Climate change impact and adaptation- Climate change: impact and adaptation, Les "Dossiers d'Agropolis International", n° 20, Février 2015,

Climate change:
impact and adaptation
Expertise of the scientific community
in the Languedoc-Roussillon region (France)
Number 20

Climatechange:impactandadaptation
2
Agropolis is an international campus devoted to agricultural and
environmental sciences. There is significant potential for scientific
and technological expertise: more than 2,700 scientists in over
75 research units in Montpellier and Languedoc-Roussillon,
including 400 scientists conducting research in 60 countries.
Agropolis International is structured around a broad range of research
themes corresponding to the overall scientific, technological and
economic issues of development:
• Agronomy, cultivated plants and cropping systems
• Animal production and health
• Biodiversity and Aquatic ecosystems
• Biodiversity and Land ecosystems
• Economics, societies and sustainable development
• Environmental technologies
• Food: nutritional and health concerns
• Genetic resources and integrative plant biology
• Grapevine and Wine, regional specific supply chain
• Host-vector-parasite interactions and infectious diseases
• Modelling, spatial information, biostatistics
• Water: resources and management
Agropolis International promotes the capitalization and enhancement
of knowledge, personnel training and technology transfer. It is a hub for
visitors and international exchanges, while promoting initiatives based
on multilateral and collective expertise and contributing to the scientific
and technological knowledge needed for preparing development
policies.
Agropolis International
brings together authorities of
research and higher education
in Montpellier and Languedoc-
Roussillon in partnership with
local communities, companies
and regional enterprises and
in close cooperation with
international institutions.
This scientific community
has one main objective–
the economic and social
development of Mediterranean
and tropical regions
Agropolis International
is an international space open
to all interested socioeconomic
development stakeholders
in fields associated with
agriculture, food production,
biodiversity, environment and
rural societies.
AGROPOLIS
INTERNATIONAL
agriculture • food • biodiversity • environment

3
Climate change:
impact and adaptation
4Foreword
52Climate change
& interactions between organisms
5Topics covered
by the research teams
8Climate change
& resources, territories and development
26Climate change
& biodiversity and ecosystems
28Biodiversity and continental ecosystems
40Biodiversity and marine ecosystems
86List of acronyms and abbreviations
68Climate change
& agricultural and livestock production systems
Climate change impact and
adaptation research expertise
in Languedoc-Roussillon
This Dossier showcases research structures based in
Languedoc-Roussillon Region whose activities are
focused on addressing challenges encountered in
studies on climate change impacts and adaptations:
 46 research units (UR, depending on a single
supervisory authority), or joint research units (UMR,
depending on several supervisory bodies), members
of the Agropolis International research community
 2 ‘laboratories of excellence’ (LabEx Agro –
Agronomy and Sustainable Development, and LabEx
CeMEB - Centre Méditerranéen de l’Environnement et
de la Biodiversité) and a federative structure (IM2E:
Montpellier Institute forWater and Environment)
that manage the scientific activities of some research
units on these topics
 5 research infrastructures of national or European
scope that are devoted to observations in the
natural environment or in controlled experiments:
the Observatoire de Recherche Méditerranéen de
l’Environnement (OSU OREME), the Oceanic
Observatory of Banyuls-sur-Mer (OOB), one of the
three national branches of the European Marine
Biological Resource Centre (EMBRC-France), the
Mediterranean Platform for Marine Ecosystem
Experimental Research (MEDIMEER) and the
European Ecotron of Montpellier
 5 foreign or international partners set up in
the region that conduct scientific activities in
collaboration with Agropolis members: the CGIAR
Consortium (international organization),‘external
laboratories without walls’ of EMBRAPA (Brazil)
and INTA (Argentina), and subsidiary laboratories of
CSIRO (Australia) and USDA/ARS (USA).
Scientific research carried out by the regional
research stakeholders on climate change impacts and
adaptations is very broad in scope.This Dossier—
which is far from being comprehensive—aims to give
readers an overview of this research by highlighting
the stakeholders involved and giving a few practical
examples of their research activities.These are
presented under four major themes:
 Climate change & resources, territories
and development
 Climate change & biodiversity and ecosystems
 Climate change & interactions between organisms
 Climate change & agricultural and livestock
production systems
Agropolis International members also offer a broad
range of diploma training-education courses (2-8 years
of higher education) in which the climate change issue
is taken into account in the light of the most recent
advanced research on the topic.
The list of training and education courses is available
online (www.agropolis.org/training/).
Cover photo: Savannah landscape,Ambalavao,Hautes Terres (Madagascar)
M. Grouzis © IRD
The information presented in this Dossier is valid as of 01/02/2015.

4
Foreword
he year 2015 is marked by a series of events
related to climate change.This priority issue is
covered at the Salon International de l’Agriculture
in Paris (February), the third Global Science Conference
on Climate Smart Agriculture in Montpellier (March)
and at the UNESCO*
Our Common Future under
Climate Change Conference (July), which will provide an
occasion for the scientific preparation of the 21st session
of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC**
in
Paris (December). Climate change will also be a focus
of concern at the 3rd UNCCD***
Scientific Conference
taking place at Cancún, Mexico in early March.As the
laboratories and research organizations established in
Languedoc-Roussillon Region are recognized—via the
high level of their publications—as the leading French
scientific research community in the fields of agronomy,
environment and biodiversity, we felt they warranted
contribution to this year’s discussions and debates through
a publication presenting their teams and research.This 20th
Dossiers d’Agropolis International issue regarding impact and
adaptation to climate change showcases the work of this
community!
Research units constituting the Agropolis scientific
community, representing French and foreign institutions,
conduct highly multidisciplinary research using integrated
approaches that are particularly relevant with regard to
agriculture and natural resources issues.They participate
in many national and international networks, associations
and learned societies, all of which offer them a top quality
scientific environment for developing these approaches.
The regional scientific community therefore has the
expertise and tools necessary to contribute to the
assessment of climate change impacts and associated
adaptation needs.
The 5th IPCC****
Report is in line with the previous findings
of the Panel, confirming their conclusions and strengthening
the hypotheses, which are no longer seriously
questioned—global warming is now an established fact
and an unprecedented number of associated changes
have already been observed.These changes have profound
direct and indirect impacts, raising critical concerns for
human societies.The preservation and evolution of our
resources remain in question and a focus of considerable
apprehension.Alongside these profound changes, societies
are tapping often already degraded and weakened
ecosystems to an increasing extent.The development
trajectories have thus placed populations or activity
sectors in situations of high vulnerability regarding climate
change and its impact on agricultural activities, ecosystems
and natural resources.
* United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
** United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
*** United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
**** Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Hence, it is not so much climate change processes sensu
stricto that are studied here, but rather their effects on
the environment and production systems.The aim is to
be able to foresee future changes and design intervention
methods or adjustments to be made in order to avoid
unwanted situations, according to the concept of ‘adaptive
management’.
This might lead one to think that the issue is essentially
approached from an adaptation perspective, suggesting
that there is no place for mitigation approaches. However,
scientific reasoning does not differentiate these two
aspects of the same issue—contrary to political debates
that confront them for strategic purposes without any
connection with the reality of the phenomenon.When, for
instance, studying livestock farming systems, are we not
concerned with both mitigation and adaptation?
This Dossier is organized in four main sections that address
issues from a systemic standpoint.The first part is focused
on the preservation and use of resources at territorial
management scales—functioning of aquatic systems and
watersheds, water uses, the role and status of forest areas,
observation and information platforms, social forms and
conditions of territorial and resource governance.The
second part deals with ecosystems and the biodiversity
that sustains their functionality.This pertains to continental
ecosystems, studied using current or past indicators in
order to assess their dynamics, as well as the marine
environment—both coastal and pelagic—from fish
populations to phytoplankton elements.The next part
deals with the question of interactions within the ‘host
organisms–pest, parasite/pathogen or symbiotic organisms–
environment’ triad, including monitoring and control
methods based on modelling of these interactions and
design of new practices aimed at reducing risks induced by
new dynamics associated with climate change. Finally, the
last part is devoted to agricultural and livestock production,
from genetic research to studies on landscape dimensions,
so as to view production systems from a broader scope,
thus leading to a better overall understanding of the
processes under way and to proposals for action.
This overview confirms the importance of developing
integrated approaches, from functional biology dimensions
to approaches on territorial scales, while relying
substantially on observations, experiments and modelling
so as to gain a clear overall understanding of the processes
involved and to act with discretion to mitigate and adapt
to them.
Enjoy reading this directory of expertise in which abundant
useful references and addresses can be found to fulfil
everyone’s needs and expectations. It is also hoped
that this Dossier clearly illustrates the high extent of
mobilization of our scientific community to address the
challenges of climate change currently under way.
Bernard Hubert,
President of Agropolis International
T

5
Topics covered
by the research teams
(January 2015)
esearch units and
teams mentioned in
this Dossier are listed
in the following chart.
1. Climate change
& resources, territories and
development
2. Climate change
3. Climate change
& interactions between organisms
4. Climate change
& agricultural and livestock
production systems
The ‘page’ column indicates
where the research unit or team
is presented. Red dots (•) indicate
the main topics focused on by the
unit or team, while black dots (•)
indicate secondary topics in which
they are also involved.
R
Research teams and units Page 1 2 3 4
IM2E – Montpellier Institute for Water and Environment
(BRGM/CIRAD/CNRS/INRA/IRD/IRSTEA/AgroParisTech/CIHEAM-IAMM/EMA/ENSCM/Montpellier SupAgro/UAG/UM/UPVM/UPVD/UR)
Director: Éric Servat, contact@im2e.org
10 • • • •
UMR HSM – HydroSciences Montpellier
(IRD/UM/CNRS)
Director: Patrick Seyler, patrick.seyler@ird.fr
12 •
UMR G-EAU – Water Resource Management,Actors and Uses
(AgroParisTech/CIRAD/IRD/IRSTEA/Montpellier SupAgro)
Director: Olivier Barreteau, olivier.barreteau@irstea.fr
13 • •
UMR EMMAH – Modelling Agricultural and Hydrological Systems in the Mediterranean Environment
(INRA/UAPV)
Director: Liliana Di Pietro, liliana.dipietro@avignon.inra.fr
14 • •
UMR GM – Geosciences Montpellier
(CNRS/UM)
Director: Jean-Louis Bodinier, dirgm@gm.univ.montp2.fr
15 •
UR D3E/NRE – Nouvelles Ressources en Eau et Économie
(BRGM)
Director: Jean-Christophe Maréchal, jc.marechal@brgm.fr
16 •
UR LGEI – Laboratoire de Génie de l’Environnement Industriel
(EMA)
Director:YannickVimont, yannick.vimont@mines-ales.fr
17 • •
UR GREEN – Management of Renewable Resources and Environment
(CIRAD)
Director: Martine Antona, dir-green@cirad.fr
19 • • •
UMR ESPACE-DEV – L’espace au service du développement
(IRD/UM/UR/UAG)
Director: Frédérique Seyler, frederique.seyler@ird.fr
20 • • •
UMRTETIS – Spatial Information and Analysis forTerritories and Ecosystems
(CIRAD/AgroParisTech/IRSTEA)
Director: Jean Philippe Tonneau, jean-philippe.tonneau@cirad.fr
21 • • •
UMR GRED – Governance, Risk, Environment, Development
(IRD/UPVM)
Director: Bernard Moizo, bernard.moizo@ird.fr
22 • •
UMR ART-Dev – Actors, Resources andTerritories in Development
(CNRS/UPVM/CIRAD/UPVD/UM)
Director: David Gibband, artdev@univ-montp3.fr
24 • • •
UMR LAMETA – Laboratoire Montpelliérain d’ÉconomieThéorique et Appliquée
(INRA/Montpellier SupAgro/UM/CNRS)
Director: Jean-Michel Salles, jean-michel.salles@supagro.inra.fr
25 • • •
LabEx CeMEB – Centre Méditerranéen de l’Environnement et de la Biodiversité
(UM/UPVM/Montpellier SupAgro/CNRS/IRD/INRA/CIRAD/EPHE/INRAP/UNîmes)
Director: Pierre Boursot, Pierre.Boursot@univ-montp2.fr
29 • • •

