisations,public and private financial institutions, international institutions and academic partners,should help towards better-designed microfinance services in future.

•••••• Contact: isabelle.guerin@ird.fr

Farm land-scape in the

Andes

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Migration from sub-Saharan Africa to North Africa has increased as never beforeover the past 15 years or so. What routes are the migrants following and how arethey settling in North Africa? What social and spatial changes are these newsettlement patterns generating? What effects are today’s increasingly restrictivemigration policies having on migration patterns? Anthropologists, geographersand sociologists in a project coordinated by a CNRS researcher and a researcherfrom the IRD/University of Provence joint Population-Environment-DevelopmentLaboratory have been assessing the situation. And their initial findings are far lessalarming than popular report suggests.

The most striking change in migrationpatterns in Africa is not so much anincrease in volume as a wider range ofdifferent flows. Contrary to popularwisdom, only a minority of Africanmigrants push on into Europe. Mostsettle lastingly in the Arab countries;migration in Africa is thus mainlycross-border migration within thecontinent. Displacement in the Sahel-Sahara region is closely linked to theregion’s recent history. Independence

in the 1950s and 60s, the droughts of the 1970s, the armed conflicts of the 70s and 80sand the development gap between the countries north and south of the Sahara have allencouraged people from sub-Saharan countries to head for regions where there areopportunities for work.

The Maghreb Sahara has thus seen considerable urban expansion. In the space of thirtyyears, 53 new towns have sprung up compared to only 8 in the Sahelian Sahara. In thislandlocked part of the Maghreb, the arrival of newcomers is seen as a way of revitalisinglocal areas. Algeria, for example, controls the circulation of migrants but integrates themin the development of its southern towns, where there is a chronic labour shortage.

Secondly, it is not the most destitute who migrate, because the journey is expensive. Andeconomic reasons are not the only ones for leaving home. Psychological reasons suchas the desire to break free from family obligations are also widespread. Migrants’ profilesvary widely and the lability of their professional and legal status is a determining featureof this form of migration. The reality is far from the accepted cliché of the young, illiteratemigrant from a rural area. On the contrary, many migrants have university degrees orprofessional qualifications and have already worked in the West African mega-citieswhere they grew up.

Lastly, the research shows that under pressure from Europe, the toughening of controlsover migration in the Maghreb countries affects not only migrants who are trying to reachEurope but also the majority who settle in the Maghreb. Today there is a serious risk thatthe Saharan towns, which were once staging points on the great migration trails, willbecome dead ends.

Saharan mig ra t ion: the t r u th a fa r c r y f rom popu la r myths

••• Contact: sylvie.bredeloup@up.univ-mrs.fr

••• Publication: Autrepart, revue de sciences sociales au Sud.

Towards a statistical observatory of migration systems

•••••• Contact: daniel.delaunay@ird.fr

Egyptian migrants

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Overall, and in terms of comple-mentary flows, migration pat-terns in West Africa are stillpoorly known; there are few stat-istics on intra-urban mobility,seasonal migration or the prac-tice of multiresidence. Nor hasthe real scale of international cir-culation within Africa beenmeasured. The IRD’s Migration,mobility, settlement dynamicsand territorial dynamics unitdeveloped a survey protocol

based on experience amassed in Latin America, Africa and Asia. It is designed for continuous monitoring of different forms of mobility at selected representative sites, so laying thebasis for a fully-fledged migration systems observatory. It is designed to be readily adaptableto different situations or countries and to geographical or socio-anthropological approaches.Survey questionnaire data entry in the field has been tested. To date, the protocol has beenused in Mexico City and Ouagadougou. It will be extended to sites in Niger and Mali.

Sc ience gu ided by e th ica l p r inc ip lesand qua l i t y management

Composition of the Ethics Committee Chair: Dominique Lecourt, Professor of philosophy, DenisDiderot University (Paris 7)

Members:

Rafael Loyola Diaz, Researcher, Instituto de InvestigacionesSociales, Autonomous National University, Mexico

Isabelle Ndjole Assouho Tokpanou, Honorary President,Forum for African Women Educationalists, Cameroon

Sandrine Chifflet, Research engineer, UR103, Marseille

Maurice Lourd, Director, IRD Centre, Bondy

François Simondon, Director, Epidemiology andPrevention unit, Montpellier

Jean-Claude André, Director, European Centre forResearch and Advanced Training in Scientific Computation

Roger Guedj, Professor, Bio-organic Chemistry Laboratory,CNRS-University of Nice Sophia Antipolis

Vladimir de Semir, Associate Professor of ScienceJournalism, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain

••• Ethical research

In 2006 the Consultative Committee on ProfessionalConduct and Ethics (CCDE) examined some twentyresearch projects and questions raised by IRD staff.Requests for advice have been increasing steadily since2003. The Committee also started examining thequestion of communication ethics, and continued itswork with other institutions towards launching an Ethicsin Research portal.

The Guide of Good Practice in Research for Development,available in French, English and Spanish, has been issuedto all IRD staff and its partners in the South.

However, the high point of 2006 was the seminar onEthics and science in globalisation, jointly organised bythe CCDE, the Universidad Nacional Autónoma deMéxico (UNAM) and the Academia Mexicana de Ciencias(AMC). With some forty speakers, the event drew 150participants including 50 students, 60 researchers and25 academics.

This dialogue of cultures between Mexico and France onissues of ethics was a first, welcomed as such by thespeakers, the participants and the Mexican press. Awealth of exchanges, based on practical examples suchas experimentation on humans, protection of biodiversityand GMO research, stimulated wide-ranging discussionand some tentative recommendations.

Ethics and science in globalisationThe seminar on Ethics and Science inGlobalisation drafted a number of recommendations. Above all, participantsconsidered that training in ethical thinking should be a part of educationfrom school on, that where it alreadyexists it should be strengthened, and

that the level of scientific literacy in society should be re-examined. A consensus emerged that everything possible mustbe done to ensure that society can play an active part in adebate that concerns everyone’s future. Evaluation processesalso should include a participative role for all stakeholders. TheMexican participants ended by calling for the creation of aNational Ethics Committee modelled on the CCDE. They con-sidered this essential for achieving agreement on principles andlocal realities, making way for wide-reaching discussion that ismore likely to resolve dilemmas and conflicts of interest and toopen the way to the necessary complementarity between Northand South.

•••••• Contact: ccde@ird.frwww.ccde.ird.fr

••• Quality management gathers momentum

The IRD’s quality management system, designed to ensure that best practice is employed, is gathering momentum: 25research laboratories, 2 IRD centres (Montpellier and Dakar), 4 IRD overseas centres and 2 central departments haveintroduced quality management to optimise their organisation and to improve the traceability and reliability of researchresults. Quality managers at all these sites have been trained for the ISO 9001 standard, and many staff have receivedquality management awareness training. During the year, research and support training, information seminars, shorttraining courses, audits and assessments were organised on request.

The Analytical Resources Laboratory in Dakar, which is a service unit specialising in mineral analyses, obtained the 2000version of ISO 9001. It is the first IRD laboratory outside France to obtain this label. New procedures were introduced,particularly for research traceability from receipt of a sample for analysis to delivery of the final result. This transparent wayof working has strengthened confidence in the laboratory’s work among its scientific partner teams. The new label is oneresult of a more general quality management approach in Dakar and in Senegal as a whole.

•••••• Contact: dev@ird.fr

Eva luat ion, pub l icat ions and teach ing

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The scientific decision bodies conductedassessments of laboratories and researchers in termsof recruitment, work and mobility. The Institutemodified its indicators, the better to monitorfulfilment of its commitments under its newobjectives contract and to assess the efficiency of itsscientific system over and above its obligations. Earlydata reveal the high quality of the Institute’s scientificoutput and an increase in the time spent on teachingand supervision.

••• Rigorous assessment

Following evaluation of its structures, the Institute wasable to inject new energy into its research system. Thisnow consists of 79 units, including 29 joint research units(UMRs), 38 research units and 12 service units. Thescientific council and commissions assessed 23 units,including 17 applications for joint research units to becreated or have their terms extended. At the end of theprocess, 14 UMRs had their terms extended for fouryears and two new ones were created. One of these ison Plant resistance to bioagressors with the University ofMontpellier 2 and Cirad, and the other on Diversity andevolution of cultivated plants with the University ofMontpellier 2, Inra and Ensam. The decision bodies alsotook part in the inspection committees that visited 13UMRs created under the Ministry’s 2008-2011contracts.

••• High quality scientific output

Assessments showed that the IRD’s researchers areproducing science of high quality, on a par with the bestinternational standards. The number of publicationssigned by IRD scientists and cited on the Web of Science– about 800 publications excluding the human and socialsciences – was an estimated 8% higher than in 2005.The average number of publications per researcher forthe year was 1.7. About 14% of the articles were

published in top-level journals with a high impact factor in their category. Over 50% were publishedin journals ranked in the top quarter (by impact factor) of their disciplinary category.

••• Frequent joint publications

IRD researchers produce many more joint publications than the average for French researchinstitutes. In fact 96% of articles produced by the Institute were jointly signed with partners – 70%with other French research bodies, 64% with international partners, mainly in the United States,United Kingdom, Brazil and Italy.

The percentage of joint publication with Southern researchers was about 43%, the main Southernpartner countries concerned being Brazil, Senegal, Cameroon and Mexico. Medical research wasthe sector with the highest rate of joint publication with Southern countries (65%).

••• More teaching and supervision work

IRD researchers and engineers gave more than 6,000 hours of teaching in 141 universities and otherhigher education establishments in 34 countries. Three quarters of these lectures addressedstudents with at least four years’ higher education. Most of the teaching was in France (51%), butthe proportion of teaching hours dispensed in Africa and the Middle East had increased considerablysince 2005 – from 18% to 25%.

The IRD’s main contribution to training is supervision of doctoral research. More than 670 doctoralstudents were under supervision in IRD units in 2006, and 44% of researchers and engineers in theunits were supervising doctoral students or directing their research. In 2006, students submitted139 theses supervised or jointly directed by an IRD scientist. Of these, 76 were submitted bySouthern students.

More than 300 students under IRD supervision submitted dissertations for DESS, DEA or Master’sdegrees. They came from 95 higher education establishments in 24 countries, and 48% were ofSouthern origin.

IRD units hosted 400 interns including 175 in France and 251 abroad.

On the professional training side, IRD scientists dispensed nearly 2,500 hours of teaching toSouthern decision makers, technicians and engineers. This teaching mainly concerned the use oftechnologies or tools, methods of measurement or analysis, or survey methods.

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•••••• Contact: dei@ird.fr

Tra in ing, shar ing, f ind ing appl icat ions

Cataloguing ant species, Santo expedition, Vanuatu

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••• Supporting scientific communities in the South

••• Applications and consulting

••• knowledge sharing

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Satellite view of Lake Chad

Suppor t ing sc ien t i f ic communi t ies in the South

A country cannot develop without a well-established national scientific community capable ofproducing the knowledge needed for economic growth. The IRD differs from other French researchinstitutions in that part of its mission is to meet the scientific training needs of its Southern partners.The Institute has long been fostering the emergence of talented researchers through a range ofindividual grants and by supporting the creation and consolidation of new research teams in theSouth. In 2006, two new avenues were explored: assistance for designing and organising teachingmodules, and one-day meetings bringing together grantees and team leaders so as to meetstudents’ needs more effectively.

