CHOISIR - Urban Heat and Island Origins: Source and Impact on a Regional Scale
Project manager: Rachid NEDJAÏ
Period: 2023 – 2026
In the face of climate change, large cities face new, unsuspected problems, including rising temperatures, which expose citizens to high health risks, particularly the elderly and/or those with pathologies. This phenomenon comes on top of global warming, giving rise to thermal zoning induced by numerous factors (human activities, urban organization and structuring, materials used, environment (ecology and water), urban climate, etc.). This thermal factor has been the subject of numerous studies in France and abroad to measure the importance of the phenomenon (Genin, 2015, Philandras et al., 1999, Thoidou, 2017) and assess its impact on the population.
Our project is part of a Sustainable Urban Planning approach. It aims to establish a precise diagnosis of the Orleans Metropolis territory in thermal terms, which is essential for local authorities to meet the directives of ODD 11 (with objectives 11.6, 11.7 and 11.b that integrate heat islands) and 13 by 2030 and make Orleans a sustainable city. To achieve these objectives, we use the latest techniques (direct measurements using a network of thermal measurements with real-time transmission, supplemented by additional itinerant measurements) coupled with indirect measurements (drone and satellite) to identify the sectors concerned and, above all, to monitor the evolution of heat islands.
PATAMIL - Equity in food production and regional food projects - Centre Region -TAMIL Nadu, exchanging views
Project manager: Bertrand SAJALOLI
Period: 2021-2025
Researchers at the CEDETE, the CITERES, the GEHCO, the French Institute of Pondichéry, the Indian universities of Madras and Pondichéry, as well as at dedicated structures (Resolis, RTR Alimentation, IEHCA, InPACT), have come to the conclusion that there is a two-speed food market: one that is respectful of the environment and producers, made up of quality foodstuffs from local and short circuits, aimed at a well-off public; the other made up of products of poorer quality, often processed, coming from far away, produced in disastrous environmental conditions, aimed at less well-off populations. PATAMIL's aim is to combat this system in the name of food democracy and equity, by identifying concrete strategies to promote food justice. Convinced that the transfer of experience between the Centre region and Tamil Nadu is fruitful, PATAMIL is undertaking cross-operational research on 4 local sites and 4 Indian sites, defining the conditions for setting up equitable food systems. The originality of the project lies in the involvement of young people from both countries, local authorities (Pays des Châteaux, PETR Centre-Cher and Gâtinais-Montargois, Loches-Touraine Federation of Municipalities), and international solidarity players (CENTRAIDER, ASIE, Dhan Foundation, INDP...). Centre Sciences will distribute the results to the general public.
DEEREC - Water reserves of the Brenne ponds in a context of climate change: impact on the Loire system
Project manager: Rachid NEDJAÏ
Period: 2021 – 2023
At a time when most water reserves are showing definite deficits against a backdrop of climate change, the search for new storage techniques, particularly in areas with a high limnic character, is beginning to take a rather worrying turn. The lack of precise hydrological data for the ponds means that it is impossible to opt for a specific, suitable solution. The rise in temperatures recorded over the last thirty years has upset the hydrological dynamics of the ecosystems, and the imbalance is real. The aim of the project is to assess direct atmospheric depletion by estimating evaporation, with a focus on the energy balance, in a highly disturbed rainfall context. The ultimate aim is to assess the water deficit in the Loire ecosystem, with a prediction for the next fifty years based on the climate constraints defined by the IPCC. The integration of potential extractions by landowners will complete the demand and assess the shortfall. The second part of the mission will help assess the water deficit in the Loire's tributaries in the event of additional retention by landowners and/or demand on these bodies of water for agricultural or industrial purposes. It will highlight the degree of variability of the energy balance and its impact on the biotic (mainly fish) and abiotic components (increased evaporation, variation in oxygen levels, warming of sediments and increased GHG emissions, mainly methane). A complex instrumental system will be mobilized for the precise evaluation of these different parameters, in order to provide concrete answers to the scientific community (ZAL, Water Agency, DREAL, etc.) and managers (Brenne park, reserve, etc.).
GASPILAG - Food waste, prevention strategies, local and agricultural initiatives
Project manager: Geneviève PIERRE
Period: 2020-2024
The GASPILAG program postulates that the prevention of food waste can be encouraged by a local context of citizen action and local mobilization of stakeholders in the implementation of various territorialized public policies (agricultural, food, waste, energy-climate) integrating this issue. However, the analysis must first be carried out at the level of food stakeholders, in “channels” (producers, processors, households, customers, out-of-home catering) to understand perceptions of food waste, behavioral determinants and their evolution. Secondly, the program seeks to establish the extent to which stakeholder practices are sensitive to the local context of encouraging and promoting new forms of consumption that enhance or constitute various forms of food proximity (solidarity circuits). Thus, the possible impact of shortening the food supply chain, and of product quality (organic, local), on the prevention of waste, in the quest for sustainable food, is a hypothesis that needs to be verified. The analysis carried out at both stakeholder and territorial levels should enable us to build a typology/analysis/diagnosis grid of local coherence between stakeholders, local public action to prevent food waste, food practices, agricultural production systems, logistical interfaces and local food governance systems.
BOUDIOU - From one drought to another. The urban marshes of Diourbel (Senegal) and Bourges (Cher, France) in the face of climate change. Scientific diagnosis, search for adaptive solutions and citizen mobilization.
Project manager: Bertrand SAJALOLI
Period: 2020 – 2022
As part of a decentralized cooperation project, the towns of Bourges and Diourbel (Senegal) share an original natural, historical and cultural heritage made up of market gardening marshes, which contribute to their biodiversity, the reputation of their territory and their environmental well-being. However, with climate change, Diourbel's green belt has almost entirely disappeared and is now subject to flooding in the rainy season and severe drought in the dry season. Likewise, the Bourges marshes were severely impacted during the two previous dry summers. The Saibatou Espoir association, which is responsible for a number of development aid projects between Bourges and Diourbel, is working with a variety of Senegalese and regional players to (i) carry out a participatory environmental diagnosis of the two marshland areas, (ii) put forward adaptive solutions to climate change, and (iii) guarantee their effectiveness by raising awareness of climate change among the populations of the two “green cities” through a travelling exhibition retracing the steps involved in clearing the marshlands of Diourbel and Bourges. Particular attention will be paid to the testimonies of local residents and their experiences of the marshes, as well as to (iv) the involvement of schoolchildren and students from both cities.