On the occasion of the "Make the Paris of Biodiversity" event (1) organized by the Paris City Hall, the Foundation for Research on Biodiversity (FRB), the French Global Environment Facility (FFEM) and the Institute for Research for Development (IRD) present at the Jardin Villemin (Paris 10e), Oases at the top of the Andes, an exhibition of photographs by the French research director at the IRD and ecologist Olivier Dangles. This event illustrates the BioTHAW scientific program that these three institutions have been supporting for the past five years. It illustrates the strong links between nature and man in the high tropical Andes, challenged by climate change, new agricultural practices and mining.
En every place on the planet, people are struggling daily to preserve their environment. The exhibition of photographs Oases at the top of the Andes takes a special look at the strong links between nature and human beings in the high tropical Andes. This age-old relationship is now threatened by climate change, new agricultural practices and mining. The conservation of these environments and their sustainable management pose immense challenges that a multidisciplinary research team has highlighted by scoping out possible futures.
Photo ©Olivier Dangles
A unique environment under serious threat...
The high tropical Andes stretch from Ecuador to Bolivia at an altitude of 4,000 metres. They are home to wetlands where man and nature have interacted for centuries. A true oasis for biodiversity, they are home to populations that raise llamas and alpacas. These precious ecosystems also have an exceptional water retention capacity. They contribute to the water supply of millions of inhabitants in the metropolises located downstream of these high altitude areas.
In recent years, camelids have given way to cattle, mining and agricultural activities, which are sources of degradation. Rising temperatures and melting glaciers are disrupting the water cycle. Increasingly fragmented, these oases are under the double threat of new forms of human activities and climate change.
...which a search team - with the help of the local population - is trying to preserve...
The scientists of the BioTHAW project (2) have sought to understand and anticipate the consequences of the main threats to the wetlands of the high tropical Andes. Their objective: to provide local stakeholders, whether farmers or politicians, with decision-making tools.
Photo ©Olivier Dangles
Researcher and photographer
Olivier Dangles is an ecologist, research director at the Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) and currently a visiting researcher at Cornell University in the United States. For more than fifteen years, Olivier has used his talent as a photographer to communicate the results of scientific research. Olivier Dangles has published 120 scientific articles and five popular books combining scientific texts and photographs.
The research team
The BioThaw project team (2013-2017), composed of some forty international researchers, has developed a number of tools for inhabitants and decision-makers to help them manage their territories while preserving biodiversity as much as possible. To date, the team has published some fifteen scientific articles and three books.
Oases at the top of the Andes - Photo exhibition from April 19th to June 11th 2018 / JARDIN VILLEMIN, 75010 PARIS (1) Faites the Paris of biodiversity - 1st edition
(2) BIOdiversity and people facing climate change in Tropical High Andean Wetlands
Header photo: Olivier Dangles
The partners of the exhibition:
The Foundation for Biodiversity Research (FRB)
The KBF's mission is to support and act with research to increase knowledge about biodiversity. The originality of the Foundation lies in the links it creates between the research community, civil society and the business world. The Foundation was created in 2008 - on the initiative of the ministries in charge of research and ecology - by the main research institutes and LVMH. The FRB will celebrate its 10th anniversary in September.
www.fondationbiodiversite.fr
The French Global Intoxication Fund (FFEM)
The FGEF works to reconcile environmental preservation and sustainable development in developing and emerging countries.
Since its creation in 1994, the FGEF has enabled more than 300 projects that reconcile environmental protection and economic growth to emerge and serve as models for the implementation of environmental projects and policies on a larger scale. It is an innovation laboratory that facilitates links between research and development. The BioThaw project is supported by the FGEF.
www.ffem.fr
The Institute for Research for Development (IRD)
An internationally recognized multidisciplinary organization, working mainly in partnership with Mediterranean and inter-tropical countries, the Institute for Development Research is a French public institution under the dual supervision of the Ministries of Higher Education and Research and of Foreign Affairs and International Development. Through its network and its presence in some fifty countries, it has an original approach to research, expertise, training and knowledge sharing for the benefit of territories and countries that make science and innovation one of the first levers of their development.
www.ird.fr
