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The Round Table, moderated by Professor Patrick HERVE,
regional delegate for research and technology (DRRT) and former President
of the University of La Réunion, brought together:
- The heads of the six workshops: Pierre BACHELERY (University
of La Réunion), Bernard REYNAUD (CIRAD Réunion),
Jean-Pierre CHABRIAT (University of La Réunion), Philippe
LEMERCIER (IFREMER), Bernard OFFMANN (University of
La Réunion) and Wilfrid BERTILE (Secretary General of
the Indian Ocean Commission - IOC)
- Pierre COLOMBIER, Assistant Director of Research at the French
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE)
- Rose GAKUBA, Representing the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) on the Mauritius island and the Seychelles
- Stephen NJOROGE, Project Director at the World Meteorological
Organisation (WMO) in Kenya
The Round Table was structured around some major horizontal themes
that came about during the morning sessions and their subsequent debates:
- Make a overview of:
o Research systems (structures and programmes)
o Training and education systems for and through research
o Data acquisition networks
- Elaborate regional information systems, such as web sites.
- Ensure constant means of observation, follow-up, acquisition and
processing of data. The problem of a possible oceanographic ship dedicated
to the zone has been brought up many times.
- Create training programmes and communal educational activities.
Must we create 'virtual institutes'? What part can the University
of the Indian Ocean play in this context?
- Encourage exchanges between researchers and young researchers (in
particular doctoral candidates) in the zone. With what kind of 'co-degrees'?
- Set up 'international meetings' and 'conferences'. How should this
be split up between the countries? With what financial means?
- Set up disciplinary and/or interdisciplinary networks
- Participate in the creation of a 'cyber lab' or 'virtual lab'
Some comments made or questions raised:
- It seems necessary to finance 'Theme-based Summer Universities'
or their equivalent so that researchers can meet each other.
- Best to evaluate the cost of telecommunication, highly variable
from one country to the next, and to find the means to make Internet
accessible to all researchers concerned. Without this precondition,
the idea of a network would remain an empty shell.
- The emergence of a Indian Ocean Research Centre presupposes defining
those vectors of utmost importance and setting up competitive structures
and resources to help researchers work together.
- Multi-lateral exchanges need to be created. As of today, they are
essentially bilateral. They should be centred around use and innovation.
- Suitable to coordinate studies to evaluate what each has to offer.
Might it be necessary to order a study from an independent group?
It may also be desirable to add value to these results through a web
site, with the perpetuation of the Meetings in mind.
- The possible sharing of high costs clashes up against travel costs
(flights) and the differing (and sometimes restraining) travel policies
of the researchers. Making the researchers' trips easier within the
zone seems necessary.
- This project is VERY ambitious and highly original, because it is
multi-continental, multi-actor, and interdisciplinary. It is on a
scale equal to that of the whole of Africa (see New Partnership for
Africa’s Development - NEPAD for example).
- One of the major difficulties is that there are three types of countries:
those who have a national research policy, those who do not have a
national research policy, and those who are looking for ways to work
out a research policy. Following this, who will take this project
in hand? What institutional character will it have?
- It is imperative that we proceed through stages, if not those interested
will soon wear themselves out. Hence the need for identifying parameters,
for studies, for fact-finding, and for the setup of an enquiry response
base. Setting up common infrastructures can only come to pass in a
second stage.
- What will be the interconnections between existing bilateral projects
and calls for current projects?
- Foremost, we must set up a 'scientific information network system'
and technical aids available to all, following the example of the
current digital processing of African and Madagascan flora. Within
this context, do we need to create investment in the zone? With which
partners? With what kind of sharing of means?
- La Réunion could become a true laboratory of interdisciplinary
expertise for the zone, which could then stop asking for help from
the "North".
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Workshops'
report 