Sciences au Sud n°50 - June / July / August 2009
August 2009
Interview with Philippe Busquin
Philippe Busquin, Chairman of STOA, Science and Technology Options Assessment Panel of the European Parliament and former European commissioner for scientific research, gives his thoughts on scientific cooperation between Europe and countries of the South.
Extract: How can the partnership between Europe and the developing countries be improved today?
My feeling is that research for development should be better integrated in the overall set of measures for development aid contributed by Europe.
The budget devoted to this is substantial at European scale, but in my view it is not sufficiently linked in to research. I think that for the countries of the South Europe must be a model of development cooperation. That position can be reached by better consistency within the European Union and also at Commission level, notably between the expenditure made for the developing countries and funding for research in these countries. In the Research Framework Programme, there are of course some one-off projects but that is not enough to ensure the continuity of action that is so essential.
Interview with Economist Isabelle Guérin
Economist Isabelle Guérin calls into question the near-miraclevirtuesattributed to microfinance in the fight against poverty.
SAS: Is microcredit the panacea in the fight against poverty?
Isabelle Guerin: It is an illusion to imagine that it is enough just to give a little money to a poor person to make him into an entrepreneur.
It is much more complicated than that! Economic initiative requires technical skills, the ability to negotiate, integration in a network, and especially the will to take risks.
These qualities rarely combine at individual level, particularly among the poor who live in a situation of great uncertainty and are more likely to seek security for their lives than to take risks.
And when indeed such an entrepreneur does emerge, a demand must exist, with local market outlets.
Very often, businesses resulting from microfinance come up against a problem of market absorption, and the emergence of one of them leads to the disappearance of another.
Microfinance is not therefore an effective tool for fighting poverty, and we among many researchers hold this collective position.
In itself, access to financial services for the poorest people is a necessity and there is no doubt that microfinance is legitimate as a tool for fighting against financial exclusion. But the remedies against poverty are to be sought elsewhere, notably in redistribution.
SAS : How can the dysfunctions of this sector be countered?
I.G. : A realistic view of microfinance must be promoted, because it is a victim of fashion.
Many actors, for whom it is neither the vocation nor their profession, become involved at every level, as investors, operators, with undesired consequences. Financial backers, enchanted by blind faith in the benefits of micro-credit, expect highly positive rapid results. They want to reach a maximum of people, commit ever more substantial amounts, have perfect repayment rates, and all that without taking measure of the true impact that can have.
It is also essential and urgent to introduce regulation measures in this sector, both in the legislative framework and in the coordination of actions. The issue at stake is to place the supply of services in a definite structure in each country, as it is extremely heterogeneous, and control practices used, because microfinance lacks transparency, particularly regarding interest rates and terms and conditions for loans.
SAS : How is the financial crisis affecting this sector?
I.G. : The situation is highly variable depending on the local socio-economic contexts. However, two effects emerge quite clearly.
On the lender side, some microfinance organizations have increasing difficulty in raising capital. Some of them re-finance themselves through the banking sector, and are therefore victims of credit rationing, like the other economic actors. On the customer side, it is more dramatic. In certain situations, the borrowers, whose economic activity is slowing down, no longer manage to repay their debts.
Other effects, still difficult to discern, can be envisaged, with two opposing tendencies. Demand for micro-loans could increase, in that the classical banking sector is reducing its supply or is more selective concerning its clientele. And, conversely, a decrease in demand for micro-credit could run parallel to the downturn in economic activity.
IRD-Cnes agreement signed
The IRD Director-general and the Chairman of the France’s space agency Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (Cnes) have just signed the agreement Espace et Développement des pays du Sud (“Space and Development of the countries of the South”). The intention is to set the existing long-term cooperation between the two organizations, materialized as common actions and ventures, into a formal framework with shared scientific strategy,organization of synergy of objectives and operations of the two organizations and mutualization of their competences in their respective fields of excellence. Through this agreement they are strengthening their shared conviction that space technology and methods play and will continue to play an essential role in the countries of the South for monitoring climate and environment and for natural resources management and that access to these methods, technologies and data is a key element for international solidarity for development.
Fungi, an unexpected resource
Fungi can help improve agricultural yields in the countries of the South.
IRD scientists are exploring possible related uses for developing ecologically-based processes accessible to farmers.
A new plasmodium
A Franco-Gabonese research team has isolated a new species of Plasmodium (Plasmodium gaboni) from chimpanzees.
It is closely related to the most virulent pathogen responsible for malaria in humans.
Gabon: new boost for CIRMF medical research centre
“Open up, up date, achieve excellence” are the three priorities declared by the new director of the Centre international de recherches médicales de Franceville (Cirmf, Gabon), Jean-Paul Gonzalez (IRD). Renovation of the Centre set up in 1979 by President Omar Bongo therefore involves exchange of researchers with other research organizations of the Region, upgrading of premises and equipment to meet current standards, establishment of good laboratory practices, initiation of a researcher recruitment programme and hosting Gabonese PhD students. Also part of the scheme are agreements that will be signed with a number of universities and institutions around the world.
Unsuspected treasures of Andean salars
The salars are salt flats, deserts forming immense mirrors that display the reflections of snow-capped volcanic cones. Lunar-like landscapes, the only signs of vegetation are the giant cacti that colonize their edges. Yet the salt crust conceals a wealth of resources. Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, the world’s largest salt desert, for example, holds substantial reserves of lithium, the metal necessary for making batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles.
All that represents much-coveted treasure, a boon for Bolivians. Hundreds of other salars scattered over Bolivia, Chile and Argentina also bear considerable resources for the Andean populations. French and Chilean scientists have studied a series of 80 such salt lakes along about 1.000 km of cordillera in Bolivia and northern Chile, to determine their chemical composition and assess the quality of their waters.
Ebola: from bats to humans
In 2007, an Ebola epidemic struck the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing around 200 people in the province of Western Kasaï.
This outbreak was something of a mystery, for good reason. The conditions logically were not ripe for an outbreak of haemorrhagic fever in that region, where there are no gorillas or chimpanzees, the other victims of the virus who generally transmit it to humans. Moreover, no unusual deaths of domestic animals had been reported. A highly detailed survey brought out evidence of a strong spatio-temporal correlation between this epidemic and the current migration paths of bats. These results will provide ways of developing detailed preventive measures along the bats’ migration route
The great feats of the great frigatebird
It took a multidisciplinary study to detect the structure of ocean eddies in the Mozambique Channel ? which the great frigatebird can do without the calculations.
Local rural areas, development and biodiversity in the South
Could local rural areas and their products represent the economic and ecological future in the countries of the South?
The question is relevant, judging by the proliferation of initiatives to promote and valorize local products in the South. The international symposium “Localizing products” held in Paris reviewed scientific work in this domain, which has recently become the focus of research effort, at least in the context of the countries of the South.
IRD at the heart of Franco-Brazilian research
The IRD has now been present in Brazil for 45 years and conducts multidisciplinary research there with its local partners. To mark the special “France in Brazil” year this issue features some of the themes covered in this work, including climate variability, biodiversity and migration areas.
Species conservation and economic stakes
Ornamental fish are often neglected as research models owing to their recreational usage, but in some countries they are as vital for economic development and biodiversity valorization or conservation as fish destined as food.
This sector generates 48.000 production farms in Indonesia, 10 000 jobs in Peru, substantial income for rural communities and a significant foreign-currency source from the export market.
However, this activity has a significant impact on the environment, because 20 % of freshwater fish sold for ornamental purposes are taken directly from wild populations. Research under way has the objective of reducing the damage induced by catching these fish and of developing domestication and conservation programmes.