••• Individual support

The Institute gave 179 grants to nationals from Southern countries, including 129 doctoral thesis grants, 5Master’s grants, 20 in-service training grants and 25 scientific exchange grants.

With this system, the IRD can provide assistance at different stages of a researcher’s career:

Applicants Duration Purpose Procedure

Doctoral thesis Master’s degree holders Up to 3 years initial training of work and supervision grants young Southern researchers in IRD teams and partners’ teamsPost-doctoral grants Doctorate holders 2 years post-doc with a view to future jointly financed by IRD and

research work in the South Southern host institutionIn-service training Researchers, 12 months in-service training IRD/Southern host institution grants engineers, technicians or retraining partnershipsScientific exchange Researchers 12 months to encourage mobility IRD/Southern host institution grants partnerships

Grants by research programme

16Natural hazards

and climate39Development

and globalisation 37Sustainable ecosystem

management26Public health

34Food security in the

South

29Water resources

and uses

••• Support for teamsSince 2002, the IRD has been supporting the emergence and consolidation of research teams in the South by selecting “new IRDpartner teams” (JEAIs) which are partnered by IRD units to help thembuild up their self-reliance and increasingly integrate into the interna-tional scientific community. This year 11 more JEAIs were selected,joining the 21 created earlier. All in all 32 teams from Africa, LatinAmerica and Asia are receiving three years’ scientific and financial support from the IRD. The first practical results are emerging now.

JEAIs by research programme

Themes Total

Natural hazards and climate 4Sustainable ecosystem management 5Water resources and uses 4Food security in the South 5Public health 7Development and globalisation 7

TOTAL 32

Study of saline soils, Thailand.

One JEAI, the Symbiosis andEnvironment Unit in Morocco,won the Research for theEnvironment award. Another hasobtained funding under theCORUS programme (Coopérationpour la recherche universitaireet scientifique) funded by theFrench foreign ministry’s PrioritySolidarity Fund.

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••• Teaching modules strengthen tieswith universities

A first step in strengthening ties between the IRD andexisting French/Latin American academic networks wastaken in 2006, mainly through the MAE PREFALCprogramme, a regional academic cooperation networkingarrangement. Two Master’s teaching modules weredesigned in the region, one in geography and one inmodelling for irrigation, involving six universities and the IRD.

In Africa, the IRD joined forces with Orléans, Paris V andother universities to set up teaching modules, particularlymodules on geographical information systems anddemography. Designed as decision aids, these teachingmodules will be incorporated into distance learningplatforms. In Senegal and Benin, the Institute organised twoMaster’s courses, one on water and one on medicalentomology.

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Remote sensing and geographical information systems Central Africa’s higher education and research establishments need access to the new geographical data acquisition and processing technologies. To facilitate this, a ten-day post-graduate initiationseminar was organised, leading to a professional Master’s. It was jointly financed by the IRD and the Agence universitaire de la francophonie (AUF) and involved the University of Orléans andCentral African national universities. The course, led by a team of 11 French and Cameroonian specialist teachers, brought together some twenty young teacher-researchers in Yaoundé, Cameroon.The seminar should help disseminate a sustainable approach to environmental and land use management and promote the emergence of local expertise in cartographic design. The IRD and theuniversities worked well together, and this experience could pave the way for an innovative distance learning programme.

•••••• Contact: dsf@ird.fr

Supporting training activities with an electronic platform for exchanges among partners is a step in the IRD’s plan toprolong its support for young researchers and new teams beyond the financial assistance period.

••• Networking

To help Southern teams integrate more easily into international networks, the IRD organised a number of regional andtheme-based workshops. The Young Researchers’ Days in Dakar and the first JEAI encounter-workshop (which broughttogether 33 new partner teams in a videoconference between the IRD centres in Bolivia, Burkina Faso and Paris) showthat this approach is altogether appropriate and useful.

To complement the specialist training dispensed to new teams andyoung researchers, the IRD launched new general training modules toassist them in the other aspects of their profession – projectmanagement, submitting research proposals, team management,scientific publications and documentation monitoring.

Based mainly on the Institute’s experience in collaborative work withother French actors in research for development, this use of networkingis a significant start to the IRD’s policy of concerted action with itspartners in AIRD (Agence inter-établissements de recherche pour ledéveloppement).

Appl icat ions and consu l t ing

••• Scientific advice for policy makers

At the request of policy decision makers, the IRD carries out expert group reviews on specificscientific issues related to development. For these reviews, the Institute brings togethermultidisciplinary panels of experts who search out and analyse the existing scientific literature onthe question, write a thorough report and make practical recommendations.

Taking a new approach to the transfer and dissemination of findings from these reviews, theInstitute organised debates so as to generate an exchange of ideas between decision makersand professionals and stakeholders on the ground. The expert group review on NaturalSubstances in French Polynesia: Utilisation Strategies was presented at a seminar in Tahitiattended by the French Polynesian government Ministers of education, research and agriculturealong with researchers and businesses in the natural substances sector. The review pointed theway towards an original policy enabling Polynesia to benefit economically from its naturalsubstances. It laid the basis for discussing how to put together a multidisciplinary trainingprogramme and how best to use the Gepsun technology platform (a jointly facility involving theIRD, Cirad, the University of French Polynesia and Polynesian businesses).

The dissemination meeting for the review on Invasive Species in the New Caledonian Archipelagodrew 200 participants to Nouméa to discuss how to set up an effective biosecurity plan for theregion. This would involve strengthening measures to control invasive species, creating aquarantine system, setting up an inter-province surveillance system and rapid responseprogrammes and running information drives. Civil society, which has a significant role to play inprotecting native species, was well represented in the discussions.

••• Economic applicationsThe IRD continues to protect the innovations that emergefrom its laboratories. In 2006 six new patent applicationswere filed, bringing the Institute’s total patent portfolio to59, of which 45% are in biotechnology. Twenty-onepatents (35%) are jointly owned – 11 (52%) with privatefirms and 10 (48%) with the academic sector. Threepatents are jointly held with Southern universities.

Seventeen contracts for exploitation of IRD intellectualproperty rights are currently ongoing, including sevenpatent license agreements.

Industrial partnerships made headway in 2006. Eighteencontracts with manufacturing companies were signed,including four new research contracts, two technologytransfer contracts and a contract granting software utili-sation rights. The Institute acquired three new industrialpartners. One is the Brazilian pharmaceuticals companyLAFEPE, with a licensing option agreement to use chi-noleine in the treatment of leishmaniasis. Another is therecent French start-up Gaia, with a contract granting itrights to the use of satellite image processing algorithmsdeveloped by the Espace service unit. The third is theSociété des eaux de Marseille, which awarded the IRD aresearch contract concerning treatment of residualsludge from sewage treatment plants.

The IRD also took action to raise awareness aboutresearch applications and intellectual property, with atraining session on contracts, in Montpellier, and anotheron database protection, in Dakar.

Improving tea quality in ChinaA bio-organic soil fertilisation process patented by the IRD in Sri Lanka and China has beenin experimental use since 2003 under the scientific responsibility of the Biodiversity and soilfunctioning unit in collaboration with the South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou.The results, presented in October 2006 in Guangdong province, show an improvement inthe physical quality of soils treated by this method, increased biodiversity in the plots con-cerned and an improvement in the quality of the tea harvested from treated plots. The IRD has suggested a transfer strategy that would involve the Chineseresearchers forming a company to disseminate the technology in China.

To fulfil its missions the IRD must promote and findapplications for its competencies and researchfindings. It has an active policy in this regard,transferring knowledge to industrial partners andconducting expert group reviews to help policymakers in their decisions.

•••••• Contact: dev@ird.fr

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As well as research, the IRD’s mission includesdisseminating the scientific information it producesto a variety of audiences and sharing knowledgewith its partners in the Southern countries where itsresearchers work. Books, databases, symposia,films and the media are all employed to this end.

Media visibility remained high in 2006, with more than2,000 articles published in the press about the work of theIRD and its researchers, prompted by scientific newsbulletins and press releases issued by the Institute. TheIRD website (with an English version onhttp://www.ird.fr/us) receives nearly four million hits ayear, and there are several other channels to keep theInstitute’s work in the public eye. The magazine Sciencesau Sud (with English, Spanish and Portuguesesummaries) is disseminated in some 120 countries andonline*. Canal IRD** issued 37 new short videos this year,and the image base Indigo base*** offers 37,000 photos.

Books, maps, atlases, films, CD-ROMs and interactiveDVDs all help to bring the work of the research teams toa broader audience. Among the fifteen books producedin 2006 were Océan et Climat and an interactive sea floormap.

On the audiovisual side, more than twenty films were produced or co-produced in 2006. La citadelleassiégée, a fiction film co-produced with the French TV channel TF1, about termites and ants inBurkina Faso, made a big impression on its release in October.

Specialist scientific publications are accessible online via the Horizon-Plein Textes database(http://www.documentation.ird.fr) and at the Institute’s 15 documentation centres in Africa, LatinAmerica and the Pacific. The IRD is also playing an active part in setting up the HAL open archivesplatform, a publications depository shared by all the French research bodies and universities.

The task of disseminating research findings to the general public in an accessible form gained freshmomentum with awareness raising actions on water, climate, desertification, biodiversity andsustainable development. Science cafés, educational activities and travelling exhibitions (shown inmore than 40 countries) also helped to raise public awareness of the importance of research. Theexhibition on African crocodiles and fish, jointly produced with the Réunion des Musées nationaux,drew more than 100,000 visitors in Paris.

The foreign affairs Ministry has entrusted the IRD with its Fonds de solidarité prioritaire for outreachwork on science and technology in ten African countries. In 2006 this work drew several thousandpeople, especially young people.

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•••••• Contact: dic@ird.fr

Science festival, NouméaSciences au Sud exhibition, Niamey (Niger)

* at http://www.ird.fr/fr/actualites/journal**http://www.canal.ird.fr***http://www.ird.fr/indigo/index2.pgi

Work ing in par tne rsh ip

Upper Atlas region, Morocco

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••• International

••• French overseas territories

••• Metropolitan France

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Wood carving, Benin

Latin America-Caribbean199 researchers and engineers128 partnership research projects 61 individual grants allocated16 new Southern research teams (JEAIs) supported

Latin America• Sustainable development in Amazonia• “Cities and Volcanoes” conference, Quito, Ecuador• “Humboldt Current system” international conference

(IRD and Instituto del Mar del Perú, Peru)• Participation in 4th World Water Forum, Mexico City,

Mexico

French GuianaInauguration of SEAS Guyane, a technology platform usingsatellite data to monitor the Amazonian environment

MartiniqueGlobal warming symposium

Mediterranean basin32 researchers and engineers67 research projects 20 individual grants allocated6 new Southern research teams (JEAIs) supported

• International Desertification Year: study of the TunisianJeffara

• Research into hydrological changes • “Sciences au Sud” exhibition on tour (50,000 visitors)• International seminar on International Migration and

Public Policy • Hercomanes programmes on architectural and town

planning heritage.