6
UMR CEFE – Center for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology
(CNRS/UM/UPVM/EPHE/Montpellier SupAgro/IRD/INRA)
Director: Richard Joffre, dirCEFE@cefe.cnrs.fr
30 • • • •
UMR ISEM – Institute of Evolutionary Sciences of Montpellier
(CNRS/UM/IRD/EPHE)
Director:Agnès Mignot, dirisem@univ-montp2.fr
31 • • •
UMR AMAP – Botany and Computational Plant Architecture
(CIRAD/CNRS/INRA/IRD/UM)
Director:Thierry Fourcaud, diramap@cirad.fr
32 • • •
UR URFM – Écologie des Forêts Méditerranéennes
(INRA)
Director: Éric Rigolot, eric.rigolot@avignon.inra.fr
34 • • •
UR B&SEF –Tropical Forest Goods and Ecosystem Services
(CIRAD)
Director: Laurent Gazull, laurent.gazull@cirad.fr
35 • • •
OSU OREME – Observatoire de Recherche Méditerranéen de l’Environnement
(UM/CNRS/IRD)
Director: Éric Servat, oreme@univ-montp2.fr
36 • •
(CNRS)
Director: Jacques Roy, jacques.roy@ecotron.cnrs.fr
37 •
OOB – Oceanic Observatory of Banyuls-sur-Mer
(UPMC/CNRS)
Director: Philippe Lebaron, lebaron@obs-banyuls.fr
41 •
UMR CEFREM – Centre de Formation et de Recherche sur les Environnement Méditerranéens
(UPVD/CNRS)
Director:Wolfgang Ludwig, cefrem@univ-perp.fr
42 • •
UMR MARBEC – Marine Biodiversity, Exploitation and Conservation
(IRD/Ifremer/UM/CNRS)
Director: Laurent Dagorn, laurent.dagorn@ird.fr
44 • •
UMR LECOB – Benthic Ecogeochemistry Laboratory
(UPMC/CNRS)
Director: Nadine Le Bris, lebris@obs-banyuls.fr
45 •
UMR BIOM – Integrative Biology of Marine Organisms
(UPMC/CNRS)
Director: Hervé Moreau, umr7232@obs-banyuls.fr
46 •
UMR LOMIC – Microbial Oceanography Laboratory
(UPMC/CNRS)
Director: Fabien Joux, dirumr7621@obs-banyuls.fr
47 •
USR LBBM – Laboratory of Microbial Biodiversity and Biotechnology
(UPMC/CNRS)
Director: Marcelino Suzuki, suzuki@obs-banyuls.fr
48 •
UMS MEDIMEER – Mediterranean Platform for Marine Ecosystem Experimental Research of OSU OREME
(CNRS/UM/IRD)
Director: Éric Servat, Eric.Servat@msem.univ-montp2.fr
49 •
EMBRC-France – European Marine Biological Resource Centre at Banuyls-sur-Mer
(UPMC/CNRS)
Director: Philippe Lebaron, lebaron@obs-banyuls.fr
50 •
UMR CBGP – Center for Biology and Management of Populations
(INRA/CIRAD/IRD/Montpellier SupAgro)
Directrice : FlavieVanlerberghe, dircbgp@supagro.inra.fr
54 • •
UMR LSTM – Laboratory ofTropical and Mediterranean Symbioses
(IRD/CIRAD/INRA/UM/Montpellier SupAgro)
Director: Robin Duponnois, Robin.Duponnois@ird.fr
55 • • •
UMR IPME – Interactions Plantes-Microorganismes-Environnement
(IRD/CIRAD/UM)
Director:ValérieVerdier, valerie.verdier@ird.fr
56 • •
UMR DGIMI – Diversity, Genomes and Microorganism-Insect Interactions
(INRA/UM)
Director:Anne-NathalieVolkoff, volkoff@supagro.inra.fr
57 • •
UR B-AMR – Pests and Diseases: Risk Analysis and Control
(CIRAD)
Director: Christian Cilas, christian.cilas@cirad.fr
58 • •
UR Plant Pathology
(INRA)
Director: Marc Bardin, Marc.Bardin@avignon.inra.fr
59 • •
UMR BGPI – Biology and Genetics of Plant-Parasite Interactions
(INRA/CIRAD/Montpellier SupAgro)
Director: Claire Neema, bgpi-dir@cirad.fr
60 • •
Topics covered by the research teams

7
CSIRO European Laboratory (Commonwealth Scientiﬁc and Industrial Research Organisation)
(CSIRO)
Director:Andy Sheppard,Andy.Sheppard@csiro.au
61 • • •
EBCL – European Biological Control Laboratory of USDA/ARS
(United States Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service)
(USDA/ARS)
Director: Lincoln Smith, Link.Smith@ars.usda.gov
62 • • •
UMR IHPE – Host-Pathogen-Environment Interactions
(UM/UPVD/IFREMER/CNRS)
Director: Guillaume Mitta, mitta@univ-perp.fr
63 • •
UMR MIVEGEC – Genetics and Evolution of Infectious Diseases
(IRD/CNRS/UM)
Director: Frédéric Simard, frederic.simard@ird.fr
64 • •
UMR InterTryp – Host-Vector-Parasite Interactions in Infections byTrypanosomatidae
(CIRAD/IRD)
Director: Philippe Solano, philippe.solano@ird.fr
65 • •
UMR CMAEE – Emerging and Exotic Animal Disease Control
(INRA/CIRAD)
Director:Thierry Lefrançois, thierry.lefrancois@cirad.fr
66 • •
UR AGIRS – Animal and Integrated Risk Management
(CIRAD)
Director: François Roger, francois.roger@cirad.fr
67 • • •
LabEx Agro – Agronomy and Sustainable Development
(CIHEAM-IAMM/CIRAD/CNRS/INRA/IRD/IRSTEA/Montpellier SupAgro/UAPV/UM/UPVD/UR)
Director: Pascal Kosuth, fondation@agropolis.fr
70 • •
UMR LISAH – Laboratoire d’étude des Interactions entre Sol-Agrosystème-Hydrosystème
(INRA/IRD/Montpellier SupAgro)
Director: Jérôme Molenat, umr-lisah-dir@supagro.inra.fr
71 • •
UMR SYSTEM –Tropical and Mediterranean Cropping System Functioning and Management
(CIRAD/INRA/Montpellier SupAgro/CIHEAM-IAMM)
Director: Christian Gary, dirsystem@supagro.inra.fr
72 • •
UR HortSys – Agro-ecological Functioning and Performances of Horticultural Cropping Systems
(CIRAD)
Director: Éric Malezieux, eric.malezieux@cirad.fr
73 • •
UR AIDA – Agro-ecology and Sustainable Intensiﬁcation of Annual Crops
(CIRAD)
Director: Éric Scopel, diraida@cirad.fr
74 • •
UMR SELMET – Mediterranean andTropical Livestock Systems
(CIRAD/INRA/Montpellier SupAgro)
Director:Alexandre Ickowicz, alexandre.ickowicz@cirad.fr
75 •
UMR Innovation – Innovation and Development in Agriculture and the Agrifoods Sector
(INRA/CIRAD/Montpellier SupAgro)
Director: Guy Faure, guy.faure@cirad.fr
76 • •
UMR Eco&Sols – Functional Ecology & Bio-geochemistry of Soils & Agro-ecosystems
(INRA/CIRAD/IRD/Montpellier SupAgro)
Director: Jean-Luc Chotte, eco-sols@ird.fr
77 • •
UMR AGAP – Genetic Improvement and Adaptation of Mediterranean andTropical Plants
(CIRAD/INRA/Montpellier SupAgro)
Director: Patrice This, diragap@cirad.fr
78 • •
UMR DIADE – Crop Diversity,Adaptation and Development
(IRD/UM)
Director:Alain Ghesquiere, alain.ghesquiere@ird.fr
79 • •
UMR LEPSE – Laboratoire d’Écophysiologie des Plantes sous Stress Environnementaux
(INRA/Montpellier SupAgro)
Director: Bertrand Muller, bertrand.muller@supagro.inra.fr
80 •
UMR B&PMP – Biochemistry and Plant Molecular Physiology
(INRA/CNRS/Montpellier SupAgro/UM)
Director:Alain Gojon, alain.gojon@supagro.inra.fr
81 •
CGIAR Consortium
Director: Frank Rijsberman, consortium@cgiar.org
83 • • • •
EMBRAPA LABEX Europe – External Laboratory Without Walls of EMBRAPA
(Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária)
(EMBRAPA)
Coordinator: Claudio Carvalho, embrapa.labex.europe@agropolis.fr
84 • • • •
LABINTEX – External Laboratory Without Walls of INTA (Instituto Nacional deTecnología Agropecuaria)
(INTA)
Coordinator: Daniel Rearte, drearte@agropolis.fr
85 • • • •

F.Anthelme © IRD-UMR AMAP
 Bofedal: montain
ecosystem of high natural
value in the tropical Andes (Bolivia).
8

