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Fig 1. The arrival of rain on an IRD measuring site |
Global Partnerships and the South
The Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)
The Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) focuses on the
relationship between people and the environment in the tropical and
Mediterranean countries, in terms of sustainable development. It aims to respond
to the major development challenges for societies in health, environment, the
earth and living resources.
Originally founded in 1944, the IRD (formerly ORSTOM) is a public science
and technology research institute, reporting to the French ministry in charge
of research and development cooperation, with its numerous partner countries
with a view to assisting the economic, social and cultural development of the
countries of the South. The IRD fulfils three main missions: research, training and
consultancy; it also collaborates with the scientific and technical information from
countries in the South.
Six priorities
The institute has research and service units, joint research units with universities
and other research bodies and it works with observatories and technology
platforms. Its interdisciplinary scientific activity covers six priority topics:
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Reducing poverty by innovative policies; |
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International Migration; |
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Emerging diseases; |
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Climate changes and natural hazards; |
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Water resources and access to the water; and, |
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Ecosystems and sustainable use of natural resources. |
Working in Africa, Asia, the Indian Ocean, Latin America and the Pacific, the IRD
operates in 35 countries and in five overseas French territories. It participates
in major world research programmes
conducted in the South through its network of
representatives and numerous researchers in
the tropical area.
The quality of the multidisciplinary research
is secured through permanent evaluation, as
is evidenced by the increasing participation
of its researchers in national, European
and international programmes in Southern
countries. Moreover, the IRD involves the
French scientific community in the working
out and implementation of programmes in line
with the challenges of development.
Dynamic partnerships
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Fig 2. Ground humidity measurement Mesure de l’humidité du sol. |
The IRD research is conducted in collaboration
with its Southern partner institutions. In
order to strengthen the Southern scientific
communities, the Institute sets up support
operations, by awarding individual or team grants. It contributes to the transfer of
knowledge and their economic and social applications according to the interests
shown by the partner countries. The dissemination of the scientific information
also contributes to the knowledge sharing.
IRD has a large participation in the international AMMA (African Monsoon
Multidisciplinary Analysis) programme. This programme studies the inter-annual
and inter-decadal variability of the West African monsoon (WAM) in five areas:
scientific knowledge, socio-economic implications, monitoring strategies, building
capacity and long-term archiving system. The international scientific community
has a unique opportunity to contribute to the training and the capacity building
of African countries regarding the outcome of the climatic variations in the nonexhaustive
list of meteorology, hydrology, atmospheric chemistry, oceanography,
agronomy.
Training and capacity building consists of:
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University programmes with student visits and Masters degree support; |
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Participation in the field programme and training of relevant persons
for research and operations, particularly in the interpretation and use of
hydrological and meteorological modelling systems; |
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Training of forecasters and building up of new knowledge on coping with
increased uncertainty associated with the data generated by weather/climate
variability and change of the past; |
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Training of hydrologists and meteorologists on equipment; in particular the
maintenance of new observing and communication systems as made available
through AMMA; |
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Support for trans-disciplinary workshops, summer schools, field schools and
African attendance. |
The socio-economic implications of the WAM are related to water resources, food
security, health and development strategies. AMMA targets the feedback of human
activities on climate variability, since anthropogenic pressure plays an important
role in land degradation which may, in turn, impact on rainfall variability.
Significant sources of funding for scientific projects are devoted to the African
partners. Applications to these sources of funding are done in coordination
with local authorities. This presupposes that local coordinators of the AMMA
programme are well able to support or initiate the proposals.
The IRD action emphasises the role devoted to AMMA in promoting training
before, during, and after the field experiment. As a result, African partners
have made an effort to organise themselves at a national and a regional level
(AMMANET).
IRD manage other programmes related to water. The Program HySpa Sud focuses
on the water resource both in the Amazonian Area and in the Congo Area. This
programme implements up-to-date technologies like the spatial altimetry to
monitor the variability of the water resources in river basins. HySpa Sud involves
other French agencies (CNES Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, CLS, BRLi,
ALCATEL) to promote a south-south scientific co-operation. That cooperation
involves the Amazon Cooperation Treaty countries and The New Parnership for
Africa’s Development (NEPAD). The purpose is to promote a cross-site thematic
research of the Basins of the Amazon River and the Congo River.
It is through research, training and consultancy that the IRD believes solutions to
climate change can be found. The North has a duty to the South to ensure it is
engaged throughout the climate change debate, on all levels and in all areas and
effective partnerships are the best manifestations of this.
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