The IRD around the worldKey figures and highlights

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Asia-Pacific228 researchers and engineers74 research projects11 individual grants allocated1 new Southern research teams (JEAIs) supported

• Technology platform on emerging vector-borne diseasesset up (Mahidol University, Thailand)

• Soil fertility improvement, Thailand and Laos• Prevention of mother-to-infant transmission of HIV,

Thailand

New Caledonia: • International Santo 2006 expedition to catalogue biodi-

versity in Vanuatu • Biodec Forum (biodiversity of coral environments)• Expert group review: “Invasive Species in the New

Caledonian Archipelago”

French Polynesia: • International conference on aromatic and medicinal

plants• Expert group review: “Natural Substances of French

Polynesia”• Archaeological work in the Marquesas Islands

Africa-Indian Ocean491 researchers and engineers200 research projects 89 individual grants allocated9 new Southern research teams (JEAIs) supported

Africa• AMMA Programme – analysis of the African

Monsoon • Niger River basin: research in hydrology, agriculture and

health• Mozambique: South-South collaboration with Brazil,

on environment and health• One-day “young researchers” event, Dakar, with

UCAD

MadagascarResearch on nutrition, in liaison with Gret and Cirad,on deforestation and poverty

La Réunion• Opening of a research and science watch centre on

emerging diseases of the Indian Ocean (CRVOI, Centrede recherche et de veille scientifique sur les maladiesémergentes de l’Océan Indien)

• Chikungunya control

••• North Africa and Middle EastThe Europe-Mediterranean-Africa axis is another of theInstitute’s geographical priorities, so work in NorthAfrica and the Middle East continued. In Morocco,where cooperation has been very lively since the IRDcentre opened in Rabat in 2005, the number ofprogrammes has increased considerably. In many ofthese programmes the cooperation is regional,transcontinental or Euro-Mediterranean. In Tunisia, the6th consultation meeting with the research ministryhighlighted this country’s integration into the Euro-Mediterranean area and a growing desire to developtripartite cooperation with sub-Saharan African

countries. At the Unesco symposium on the future of the drylands, held in Tunis in June 2006, the Institute ran a sessionon hydrological changes in the Mediterranean basin.

I n te r nat iona l

With its network of 23 centres and 294 researchersin 38 countries, the IRD takes part in many of theinternational research programmes working forsustainable development. It is expanding itsinternational activities, working with new countriesand in more European programmes and forgingcloser ties with other French researchestablishments.

••• Africa and the Indian Ocean

Sub-Saharan Africa is a priority area for the IRD. Itsinvolvement with the Portuguese-speaking Africancountries took a step forward this year with assistancemissions to the research ministry in Mozambique. TheInstitute was also more widely represented in, andworking more closely with, countries in East andSouthern Africa – Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania andMozambique. This opens new prospects for regionalpartnerships. Cooperation with institutes and universitiesin Kenya and Ethiopia increased, focusing on socialscience and water-related issues.

In West and Central Africa, the Institute worked to fosterthe development of regional partnerships. The mainfocus was on multidisciplinary programmes in the Nigerriver basin, involving Niger, Mali, Guinea, the Niger RiverAuthority and the Senegal River Authority.

The IRD also wants to see more South-Southcooperation projects, particularly between Africa andLatin America. With this in mind it organised exploratorymissions between Brazil and Mozambique.

The IRD centres continue to open up to African partnersand now also play host to other French and Europeanresearch bodies.

International migration: comparing Morocco and MexicoThe IRD was joint organiser of the international seminar on International Migration and Public Policy, which comparedMexico/United States migration with Morocco/Europe. The seminar was held at the Centre Population et Développement(CEPED) in Paris and was supported by the French foreign affairs Ministry. Leading scientists and policy makers from Morocco,Mexico, Europe and the United States shared information and ideas about the demographic, economic and political chal-lenges posed by international migration. The seminar also provided an opportunity to strengthen the research networks onthis theme.

IRD/OCEAC memorandum

of understanding,Cameroon

Advancing dunes, Tunisia

••• Asia In Vietnam, cooperation has continued to gather momentum since the IRD office there wasgranted official status. This is a particularly busy time, with teams working on five socialsciences projects supported by the French foreign ministry’s Priority Solidarity Fund.

The Institute received a visit from the Chairman of the Vietnamese Academy of SocialSciences with a view to a future cooperation agreement. The Chairmen of the IRD and Ciradwent to Hanoi together. And a delegation from the Vietnamese science and technologyministry, led by the Deputy Minister, came to meet the IRD at the invitation of the Frenchforeign ministry.

In Thailand, research into emerging diseases and salty soils continues.

••• Cooperation with the European UnionThe IRD organised the international seminar for the closure of the Euro-MedaNet project, financed by the EuropeanCommission under INCO. The EC wishes to open the European research area to non-European Mediterranean countriesand strengthen its scientific and technical cooperation with them. Euro-MedaNet set up a network of information points inMediterranean countries to raise awareness in research circles in these countries of the opportunities for programmes underthe European Framework Programme. Following on from this project, the IRD is now taking part in ERA-MED, anotherINCO project. The aim of this project is to continue strengthening the European research area (ERA) in the Mediterraneancountries.

At the launch of the 7th Framework Programme in France, the session on international cooperation was jointly organisedby the IRD and Cirad (Centre de cooperation internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement). The eventwas transmitted live by satellite to 15 French regions and, with the help of the Agence universitaire de la francophonie (AUF),was broadcast by relay in Morocco, Lebanon and Algeria.

••• Multilateral cooperation

The Institute’s multilateral actions were strengthened in 2006, particularly through cooperation with organisations in theUnited Nations system. The French government appointed the IRD as an expert body to take part in the governmentdelegations to two important events organised by the FAO – the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and RuralDevelopment in Porto Alegre and the World Food Summit.

The IRD, Cirad and Inra (Institut national de recherche agronomique) drew up the regional reports on Latin America, NorthAfrica and sub-Saharan Africa for the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development(IAASTD), which is coordinated by the World Bank.

The IRD, Cirad, Inra and Cemagref (the French agricultural and environmental engineering research centre) signed a newframework cooperation agreement with the CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) tostrengthen collaboration in research, training and forecasting. A book covering the main scientific results of thiscooperation is now being written.

Under the CGIAR’s Challenge Programme on water and food, the IRD is now coordinating a study on poverty linked towater problems in the Niger river basin. Under the Challenge Programme on genetic resources, the Institute won a multi-

year contract for joint research onthe comparative genomics ofAfrican rice varieties, with teamsfrom CIAT (International Centrefor Tropical Agriculture), WARDA(the Africa Rice Centre) and otherAfrican research teams.

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First international conference on the Humboldt current systemThe IRD and the Instituto del Mar del Perú (IMARPE) organised the first international conference on “The Humboldt current system - climate, ocean dynam-ics, ecosystem processes and fisheries”. It was held in Lima, with the support of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The conference was attended by 320 people from 27 countries, North and South. They included scientists but also Peruvian and Chilean fishing companymanagers, Peruvian policy makers and Peruvian fishermen’s associations. The Humboldt current system is vital for the region and is more productive thanany other part of the global ocean; this was a first opportunity for the different stakeholders to gain an overview of how this complex system functions.

Forest, French Guiana

••• Latin America

The Institute continued to increase its research in theAndes region. In particular, the programmes in Peru wereexpanded. The Andes region is now the focus of 77% ofthe Institute’s Latin American programmes and morethan 70% of its staff on that continent. The programmeson tropical glaciers, Andean geodynamics, hydrology,the Humboldt current and migration all have a strongregional dimension. Transcontinental cooperation betweenLatin America and Africa is also growing. For example,Mexican-Moroccan networks are being established inthree different fields: migration, transformation of theagricultural and industrial fabric in the face ofglobalisation, and access to and management of water.

Migration was the subject of a first internationalcomparative seminar, held in France (see ‘North Africa’facing page).

•••••• Contact: dri@ird.fr

French overseas te r r i to r ies

In the French overseas territories there are IRDcentres in New Caledonia, French Guiana, LaRéunion and French Polynesia. More than 60researchers, 160 engineers and technicians andsome sixty staff on temporary contracts conductresearch with partner institutions and provideconsultancy services to the local authorities.

The IRD chairs the B2C3I committee, which bringstogether all the French research bodies working in theoverseas territories. The other members are the BRGM(geology and mining), Cirad (agriculture), Cemagref(environmental engineering), Ifremer (marine research)and Inra (agriculture). The purpose of the committee is tostimulate collaboration among them around joint projects.

• New Caledonia has the largest IRD centre in theoverseas territories, in Nouméa. Here research isconducted on climate, ecosystems, natural hazards,health and the human sciences. In 2006 the centrecelebrated its 60th anniversary and organised a jointforum on biodiversity in coral environments with theSecretariat of the Pacific Community. The IRD took partin the Santo international scientific expedition to

catalogue the terrestrial and marine biodiversity of EspirituSanto, a volcanic island in Vanuatu, South Pacific. A newSEAS antenna was installed at the satellite receivingstation for the Syrhen project (decision aid system forfishery resource management).The expert group review on invasive species in the NewCaledonian archipelago was delivered to its sponsors, thethree New Caledonian provincial authorities.On the sustainable ecosystem management side,scientists made surveys of the flora, traditionalpharmacopoeia and herbal medicine of Easter Island. Onthe health side, research into ciguatera was conducted inpartnership with the Institut Louis Malardé in Papeete andthe Institut Pasteur in New Caledonia.The IRD is an active partner in the new Centre national derecherche et de technologie sur le nickel, along with otherscientific institutions, mining companies and localauthorities, to pursue research into mining resources andthe environmental impact of nickel mining.

• In French Polynesia, the expert group review onnatural substances in French Polynesia was delivered tothe local authorities and the IRD centre in Tahiti hostedthe fourth international symposium on aromatic andmedicinal plants of the French overseas regions.

• On La Réunion, which was particularly hard hit bythe chikungunya epidemic, the IRD launched research tocharacterise populations of mosquitoes that transmitarboviruses. The EntomoCHIK project, funded by theAgence nationale de la recherche, involved the IRD, theInstitut Pasteur, Cirad, the University of La Réunion andthe La Réunion regional health and social affairsauthority.The IRD was appointed as commissioning agency forCRVOI, a research and surveillance centre for emergingdiseases in the Indian Ocean, based in La Réunion.Reporting to the health and research Ministries, thecentre involves research establishments, public healthagencies, the regional association of doctors in privatepractice, the island’s hospitals and university and the LaRéunion regional and departmental authorities.

The chairman of its managing committee is IRDChairman Jean-François Girard.