9
Climate change
& resources, territories
and development
s indicated in the last IPCC report, changes
in rainfall patterns and melting snow and ice
under way in many parts of the world are
disrupting hydrological systems and impacting the quality
and quantity of water resources, as well as dynamics
and resources in the ‘critical zone’ for life on Earth.
A marked depletion of renewable surface and
groundwater resources is expected in most subtropical
dryland regions during the 21st century. Moreover,
current climate change patterns raise concerns that major
problems could arise regarding relationships between
societies and their environment, even threatening the
ecosystem services from which they directly or indirectly
benefit.The impacts of recent extreme weather events
—heat waves, droughts, floods, cyclones, etc.—highlight
the high vulnerability and extent of exposure of
ecosystems and human societies to current climate
fluctuations.
In this setting, research must shed light on the major
issues by: (1) focusing studies on the impact of climate
change on socioecosystems at various territorial levels
and characterization of their vulnerability; (2) drawing
up—in collaboration with the various stakeholders
concerned—adaptation measures to mitigate the effects
of climate change; and (3) developing assessment and
monitoring tools to support decision making and adaptive
resource management.
The Agropolis scientific community is particularly well
equipped to provide, along with its many national and
international partners, answers or ideas regarding
these key questions, which arise in different manners in
various socioecosystems on all continents and at several
territorial scales.
Water resource research is federated within the
Montpellier Institute forWater and Environment (IM2E),
which combines research in hydrology, geology, chemistry/
biochemistry, microbiology, agronomy, engineering
science, economics, social science, modelling, etc. Building
on substantial technical resources, some of which are
provided by OSU OREME (permanent observatories,
joint research platforms, large-scale technical platforms,
etc.), the scientific questions addressed by the Institute’s
research units are focused especially on:
 Analysis of water resources, flows and transfers
and fluctuations related to climate change:
functioning of complex aquifers (especially karstic
aquifers typically found in the Mediterranean region,
e.g. through the LEZ-GMU project); scenarios regarding
changes in hydrological systems associated with global
change via modelling and prospective approaches
(REMedHE and ClimAware projects); and the impact of
climate change on water resource quality.
 Analysis of the vulnerability of territories to
climate change impacts: coastline modifications
and flooding risks, impacts on freshwater ecosystems,
societal risks associated with extreme events (floods,
water shortages), the development of relevant
monitoring and assessment indicators.
 Adaptation challenges: many studies are also
focused on water use efficiency in agriculture, at scales
ranging from landscapes (e.g. in the ALMIRA project),
plots (e.g. with agroecological practices) to plants
(HydroRoot and LeafRoll projects); while other studies
concern rainfed or irrigated agriculture (studies on the
impact of irrigation on water resources, development
and dissemination of innovations to reduce water
consumption, tapping of new resources through, for
instance, wastewater reuse). Other adaptation research
is focused on resource management arrangements
on political, economic and institutional levels through
multi-stakeholder approaches and the development of
decision-support tools.
Beyond water resources, the regional scientific
community addresses the broader issue of the dynamics
of nature-society interactions through natural resource
management (soil, mineral resources and biodiversity) and
the governance of territories and environments. In this
area, the research aims to gain insight into relationships
between societies and ecosystem services provided by
their environment, their evolution with respect to global
change, their vulnerability or conflictual nature and their
adaptation and resilience capacities.Adaptation strategies
are analysed by assessing linkages between global and
local dynamics, between issues and stakeholders
—individuals, local, regional, national and international
institutions (AFCAO,‘Of lands and waters’, SERENA,
EcoAdapt projects).
Finally, one of the driving forces of the regional scientific
community is also the spatialization and historization
of environmental knowledge for environmental
monitoring and decision support, based on a range of
methods: remote sensing and space observation, direct
environmental observation, stakeholder surveys, data
processing, development of indicators, knowledge and
digital data modelling.
Éric Servat (IM2E)
& Nicolas Arnaud (OSU OREME)
A

10
Climate change
& resources, territories
and development
 become a leading European resource
centre (training and research)
attractive to both developed and
developing countries.
The project implemented by IM2E is
based on different areas of excellence
shared by the scientific community
that provide the basis for addressing
primary challenges regarding
sustainable ecosystem use and
adaptation to climate change.
The aim is also to boost the
production of innovations and
research capacities in companies,
and to put forward recommendations
for institutions involved in public
policy design, implementation and
monitoring (ministries, water agencies
local authorities).
IM2E’s strengths and successes
are based on the pooling of shared
resources in many areas: training,
technical and analytical platforms,
observation and modelling resources.
The aim of this federative structure, in
the latter sector especially, is to develop
complex and highly interactive hybrid
models for the future.
Training has directly benefited from
the emergence of IM2E, which is
striving to foster relationships with
companies and communities in
order to enhance the employability of
students who have received diplomas
from its partner establishments
and laboratories. IM2E also aims
to internationalize the training,
especially by ensuring that at least
30% of its students are foreign, while
also hosting over 200 Master’s and
PhD students. •••
A federative structure
that positions Languedoc-
Roussillon as driving force
for national water research
In view of the range of expertise
and technology deployed by the
Montpellier Institute for Water
and Environment (IM2E – BRGM,
CIRAD, CNRS, INRA, IRD, IRSTEA,
AgroParisTech, CIHEAM-IAMM, EMA,
ENSCM, Montpellier SupAgro, UAG,
UM, UPVM, UPVD, UR), Languedoc-
Roussillon (L-R) is the region where
public research on water is the most
substantial and diversified in France,
excluding the Ile de France region.
Water resource and aquatic ecosystem
management is a major challenge
for humanity in the 21st century.
Multidisciplinary approaches are
required to take the corresponding
issues into account (environmental,
food, health, societal, economic and
financial, political and geopolitical,
etc.). In this setting, IM2E brings
together a set of technical and human
resources to:
 take up knowledge and adaptation
challenges in order to address water
related issues
 promote interdisciplinary research
to meet environmental issues
 acquire international scientific
visibility via its position in L-R
 produce technological innovations
and expertise in interaction with
the Competitive ‘Water’ Cluster of
global scope (Pôle EAU), and with
the SWELIA cluster (pooling over
100 L-R companies specialized in
the water sector)
 support public policies through
recognized multidisciplinary
expertise
Main teams
IM2E
Montpellier Institute
forWater and Environment
(BRGM/CIRAD/CNRS/INRA/IRD/IRSTEA/
AgroParisTech/CIHEAM-IAMM/ EMA/
ENSCM/Montpellier SupAgro/UAG/UM/
UPVM/UPVD/UR)
400 scientists
UMRART-Dev
Actors,Resources
andTerritories in Development
(CNRS/UPVM/CIRAD/UPVD/UM)
66 scientists
UMR EMMAH
ModellingAgricultural and
Hydrological Systems
in the Mediterranean Environment
(INRA/UAPV)
53 scientists
UMR ESPACE-DEV
L’espace au service du développement
(IRD/UM/UR/UAG)
35 scientists
UMR G-EAU
Water Resource Management,
Actors and Uses
(AgroParisTech/CIRAD/IRD/IRSTEA/
Montpellier SupAgro)
60 scientists
UMR GM
Geosciences Montpellier
(CNRS/UM)
90 scientists
…continued on page 14

The project ‘Adapting landscape mosaics of Mediterranean rainfed
agrosystems for sustainable management of crop production, water
and soil resources’ (ALMIRA) aims to mitigate pressure caused by
climate and socioeconomic changes. It thus proposes to rationalize
the spatial organization regarding land use and cropping systems
in order to optimize the provision of several ecosystem services
(agricultural biomass production, surface water production in man-
made reservoirs, curbing erosion, etc.).
In this project, these spatial organizations are called ‘landscape
mosaics’ and jointly viewed as:
 networks of natural and anthropogenic elements that integrate
relationships between biophysical and socioeconomic processes
in a resource catchment basin
 structures that impact flows within the landscape, from the crop
plot to the catchment basin, with consequences on the landscape
functions and resulting services
 levers for the management of cropping areas via trade-offs
between agricultural production and soil and water resource
conservation.
ALMIRA proposes to design, implement and test a new integrated
modelling approach to meet these goals.This approach integrates
—from farm plot to small regional scales—stakeholders’ innovations
and levers in prospective landscape mosaic change scenarios, as well
as the spatial organizations, biophysical and socioeconomic processes
considered.
Methodologically, implementation of this integrated modelling
requires:
 designing of spatially explicit landscape change scenarios
 combining biophysical processes involved in the hydrology of
cultivated catchment basins
 digital mapping of landscape features
 economic assessment of landscape functions.
This integrated modelling approach is being tested in three catchment
basins in France, Morocco and Tunisia.ALMIRA brings together
researchers from these three countries specialized in a broad range
of scientific disciplines.Within this partnership, two research units of
the laboratory of excellence LabEx Agro are working specifically on
the characterization of cropping systems (UMR SYSTEM, see page 72)
and biophysical processes (UMR LISAH, see page 71).
Contact: Frédéric Jacob, frederic.jacob@ird.fr
For further information: www.almira-project.org
ALMIRA:
adapting landscapes for sustainable management
of crop production, water and soil resources
 A cultivated landscape in Tunisia.
© R. Calvez
11

