Initiatives 

Publications 

SWOS, remote sensing to help wetlands

The SWOS project (Satellite-based Wetlands Observation Service) is funded by the European Commission and brings together 13 partners from 8 countries, including the Tour du Valat. It aims to foster better management and protection of wetlands, through the utilisation of earth observation tools.

Question for...

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe at the Ramsar Convention Secretariat and member of the Tour du Valat's Board of Directors.

The new Tour du Valat website

The Tour du Valat's new internet site, with completely redesigned functions and content, was put on line at the end of 2017. Enjoy your visit!

REVER (dream) and laisser-faire? Colloquium, 4-6 April 2018 at the Tour du Valat

The annual colloquium organised by the REVER (dream) network (network for discussing and promoting restoration ecology) will be held at the Tour du Valat from 4 to 6 April 2018. It is still possible to propose a talk!

4th Tour du Valat Conference for Young Scientists - Conservation Sciences in the Mediterranean Region

The Tour du Valat is organising the fourth 'Young Scientists' conference from 16 to 18 May 2018. Dedicated to conservation sciences in the Mediterranean region, it will be organised in partnership with the Centre of Functional Ecology and Evolution (CEFE-CNRS, University of Montpellier) and the Mediterranean Institute of marine and terrestrial Biodiversity and Ecology, (IMBE, Aix-Marseille University). Eight travel grants will be provided this year by the MAVA Foundation and the Friends of the Tour du Valat Association for students from Mediterranean countries outside the EU.

2017 Heinz Hafner Lecture by Frédéric Thomas: “What ecology, evolutionary, and conservation sciences can teach us about cancer”

On 16 November 2017, in the framework of the annual 'Heinz Hafner Lecture' organised by the Tour du Valat, Frédéric Thomas, Director of Research at the CNRS, gave a talk entitled 'What ecology, evolutionary, and conservation sciences can teach us about cancer.’ It was followed by a productive exchange of ideas with the audience.

Presentation of Élie Gaget’s research on the impact of global changes on wintering waterbirds

In this film, Élie Gaget, a doctoral student at the Tour du Valat and the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, presents his research on the impact of climate change on wintering waterbird populations in the Camargue and throughout the Mediterranean Basin.

The Tour du Valat organises the fourth training session on censusing North African wintering waterbirds in Tunisia

Within the framework of Mediterranean Waterbird Network (MWN) activities, the fourth annual waterbird recognition and counting training workshop took place in Tunisia from 20 to 30 January 2018.

The lagoons and marshes of the former Camargue Saltworks - a site being transformed

The Camargue Saltworks Lagoons and Marshes site, which was purchased by the French coastal protection agency (CdL) in 2008, is now co-managed by the Tour du Valat, the Camargue National Reserve, and the Camargue Regional Natural Park. Produced by the Tour du Valat, this film in French offers an overview of the history of this territory between land and the sea, its conversion into salt marshes in the 1950s, and the renaturing that is currently taking place there.

A successful 2018 open day at the Tour du Valat

The 2018 open day event at the Tour du Valat, on Sunday 4 February, was very successful thanks in part to the fine weather. Over 600 people flocked to the site to take advantage of the various activities proposed in the framework of World Wetlands Day.

Wetlands: a solution for climate change

Wetlands are considerably affected by the climate change occurring today and continuing to worsen. Yet they are a very effective solution for fighting against its negative effects via the numerous ecosystem services they provide, as Jean Jalbert, Director General of the Tour du Valat, demonstrated during his talk on 4 February 2018.

The association Goupil Connexion releases several birds on the Tour du Valat Estate

The naturalist association Goupil Connexion was welcomed to the Tour du Valat on 4 January 2018, where it released several birds that had been cared for in its "Wildlife Hospital" in the Hérault Department.

The Common Crane expanding its range in the Camargue

Very rare until recently in the Camargue, the Common Crane, whose range extends from western Europe to eastern Russia, has expanded spectacularly since the end of the 2000s.

Life+ Envoll: stakeholders share their points of view

On 14 November 2017, at the most recent meeting of the Life+ Envoll European project focusing on the monitoring of waders (shorebirds), several participants were able to express the interest of this network in a short interview.

Inauguration of the "Luc Hoffmann Building", the new head office of WWF France

To commemorate what would have been Luc Hoffman's 95th birthday, WWF France chose to inaugurate its new head office, called the "Luc Hoffmann Building", in Pré Saint Gervais, very close to Paris, on 23 January 2018.

First international workshop on the Glossy Ibis held in Spain

The first international workshop on the Glossy Ibis took place from 27–29 November 2017 in Doñana (Andalusia), Spain. It was organised by the Doñana Biological Station, with support from the Tour du Valat, and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Stork-Ibis-Spoonbill (SIS) Specialist Group.

5th Pan-European Duck Symposium, sponsored by the Tour du Valat

Coastline Days "La mer monte : quel littoral pour demain ? À la rencontre des acteurs et chercheurs de la Méditerranée"