• In French Guiana, the satellite environmentalmonitoring platform for the Amazon, SEAS Guyane,opened in Cayenne. To understand the processesunderlying the emergence or chronic resurgence ofdengue fever, malaria and Buruli ulcer, a researchprogramme funded by the Agence nationale de larecherche, started up with partners from French Guianaand Metropolitan France: the armed forces healthservice, the école des Ponts et Chaussées, the CNRS,the IRD, the Institut Pasteur de Guyane, the Cayennehospital and the French Guiana university cluster.

• In Martinique, the IRD centre hosted a symposiumon global warming. Its hydrologists took part in theregional cooperation project Caraïbes-HYCOS, theCaribbean strand of the world HYCOS system for theevaluation, monitoring and management of waterresources.

Cataloguing biodiversity in New Calédonia.

Aedes albopictus, chikungunya vector

•••••• Contact: dom@ird.fr

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45

The policy of greater openness and stronger structuresadvanced further in the French regions, as partnerships wereforged and strengthened with research bodies and localauthorities throughout the country. Links with highereducation and research establishments were strengthenedin practical ways, with increased participation in jointresearch units (now 29 UMRs or Unités mixtes derecherche), inter-establishment structures (12 “federativeresearch institutes” (IFRs) in Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier,Paris, Perpignan and Sète) and 43 scientific investmentagencies and national programmes (see appendices).

••• New instruments

The recent research scheduling and guideline lawintroduced two new types of regional structure: theme-based advanced research networks called RTRAs andhigher education and research clusters called PRES. Theyreceive funding from the government, which wants tofoster the emergence of major, internationally recognisedFrench science clusters combining high level training withtop quality research. These structures unite severalresearch units in the same geographical area in a networkor cluster, to create a critical mass of top level researcherssharing the same scientific objectives and strategy.In 2006 the IRD was busily involved in setting up these

structures. It is involved in the Paris School of Economics RTRA and is a founder member of two other major clusters.One is the Aerospace Science and Engineering RTRA in Toulouse. This network links the scientific communities working onengineering science, environmental, earth and universe sciences, and the science and technology of information andcommunication. The other founder members are Paul Sabatier University, the CNRS, CNES, the French aerospace labONERA and the Association Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées Aéronautique Spatiale Systèmes Embarqués.The other, Infectiopole Sud, works on emerging infectious diseases and tropical diseases in the 21st century. It has broughttogether on one site hospital care, preventive care, vaccination and research and teaching activities. The other foundermembers are the Universities of Montpellier 1, Aix-Marseille 2 and Nice Sophia-Antipolis, the Montpellier and Nice teachinghospital groups, the Marseille health services, the national blood transfusion agency, the armed forces health service, theCNRS and Inserm.

••• Contracts between central and regional government

The IRD took part in preparing the Contrats de Projets État-Région under which central and regional governmentcollaborate on projects that will shape future development. The Institute is involved in eight technology platforms andmulti-establishment real estate investment projects. These are GEOSUD, CAP-MédiTrop 2 and Vectopôle in Languedoc-Roussillon, the Infectiopole project in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, the Envirhônalp project in Rhône-Alpes, the pôleobservation de la Terre, and the pôle régional Mer and pôle Santé in La Réunion.

••• Involvement in six competitiveness clusters:

Competitiveness clusters help to make research in the regions more attractive and stimulate innovation. They bringtogether private enterprise, training centres and research laboratories with a view to working out new innovationstrategies.

The IRD is a member of six such clusters:• Mer-Bretagne (Sea-Nergie), in Brittany;• Q@limed, on food systems and quality of life in the Mediterranean region, in Languedoc-Roussillon;• RISQUES, on risk management and local/regional vulnerability, in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur;• Mer Sécurité Sûreté (MSS), on the sea, safety, security and sustainable development, in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur;• Orpheme, on emerging and orphan diseases, in Languedoc-Roussillon and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur;• Agronutrition en milieu tropical, on food and agriculture in tropical regions, in La Réunion.It is also involved in two clusters in Toulouse, Aéronautique Espace et Systèmes Embarqués and Cancer, Bio, Santé.

The IRD laid the groundwork for its new site policy to meet the challenges of its 2006-2009 objectives contract. The Institute is expanding and consolidating its partnershiparrangements, the keys to this process being stronger partnerships with national research actors (particularly universities), its teams’ participation in the newly-createdregional structures and better contractualisation of the research units.

Inauguration of the ASTERisqueparticle accelerator

•••••• Contact: dpr@ird.fr

Resources fo r research

Palaeoclimate research in the Pacific

••• Scientific equipment: pooled resources

••• Human resources

••• Financial resources

••• Information systems

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Bats are a reservoir for Ebola virus, Gabon 47

Sc ien t i f ic equ ipment : poo ledresources ava i lab le to par tne rs

••• Oceanographic survey ships

In 2006 the Antéa, which is widely available to the scientific community, setsail for the Gulf of Guinea for the fourth EGEE survey (the oceanographicstrand of the AMMA programme). The Alis, based in Nouméa, conductednine physical, biological and geophysical oceanography missions in the NewCaledonian lagoon and the western Pacific, including the Santo biodiversitysurvey in Vanuatu.

••• Clinical AIDS research centre in Senegal

In Senegal, the regional centre for research and training in AIDS care at the Fann teaching hospital group in Dakar offersteams from North and South an optimum environment for conducting clinical, epidemiological and social scienceresearch. It is already providing long-term monitoring of a cohort of patients under treatment, and a trial by the FrenchAIDS research agency ANRS designed to make retroviral drugs easier to take.

••• Clinical biology research laboratory in Benin

In Benin, IRD research unit Mother and infant health in tropicalenvironnements has cutting edge clinical laboratory equipment in place atthe Institut des sciences biomédicales appliquées in the science faculty inCotonou. This equipment means that scientists in Benin can push aheadwith research on immunology, human genetics and the genetics of themalaria parasite in pregnant women and young children.

••• Environmental observation plat-form in the Amazon

In French Guiana, thetechnology platform formonitoring the Amazonianenvironment by satelliteoffers researchers a fully-fledged observatory forstudying the ecosystemsof coast and forest and for monitoring waterresources, fisheries andepidemiological indicators.

••• Environmental research observa-tories (OREs)

The IRD is a partner in seven French nationalenvironmental research observatories (OREs) set up tomonitor the environment and natural hazards. Theseobservation and experimentation systems enable thescientific community to obtain regular, reliable data overlong periods. This way they can better understand andmodel the functioning and dynamics of systems over thelong term.

www.ore.fr

Observing, studying and modelling the planetary environment requires increasingly sophisticated hardware. The life sciences and clinical research also nowneed facilities equipped with leading edge technology. To make the necessary tools available to the scientific community, the IRD has long applied the

principle of pooling resources with its partners. The institute invests in many major equipment items, observation stations and technology platforms,applying the principle of open access for as many users as possible and training Southern researchers in the use of the technology. In 2006, thirteen shared

laboratories and joint science and technology platforms were in use with local partners.

L’Antéa

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••• Underwater glider studies ocean currents

An underwater glider is being used to studythe speed and nature of ocean currents. Itglides down in the currents to a depth of1,000 m, takes water samples and transmitsthe data via satellite. In partnership with theScripps Institution of Oceanography, USA,and the Pacific Marine EnvironmentalLaboratory, USA, the glider has been used tostudy currents flowing into the Coral Sea inthe western Pacific.

••• Seismometers on the ocean floor

Ocean bottom seismometers or OBSs are miniaturised seismometers withwaterproof casings that can be deployed on ocean floors down to depths of7,000 m, to study local seismicity or tocharacterise deep geological features. TheIRD has some thirty OBSs that are part of anational network set up with INSU (Institutnational des sciences de l’univers) and Ifremer(Institut français de recherche pourl’exploitation de la mer). OBSs have beendeployed in the Red Sea as part of the Encenssurvey, which is a joint project between Ifremerand the CNRS (Centre national de larecherche scientifique). Operations have alsobeen conducted in Martinique, where OBSsare recording seismicity continuously. This latterproject is in cooperation with the Institut dephysique du globe.

••• Measuring seismic and volcanic hazards

The portable absolute gravimeter is used inthe field to take precise, absolutemeasurements of the Earth’s gravity field.The instrument was bought jointly with theIGN (Institut géographique national) and theInstitut de physique du globe and is beingused for research into seismic and volcanichazards. At present it is helping to monitormovements of the Earth’s crust in northernChile, one of the world’s most seismicallyactive regions, where it is detecting magmatransfers beneath active volcanoes.

••• The ASTER and Artemis mass spectrometers

Inaugurated on the site of the Arbois Mediterranean Europole in 2006, the ASTER acceleration massspectrometer is used for measuring the cosmogenic isotope content of samples. It has many potentialapplications. In tectonics it can be used to determine rates of fault movement, in palaeoclimatology todate the retreat of glaciers and the polar ice caps, and in geomorphology to monitor the evolution ofriver networks.

The Artemis mass spectrometer in Saclay, France, is used for measuring carbon 14 levels in samples.Among other purposes, it is being used to analyse sediments deposited at the leading edges ofglaciers, so as to reconstitute their successive advances and retreats during the Holocene.

••• Tropical greenhouses

In Montpellier, 2,000 m2 of greenhouses with controlled environmentsin terms of light, hygrometry, day length, temperature and confinementare available to the scientific community for research into plants ofinterest to Southern countries. Rice, coffee, palm species and casuarinaare among the species being studied there. Gene transfer methods areemployed by qualified teams.

••• Research and development information centre, Burkina Faso

The CIRD (Centre d’information sur la recherche et le développement) inOuagadougou is based on a partnership between the IRD, Cirad (Centrede coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour ledéveloppement) and the French overseas development agency. It isproving a wonderfully useful documentation centre, especially for thoseneeding access to electronic journals and the main international scientificdatabases. Sixteen thousand visitors – teachers, researchers, students

and development professionals and partners – made use of its resources in 2006.

49

Three IRD laboratories have been designated WHO collaboration centres, on nutrition, vector-borne diseasesand retroviruses. The IRD has established health observatories in Niakhar and Dielmo in Senegal and at theOrganisation de coordination pour la lutte contre les endémies en Afrique centrale (OCEAC) in Cameroon.

Human Resources

engineer and technician grades will be incorporated in the2007 programme.

As regards internal promotion, 27 researchers and 34engineers and technicians moved up a grade, and 10engineers and technicians were promoted to researchercategory.

Twenty-nine tenured staff retired in 2006, more than half ofthem researchers. The average age of those retiring was 63,for men and women alike.

••• Modernising human resourcesmanagement

The introduction of the constitutional by-law on budget acts had a major impact on the IRD’s human resources, as it musthenceforth apply an official ceiling on job numbers and wage bill. The introduction of the Sorgho human resourcesmanagement software at the start of the year has made a big difference to the Institute’s administrative management ofstaff, jobs, working hours and pay, speeding the management process and making it more flexible.

PayNew official regulations on “specific recompense for duties of collective value” allowed the Institute to pay this bonus tomore staff in jobs with particular responsibilities in management, coordination or facilitation, especially heads of researchor service units.