12
worldwide, in developed and
developing countries, thus giving it a
high level of international recognition.
HSM also works with public partners
such as the Regional Directorate
for the Environment, the French
Agency for Food, Environmental
and Occupational Health Safety,
local authorities (communities
of municipalities, joint basin
organizations), private consultancy
and engineering companies (SDEI,
Bio-U, SOMEZ, etc.). HSM has also
filed several patents (especially
in metrology) and has developed
software tools for professionals
(‘progiciels’, especially based on
data management). One of HSM’s
fields of excellence—study of
organic contaminants—is the focus
of a training and research chair, in
partnership with the company Veolia,
devoted to ‘Risk analysis related
to emerging contaminants in the
aquatic environment’. Moreover,
HSM is involved in the ‘Water’ (global
scope) and ‘Local vulnerability and
risk management’ competitiveness
clusters (“Pôle EAU” and “Pôle
Risques”).
HydroSciences Montpellier is
highly involved in research-
oriented training and education.
The training courses provided by
the laboratory (‘Water’ Master’s
degree, ‘Health Engineering’
Masters degree, ‘Water Sciences and
Technologies’ engineering degree of
Polytech’Montpellier) attract French
and foreign students alike (especially
from developing countries). The
UMR is also involved from the
Bachelor’s to the PhD levels.
The laboratory is a member of
the Observatoire de recherche
méditerranéen de l’environnement
(OREME), an Observatory for Science
of the Universe (OSU). Its research
is also supported by major technical
facilities such as the large regional
technical platform for the analysis of
trace elements in the environment
(GPTR AETE) and the collective
laboratory for the analysis of stable
isotopes in water (LAMA).
One of HydroSciences’ strengths is
its involvement in many national and
international projects, its extensive
network of collaboration with
research laboratories and institutions
Water science research
and training
The HydroSciences Montpellier
laboratory (UMR HSM – IRD, UM,
CNRS) is a joint research unit (UMR)
that is highly devoted to water
science research. The studies span
a broad range of domains from
biogeochemistry to extreme events,
including microbiology, underground
water and the hydrological cycle.
Most of its scientific activity is in the
Mediterranean and tropical regions.
HSM activities are organized in four
scientific fields:
 Transfers, contaminants,
pathogens, environment, health
 Water, environmental and societal
changes
 Transfers in ecohydrosystems
 Karsts, heterogeneous
environments and extreme events.
The laboratory conducts two cross-
disciplinary technical workshops:
‘ATHYS’ (spatial hydrology workshop)
and ‘Hydrosphere tracers’ (workshop
promoting the use of analytical
techniques for tracing transfers or
hydrological processes).
Balancing water resources and uses—
will future demands be fulfilled?
The GICC REMedHE 2012-2015 project (Management and Impacts
of Climate Change – Impacts of climate change on integrated
water resource management in the Mediterranean: Hérault-Ebre
comparative assessment) combined scientists from HSM and the
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement (LSCE, CEA,
CNRS, UVSQ) along with catchment basin managers (Syndicat mixte
du bassin du fleuve Hérault, Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro).
The aim is to assess potential climatic and anthropogenic patterns
in 2050 on hydrological systems and water demand in the Hérault
(2 500 km², France) and Ebro (85 000 km², Spain) basins in order to
develop different water resource management strategies to maintain
the balance between water supply and demand.These issues are
assessed through the development of an integrative modelling chain
calibrated and validated over a 40-year retrospective period.The
modelling involves three steps:
 water resource simulation (natural flow and disturbance by dams
and canals)
 representation of the spatiotemporal dynamics of water uses
(domestic, agricultural, industrial and energy) and associated
demand
 and assessment of water usage/resource balances via vulnerability
indicators.
Complex prospective scenarios were formalized from the latest
simulations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) and local socioeconomic scenarios in collaboration with
managers.The preliminary results showed that the basins should
be subjected to more deficit climatic conditions (increased
temperatures associated with decreased spring and summer
precipitation) and to increased anthropogenic pressure (increase in
population and in irrigated areas).
The combination of these conditions should lead to a substantial
decline in available water resources and an increase in domestic
and irrigation needs, thus undermining the future balance between
the resource supply and demand.Adaptation strategies to
reduce water demand (improved network efficiency, changes in
agricultural practices) or to increase the availability (alternative dam
management, inter-basin water transfers) are thus currently being
tested in the modelling chain.The aim is to assess the viability of
trajectories in an uncertain future setting.
Contact: Denis Ruelland, denis.ruelland@um2.fr
For further information: www.remedhe.org
Climate change & resources, territories and development

Water management
and adaptation to climate
change—multidisciplinary
research
The joint research unit Water
Resource Management, Actors
and Uses (G-EAU – AgroParisTech,
CIRAD, IRD, IRSTEA, Montpellier
SupAgro) conducts interdisciplinary
research on water management. It
brings together expertise in earth
sciences (hydrology, hydraulics)
engineering (automation, fluid
mechanics, structural mechanics),
life science (agronomy) and social
science (economy, sociology,
political science). It also includes
methodological expertise for
interdisciplinary research. Priority
is given to research in Europe and
Africa, with a special focus on the
Mediterranean Basin.
This expertise is encompassed within
nine teams, that address issues
regarding adaptive water and aquatic
environment management, focused
on specific topics:
 Hydraulic management,
optimization and supervision of
water transfers
 Optimization of irrigation
management and technology
 The unit also focuses on the
unintended impacts of adaptations
to change in coastal areas.
 Methodologically, the unit is
working on the implementation
of participatory approaches
regarding integrated natural
resource management in Africa
(AFROMAISON project). This
research focuses specifically on
uncertainties associated with
global change and how this process
is perceived.
 Finally, adaptation is approached
through technological and
organizational innovations. The
unit is thus assessing highly
efficient water use technologies
(e.g. optimization of irrigation
management under climatic
constraints) and possibilities for
tapping new resources such as
wastewater (e.g. Water4Crops
project). •••
 Controversies and public actions
 Innovation and change in irrigated
agriculture
 Tools and governance of water and
sanitation
 Combined water-society dynamics
 Water management participation
 Experimental analysis of
sociohydrological dynamics and
regulations
 Assessment—production and use
of indicators.
The teams address climate change
adaptation issues from several
angles.
 The unit analysed possibilities
of adaptation of Seine Basin
reservoirs upstream from Paris, for
instance.
 It also studies the impact of
hydraulic projects in Sub-Saharan
Africa, such as the expansion of
irrigation in the Upper Niger Basin.
 Climate change is also considered
in terms of the generated
vulnerability. The unit is modelling
this and assessing the adaptation
capacity of individuals and
institutions. Several projects have
focused on flooding and water
shortages in Europe (France,
Spain) and North Africa (Tunisia,
Morocco).
ClimAware:
reservoir management and adaptation to climate change
The ClimAware project (2010-2013), funded by IWRM-NET (Integrated Water Resource
Management—‘Towards a European exchange network to improve the dissemination of
research results on integrated water resource management’, aimed to develop adaptation
strategies to mitigate climate change impacts through regional case studies in three areas
related to water:
 hydromorphology in the Eder catchment basin, Germany (Kassel University, Germany)
 irrigation in the Pouilles region, Italy (CIHEAM-IAM at Bari, Italy),
 and reservoir management in the Seine Basin, France (UMR G-EAU).
An integrated European-scale model was developed for combined analyses at two study
scales (Kassel University).
The case study on the Seine Basin concerned major socioeconomic issues in the Paris
region. It focused on the adaptation of reservoir management, with two main objectives,
i.e. minimum flow and flood management. Four large reservoirs with a total capacity of
800 million m3
managed by the Établissement PublicTerritorial de Bassin (EPTB) Seine Grands
Lacs, the project partner, regulate the upstream section of the Seine River and its three
major tributaries (Aube,Yonne and Marne).
A hydrological modelling chain integrating reservoir management was developed to simulate
the hydrological functioning of the basin.The parameters were calibrated according to real
conditions (climate observations and management over the 1958-2009 period).The modelling chain was then forced with data from seven
climate models under present (1961-1991) and future (2046-2065) conditions.Adaptation scenarios regarding annual filling curves and real-time
reservoir management were drawn up and their performances were tested under present and future climatic conditions, and then compared
with those of the current management scheme.
The results showed that climate change could have a significant impact on low flows regardless of the selected management strategy for the four
reservoir lakes in the basin.
Contact: David Dorchies, david.dorchies@irstea.fr
For further information: www.uni-kassel.de/fb14/wasserbau/CLIMAWARE
 Impact of climate change at Paris.
Mean daily discharges for seven present time (PST; 1961-
1991) and future time (FUT; 2046-2061) climate scenarios.
Naturalized (blue) and influenced (red) flows according to
the current lake management scheme.
©D.Dorchies
13

14
or semi-controlled conditions
(especially in laboratories), and
on methodological development
to gain insight into and model
the functioning of Mediterranean
ecosystems.
EMMAH brings together a range of
expertise that it makes effective use
of in studies on landscape changes
on a regional scale (especially land
use patterns) and on water transfers
in the aquifer, deep unsaturated
zone, soil, plant and atmosphere
continuum. It also studies the impact
of biogeochemical reactivity on
water quality, the environmental
fate of human pathogens, and crop
functioning according to climatic
conditions.
Impacts of global change on
water and adaptation in the
Mediterranean environment
The joint research unit Modelling
Agricultural and Hydrological
Systems in the Mediterranean
Environment (UMR EMMAH – INRA,
UAPV) brings together staff from
INRA Avignon, and the Université
d’Avignon et des Pays de Vaucluse.
The research is focused on:
 the impact of global change on
water resources (in quantitative
and qualitative terms),
 and adaptation to global change.
The unit’s studies are base on
observation of instrumented sites,
experiments carried out in controlled
Wastewater reuse helps address water resource quantity and/
or quality problems that are increasing due to population growth,
urbanization, global warming and environmental (refilling rivers or
lakes) or recreational (swimming pools, water parks, watering sports
fields, etc.) water uses.Wastewater reuse is substantial in semiarid
and arid regions (southwestern USA,Australia, Near East, Middle
East, Mediterranean countries) and has been growing in recent years
in Spain, Italy, Cyprus and Malta. It remains moderate in Greece and
is negligible in other southern European countries (Portugal, France,
formerYugoslav Republic,Albania, Bulgaria).
This practice should be promoted by enhancing the assessment of
societal, technological, sanitary, agricultural and environmental risks,
identifying current constraints, and developing decision support tools
to guide public and project developer arbitration. UMR EMMAH
conducted a review of around 600 articles on this topic and identified
some recycling success and constraint factors in association with
Suez-Environnement,TNO (a Dutch applied research organization,
the Netherlands), Polytechnic University ofValencia (Spain) and
UMR Environnement et Grandes Cultures (INRA,AgroParisTech). In
collaboration withVeolia Water Systems Iberica and the group
Economía del Agua de l’Universitat deValencia in Spain, it submitted
to Climate-KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Community, a network
devoted to climate change) a project to assess the economic viability
and competitiveness of agricultural waste recycling, identify market
opportunities and define win-win strategies.
The research unit is also conducting studies on the environmental
fate (soil, water, plant, atmosphere) of enteric viruses in wastewater.
The collaborations combine quantitative microbial risk assessment
with (in future) an economic analysis. Several research programmes
on these issues are ongoing or pending funding (by CNRS-INSU, the
French National Research Agency,Agropolis Fondation, Campus France).
They bring together various partners, including Suez-Environnement,
the Centre National de Référence des virus entériques, the Agence
nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l’alimentation, de l’environnement et du
travail (ANSES), the Laboratory for Molecular Biology of Pathogens
(Technion, Israel), and research units, including G-EAU, the Division
of Applied Mathematics and Informatics (AgroParisTech, INRA),
D3E/NRE, etc.
Contact: Pierre Renault, pierre.renault@avignon.inra.fr
For further information: www6.inra.fr/agadapt/Water-reuse/State-of-the-art
Wastewater reuse for irrigation
 Irrigation of an olive grove in Cyprus. © P. Renault
Main teams
UMR GRED
Governance,Risk,
Environment,Development
(IRD/UPVM)
53 scientists
UMR HSM
HydroSciences Montpellier
(IRD/UM/CNRS)
90 scientists
UMR LAMETA
Laboratoire Montpelliérain
d’ÉconomieThéorique etAppliquée
(INRA/Montpellier SupAgro/UM/CNRS)
53 scientists
UMRTETIS
Spatial Information andAnalysis
forTerritories and Ecosystems
(CIRAD/AgroParisTech/IRSTEA)
42 scientists
UR D3E/NRE
Nouvelles Ressources
en Eau et Économie
(BRGM)
16 scientists
UR Green
Management of Renewable
Resources and Environment
(CIRAD)
18 scientists
UR LGEI
Laboratoire de Génie
de l’Environnement Industriel
(EMA)
30 scientists

