The objective of the SargAlert project is to significantly improve the forecasts of the strandings of the invasive algal species Sargassum in the tropical Atlantic Ocean, in the Caribbean Sea and on the Brazilian coast. The synergy between satellite data / ocean transport modeling / in-situ measurements will be used for that purpose. SargAlert will provide alert bulletins to end-users such as territorial authority, tourism, fishers. The challenges that will be addressed by SargAlert are as follows: - detection and monitoring of at different time (hour to daily) and spatial (20 m to 5 km) scales using a multi-sensor satellite data analysis (Low Earth and GEOstationary orbits), - improvement of Sargassum stranding forecasts by combining physical transport models with artificial intelligence approaches, - validation of satellite data products and forecast models using in-situ measurements, - production of alert bulletins to address societal issues. The innovative developments of the project will enable an integrative approach of the Sargassum stranding issues: synergy between satellite data, understanding of Sargassum spatio-temporal distribution, transport forecast. Improvements of ocean modeling of dynamics will benefit societal authorities to better respond to the risks induced by the more frequent and intense Sargassum blooms in the Atlantic Ocean. The operational Sargassum forecast center will thus have all required inputs to provide reliable forecasts in near real time. This federative and interdisciplinary project includes complementary partners from academic laboratories, including a human science team (AEM, IRISA, LATMOS, LC2S, LIS, Marbec, MIO, UFPE/UFRPE), from an operational forecast center (Météo-France) and from a national satellite data center (AERIS/ICARE).

The CHLOR2NOU project aims to develop new monitoring tools for CLD and its TPs, to provide new knowledge on the fate and risk of CLD TPs, and to explore realistic alternative approaches for pollution remediation. The postulate of the non-degradability of CLDs commonly admitted for several decades has had a strong negative impact on pollution management by ruling out the possibility of CLD degradation. The representation of CLD in the FWI society and in the scientific community is therefore of paramount importance. The CHLOR2NOU project is divided into 7 Work Packages that bring together scientists from various background: the WP1 with the synthesis of CLD TPs, CLD baits and fluorescent macromolecular cages; the WP2 that deals with innovative analytical methods: (i) routine laboratory method for the detection of CLD TPs in environmental and food matrices, (ii) immunoassay using a CLD-selective antibody, (iii) a semi-high-throughput detection protocol based on the recognition of CLD by a fluorescent macromolecular cage; the WP3 dedicated to toxicological and ecotoxicological studies in order to define the toxicity profile of CLD TPs; the WP4 with several analytical campaigns to obtain a first estimate of the possible exposure to CLD TPs; the WP5 that aims at studying the fate of CLD TPs, in particular in FWI soils, while defining degradation indicators; the WP6 that is focused on the study of realistic agronomic and environmental conditions capable to favor CLD degradation; the last WP centered on the representation of CLD in the FWI society at large. A co-construction method will be used to help the population and stakeholders to better assimilate the scientific results.

The soils of Martinique and Guadeloupe are contaminated by chlordecone (CLD), an organochlorine pesticide used in the French West Indies until 1993 to control the banana weevil. Despite a cessation of use for almost 30 years, soil still represents a continuous source of CLD that can be transferred to other environmental compartments such as surface and groundwater. This impact on ecosystems has environmental but also health consequences. Reducing soil contamination by CLD is therefore a major challenge in order to reduce exposure and, consequently, reduce the impacts on health and the environment. The objective of DéMETer is to implement an efficient, economically viable, operational and acceptable method for soil treatment with regard to CLD and its degradation products. If there are several promising remediation solutions, such as those combining chemical reduction and phytoremediation, their operational implementation requires resolving technical and societal obstacles. These are the objectives of DéMETer: 1) optimize remediation processes regarding both efficiency and cost, 2) ensure that these remediation processes are socially acceptable and acquired by the stakeholders, and 3) validate the change of scale by implementing demonstrators on site and evaluating the technical and economic constraints for their eventual implementation on a very large scale. The later (obj 4) also includes ensuring the transferability of this integrated approach to similar contexts, i.e., Guadeloupe. To achieve these objectives, DéMETer, which relies on a transdisciplinary consortium, answers the challenges of axis 1 (prevention of exposure) and axis 2 (Science and society) of the call for projects and responds to several expected outcomes of the Chlordecone IV plan.

WomEn (Women and Environmental challenges: Innovative Approaches to Biodiversity, Climate and Health in the EU Ultra-Peripheral Regions of the Wider Caribbean.) Critical thought produced about major contemporary environmental challenges has historically and traditionally been expressed through male perspectives and governed by patriarchal dynamics. The WomEn project proposes to explore the current major environmental issues through the gender lens, with a particular interest in the link between women and the environment (biodiversity, climate, health). It will consist in questioning the environmental ethics in the light of the Woman-Nature relationship and from the ultraperipheral regions of the European Union located in the Wider Caribbean (Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyana). Gender Studies research is not very developed within the LC2S research lab and partnering with leading institutions in the field will allow the strengthening of the theme of gender within the Institute for Social Science Research on Caribbean-Amazon Biodiversity (IRCAB) of the LC2S. The WomEn project will establish a Twinning partnership with 3 institutions: the University of Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV, Spain), the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (Germany) and the Instituto de Historia registered in the Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC, Madrid, Spain). These partners will contribute to research, dissemination and capacity building activities (exchanges of experts, training cycle, workshops and thematic summer schools). Through an approach centered on environmental challenges for women in the Caribbean-Americas region, the WomEn project develops an interdisciplinary and transversal scientific approach that aims to decenter hetero-normative views, to go beyond pre-established normative borders and deconstruct binary patterns. It seeks to scientifically objectify perceptions, representations and experiences by moving away from the hierarchical categories such as men/women or nature/culture to tend towards more inclusive and hybrid categories so as to explore new approaches to biodiversity, climate and global health. WomEn will bring together a network of researchers in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Economics, Political Science, Environmental Science, Medical Science, Anthropology, Cultural studies, among other disciplines to explore the impact of environmental phenomena on women in particular. Ecofeminist theories offer a way of thinking that makes it possible to deconstruct the anthropocene and to take into account the plurality of knowledge and the complexity of non-hetero-normative positions. The ecofeminist theoretical framework is suitable for the study of the processes that are changing the EU Ultraperipheral regions, which are complex spaces in that they are located both inside (politics) and outside Europe (geography). The nature/culture opposition has no common resonance with the Caribbean cultural space, the heritage of hybridization, creolization and the Tout-monde. It therefore makes sense to explore the ecofeminist perspective from the outermost regions of the Caribbean-Americas (Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyana) which offer the opportunity to analyze the creation and dissemination of ideas, systems of thought, medical and sociocultural practices.

This research project deals with the migrations from the French overseas territories in order to analyze the political and institutional logics of these migrations along with the invidual and family logics presiding over the use of state-run migration and mobility programs.The overseas territories that have been “départements” since 1946 had a peculiar fate at the time of decolonization. While other colonized territories experienced the transition to independence, these territories have fully incorporated into the French Republic. Such destiny makes the migratory dynamics and policies of these territories particularly interesting. Indeed, these are internal migrations that have been sponsored by the French state from the 1960, officially in order to provide labor force to mainland France while curbing unemployment rates in the territories of origin but also in order to neutralize independence movements. This project also deals with the study of transnational practices and circulations. It seeks to study the role of state action in the migrations if these « migrants-citizens » while analyzing the migrants’ trajectories themselves, in a context of important demographic challenges in the territories.