Improving the careers of tenured staff To boost tenured staff careers and welfare provision, an agreement was signed between the civil service Minister andthree trade unions (Protocol Jacob, 25 January 2006). Class C staff are the first to benefit, in terms of grading, pay andpromotion. A compensatory bonus (€400 to €700) was introduced to award Class A and B staff for at least five years atthe top of the top grade in their category.

New system for temporary transfersThe maximum duration of missions was raised from 2 months to 12, so that what used to be a special arrangement forlong-term missions is now routine. The system of compensation for temporary transfers was improved and simplified,with higher ceilings and a harmonisation of the systems for Metropolitan France, the overseas territories and othercountries.

••• In-service training

The IRD pursued its in-service training policy to help staff in setting up institutional projects. This includes training to usethe Sorgho software, apply the constitutional by-law on budget acts and implement quality management. A special effortwent into training in professional risk prevention, health and safety.

The IRD employs 2,231 staff including 828 researchers,1,013 engineers and technicians and 390 local staff. Theiraverage age (excluding local staff) is 44-40 for womenand 46 for men.

••• Parity

Nearly 40% of IRD staff are women. Few of them (23%)are in the researcher categories, most (56%) beingengineers or technicians. The percentage of womendecreases in the higher grades – only 16% of unitdirectors are women and the level of parity in the decisionbodies remains low.

••• Present on every continent

Forty-three per cent of staff work outside MetropolitanFrance: 25% in Africa, 10% in the French overseasterritories, 6% in Latin America and 4% in Asia. Thestrongest IRD presence in Africa is in Senegal andBurkina Faso; Brazil, Bolivia and Peru are the main LatinAmerican countries for IRD research; and in the overseasterritories, French Guiana and New Caledonia are themain focuses.

In 2006, IRD staff performed 117 long-term missions of2 to 10 months. Africa was the main destination for these(44%), while Latin America accounted for 34% and Asiafor 16%.

••• Recruitment, mobility and retirements

Competitive entry exams were held for 40 researcher posts.Thirty-seven researchers were recruited out of 506candidates – 16 directors of research, 5 Grade 1 researchersand 16 Grade 2 researchers – including 7 women.

There was a major internal mobility drive. In all, 94 engineers’and technicians’ jobs were opened to internal applicants,giving staff new career prospects. Thirty-three posts werefilled. The 2006 external competitive recruitment drive for •••••• Contact: ddp@ird.fr

Teaching safety and hygiene awareness

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Men Age Women

Staff

50 40 30 20 10 0 0 10 20 30 40 50

66

65

64

63

62

61

60

59

58

57

56

55

54

53

52

51

50

49

48

47

46

45

44

43

42

41

40

39

38

37

36

35

34

33

32

31

30

29

28

27

26

25

24

23

22

21

20

19

22%Social sciences

1%Mathematics

2%Engineering sciences

Researchers by discipline

3%Physics

Age pyramid

1%Chemistry

5%Medicine

24%Universe sciences

4%Human sciences 38%

Life sciences

1275Metropolitan France

(57.1%)

149French overseas territories (6.7%)

Staff by major region

142America (6.4%)

504Africa (22.6%)

85Asia/Pacific (3.8%)

76Europe (3.4%)

23%Life sciences

4%Engineering sciences and scientific instrumentation

Engineers and technicians, by activity branch

10%Data processing and scientific

computing

4%Chemistry and science

of materials

6%Human and social sciences

39%Scientific and technical

management

5%Property management, logistics

and prevention

9%Documentation, publishing,

communication

Staff

Tenured Non-tenuredstaff staff Total

Researchers 814 14 828Engineers and technicians 769 244 1013Local staff 390 390

TOTAL 1583 648 2231

Staff by gender

Men % Women % Total

Researchers 633 76.4 195 23.6 828Engineers and technicians 445 43.9 568 56.1 1013Local staff 270 69.2 120 30.8 390

TOTAL 1348 60.4 883 39.6 2231

Staff on assignment outside metropolitan France

2002* 2003* 2004* 2005* 2006**

Researchers 38.8% 36.7% 33.8% 35.14% 37%Engineers and technicians 32.2% 30.7% 28.8% 24.45% 26%

*Up to 2006, percentage calculated from budgeted posts

** In 2006, percentage calculated for the staff of the Institute at 31 December 2006

Long-term missions 2002-2006

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Africa 15 38 42 60 52América 16 33 45 60 40Asia/Pacific 4 8 20 32 19Europe 1 2 8 3 6

TOTAL 36 81 115 155 117

Source : data from the Sorgho software package at 31 December 2006

Financ ia l resou rces

2006 was the first year in which finances were managedby a fully integrated information system, operating costsand pay being managed by a single software package,Sorgho.

The Institute’s budget was €201.65 million, including €169.81 million in government grants (84.2%), €12.7million in contract income and €2.38 million inmiscellaneous income. The balance was covered by €16.76 million from the Institute’s working capital. Staffpay accounted for 71% of the budget (€135.32 million,of which 22% were for expatriation expenses).

••• Spending focused on priorities inresearch for development

Under its new 2006-2009 objectives contract, the IRD iscommitted to an ambitious, coherent policy of matchingits resources to its priorities, which are to:• support the Institute’s new mission as lead agency in

research for development;• give more resources to the research and service units

and encourage them to reorganise and integrate intothe scientific community;

• continue to host expatriate researchers and providetraining and support for Southern scientificcommunities;

• proactively open up to potential partners, particularlyby concentrating credits for property and capitalequipment on joint operations with universities andother research bodies;

• ensure sufficient management resources for thescientific fleet, in cooperation with the other researchinstitutions concerned.

••• Resources for the research andservice units

The units directly receive more than 60% of the Institute’sfinancial resources. They account for 69.9% of staff costsand 38.1% of the operating and investment budgets.

* Contracts for an average of three years.

Information systemsThe first phase of the information systems master plan was completed in 2006 with the successful launch of payroll managementby the Sorgho software package and the introduction of a new mission management system. Now the 2006-2009 phase begins.A key aim is to use software to ensure compliance with the objectives contract. Part of the cost (€ 7.5 million) will be covered fromworking capital. Of the seven goals in the information systems master plan, the considerable increase in the use of scientific soft-ware is well under way and is well received by staff.

The IRD reaffirmed its priority focus on expatriation by devoting € 30.6 million to that budget item.

••• A major contribution to shared capital equipment

Investment in major capital equipment amounted to €3.53 million – an increase of 30%. The modernisation of the scientificfleet began; this is now managed by a joint venture, GENAVIR. It includes refurbishment of the ocean-going survey vesselAntéa at a cost of €2.11 million. The Institute’s self-financing capacity still allowed for other investments such as settingup an “emerging diseases” platform on the Mahidol-Salaya university campus in Thailand, renovating the mobileaccelerometer network in partnership with Insu and jointly purchasing a mass spectrometer with the CNRS. The €1.23million in contributions to partnerships illustrates the IRD’s commitment to its partners, both French research bodies andinternational organisations.

••• Major investment in the property asset base

Amounts spent on maintenance and building work doubled in 2006, to a total of €2.54 million:• completion of the centre for biology and population management (CBGP) in Montpellier;• construction of a soil confinement laboratory on the Ensam campus;• participation in the creation of an oceanography cluster of European scope, under the fourth State-Region development

plan for Brittany;• extension of the Île-de-France centre’s reception wing.

••• Contract income on the rise

The IRD’s success rate in proposals submitted under National Research Agency (ANR) bid processes confirmed itsleading position in a number of fields. Contracts obtained by IRD teams in 2006 represented a financial envelope of morethan € 6million*.

The IRD’s mission of stimulating the French scientific community to work on issues important for development wasstrengthened when it was given lead agency status in that connection. The Institute has already acted as coordinator ormanager for 20 scientific projects conducted by (non-European) international partnerships and costing more than €1 million over the project’s lifetime.

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52.12Operating costs

and non-programmed

investments

3.91Programmed investment

135.32Personnel

Expenditure of the IRD, by type (€M)

27.24%

70.72%

2.04%

191.35 M€

12.70Research contracts

0.69Income from applications

of research

169.81State grant

Resources of the IRD (€M)

6.88%

92.06%

0.37%

184.46 M€

1.26Other income and subsidies

0.68%

35.78Africa and

Indian Ocean

10.49Asia

106.83Metropolitan

France

21.26French overseas

territories

Expenditure by major region (€M)

18.70%

55.83 %

5.48%8.36%

191.35 M€

0.97International

institutions

3.62Other partners

(public and private sectors)

2.71French Ministries

and territorial authorities

1.02European institutions

Income from research contracts, by origin (€M)

7.64%

8.03 %

28.50%

21.34%

12.70 M€

11.11%

15.99Latin America

1.01Other countries

3.54French public establishments

27.87 %

0.84National Research

Agency

6.61 %

0.53 %

Income from research contracts,by origin (€M)

Earth and Environment Department 3,63Living resources Department 3,20Societies and Health Department 4,07Other 0,99Partnerships, contracts managed by the IRD* 0,81Total in budget 12,70

Transferred to partners off-budget 2,22

TOTAL 14,92

* As part mainly of Europe, ANR or GIS contracts

Expenditure of research and services units (€M)

Operating costs By research department Staff and investment Total

Earth and Environment Department 30.47 6.27 36.74Living Resources Department 31.50 6.91 38.41Societies and Health Department 33.12 6.68 39.80

TOTAL 95.09 19.86 114.95

Operating costs By research department Staff and investment Total

• Natural hazards, climate and non-renewable resources 9.03 1.49 10.52

• Sustainable management of Southern ecosystems 17.66 3.49 21.15

• Continental and coastal waters 19.38 4.05 23.43• Food security in the South 16.32 3.82 20.14• Public health and health policy 15.20 4.28 19.48• Globalisation and development 17.50 2.73 20.23

TOTAL 95.09 19.86 114.95

Expenditure of cross-cutting functions (€M)

Staff Total

Capacity building support 0.64 2.43 3.07Consulting and industrial liaison 0.65 0.55 1.20Scientific information and communication 4.75 2.04 6.79International relations 8.58 3.19 11.77Outreach activities 2.24 0.22 2.46Scientific evaluation 0.30 0.35 0.65In-service training 0.00 0.93 0.93Contributions to partnerships 0.03 2.13 2.16Naval resources 1.02 5.03 6.05Other major scientific equipment 0.00 0.79 0.79

TOTAL 18.21 17.68 35.87

Operating costsand investment

Expenditure of support functions (€M)

Staff Total

Social action 0.00 1.08 1.08Information systems 2.47 4.74 7.21Real estate operations 0.00 2.22 2.22Territorial representations * 7.68 5.11 12.79Central services 11.87 2.18 14.05Other 0.00 3.16 3.16

TOTAL 22.02 18.49 40.51

Operating costsand investment

*France and overseas territories (representation abroad is classed under “international relations” in table 2, cross-cutting functions.