15
Climate change, Earth
geodynamics and surface
manifestations—risk analysis
and management
The joint research unit Geosciences
Montpellier (UMR GM – CNRS,
UM) has developed a global
approach to Earth dynamics and
surface manifestations, while taking
couplings between the various layers
(including the hydrosphere) into
account.
The aim is to gain further insight into
the dynamic processes involved at
different scales and to take societal
expectations into account, such as:
 supply of non-energy resources
(mineral and hydric)
 energy choices for the future,
from extending carbon-based
reserves to developing new energy
technologies (natural hydrogen,
geothermal energy)
 waste storage and confinement
(downstream from the nuclear
cycle, CO2
, mining waste, etc.)
 natural hazards (earthquakes,
tsunamis, gravity hazards, floods,
etc.)
 environmental and climatic
changes with a high anthropogenic
impact (coastline changes, coastal
saline intrusion).
GM is also part of a large-scale
national and international
cooperation network that includes
countries and programmes
from Europe (HORIZON 2020
programme), the Mediterranean
region (North Africa, Middle East),
and elsewhere in the world (Taiwan,
Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand,
Iran, Brazil, Mexico and USA).
GM also collaborates with the private
sector, especially via the creation of
business start-ups by PhD students
and for the funding of research
contracts and theses. It belongs to
the Geosciences Cluster, which was
launched in 2011, involving key
companies from L-R Region (Geoter,
Cenote, imaGeau, Schlumberger,
Fugro, Antea, Areva, Lafarge) and
R&D and training agencies (GM,
BRGM, EMA, CEFREM, HSM
research units). •••
* GPTR-AETE: Grand Plateau Technique Régional –
Analyse des Eléments en Trace dans l’Environnement.
Five research teams (Mantle &
Interface, Lithosphere Dynamics,
Risks, Basins, and Porus
Environment Transfers) conduct
studies in three main scientific
fields: geodynamics, reservoirs and
risks. Of particular interest, the Risk
and Climate subtheme is focused on
climate change issues:
 heavy rainfall forecasting
 paleoclimates, extreme events and
coastal system dynamics
 hydromorphodynamic modelling
and coastal hazards.
In the Mediterranean Basin, UMR
GM coordinates two experimental
Systèmes d’Observation et
d’Expérimentation au long
terme pour la Recherche en
Environnement (SOERE H+)
research sites in Larzac (France)
and Mallorca (Spain). The unit is
also a member of OREME for which
it conducts different observation
tasks. It is also involved in GPTR
AETE*, and hosts some equipment
of the national platforms of the
CNRS National Institute of Sciences
of the Universe (INSU), including
an absolute gravimeter and a
scanning electron microscope for
electron backscatter diffraction
analysis (SEM-EBSD).
 Coastal monitoring.
©S.Pistre

16
The R&D service of this unit
addresses societal demands
associated with increased water
needs by developing the yet
relatively untapped potential of
natural water resources (complex
aquifers) and unconventional water
resources (treated wastewater,
surface water, rainwater, etc.).
Groundwater and aquifers—from
hydrogeological and economic
standpoints—is therefore the general
focus of study of the D3E/NRE
research unit.
Note however that, through a
scientific programme on economic
aspects of the environment
and risks, the unit’s economists
also intend to conduct research
topics such as natural risks or
contaminated sites and soils (e.g.
former industrial wastelands) in
R&D, public policy support or
international projects.
The water management issue is still
the key overall focus of the unit’s
research, regardless of whether it is
assessed from an environmental or
natural risk standpoint.
structure and functioning—the
potential of karstic aquifers,
crystalline aquifers, volcanic
environments, thermomineral
and mineral water springs
 characterizing the distribution
of hydrodynamic properties
of complex aquifers, including
coastal aquifers, in order to
develop active water resource
management methods through
multidisciplinary (geology,
hydrology, geophysics,
geochemistry and economy)
approaches
 developing prospective
approaches and methods to
assess the economic value of
environmental resources, to
model various water demands,
to analyse economic and
institutional water resource access
regulation mechanisms and
assess the economic vulnerability
of users to global change
 finally, developing modelling and
decision support tools to manage
these aquifers and predict the
impact of global change (climatic
and anthropogenic) on different
scales, while integrating physical
and socioeconomic issues.
Mainstreaming
hydrogeological and
socioeconomic issues to
enhance management of
growing water needs
The main missions of the research
unit Nouvelles Ressources en Eau et
Économie of the Water, Environment
and Ecotechnologies division
(UR D3E/NRE – BRGM) are to:
 study optimal groundwater
management conditions (active
management), especially for
complex aquifers (karsts, crystalline
rocks, volcanic environments)
in situations when they are
subjected to increased constraints
(climate change, anthropogenic
pressure, socioeconomic change,
urbanization, etc.)
 develop suitable economic
approaches to fulfil emerging
needs regarding integrated
management of water resources,
aquatic environments and risks.
The scientific research and public
service support activities of this unit
are aimed at:
 developing innovative methods to
study and assess—regarding their
 Tracing experiment to characterize water
transfers and assess the vulnerability of the
Lez River hydrosystem (France).
©V. Leonardi

17
LEZ-GMU project—a study on the impact of global change on
groundwater resources based on a case study of the Lez karstic aquifer
The research project ‘Multiuse management of
Mediterranean karstic aquifers–Lez River, its
watershed and catchment area’ (LEZ-GMU),
coordinated by the French Geological Survey
(BRGM), involved a partnership with UR D3E/
NRE, UMR HSM, G-EAU,TETIS, the European
Centre for Research and Advanced Training in
Scientific Computation (CERFACS) and Biotope,
the ecological engineering consultant.This project
was funded by Montpellier Agglomération, the
Conseil Général de l’Hérault, the Agence de l’Eau
Rhône Méditerranée Corse and BRGM.
The aim of this project was to improve
knowledge on the functioning of the Lez
hydrosystem (Hérault, France) and the quality of
the resource in an active management and global
change setting. Hydrogeological models to reproduce the Lez catchment hydrodynamic were built for this project.They facilitated studies
on the impact of global change on groundwater resources. Nine climate scenarios from the CERFACS SCRATCH 2010 project (fine-scale
climate projections for France in the 21st century) were used.These scenarios indicated an increase in temperature and a slight decrease
in rainfall by 2050.
The performance of the karstic system was assessed for different extents of pumping with or without climate change.The findings
indicated that climate change would result in an average 30% decrease in the annual recharge.This reduction would mainly occur in
the autumn and spring periods and, to a lesser extent in winter. It would be observed through a decrease in the piezometry within the
aquifer and result in a slight increase in the duration of the dry period in the Lez spring (+30 days on average compared to the reference
period).The extraction scenarios showed a risk of greater water table depletion, but they also highlighted the possibility—while taking
the uncertainties inherent to this type of approach into consideration—of increasing the current extraction volume, while maintaining a
monthly average piezometric level above pump elevation.
Contact: Jean-Christophe Maréchal, jc.marechal@brgm.fr
 Impact of climate change on water resources.
Comparative results of hydrogeological model simulations for the Lez spring when subjected to nine climate
scenarios: for the present (blue) and for 2050 (red).Two variables; the piezometric level of the spring (in m NGF,
i.e.in metres relative to the benchmark elevation for France) and its discharge rate (in l/s).
Analysis and management
of pollutant flows and natural
and technological risks
The Laboratoire de Génie de
l’Environnement Industriel (UR
LGEI – EMA) is one of the three
laboratories of the École des Mines
d’Alès (EMA), which in turn depends
on the French Ministry of Industry.
LGEI focuses on resource
management, including ecosystems,
hydrosystems, anthropogenic
systems, as well as raw materials,
i.e. fossil and mineral resources.
These resources should be utilized
in rational and responsible ways
to ensure the sustainability of
ecosystems and the production
capacity of humankind.
To meet these challenges, LGEI
has developed a multidisciplinary
approach on the following topics:
 assessment of the chemical
and ecological quality of water
and effluents; development of
treatment systems; integrated
data processing, modelling) and
design decision support tools
for different stakeholders (local
authorities, companies in charge
of sanitation or drinking water
purification).
Regarding hydrosystem research,
LGEI’s expertise is focused mainly
on statistical modelling using
formal neural networks in order
to develop models for nonlinear
and nonstationary systems. This
choice raises questions regarding
the validity of the models—built
solely using data—when considering
future changes that could arise as a
result of climate change and extreme
events. LGEI’s teams therefore
carefully validate their models
testing their performances with
regard to the most intense events in
the database (floods, drought).
See an example of a project
conducted by UR LGEI on page 38. •••
management of pollutant flows
(industrial environments, water
resources) according to a ‘territorial
ecology’ type of approach
 understanding and spatializing
hydrological processes in
catchment basins; understanding
and modelling karstic or fractured
aquifers for sustainable water
resource management
 finally, natural and technological
hazard analysis and management.
LGEI’s research activities are
focused mainly on water resource
management in connection with
anthropogenic and climatic forcing.
To address the societal demand
(catchment basin managers, water
agencies), the unit conducts studies
on different types of contamination
(persistent pollutants, toxins, algal
blooms) in an effort to gain further
insight into the status (chemical and
ecological) of water bodies and their
potential change patterns.
LGEI intends to develop integrated
systems (sensors, sensor networks,
©J.-C.Maréchal
piezometriclevel(m)
dischargerate(l/s)
Max/Mini reference scenari
Max/Mini future scenario
Mean multi-model reference
Mean multi-model future
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Understanding plant
responses to water stress
to enhance performance
in a climate change setting
Because of global change and the growing world demand for food,
it is crucial to clearly understand how plants take up and utilize soil
water and especially how cereal crops tolerate and react to water
stress.These issues are studied through two research projects
conducted by UMR B&PMP (see page 81).
The HydroRoot project aims to boost our fundamental
understanding of root water transport.This will provide an
integrated view of roots by taking the hydraulic properties of
tissues and the root architecture into account, and by explaining
how these components are molecularly controlled by physiological
and environmental parameters.Through the strong physiological
and genetic components of this project, this type of research could
also have an impact on plant improvement programmes geared
towards generating plants featuring optimised water use and stress
responses.
Leaf rolling resulting from leaf epidermal contractile cell movements
is an adaptive response to water deficit that occurs in many cereals.
The aim of the LeafRoll project is to identify molecular mechanisms
responsible for turgor and contractility variations in these cells by
focusing specifically on transmembrane ion fluxes.
Molecular, physiological and agronomic analyses will be conducted
on a panel of wheat cultivars showing various degrees of drought
tolerance and on lines with modified expression of genes coding for
ion transport systems.The studies will assess the role of these genes
in leaf rolling and wheat productivity under water deficit conditions.
This project is being developed in
collaboration with the Ecology and
Environment laboratory of the Faculté des
Sciences Ben M’sik in Casablanca (Morocco),
as part of a Hubert Curien Partnership of
the French Ministry of Foreign and European
Affairs.
Contacts: Christophe Maurel,
christophe.maurel@supagro.inra.fr
Anne-Aliénor Very, anne-alienor.very@supagro.inra.fr
For further information: www1.montpellier.inra.fr/ibip/bpmp
 Leaf rolling in durum wheat plants under drought conditions.This
decreases the leaf area exposed to sunlight,thus reducing tissue heating
and water loss by transpiration.
 Schematic diagram of water flow paths in a plant root during its
radial transfer from the soil to vascular tissues.
Y.Boursiac©B&PMP
S. Mahboub © Université de Casablanca
Through field measurements combined with modelling, the Assessment of Annual
Cropping Systems team of the AIDA research unit (see page 74) is further assessing
the effects of conventional and innovative agricultural practices on the agricultural and
environmental performance of crops.This assessment focuses especially on the impact
of cropping practices on water usage. In some situations, the enhanced infiltration
and reduction in evaporation achieved by leaving a mulch layer on the soil surface
enhances cereal crop yields without increasing the interannual variability. However, in
other situations (generally more humid conditions), the increased water infiltration
only results in increased drainage but has little effect on crop yields, even though this
practice contributes to reducing erosion problems.
Greater representation of these phenomena in crop models enables better ex
ante quantification of the potential of innovative techniques designed to enhance
adaptation to future climate change.These studies are currently being carried out
as part of the Agroecology-Based Aggradation-Conservation Agriculture (ABACO)
and Environmental and Social Changes in Africa: Past, Present and Future (ESCAPE)
projects.The EU-funded ABACO project aims to evaluate and implement conservation
agriculture and agroecology based technical solutions that are also designed to reduce soil degradation and food insecurity.The ANR-funded
ESCAPE project assesses the vulnerability of rural societies in sub-Saharan African regions to climate and environmental changes, while studying
adaptation strategies to reduce this vulnerability.
The AIDA research unit is contributing to this project particularly by assessing the potential impact of future climate change on cropping systems.
These projects are being carried out in countries such as Burkina Faso, Madagascar and Senegal, and the scientific questions to which AIDA teams
are proposing answers (via an in silico test on technical and organizational changes) are, for instance,“Could economic risks for farms be reduced
through crop insurance assistance based on meteorological analyses?”
Contact: François Affholder, francois.affholder@cirad.fr
For further information: www.locean-ipsl.upmc.fr/~ESCAPE
Crop water balance and climate change
 Crop residue left in the field.
F.Baudron©CIRAD
18

