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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...

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.

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...

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...

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.

Development: the place of gender

At school, in their family relationships, in hospital or in court, women in the Global South face inequalities on a daily basis. Despite the significant progress observed in the areas of education, healthcare and legislation, they are fewer in number than boys in universities and salaried employment...

The keys to preventing future pandemics

As India urbanises, access to services is uneven

In her new book, Marie-Helène Zérah, Research Director at IRD and member of the Centre for Social Science Studies on the African, American and Asian Worlds (CESSMA), examines the great disparities in India in terms of access to water, sanitation and electricity services. In this country that has...
Group of African women galvanized by prayer, almost in a trance.

Religious Reconfiguration in the Global South

Challenging the simplistic stereotype of a binary geopolitical and religious landscape, defined by the inevitable opposition between the Muslim South and the Christian North, the academic work conducted by IRD and its partners reveals a much more nuanced situation. Their research has explored the...

Changing the way we conduct research: Advocating for Sustainability Science

India and coronavirus: lack of access to handwashing facilities among poor makes fight even harder

Covid-19: The Social Sciences Join the Battle

When epidemics first emerge, all eyes tend to turn to the epidemiologists, virologists and clinical trials. The humanities and social sciences also have an important role to play, both in studying the phenomenon and providing a response to it. Two of the IRD’s health anthropologists talk about their...

Bats, a never-ending source of viruses posing a threat to human health?

For weeks now, all eyes have been on an invisible enemy which is stalking the populace and threatening the health of millions, killing far too many, profoundly altering our way of life, bringing the global economy to its knees and paralysing our politics.