••• The IRD’s decision bodies

••• Participation in scientific partnerships

••• IRD structure

••• Research and service units

••• IRD establishments around the world

Appendices

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Board of Trustees (at 1 July 2007)

ChairmanJean-François Girard

Ministry representatives••• Ministry of Education and ResearchFor researchDidier Hoffschir, Deputy Director for sustainable developmentFor higher educationPhilippe Vidal, Coordinator, office of the Director General for higher education

••• Ministry of Foreign Affairs and CooperationJean-Christophe Deberre, Director of development policies Antoine Grassin, Director of scientific and university cooperation

••• Ministry of the Economy, Finance and IndustryÉric Querenet de Breville, Civil administrator

••• Ministry for Overseas TerritoriesN...Jean-Michel Bedecarrax (substitute), sub-Director for employment and social, educational and cultural affairs

External members Monique Capron, Chair of the Board of Trustees, InsermAlain Arconte, Chair, Antilles-Guyane UniversityCatherine Brechignac, Chair, CNRSPatrice Debré, Chair, CiradBouli Ali Diallo, Rector, University of NiameySouad Lyagoubi, Former Minister of Health, TunisiaJean-Michel Severino, Director General, Agence française de développement

Staff representativesAlain Froment, SNCS/FSU, doctor of medicine, representing research grade staff, Orléans Marie-France Lange, STREM-SGEN-CFDT, sociologist, representing research grade staff, BondyChristian Valentin, STREM-SGEN-CFDT, soil scientist, representing research grade staff, Laos Pascal Grebaut, SNTRS-CGT-IRD, biology technician, representing ITA grade staff, MontpellierIrène Salvert, STREM-SGEN-CFDT, in-service training manager, representing ITA grade staff, Paris Patrick Zante, SNPREES-FO, soil scientist, representing ITA grade staff, Montpellier

The IRD’ s dec is ion bodies

55

Scientific council (at 1 July 2007)

ChairDaniel Le Rudulier, faculty member, university of Nice, microbiology

Appointed membersJean-Louis Arcand, faculty member, university of Clermont Ferrand, economicsNetij Ben Mechlia, faculty member, national institute of Agronomy, Tunisia (INAT), agro-climatologyPascale Delécluse, research director, CNRS, oceanographyStéphane Doumbe-Bille, faculty member, Jean Moulin university, Lyon 3, international lawJacqueline Heinen, faculty member, university of Versailles St-Quentin en Yvelines, sociologyMichel Herzog, faculty member, Joseph Fourier university, Grenoble, plant biology Newton Paciornik, technical adviser to the ministry of research, Brazil, energy, environmentRémi Pochat, scientific director, central laboratory of the Public Works Dept, engineering, evaluationsJean-Luc Redelsperger, research director, CNRS, climatologySergio Revah, faculty member, Metropolitan Autonomous University, Mexico, microbiology-biotechnologyJean-Pierre Reveret, faculty member, university of Québec, ecology, environmentBarbara Romanowicz, faculty member, university of Berkeley USA, geophysicsRodolphe Spichiger, faculty member, university of Geneva and Director of the Geneva Botanical Gardens, biology andplant ecology Mamadou Souncalo Traore, national Director of health, Mali, parasitology

Elected members••• College I, IRD research directors Jean Albergel, hydrologyPierre Chevallier, hydrologyGeorges de Noni, geography, research managementJean-Paul Gonzalez, human virologyEmmanuel Grégoire, geographyMichel Tibayrenc, genetics of infectious diseases

•••College II, IRD researchersSylvain Bonvalot, geophysicsDominique Buchillet, anthropology of healthMarie-Hélène Durand, economyMichel Petit, remote sensing, hydrobiologyYves Goudineau, anthropologyYann Moreau, hydrobiology

•••College III, IRD engineers and technicians Odile Fossati, hydrobiologyYann Hello, geophysicsMichel Larue, research management, IRD representative in Indonesia

Scientific commissionsChairs of sectoral scientific commissions (CSS) and research and applications management commissions (CGRA)Yves Gaudemer, CSS1: physics and chemistry of the planetary environmentDominique-Angèle Vuitton, CSS2: biology and medical sciencePierre Auger, CSS3: science of ecological systemsÉmile Le Bris, CSS4: human and social sciencesJean-Philippe Chippaux, CGRA 1: engineering and consultingFrançois Jarrige, CGRA 2: administration and management

I RD par t ic ipat ion in sc ien t i f ic par tne rsh ips

••• Groupements d’intérêt scientifiqueOCEANOMED, Marine research hub in the PACA regionSol, Sustainable management of soil heritageCurare, University discussion centre for an environmental hazards agencyInstitut Rhône Alpin des Systèmes Complexes, Complex systems instituteSilvolab, Tropical rainforest ecosystems in French GuianaPisciculture, Fish farming in Mediterranean and tropical regionsGRISCYA, CyanobacteriaEuropôle Mer, Marine science and technologyGénopôle Montpellier Languedoc-RoussillonCeped, Linkages between population and developmentRéseau Amérique latine, Information dissemination and facilitation of French social and human sciences research on Latin AmericaIRSP, Public health research instituteBRG, Genetic Resources BureauIFB, French Biodiversity InstituteAire développement, Scientific and financial support for scientific communities in the SouthGénoplante recherche, Plant genomicsPRAM, Martinique Agro-Environmental Research CentreCRVOI, Research and monitoring centre on emerging diseases in the Indian OceanProduction of indicators on the research and innovation systemResearch network in Île-de-France on sustainable development

••• Groupements d’intérêt publicMédias France, Global change and regional impactsMercator Océan, Ocean and climate forecastingNickel et son Environnement, National centre for research and technology on nickel and its environment ANRS, National AIDS Research AgencyRenater, National telecommunications network for technology, teaching and researchEcofor, Temperate forest ecosytemsOST, Science and technology monitoring unit

••• Groupements d’intérêt économiqueDial, Development of investigations into long-term adjustmentGénavir, Management of oceanographic survey vessels

••• Groupements européens d’intérêt économiqueEdctp, European Developing Countries Clinical TrialsEcart, European Consortium for Agricultural Research in the Tropics

••• SAS Société par action simplifiéeGénoplante Valor, Management and exploitation of intellectual property rights resulting from theGénoplante programme

••• Groupements de recherche (GDR)ACOMAR, Analysis, understanding and modelling of marine biology archivesDIWOOD, Diversity, establishment and functioning of organisms associated with marine wood falls

••• National programmesPNEC, Coastal environmentsLEFE, Environment and Earth’s fluid envelopesPNTS, National remote sensing programmeAMMA, African monsoon multidisciplinary analysesECCO, Continental ecosphere: environmental hazardsRELIEFS, National earth reliefs programme

••• Regional programmesZONECO, Marine resources in the New Caledonia exclusive economic zoneZEPOLYF, Inventorying and mapping of sea mounts in the French Polynesian exclusive economic zone

••• Federative Research InstitutesLyonIFR 41, Ecology, genetics, evolution

MarseilleIFR 86, Agro-industrial biotechnology (BAIM)IFR 134, Economics and human and social sciences of health, Aix-Marseille

MontpellierIFR 119, Tropical and Mediterranean continental biodiversityIFR 122, Montpellier Institute of BiologyIFR 123, Languedoc Institute for Water and Environment Research (ILEE)IFR 127, Plant development, diversity and adaptattion – genes and phenotypes (Daphné)IFR 129, Aquatic ecosystems: human impact, functioning, products

ParisIFR 071, Institute for the science of medicines (ISM)IFR 101, Ecology, biodiversity, evolution, environmentIFR 106, Environment and management of rural areas (EGER)

••• Competitiveness hubsMer-Bretagne (Sea-Nergie), in BrittanyQ@limed, on food and quality of life in the Mediterranean region, in Languedoc Roussillon Risques, on risk management and local/regional vulnerability, in Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’AzurMer Sécurité Sûreté (MSS): sea, safety, security and sustainable development, in Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’AzurOrpheme, on emerging and orphan diseases, in Languedoc Roussillon and Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’AzurAgronutrition en milieu tropical,on food and agriculture in tropical regions, in La Réunion

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Cent ra l se r v ices at 1 Ju ly 2007

Director GeneralMichel Laurent

Secretary GeneralVincent Desforges

Earth and environment departmentJacques Boulègue

Living resources department*Bernard Dreyfus

Societies and health departmentJacques Charmes

Capacity-building supportAlain Leplaideur

Consulting and industrial liaison Eva Giesen

Information and communication

Marie-Noëlle Favier

Legal affairsHervé Michel

Head office administrationJean-Charles Linet

International relationsDaniel Lefort

French overseas dependenciesRoger Bambuck

Evaluation and indicatorsBenoît Lootvoet

Information systemsGilles Poncet

Legal affairsHortense Moisand-Renard

* To 28 February 2007 : Patrice Cayré

Headquarters administrationChristian Altairac

Accounting officeJean Fohrer

Scientific programming and regionalactionChristian Marion

ChairmanJean-François Girard

Research and se r v ice un i t s (US )(at 1 Ju ly 2007)

••• ARDUIN Pascal - US 9 SDEE - Demographic, epidemiological and environmental monitoringpascal.arduin@ird.frwww.ird.sn/activites/niakhar/

••• ARFI Robert - Unit 167 CYROCO - Cyanobacteria of shallow tropical waters. Roles and controlsrobert.arfi@ird.frwww.com.univ-mrs.fr/IRD/cyroco/index.htm

••• AUGER Pierre - Unit 79GEODES - Mathematical and computer modelling of natu-ral, biological and social complex systemspierre.auger@ird.frwww.ur079.ird.fr/

••• BARTHELEMY Daniel - Unit 123AMAP (UMR) - Botany and bioinformatics of plant architecturebarthelemy@cirad.frwww.amap.cirad.fr/

••• BOTTERO Jean-Yves - Unit 161CEREGE (UMR) - European centre for research and education in the environmental geosciencesjybotter@cerege.fr

••• BOURGUET Denis - Unit 22CBGP (UMR) - Centre for population biology and managementdircbgp@supagro.inra.frwww.montpellier.inra.fr/CBGP

••• CHARVIS Philippe - Unit 82GEOAZUR (UMR) - Géosciences Azurdirection@geoazur.unice.frwww-geoazur.unice.fr

••• CHAVANCE Pierre - Unit 7OSIRIS - Monitoring and information systems for tropical fisheriespierre.chavance@ird.frwww.ird.sn/activites/sih/index.htm

••• CHENORKIAN Robert - Unit 184ESEP (UMR) - Prehistoric economies, societies and environmentschenorkian@mmsh.iniv-aix.fr

••• CHOTTE Jean-Luc - Unit 179 SeqBio - Soil bio-functioning and carbon sequestrationjean-luc.chotte@ird.frwww.mpl.ird.fr/SeqBio

••• COLIN Jean-Philippe - Unit 95REFO - Land tenure regulations, public policy and stake-holder reasoningjean-philippe.colin@ird.fr

••• CORMIER-SALEM Marie-Christine - Unit 169Natural heritage, territories and identitiesmarie-christine.cormier-salem@ird.fr