19
to determine how a society in its
environment, i.e. an SES, perceives
given disturbances. This involves
studying, through a set of concepts
and tools, how the society prepares
and reacts.
GREEN’s research includes analyses
and factors involved in modifying
nature-society interactions within
SES—changes in viewpoints and/
or knowledge and/or practices,
power games, network mobilization,
socioeconomic and environmental
processes. •••
(watersheds, forest ecosystems,
etc.). It spurs cross-disciplinary
analyses on biodiversity, land, land-
use changes, arbitration between
conservation and usage, as well as
access and types of appropriation of
natural renewable resources.
The unit conducts research on all
continents in association with many
scientific communities in developed
and developing countries. Although
its headquarters are in Montpellier
(France), the team is highly involved
in studies in West Africa, the Indian
Ocean region, Southeast Asia, and
more recently in Central America
and Brazil.
One of the unit’s research
priorities concerns adaptation
and transformation. The aim is
Socioecosystem adaptation
and transformation
Since 1994, the research unit
Management of Renewable
Resources and Environment
(UR GREEN – CIRAD) has been
investigating—in a systemic and
interdisciplinary way—the role of
ecosystems and the environment
as a development sustainability
factor. The unit provides knowledge,
methods and tools to gain insight
into ecological and social systems
(i.e. socioecosystems [SES]). It
focuses on different resources
(water, forests, land, fisheries,
etc.), which it studies on different
scales—from village to region and
sometimes to the country level, from
areas delineated by social dynamics
(pioneer front areas) to ecosystems
EcoAdapt project—climate change adaptation for local development
The EcoAdapt project has been funded for a 4-year period (beginning
in January 2012) by the European Commission’s 7th Framework
Programme to promote integrated collaboration between science and
civil society to benefit ecosystems and inhabitants in three areas in Latin
America. EcoAdapt hopes to show that scientists working together with
civil society organizations (CSOs) can help design strong socially and
technically based strategies for adaptation to climate change. CSOs provide
knowledge through their work in the field and with local communities,
while researchers provide knowledge acquired through their social and
biophysical science research.
This work of combining different types of knowledge and collectively
generating new knowledge is the real challenge addressed by EcoAdapt to
support communities living in the project’s focus areas: Jujuy Model Forest
in Argentina, Chiquitano Model Forest in Bolivia, and Alto Malleco Model
Forest in Chile.
EcoAdapt considers that adaptation to climate change cannot be done
individually, so collective efforts are needed to bring together organizations
with complementary skills and fields of activity.The project consortium
includes five CSOs and four research partners, including UR GREEN and
UMR ART-Dev. Local stakeholders involved in the project are from model
forest platforms (universities, national agencies, producers’ associations,
community councils, private operators, etc.). Internationally, the project also
has connections with the Latin American network of climate change offices
(RIOCC*
) and with the Ibero-American Model Forest Network (IAMFN).
The experience of the EcoAdapt project in creating adaptation plans will be utilized to benefit other areas where water-related conflicts could
be worsened by the increasing impacts of climate change.To this end, EcoAdapt is using existing networks while strengthening and developing
them so that the results are disseminated and shared, with new ideas also being introduced into the project.
Contact : Grégoire Leclerc, gregoire.leclerc@cirad.fr
For further information: www.ecoadapt.eu
* Red Iberoamericana de Oficinas de Cambio Climático.
 Measuring climate parameters
in the Jujuy Model Forest in Argentina.
©C.E.Manchego

20
Spatialization of
environmental knowledge
—for monitoring tropical
areas vulnerable to global
change
Founded in 2011, the joint
research unit L’espace au service
du développement (UMR ESPACE-
DEV – IRD, UM, UR, UAG)
conducts research (fundamental,
technological and applied) on
decision processes in favour of
sustainable development in the
developing world, at local, regional
and global scales. By focusing on
environmental monitoring and
renewable resource management,
the UMR investigates issues
regarding the spatialization of
environmental knowledge. The aim
is to provide decision support in
peripheral tropical regions that are
vulnerable to global change.
UMR ESPACE-DEV has broad
ranging skills and knowledge in
research, training, expertise and
service.
on fragmentation processes and
on the vulnerability and viability
of territories. The AIMS team
implements remote sensing, direct
field observations and stakeholder
surveys in its research.
 The Modelling, Knowledge
Engineering and Spatial Data
Analysis (MICADO) team is
specialized in knowledge modelling
and digital and symbolic data in
the environment field. The data
is derived especially from remote
sensing and in situ observations.
The following five themes are
investigated in a cross-disciplinary
manner by the three teams:
 ontology of spatiotemporal systems
 integrated study of the continent-
coast-ocean continuum
 observatory of environmental,
territorial and landscape changes
 environment, societies and sanitary
hazards
 co-viability of social and ecological
systems.
See and example of a project conducted
by UMR ESPACE-DEV on page 65.
The unit consists of three research
units:
 The Spatial Observation of
the Environment (OSE) team
conducts research ranging from
satellite data management to
the analysis of data flows and
their salient features, with
the aim of highlighting the
environmental dynamics. From
Earth observation data, the main
activity of the OSE team is to
contribute to gaining insight
into interactions that regulate
tropical systems, especially
so-called terrestrial, oceanic
and anthropogenic ‘tropical
landscapes’, as well as physical,
biological and human processes
that they host.
 The Integrated Approach to
Environments and Societies
(AIMS) team studies the
dynamics, functioning
and co-viability of systems
(ecosystems and sociosystems)
in fragilized environments
(islands, coasts, forests,
oases, etc.) under the stress
of global change. It focuses
Ressources, territoires et développement
© 2009 CNES; BD KALIDEOS ISLE-REUNION; Distribution SPOT Image SPOT 4 image (19/05/2009),Réunion: false-colour image (MIR/PIR/R),
CNES KALIDEOS programme.

