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Fanny Brun: promoting high technology to protect endangered glaciers

A specialist in Himalayan and Alpine glaciers, Fanny Brun was recently awarded the International Glaciological Society's Early Career Scientist award. She is a glaciologist at IRD's Institute of Environmental Geosciences in Grenoble, developing original approaches to monitor the evolution of these...

Small-scale family farming, an age-old model and sustainable solution for the Global South

Family farming, an age-old way of working the land, also embodies a tangible future for sustainable farming in the Global South. It a crucial and promising sector, in light of the number of farmers involved, production volumes, surface areas cultivated, well-established growing practices and...

In India, lockdown exacerbated caste inequalities

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the very strict lockdown measures imposed by the Indian government made life very difficult. Faced with travel bans and a sudden inability to work, Indians were obliged to fall back on their families and communities in order to survive. A state of affairs which...
Paysage rural sahélien avec arbres et cultures à leurs pieds.

The Great Green Wall, for the benefit of environments and rural societies in the Sahelo-Saharan zone

The Great Green Wall is an unprecedented project designed to mitigate the effects of climate change and combat land degradation and poverty in the Sahelo-Saharan zone. The project represents much more than a simple reforestation initiative on the edge of the desert. It mobilizes scientists...

Seabirds and coral islands: at the heart of reef conservation

Tropical seabirds play a key role in the ecosystems of coral reefs, and in turn depend on islands associated with these reefs in order to reproduce. To improve conservation of these birds, researchers are calling on the scientific community to develop international communication networks devoted to...

IMAGO surveys the oceans

The IMAGO research and support unit, located in Brest, Dakar, and Nouméa, deploys observation devices and analysis techniques. The unit's teams use both stationary and mobile measurement instruments that continually monitor the ocean, gathering essential data for physical oceanography and marine...

Can we defeat malaria?

After seventy years of commitment and some very significant results since the early 21st century, the combat against malaria has reached a crossroads. Progress has slowed down in recent years, but new research tools, strategies and avenues have come to light. In addition, global health stakeholders...

Water management, a sustainable development issue

As the source of all life, water is essential to our health, well-being and dignity as well as to the functioning of our ecosystems and societies. Access to water is therefore synonymous with development. However, around the world, water is being overexploited, wasted, and contaminated at...

African migration : beyond borders

Migration plays a disproportionate role in European policy debates, particularly in regard to what it represents in demographic terms. Out of the 8.4 million migrants in West Africa, less than 10% of them travel to Europe. Local migration, whether between cities and rural areas, intra-regional or...
Elephant and her baby entering a river to bathe, accompanied by their mahout.

The valuable knowledge of elephant pharmacists

Scientists are carefully studying the incredible knowledge of the domesticated elephants of Laos. These pachyderms are genuine experts on their environment and inspire the therapeutic practices of their mahouts and local populations.

Genetic variation in chickpeas revealed

An international team of researchers has studied the genome of 3,366 chickpea varieties from different parts of the world. Their work provided a clearer picture of the chickpea’s evolutionary history and the effects of domestication on the genome, while also highlighting interesting genetic...

Randomized trials in development economics: revolution or illusion?

In October 2019, the Economics equivalent of the Nobel Prize was awarded to Esther Duflo, Abijit Banerjee and Miguel Kremer from the Poverty Action Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for their work adapting the methods of randomized controlled trials used in medical and clinical...
Close-up on the head of a snake (with different shades of beige), with vertical pupils.

Snakes, scorpions and envenomation: a tropical health challenge

Experts on venomous animals, envenomation and treatment, and the related cultural aspects are working to reduce the disastrous effects of these accidents on communities in tropical regions in general and in sub-Saharan Africa in particular. Scientists and practitioners from IRD, the African Society...

India: origin of the flood that devasted Chamoli

Networks of researchers, an alliance of experts from various disciplines and a series of international collaborations have identified the cause of the geological disaster that occurred in India in February 2021. More than 200 people were killed or reported missing, following an avalanche of rock and...

Biodiversity: between fragility and sustainability

All the indicators agree: erosion of biodiversity has now reached a level not seen in hundreds of thousands of years. Human activity is to blame, and its impact is not just being felt by such emblematic species and ecosystems as the polar bear or Great Barrier Reef. The major health, social and...

The unexpected and little-known figures of Cuba-Africa relations

Time-honoured and varied, the relationship between Cuba and Africa is the focus of a recent scientific publication coordinated by IRD specialists. The work reveals little-known and fascinating aspects of the subject, with new knowledge of Cuban civil cooperation, the destiny of the actors involved...

Safou fruit reveals dynamic urban genetic diversity

Disturbances linked to human activity - overexploitation, deforestation, climate change etc. - are all threats to the genetic diversity of plants. However, city dwellers with cultivated gardens can play a key role in protecting species. A multidisciplinary study combining genetics and ethnoecology...
Native American women and children, dressed in traditional clothing, at a market.

Tracking the first indigenous cancer in Peru

IRD scientists and their partners are fighting on all fronts–decoding the molecular signature, exposing the pathological mechanisms, even identifying possible treatment–to stave off a rare form of liver cancer in Peru.

Feminist struggles in times of pandemic: lessons from rural India

Covid-19, women take the lead

In India, Senegal and Brazil, women in lockdown are involved in solidarity initiatives. Preparing and distributing meals, transporting medicines to the most vulnerable, making and donating masks, they mobilized throughout the health crisis by managing to adapt to the restriction measures.