••• COT Michel - Unit 10Mother and infant health in tropical environments: genetic and perinatal epidemiologymichel.cot@ird.fr

••• COTTON Fabrice - Unit 157LGIT (UMR) - Tectonophysics and internal geophysics laboratoryfabrice.cotton@obs.ujf-grenoble.frwww-lgit.obs.ujf-grenoble.fr

••• COUDRAIN Anne - Unit 32GREAT ICE - Glaciers and high altitude water resources –climatic and environmental indicatorsanne.coudrain@ird.frwww.mpl.ird.fr/hydrologie/greatice/

••• COURET Dominique - Unit 29URBI - Urban environmentdominique.couret@ird.frwww.ur029.ird.fr

••• CREUTIN Jean-Dominique - Unit 12LTHE (UMR) - Laboratory for the study of transfers in hydrology and environmentjean-dominique.creutin@ird.frwww.lthe.hmg.inpg.fr

••• CUNY Gérard - Unit 177(UMR) - Trypanosomiasis in humans, animals and plantsgerard.cuny@ird.fr

••• DELAPORTE Éric - Unit 145(UMR) - HIV/AIDS and associated diseaseseric.delaporte@ird.fr

••• DELAUNAY Daniel - Unit 13MMP - Migration, mobility, settlement dynamics and territorial dynamicsdaniel.delaunay@ird.frwww.ur013.ird.fr

••• DELPEUCH Francis - Unit 106Nutrition, diet, societiesfrancis.delpeuch@ird.frwww.mpl.ird.fr

••• D’HERBES Jean-Marc - US 166Evaluation and monitoring of the causes, mechanisms andconsequences of desertification in arid and semi-aridregionsjean-marc.dherbes@ird.fr

••• DREYFUS Bernard - Unit 40LSTM (UMR) - Laboratory for the study of tropical andMediterranean symbiosisbernard.dreyfus@ird.fr

••• DU PENHOAT Yves p.i. - Unit 65LEGOS (UMR) - Laboratory for space-based geophysicsand oceanography researchdirecteur@legos.obs-mip.frwww.obs-mip.fr/legos

••• ECHEVERRIA Manuel - Unit 121LGDP (UMR) - Plant genomics and plant developmentmanuel.echeverria@univ-perp.fr

••• EYMARD Laurence - Unit 182LOCEAN (UMR) - Oceanography and climate laboratory:experiments and numerical approacheslaurence.eymard@ird.fr

••• FAURE Yves-André - Unit 23DEVLOC - Local urban development. Dynamics and regulationyves-andre.faure@ird.fr

••• FERRARIS Jocelyne - Unit 128CoRéUs - Biocomplexity of coral ecosystems in the Indo-Pacificjocelyne.ferraris@ird.frwww.ird.nc/COREUS/

••• FICHEZ Renaud - Unit 103CAMELIA - Characterisation and modelling of exchanges inlagoons under terrigenous and human influencesrenaud.fichez@ird.frwww.ird.nc/CAMELIA/

••• FONTENILLE Didier - Unit 16Characterisation and control of vector populationsdidier.fontenille@ird.frwww.mpl.ird.fr/vecteur/

••• FREON Pierre - Unit 97ECO-UP - Structure and functioning of exploited upwellingecosystems: comparative analyses for an ecosystemapproach to fisheriespierre.freon@ird.frwww.sea.uct.ac.za/marine/idyle/

••• GARIN Patrice - Unit 183G-EAU (UMR) - Water management, stakeholders and usespatrice.garin@cemagref.fr

••• GONZALEZ Jean-Paul - Unit 178CTEM - Emergence of diseases: territories and conditionssjean-paul.gonzalez@ird.fr

••• GOURIOU Yves - US 191Ocean observing systems and operations at seayves.gouriou@ird.fr

•••GRUENAIS Marc-Éric - Unit 2ASSA - Health in Africa: health systems and actorsmarc-eric.gruenais@ird.frwww.vcharite.univ-mrs.fr/shadyc/accueil.html

••• GUILLAUD Dominique - Unit 92ADENTHRO - Human adaptation to tropical environmentsduring the Holocenedominique.guillaud@ird.frwww.orleans.ird.fr/UR_US/adentrho.htm

••• HAMON Serge - Unit 188 DIA-PC (UMR) - Diversity and adaption of cultivated plantsserge.hamon@ird.fr

••• HERRERA Javier - Unit 47DIAL - Development, institutions and long-term analysisjavier.herrera@ird.frwww.dial.prd.fr/

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••• HUYNH Frédéric - US 140ESPACE - Assessments and spatialisation of environmentaldatafrederic.huynh@ird.frwww.espace.ird.fr

••• JOLIVET Marie-José - Unit 107Cim - Identity construction and globalisationmarie-jose.jolivet@ird.fr

••• JOSSE Erwan - US 4ACAPPELLA - Hydro-acoustics applied to fishery and aquaticethology and ecologyerwan.josse@ird.frwww.brest.ird.fr/us004/index.htm

••• KERR Yann - Unit 113CESBIO (UMR) - Centre for the study of the biosphere fromspaceyann.kerr@cesbio.cnes.frwww.cesbio.ups-tlse.fr

••• LAE Raymond - Unit 70 RAP - Adaptive responses of fish shoals and populations to environmental pressureraymond.lae@ird.frwww.ird.sn/activites/rap/index.htm

••• LALLEMANT Marc - Unit 174IRD-PHPT - Clinical epidemiology, mother and infant healthand HIV in Southeast Asiamarc.lallemant@ird.fr

••• LANGE Marie-France - Unit 105Knowledge and developmentmarie-france.lange@ird.frwww.ur105.ird.fr/

••• LAVELLE Patrick - Unit 137BIOSOL (UMR) - Soil functioning and biodiversitypatrick.lavelle@ird.frwww.bondy.ird.fr/biosol

••• LEGENDRE Marc - Unit 175CAVIAR - Characterisation and utilisation of fish diversity forintegrated aquaculturemarc.legendre@ird.fr

••• LE GUYADER Hervé - Unit 148(UMR) - Systematics, adaption, evolutionherve.le-guyader@snv.jussieu.fr

••• LHOMME Jean-Paul - Unit 60CLIFA - Climate and agro-system functioningjean-paul.lhomme@ird.fr

••• LIVENAIS Patrick - Unit 151LPED (UMR) - Population-environment-development laboratorypatrick.livenais@ird.frwww.lped.org

••• MARSAC Francis - Unit 109THETIS - Tropical tuna and pelagic ecosystems: taxis, interactions and exploitation strategiesfrancis.marsac@ird.frwww.brest.ird.fr/ur109/index.htm

••• MERLE Olivier - Unit 163(UMR) Magmas and volcanoes laboratoryolivier.merle@ird.frwwwobs.univ-bpclermont.fr

••• MICHON Geneviève - Unit 168Environmental dynamics between forest, agriculture and biodi-versity: from local practices with nature to conservation policygenevieve.michon@ird.fr

••• MOISSERON Jean-Yves - Unit 102Public intervention, spaces, societiesjean-yves.moisseron@ird.fr

••• MONTEL Jean-Marc - Unit 154LMTG (UMR) - Laboratory for the study of mechanisms andtransfers in geologymontel@lmtg.obs-mip.frwww.lmtg.obs-mip.fr

••• MORETTI Christian - US 84Biodival - Knowledge of tropical plant resources and their useschristian.moretti@ird.frwww.orleans.ird.fr/UR_US/biodival/index.htm

••• MORIZE Éric - US 28CHRONOS - Age and chronophysiology in fish and aquaticmolluscseric.morize@ird.fr

••• NEPVEU Françoise - Unit 152(UMR) Pharmaceutical chemistry of natural substances andredox pharmacophoresfrancoise.nepveu@ird.fr

••• NICOLE Michel - Unit 186 RPB (UMR) - Plant resistance to pests and diseasesmichel.nicole@ird.fr

••• OBERDORFF Thierry - Unit 131 AMAZONE - Macro-ecological approach to aquatic biodiversityin continental watersthierry.oberdorf@ird.fr

••• ORTLIEB Luc - Unit 55 PALEOTROPIQUE - Tropical palaeo-environments and climatevariabilityluc.ortlieb@ird.fr

••• OUAISSI Ali - Unit 8Pathogenics and epidemiology of the trypanosomatidsali.ouaissi@montp.inserm.fr

••• QUEIXALOS Francisco - Unit 135CELIA (UMR) - Centre for the study of indigenous languages of Americaqxls@vjf.cnrs.fr

••• QUENSIERE Jacques p.i. - Unit 63C3ED (UMR) - Economics and ethics for environment and developmentjacques.quensiere@ird.frwww.c3ed.uvsq.fr

••• RENAUD François - Unit 165(UMR) - Genetics and evolution of infectious diseasesfrancois.renaud@ird.fr

••• ROUSSOS Sevastianos - Unit 185 Bio Trans - Biodiversity and functional ecology of micro-organisms for processing recalcitrant compoundssevastianos.roussos@ird.fr

••• SELIM Monique - Unit 3Tem - Labour and globalisationmonique.selim@ird.frwww.ur003.ird.fr

••• SERVAT Éric - Unit 50HSM (UMR) - HydroSciences Montpelliereric.servat@ird.frwww.hydrosciences.org/

••• SILVAIN Jean-François - Unit 72BEI - Biodiversity and evolution of plant/insect-pestantagonist complexesjean-francois.silvain@ird.frwww.cnrs-gif.fr/pge/index.html

••• SIMONDON François - Unit 24Epiprev - Epidemiology and prevention: environment and efficacy of interventionssfrancois.simondon@ird.frwww.mpl.ird.fr/epiprev

••• THEBE Bernard - US 19OBHI - Hydrological monitoring systems and engineeringbernard.thebe@ird.frwww.usobhi.net/

••• THOLOZAN Jean-Luc - Unit 180LMBEC (UMR) - Microbiology and biotechnology of hot environmentsjean-luc.tholozan@ird.fr

••• TRAPE Jean-François - Unit 77Malaria research in tropical Africajean-francois.trape@ird.frhttp://gemi.mpl.ird.fr

••• TREGEAR James - Unit 192Palm speciesjames.tregear@ird.fr

••• VALENTIN Christian - Unit 176SOLUTIONS - Soils, land use, degradation and rehabilitationchristian.valentin@ird.fr

••• VOLTZ Marc - Unit 144 LISAH (UMR) - Laboratory for the study ofsoil/agrosystem/hydrosystem interactionsvoltz@ensam.inra.frwww.sol.ensam.inra.fr/

••• DME: units in the Earth and Environment Department••• DRV: units in the Living Resources Department••• DSS: units in the Societies and Health Department

59

I RD es tab l i shments a round the wor ld (at 1 Ju ly 2007)

FRANCEHead office213, rue La Fayette75 480 Paris Cedex 10Tél : + 33 (0)1 48 03 77 77

Centre de BretagneClaude RoyBP 70 - 29280 Plouzané CedexTél. 02 98 22 45 01 brest@ird.fr