21
including developing methods for
information extraction from spatio-
temporal data;
 Uses of spatial information for
multi-scale development (UsIG).
Assessing and improving the
relevance of geo information
according to stakeholder needs,
developing methods for turning data
into useful and used information,
monitoring and evaluating the
use of this information and its
impact on actors, management and
territorial governance.
The research is supported by the
Montpellier-based Remote Sensing
Centre and the EQUIPEX-GEOSUD
(Geoinformation for Sustainable
Development) project. Through this
project, the Remote Sensing Centre
provides access to researchers and
innovative satellite data companies,
calculation resources, specialized
software (image processing spatial
analysis, geographical information,
statistics, etc.), training facilities and
hosting capabilities. •••
See an example of a project conducted
by UMR TETIS on page 74.
on agriculture, the environment,
resources, territories, health, etc. On
this basis, the unit devotes a major
share of its activities to education,
training, expertise and public policy
support.
The TETIS research unit is organised
in four research teams: ATTOS,
AMoS, SISO and UsIG
 Data acquisition and remote
sensing (ATTOS). Developing tools
and methods for acquiring spatial
data through satellite and airborne
(drones, planes) remote sensing,
and for extracting bio-physical
information from remotely- sensed
data;
 Spatial analysis and modelling
(AMoS). Focus on analyzing and
modelling spatial structures
and temporal dynamics of agro-
environmental systems, developing
spatial indicators for characterizing
these systems, and evaluating
uncertainties related to the data
and models used;
 Spatial Information Systems:
(SISO). Design and implementation
of information systems to address
environmental and landscape
management related issues,
Spatial information for the
monitoring and analysis of
territories and ecosystems
The structure of the joint research
unit Spatial Information and
Analysis for Territories and
Ecosystems (TETIS – CIRAD,
AgroParisTech, IRSTEA) includes
two scientific dimensions, with
one being thematic (territories
and environment) and the other
methodological (remote sensing
and spatial information). These
two priority areas define the unit’s
research field—spatial information—
and its mandate is outlined as,
“the production of knowledge,
tools and methods to gain greater
insight into nature/society dynamics
and interactions and to support
stakeholders in the management
of their territories and renewable
natural resources (land, water,
forests, biodiversity).”
The unit implements an integrated
approach regarding the spatial
information chain, from its
acquisition to treatment, including
its management and use by
stakeholders. Research is focused
 LIDAR
technology—useful,
usable and used
information.
©UMRTETIS
LIDAR signal
Amplitude
Time/Distance
Pulse emitted
Backscattered
wave form

Changes in governance
and territorial and resource
management in response
to global change
The joint research unit Governance,
Risk, Environment, Development
(UMR GRED — IRD, UPVM) focuses
on relationships that societies overall,
as well as individuals, have with the
environment. It strives to address
the following dual-sided question:
how do new constraints and
vulnerabilities modify the governance
and management of territories and
resources?
Biodiversity conservation and rural
system dynamics is the first line
of research at GRED. Agricultural
societies are hampered by the
fragilization of ecosystems and
conservation injunctions associated
with the globalization of issues.
These policies are nevertheless
undergoing drastic changes. They are
no longer considered independently
of development and, moreover,
biodiversity and climate change
issues tend to overlap, which is a
powers following the emergence
of new territories or international
regimes. This multiplicity of scales
and stakeholders leads to the
emergence of hybrid governance
strategies and institutional
pluralism situations, both of which
are drivers of complementarities or
—conversely—conflicts.
The risks and vulnerability of
societies and territories is the last line
of research of GRED teams. So far,
public efforts to strengthen resilience
have been focused on risk prevention
through the setting up of material
and territorial infrastructures.
They have recently turned towards
supporting adaptation and resilience
phenomenon in order to weigh
the risks. However, the questions
of the role of sociocultural factors
in the vulnerability and that of the
adaptation of social and cognitive
structures have yet to be addressed.
The aim now is to explain these
interrelationships and the case of
coastal and island areas is specifically
targeted from this standpoint. •••
source of complementarities as well
as contradictions. This pattern is
illustrated by measures regarding the
mitigation of impacts or adaptation
to climate change with, for instance,
carbon sequestration negotiations
being focused at the tropical forest
level. The result is that these new
policies orient the representation of
the forest and affect the vulnerability
of communities and the ecosystem.
The second line of research at
GRED concerns the governance
and management of resources
and territories. These concepts
are priorities for development
policies and a strategic social issue,
as illustrated by the conflicts and
discrimination associated with
territorial resource access. In this
setting, special attention is paid to
individual and collective strategies
of the stakeholders involved. Being
constrained by existing institutional
frameworks, they adapt, circumvent
or intervene to develop them. The
question of governance scales
thus seems crucial, along with the
redistribution of decision-making
 Decentralized resource governance.
A training session as part of a community management study programme,bringing together teachers,
researchers,students and members of a farmers’association.Maps and diagrams are used for mediation
between stakeholder groups.
© T. Ruf
Climate change & resources, territories and developmentClimatechange:impactandadaptation
22

The Environmental Services and Uses of Rural Areas project (ANR
SERENA) implemented by the research units GRED,ART-Dev, GREEN
and METAFORT (AgroParisTech, IRSTEA, INRA,VetAgroSup) between
2009 and 2013 focused on issues related to the emergence of the
‘environmental service’ or ‘ecosystem service’ (ES) concept and its
inclusion in public policy.
The ES concept takes the productive function of ecosystems into
account (e.g. carbon sequestration) as well as so-called cultural
functions.The latter refer to educational and recreational roles of
protected areas as well as the unique relationship between some
societies and their environment.This identity aspect confers a heritage
value to some practices or threatened natural landscapes and objects.
‘Payment for environmental services’ (PES) instruments illustrate
this type of representation of nature-society relationships.Although
the genealogy of the two concepts (ES and PES) was originally
distinct, biodiversity conservation stakeholders now put them both
simultaneously forward as a justification for economic incentives,
nature preservation cost compensation and protected area
funding.The role of these tools is to promote services provided
by environment managers. Contributions are thus requested from
resource users and ES beneficiaries.
A comparison of three countries revealed the extent of dissemination
of the concept and the marked differences in its application.
 In Costa Rica, a country that has played a major role, the ES
concept circulated through a forest policy launched in 1996. It
reclassified as ‘PES’ a previous policy of financial support to forest
properties that was partly funded by public subsidies backed by a
tax on petroleum products and, more recently, on water.
 In Madagascar, the concept was gradually introduced via
international cooperation from the year 2000, with the aim
of boosting public awareness on conservation and providing
sustainable funding for New Protected Areas and community
management of forests. Stakeholders of these projects then focused
on carbon markets, biodiversity, water and tourism.
 In France, the ES concept has yet to gain wide popularity. In
conservation and biodiversity areas, it is currently being introduced
through a biodiversity law. In agricultural policies, it is economic
incentives, via regulation services rendered by farmers, which attract
stakeholders’ attention regarding the new European policy.
Application of the ES concept and its links with international
issues (climate change, biodiversity conservation, sustainable water
management, ecotourism) has been promoted by the environmental
and forestry sectors in international arenas. PES are being developed
in Costa Rica on a national scale, and in Madagascar on a more
local scale (REDD+ pilot programmes, local water platforms, and
conservation contracts drawn up by NGOs). Generally, the agricultural
sector—and more generally rural development policies—have not
yet appropriated this concept to a sufficient extent to be able to
renew their practices and intervention tools. Some existing initiatives
(ecotourism, environmental certifications) sometimes include the ES
concept, but this is often just empty rhetoric used to justify their
legitimacy.
Contact: Philippe Meral, philippe.meral@ird.fr
For further information: www.serena-anr.org
SERENA project—ecosystem service issues
 Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest
Degradation (REDD+) pilot project.
This project aims to reduce the conversion of natural forests
into food crop production sites,responsible for GHG emissions
(Ranomena,Fandriana-Vondrozo Forest Corridor (COFAV) New
Protected Area in Madagascar).
© G. Serpantié
23

Climate change—a new
constraint for stakeholders,
resources and territories
in development
The joint research unit Actors,
Resources and Territories in
Development (UMR ART-Dev –
CNRS, UPVM, CIRAD, UPVD,
UM) develops research on the
reconfiguration of territories from
economic, political and social
standpoints, while highlighting
relationships between globalization
and local dynamics. Its main
research themes concern rural
and urban territorial trajectories,
the natural resource governance
question, and other issues regarding
mobility and circulation processes
in the globalization setting. These
themes are studied on the basis
of territorial scales and public
policies. The unit works on several
continents an in many geographical
and political settings with marked
differences in terms of choices and
levels of development. It is striving
to promote this wealth through
comparative approaches.
Adaptation strategies may include
setting up incentive economic
mechanisms to encourage natural
resource users to implement
more sustainable practices. They
thus accompany climate change
policies (INVALUABLE and REDE
CLIMAT projects). Research has
also revealed that climate change
adaptation is necessarily specific
to the local setting and that
there is no quick fix that could
be universally applied anywhere
and under any circumstances. As
shown in the CIRCULEX project, the
complementarity of the different
types and levels of stakeholders
(ranging from individuals to national
and international decision-making
bodies) is essential to ensure the
proper design and success of these
adaptation strategies and linkages
between the different environmental
issues (climate, biodiversity, water,
desertification, etc.).
Climate change—a factor responsible
for environmental disturbances as
well as socioeconomic and political
tension—is a rising cross-cutting
theme within the unit (‘Of lands and
waters’, EcoAdapt and BLUEGRASS
projects). The research teams are
primarily seeking to understand
and analyse these impacts by
combining analyses on local, national
and international scales. Climate
change also places new constraints
on natural resource management,
including the risk of the emergence
of conflicts regarding the distribution
and appropriation of these resources.
Besides these efforts to characterize
and analyse climate change
impacts, the unit’s research also
assesses various current political,
institutional, regulatory, technical
and behavioural options to address
climate change challenges. They
include climate change mitigation
initiatives (human interventions to
reduce sources of or increases in
GHG sinks, as well as climate change
adaptation strategies (modifications
in natural and human systems).
Of lands and waters
Around the globe smallholder farmers are coping with major
disruptive changes that are unfolding simultaneously. Rapid changes
in land tenure and water management practices are now overlapped
with climate change processes. For instance, uncertainties regarding
rainfall or the increased likelihood of extreme weather events
coexist with other uncertainties on the future of land tenure or the
maintenance of local water management customs. Hence, farmers’
strategies do not simply address climate change related problems,
but rather a set of disturbances they are forced to cope with at
once.
As the ‘Of lands and waters’ project specifically illustrates, and
in which UMR ART-Dev participates, farmers develop their own
strategies to manage these combined uncertainties.This project
explores ways in which the relationship with land and water is
affected by these global changes on very local to global scales.
Based on eight case studies involving long-term field surveys in
Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, France, Spain, Nepal, Lebanon and
the Palestinian Territories, this project assesses the experience of
local agricultural stakeholders in order to gain insight into their
perception of issues affecting them and the rationale behind their
coping strategies.The project is also focused on processes that
underlie these issues on regional, national and global scales.
This scientific research clearly differentiates locally developed
strategies that are effective from those that, conversely, induce
vulnerabilities.These latter strategies are quite logical from the
standpoint of producers on the local level, but they could induce a
vulnerability for farmers when they encounter stakeholders active
at national or global levels, e.g. foreign investors or development
support organizations.
Contact: Julie Trottier, julie.trottier@univ-montp3.fr
 Irrigation canal in Lebanon.
F.Molle©IRD
24

