Rio+20: IRD and AIRD join forces Launch of the first scientific cooperation programme Africa-Brazil-France to fight desertification in Africa
04 June 2012
The next United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), will take place in Brazil on 20 and 22 June. At this event, the French Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD), official member of the French delegation in Rio, and its Agence inter-établissements de recherche pour le développement (AIRD), will present, along with their African and Brazilian partners, the first tripartite research programme dedicated to the fight against desertification in Africa . IRD researchers will also contribute to scientific discussions, by organizing a dozen side-events during the Conference.
The fight against desertification: the first tripartite scientific cooperation programme Africa-Brazil-France
Forty years after the first United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20 will offer the opportunity to report on progress and renew international community commitment to sustainable development. In this context, IRD, AIRD, their African (Agence panafricaine de la grande muraille verte - APGMV) and Brazilian (Centre de gestion et d’études stratégiques - CGEE et Conseil national de développement scientifique et technologique - CNPq) counterparts will promote the fight against desertification in Africa, a continent particularly affected by this global phenomenon (43 % of lands are located in arid and semi-arid areas). During the Rio+20 Conference, they will present the first tripartite research programme dedicated to the fight against desertification in Africa . This programme is the result of ongoing cooperation between the partners, originally initiated in Fortaleza (Brazil, ICID +18, August 2010), Mendoza (Argentina, September 2011) and Niamey (Niger, ICID +19, October 2011). In Rio, this research programme will go a step further by introducing concrete actions based on the commitments of the tripartite agreement signed earlier this year in March 2012 at the sixth World Water Forum in Marseille.
This scientific program is an original initiative in that it is a South-South-North cooperation, jointly financed by Brazil, Africa and France. It aims to structure a scientific community comprised of African, Brazilian and French researchers to fight desertification in Africa, build scientific capacities on this continent and strengthen links between science and society, in order to contribute to a sustainable management of arid and semi-arid areas in Africa. The concrete actions of the programme will be presented on 20 June at 11 a.m., during an on-site side event organized on the Brazil pavilion.
A publication committed to the « Great Green Wall »
During Rio+20, AIRD and APGMV will showcase the publication, “Great Green Wall - Capitalization of research results and promotion of local knowledge”. Presented in CD-ROM format, the publication aims to capitalize on the main results, experiences, techniques and relevant data obtained through scientific research, from traditional practices and knowledge acquired in these regions over the past fifty years. This book also seeks to put forward recommendations aimed at supporting strategies and programs implemented within the framework of the "Great Green Wall" initiative.
Scientific workshops and presence on the France Pavilion
From 13 to 22 June, IRD researchers will contribute to debates and scientific discussions, by organizing a dozen side-events on various topics[1]:
- Sea: between knowledge and assets
- Lake Chad under debate
- Green economy and Agriculture: tools to fight climate change
- Climate sustainability and the development of drylands
- Earth Observation for sustainable development in Southern Countries: application to water and forest resource management
- TASK Territorial approach to global changes: the deployment of scientific knowledge in territorial development and the transition towards green economy
- Biodiversity and sustainable, natural resources
- Oceans and sustainable development
- Water and sustainable development
- Climate and development of drylands
- South Atlantic past, present and future: variability, trends and impacts
Finally, IRD is proud to present the general public with the exhibition, “Ocean and climate, exchanges for life”, and will be an official member of the French delegation in Rio.
[1] For more information see enclosed the detailed program.
[JB1]Selon le fichier français : the first, tripartite research programme
[JB2]Pas dans le fichier français