Centre d’Ile de FranceMaurice Lourd32, avenue Henri Varagnat 93143 Bondy Cedex Tél. 01 48 02 55 75 bondy@ird.fr

Centre de Montpellier Georges De Noni911 avenue AgropolisBP 64501 - 34394 Montpellier cedex 5Tél. 04 67 41 61 00 montpellier@ird.fr

Centre d’OrléansYveline Poncet5 rue du Carbone 45072 Orléans Cedex 2 Tél. 02 38 49 95 00 orleans@ird.fr

FRENCH OVERSEAS TERRITORIESFrench GuianaJean-François DanielBP 165 - 97323 Cayenne cedex Tél. (05 94) 29 92 92 guyane@ird.fr

Martinique - CaribbeanMarc MorellBP 8006 - 97259 Fort de France cedexTél. 05 96 39 77 39 martinique@ird.fr

New-Caledonia and South PacificFabrice Colin BP A5 - 98848 Nouméa Cedex Tél. (687) 26 10 00 nouvelle-caledonie@ird.fr

French PolynesiaJacques Iltis BP 529 - 98713 Papeete - TahitiTél. (689) 50 62 00polynesie@ird.fr

La Réunion Alain BorgelIRD - BP 17297492 Sainte-Clotilde cedexTél. (02 62) 29 56 29la-reunion@ird.fr

AFRICASouth Africa, MozambiqueJean-Marie FritschIRD auprès de l’IFAS - P.O. Box 542Newtown 2113 Johannesburg 66, Margaret Mcingana Street (Market Theatre Precinct)Tél. (27 11) 836 05 61/64afrique-du-sud@ird.fr

Bénin, TogoBruno BordageIRD/SCACAmbassade de France à Cotonou128 bis rue de l’Université 75351 Paris 07 SP - FranceTél. (229) 21 30 03 54benin@ird.fr

Burkina Faso Jean-Pierre Guengant01 BP 182 - Ouagadougou 01Tél. (226) 50 30 67 37 / 39burkina-faso@ird.fr

Cameroon François Rivière BP 1857 YaoundéTél. (237) 2220 15 08cameroun@ird.fr

Congo (République du)François RivièreCentre DGRST/IRD BP 1286, Pointe-Noire Tél. (242) 94 02 38/37 45 congo@ird.fr

Côte d’Ivoire Philippe Solano p.i.IRD/SCACAmbassade de France à Abidjan128 bis rue de l’université 75351 Paris 07 SPcote-ivoire@ird.fr

Egypt Nathalie Bernard-Maugiron p.i.P.O. Box. 26 - 12 211 Giza, EgyptTél. (202) 2362 05 30egypte@ird.fr

GuineaIRD - BP 1984, Conakry

Kenya Jean AlbergelIRD Kenya, ICRAF United Nations Avenue, GigiriP.O. Box 30677 -00100 NairobiTél. (254 20) 722 4758 kenya@ird.fr

MaliGilles FédièreIRD - BP 2528 - Bamako - MaliTél. (223) 221 05 01 mali@ird.fr

MoroccoHenri GuillaumeIRD - BP 8967 - 10000 Rabat AgdalTél. (212) (0) 37 67 27 33 maroc@ird.fr

Niger Gilles BezançonBP 11416 - NiameyTél. (227) 20 75 38 27niger@ird.fr

Senegal, Cape-Verde, The Gambia,Guinea-Bissau and Mauritania, Christian ColinBP 1386 - CP 18524 Dakar - SénégalTél. (221) 849 83 30senegal@ird.fr

TunisiaAntoine CornetIRD - BP 434 El Menzah 4 - 1004 Tunis Tél. (216 71) 75 00 09 / 01 83 tunisie@ird.fr

LATIN AMERICABoliviaJean-Joinville VacherCP 9214 - 00095 La Paz Tél. (591 2) 278 29 69 / 42bolivie@ird.fr

Brazil Pierre SabatéCP 7091 - Lago Sul71619-970 - Brasilia (DF) Tél. (55 61) 32.48 53 23 bresil@ird.fr

ChileGérard HérailIRD - Casilla 53 390 - Correo CentralSantiago 1Tél. (56 2) 236 34 64chili@ird.fr

Ecuador Bernard FrancouWhymper 442 y CoruñaAP 17 12 857 QuitoTél. (593 2) 250 39 44equateur@ird.fr

Mexico Abdelghani ChehbouniCalle Cicerón N°609Col. Los Morales, PolancoC.P. 11530 México, D.F.Tél. (52 55) 52 80 76 88mexique@ird.fr

PeruPierre SolerCasilla 18 - 1209 - Lima 18Tél. (51 1) 441 32 23 perou@ird.fr

ASIAIndonesia Michel LarueWisma Anugraha Jalan Taman Kemang 32 B Jakarta 12730 Tél. (62 21) 71 79 21 14 indonésie@ird.fr

Laos Daniel BenoitBP 5992 - VientianeRépublique du LaosTél. (856 21) 45 27 07laos@ird.fr

Thailand Michel TibayrencIRD Representative OfficeFrench Embassy29, Thanon Sathorn TaiBangkok10120Tél. (66 2) 627 21 90 thailande@ird.fr

Viêt-nam Jacques BergerAmbassade de France - service culturel57 Than Hung Dao - HanoïTél. (84-4) 972 06 29vietnam@ird.fr

INDIAN OCEAN Madagascar Christian FellerBP 434 - 101 AntananarivoTél. (261 20) 22 330 98madagascar@ird.fr

EUROPEAN UNION Patrice CayréCLORA - IRD - 8 avenue des Arts B1210 Bruxelles - BelgiumTél. 32 2 506 88 48bruxelles@ird.fr

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Document produced by the Information and Communication Departmentdic@paris.ird.fr

@IRD July 2007 - Coordinator: Marie-Noëlle Favier - Editing and production

monitoring: Claire Roussel - Pictures from Indigo Base: Claire Lissalde and

Danièle Cavanna - Maps: Elisabeth Habert and Catherine Valton - Graphic

design: Mazarine Image - Printing: imprimerie Jouve - Distribution: unité

diffusion, Bondy - English translation: Harriet Coleman - Revision: Yolande

Cavallazzi.

The following people took part in the editing:

Marie-Laure Beauvais, Ouidir Benabderrahmane, Samira Ben Touhami,

Catherine Bonte, Jacques Boulègue, Dominique Cavet, Marie-Simone

Chandelier, Jacques Charmes, Samuel Cordier, Ariel Crozon, Sylvain Dehaud,

Patrick Fayard, Eva Giesen, Malika Gravelier, Florence Lafay, Régine

Lefait-Robin, Benoît Lootvoet, Daniel Lefort, Alain Leplaideur, Rémy Louat

Régis Menu, Bernadette Murgue, Harry Palmier, Alain Poulet, Anne Pruvot,

Laurence Quinty Bourgeois, Marie-Christine Rebourcet, Ghislaine Thirion.

Scientific examples:

Laurence Albar, Serge Andrefouet, Patrice Baby, Sylvie Bredeloup,

Jean-Philippe Colin, David Courtin, Eric Delaporte, Daniel Delaunay,

Michel Esteves, André Garcia, Alain Ghesquiere, Isabelle Guérin,

Michel Lepage, Jean-Luc Le Pennec, Laurence Maurice, Jean-François

Molino, Yves-Martin Prével, Daniel Sabatier, Francisco Véas.

The IRD would like to thank the following for their testimonies:

Dramane Coulibaly, Amadou Mactar Konaté, Marie-Noëlle Ndjiondjop,

Flobert Njiokou, Souleymane Ouédraogo, Pablo Samaniego.

PHOTO CREDITS

Cover©IRD – Michel Dukhan

left to right©IRD – Pierre Chevallier©IRD – Philippe Chevalier©IRD – Alexandre Ganachaud©IRD – Claudine Campa©IRD – Alain Borgel©IRD – Ronan Lietar

Contents ©IRD – Bernard Moizo©IRD – Bernard Francou©IRD – Jean-Michel Boré©IRD – Vincent Simonneaux©IRD – Joël Orempuller©IRD – Claudine Campa

page 5©IRD – Olivier Dargouge

page 7©IRD – Marie-Lise Sabrié

page 9©IRD – Olivier Dargouge©IRD – Olivier Dargouge©IRD – Ronan Lietar©IRD – Michel Dukhan©IRD – Ifremer/Fadio©IRD – Jean-Michel Boré

page 10©IRD – Bernard Francou

page 11©IRD – Vincent Simonneaux

page 12©IRD – Jean-Philippe Eissen

page 13©IRD – Arnaud Vallée©IRD – Yvan Repetto

page14©IRD – Roger Fauck©IRD – Johanna Derrider

page15©IRD – Jean-Pierre Rafaillac

page 16©IRD – Bernard de Mérona

page 17©IRD – Edmond Hien

page 18©IRD – Alain Rival

page 19©IRD – Pierre Laboute©IRD – Claire Garrigue

page 20©IRD – Cécile Duwig© IRD – Claude Dejoux

page 21©IRD – Michel Dukhan

page 22©RD – Alain Ghesquiere

page 23©IRD – Mathilde Savy©IRD – Claire Mouquet-Rivier

page 24©IRD – Jean-Jacques Lemasson

page 25©IRD – Cécile Neel

page 26©IRD – Andre Garcia

page 27©IRD – Michel Dukhan

page 28©IRD – Thierry Ruf

page 29©Laurence Vallet©IRD – Daniel Delaunay

page 30©IRD – Michel Dukhan

page 32©IRD – Jean-Michel Boré

page 33©IRD – D.R.

page 34©IRD – Christian Hartmann

page 35©IRD – Jean-Marc Hougard©IRD – Céline Ravallec

page 36©IRD – Patrick Fayard©IRD – Patrick Fayard

page 37©IRD – Johanna Derrider©IRD – SCAC / Ambassade de France©IRD – Mina Vilayleck

page 38©IRD – Vincent Simonneaux

page 39©IRD – Marc Pilon

page 40©IRD – Patrick Blanchon©IRD – Vincent Simonneaux

page 41©IRD – Michel Grouzis©IRD – Hubert Forestier

page 42©IRD – Olivier Dargouge©IRD – Vincent Simonneaux©IRD – Bernard Moizo

page 43©IRD – Pascal Dumas

page 44©IRD – S. Janel©IRD – Michel Dukhan

page 45©IRD – Aster 2006

page 46©IRD – Joël Orempuller

page 47©IRD – Jean-Jacques Lemasson

page 48©IRD – Ronan Lietar©IRD – Marc Morell©IRD – Nadine Fievet

page 49©IRD – Christophe Maes©IRD – Yann Hello©IRD – Sylvain Bonvalot©IRD – ASTER 2006©IRD – Michel Dukhan©IRD – Marie-Eve Miguères

page 50©IRD – Marie-Noëlle Favier

page 54©IRD – Claudine Campa

page 61©IRD – Bernard Moizo

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Rice harvest, northern Laos

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