25
support public decisions on climate
change adaptation policies (risk of
inland and coastal flooding) and
to identify awareness and training
needs regarding governance.
Since 2014, several LAMETA
researchers have been participating
in a multidisciplinary ANR project
entitled ‘Modelling to accompany
stakeholders towards adaptation of
forestry and agroforestry systems
to global changes’ (MACACC, see
page 77). This project aims to
develop various global change
adaptive management scenarios and
to test producers’ capacities to adopt
them in tropical and temperate
regions worldwide. 
of research projects with a common
thematic field—sustainable
development and resource
management. Most of these research
studies concern quantitative and
qualitative water management
(watersheds and coastal areas), as
well as agroenvironmental schemes,
a conventional area of expertise
and scientific collaboration in
Montpellier. Several research
programmes (ANR-MISEEVA: French
National Research Agency–Marine
Inundation Hazard Exposure and
Social, Economic and Environmental
Vulnerability Assessment; LITEAU
SOLTER, or Sustainable Coastal
Management–Territorial Solidarity
and Strategies for Coastal Flooding
Resilience; Alternalive Fondation
de France) are focused on coastal
hazards (erosion and coastal
flooding) related to the sea level
rise due to climate change. The aim
of these studies is to inform and
Sustainable development
and management of
resources from an economics
standpoint
The Laboratoire Montpelliérain
d’Économie Théorique et Appliquée
(UMR LAMETA – INRA, Montpellier
SupAgro, UM, CNRS) is a general-
interest economics research unit.
It encompasses a broad range of
theoretical and methodological
frameworks—applied econometrics,
behavioural economics,
experimental economics, public
economics, the history of
economic thought and philosophy,
microeconomics, socioeconomics
and game theory.
The unit conducts a set of studies
structured around several priority
topics. The ‘Biodiversity, ecosystem
services and natural resource’
priority line includes a broad range
ACFAO: for sustainable forest management
and climate change adaptation in Sudanian-Sahelian communities
The overall aim of the Forest and Adaptation to Climate Change in
West Africa (ACFAO) project is to contribute to the development of
ecosystem-based adaptation policies and projects to face climate change
in the Sudanian-Sahelian region.This involves strengthening sustainable
forest and landscape management and enhancing the coping capacities
of the most vulnerable social groups, while improving their livelihoods,
via ecosystem goods and services sustainably supplied by woodlands and
parklands.
This project includes five main components:
 analysing forest and adaptation policies (and their linkages) by fostering
the involvement of regional, subnational and national stakeholders in
planning and discussions and identifying opportunities to influence these
policies
 analysing the current and future vulnerability of communities living on
pilot sites through a participatory, multiscale and integrative approach,
while focusing on links between ecosystem dynamics and the reduction
of this vulnerability
 formulating adaptation strategies that take ecosystem services into
account and that mainstream local community strategies
 informing stakeholders involved in the project (policymakers, experts,
practitioners and local operators) and building their capacities
 disseminating information and creating—within and outside of the
countries involved in the project—networks of stakeholders concerned
about climate change adaptation and ecosystem services in dryland
regions.
This 4-year project with a €3.9 million budget, in which UR B&SEF (see page 35) participates, is coordinated by the Center for International
Forestry Research (CIFOR), with cofunding from the French Global Environment Facility (FFEM) and various other sources.
Contact: Denis Gautier, denis.gautier@cirad.fr
For further information: www.ffem.fr/accueil/projets/projets_ffem-par-secteur/Projetschangement-climatique/CZZ1603-AfriqueOuest-ForetAdaptation-ACFAO
 A forest stand in Senegal at the forest-cropland interface.
©F.Affholder

© M. Broin
26

27
Climate change
cientific studies conducted over the recent
decades—as widely covered in the latest
IPCC report—have revealed modifications
in the range, seasonal activities, migratory movements,
abundance and interspecies interactions in many
terrestrial, freshwater and marine species as a result
of climate change presently under way.The nature and
extent of future disruptions are hard to foresee because
of the limited time scale within which they occur, the
diverse range of biological responses, as well as the
complexity of species-species and species-environment
interactions. One certainty is that these phenomena are
unprecedented within such a short period in the Earth’s
history.
Acquiring knowledge on the future vulnerability, exposure
and response capacity of natural systems interlinked
with societies is a major challenge for science due to
the large number of factors involved and their complex
interactions.The issues are very broadly addressed by
research teams working in Languedoc-Roussillon (France)
through multidisciplinary studies on changes taking place
in the living world, on the evolution of biodiversity and
ecosystems, and on adaptations to climate change—all of
this on different temporal (short- to long-term), spatial
and life (genome to ecosystem) scales.
This research concerns both ‘model’ organisms and the
specificities of Mediterranean and tropical environments.
It is partially supported by established observatories (in
terrestrial and marine environments) and leading-edge
research platforms (Ecotron, MEDIMEER, European
Marine Biological Resource Centre).
This chapter provides an overview of the work of
regional research units that are studying the impact of
climate change on continental and marine ecosystems
from various standpoints.
The research seeks to gain insight into the dynamics
and functioning of biodiversity (through field monitoring,
with the support of OSU OREME, and experiments
in controlled conditions, combined with theoretical
and modelling approaches).They also aim to foresee
the biological impacts of global change (via scenarios),
anticipate changes in ecosystem services and identify
tailored management strategies for species and the
environment.
Philippe Jarne (UMR CEFE)
& Philippe Lebaron (OOB)
S

28
Biodiversity
and continental ecosystems
Main teams
(CNRS)
7 scientists
LabEx CeMEB
Centre Méditerranéen de
l’Environnement et de la Biodiversité
(UM/UPVM/Montpellier SupAgro/CNRS/IRD/
INRA/CIRAD/EPHE/Inrap/UNîmes)
630 scientists
OSU OREME
Observatoire de Recherche
Méditerranéen de l’Environnement
(UM/CNRS/IRD)
10 scientists
UMRAMAP
Botany and Computational
PlantArchitecture
(CIRAD/CNRS/INRA/IRD/UM)
54 scientists
UMR CEFE
Centre for Functional
and Evolutionary Ecology
(CNRS/UM/UPVM/EPHE/
Montpellier SupAgro/IRD/INRA)
86 scientists
…continued on page 31
substantial amount of the research conducted on biodiversity
and continental ecosystems is pooled within LabEx CeMEB.The
research approaches implemented draw from a broad range of
disciplines (ecology, population biology, botany, genetics, physiology, computer
science, etc.).The aim is to study ecosystem dynamics and responses to climate
change in natural and pseudo-natural environments—as well exemplified
by research carried out at the Experimental Site of Puéchabon and in the
low wetlands of the Ain river valley (France). Studies are also carried out in
controlled environments, e.g. in enclosed chambers at Ecotron, greenhouses
or animal research facilities.These approaches are also focused on species
adaptation mechanisms to their environment from genotypic, phenotypic
and biogeographical viewpoints.This includes, for instance, simulation of the
range of several tree species in relation to climate change forecasts (EvoRange
project).
The studies concern microorganisms, plants and animals in all ecosystems
(terrestrial, aquatic, soil) from the Equator to the two poles, with emphasis on
Mediterranean and tropical ecosystems.These are investigated regarding their
relationship with societies in order to identify tailored management strategies
(e.g. REDD and INFORMED projects). Species and their communities are
studied in terms of their diversity, structure, organization and functioning.
Mathematical and computer representations of organs, plants, populations,
landscapes and processes are developed for analysis, prediction and simulation.
Soils are the focus of special attention as a nutrient substrate for plants
and as a habitat hosting a wealth of biodiversity of organisms essential for
biogeochemical cycles. Ecological engineering methods based, for instance,
on plant-microorganism symbiosis, and targeted for restoring degraded
environments, are also studied.
One of the community’s strong features is that human-environment
relationships are explicitly taken into account through combined human and
social science approaches.This includes studies on ecosystem services and
assessments of the capacities of ecosystems as carbon sources or sinks with a
view to mitigating the effects of increased atmospheric CO2
concentrations.
Sophie Boutin (LabEx CeMEB)
& Philippe Jarne (UMR CEFE)
A

29
Knowledge sharing and
transfer on biodiversity
and ecosystems in a
global change setting
Accredited as an ‘Excellence
Laboratory’ (LabEx) by the ANR
‘Investissement d’Avenir 2011-
2019’ programme, the Centre
Méditerranéen de l’Environnement
et de la Biodiversité (LabEx CeMEB;
headed by UM, UPVM, Montpellier
SupAgro, CNRS, IRD, INRA, CIRAD,
EPHE, INRAP, UNîmes) is a federative
structure grouping eight research
units (AMAP, CBGP, CEFE, Eco&Sols,
Ecotron, ISEM, LAMETA, MIVEGEC).
CeMEB draws up common strategies
on its research areas in close
collaboration with local and regional
partners, including the Observatoire
des sciences de l’univers (OSU)
OREME, DiPEE de Montpellier, the
Comité technique d’établissement
(CTE) B3E of the Montpellier
University and other LabEx*
. It
also undertakes research support
missions (PhD, postdoctoral),
scientific coordination (organization
The LabEx CeMEB project proposes:
 to set up a centre of biodiversity
expertise and knowledge to
meet growing world demand for
interventions by the research
community on biodiversity issues
for schools, the general public
and in more specialized areas.
Another aim is to enhance the
expertise and support capacities
to benefit various stakeholders
such as decision makers, planners,
managers and public authorities
 to create new Bachelor’s and
Master’s training courses, and to
open PhD courses on management
and the economic environment
so as to facilitate their vocational
integration. •••
* DiPEE: Dispositifs de Partenariat en Écologie et
Environnement; B3E: Biologie Écologie Évolution
Environnement.
and financing of workshops,
meetings and participatory science
programmes), training (public
professionals, teachers and future
secondary school teachers, etc.),
knowledge transfer and development
(ecology and biodiversity web portal,
participation in the Assises de la
Biodiversité 2014 conference, etc.).
LabEx CeMEB supports research in
the following areas:
 biodiversity, ecology and
evolutionary biology dynamics
 functional role of biodiversity and
ecosystem services
 health-environment
 socioeconomics of the
environment
 biological impacts of global change.
The objectives are:
 to understand biodiversity
dynamics and functioning
by combining observations,
experimentations and modelling
 to predict the biological impacts of
global change via scenarios
 to anticipate changes in ecological
services and human societies.
Vegetative bud burst and blossoming of
female larch flowers,phenological stages
monitored at the Observatoire des saisons
(www.obs-saisons.fr).
Phenological events—flexible in response to environmental
conditions and able to quickly adapt under the effects of
global warming—are major adaptive traits in trees (which
have a long generation time).This explains a substantial
part of their geographical distribution.
© E. Gritti

Climate change impact and adaptation- Climate change: impact and adaptation, Les "Dossiers d'Agropolis International", n° 20, Février 2015,

Climate change impact and adaptation- Climate change: impact and adaptation, Les "Dossiers d'Agropolis International", n° 20, Février 2015,

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