The VAL-USES Project

The Franco-Mexican VAL-USES project – From traditional uses to an integrated valorisation of sediments in the Usumacinta river basin – has been selected for ANR-CONACYT funding.
The Franco-Mexican multidisciplinary team jointly responded to the “International Collaborative Research Project” (ICRP) call on two occasions in 2016 and 2017.
The objectives of this research programme are to understand the socio-ecosystem of the Usumacinta river basin via its sediments, to determine their characteristics and functions, to reveal their uses and how they are perceived, and to propose an integrated valorisation that is beneficial for the local populations. The multidisciplinary analysis, organised within the framework of a research observatory, will contribute to the sustainable development of the territory in the face of climate change.

The interdisciplinary approach will provide a better understanding of the challenges of the Usumacinta socio-ecosystem and its capacity to adapt. The project will improve our understanding of the interactions between the environment and the practices of stakeholders, and of the role of sediments in the transfer and accumulation of contaminants in the food web, and will identify valorisation channels.


Isabelle MICHALLET (UMR 5600 - EVS / IDE: the “Environment City Society/Environmental Law Institute” research unit) is the scientific coordinator and will be assisted by the following project members:
 

• Philippe BILLET - Victoria CHIU - Ga?tan BAILLY (EVS / IDE)
• Claire HARPET - Jean-Philippe PIERRON (EA IRPHIL)
• Hervé PIEGAY - Anne RIVI?RE-HONEGGER - Fanny ARNAUD (EVS-CNRS)

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