A terrestrial version of the ECOTROP programme (field school in a tropical environment) was conceived back in 2012 and developed from 2016, in conjunction with the Arc d'Émeraude programme funded by the Agence Française de
Développement and coordinated by Gabon's National Parks Agency, with the Service de Renforcement des Capacités
de l’IRD.
After two years in 2023-2024 as a Research Training School (RTS), ECOTROP Littoral & Mangroves is launching a new dynamic as a Structuring Training Programme, coordinated in Gabon by Dr Aimé Roger NZIGOU (Masuku University of Science and Technology, Franceville) and Christophe LEBOULANGER (IRD, MARBEC). The 2025 event will start on 12 May and run for ten days, welcoming twelve students from the USTM, 2 students from the ULCO (Boulogne-sur-Mer), 3 students from the Republic of Congo and five technicians from Gabonese administrations.
The aim of this field school is to introduce masters students from Central Africa and Europe to sampling practices in coastal environments, scientific methods of analysis and formatting, and to give them the opportunity to disseminate the results of their work to a varied audience. With workshops dedicated to benthic ecology, ichthyology, microbiological and mercury pollution, the physico-chemistry of water and sediments, and primary producers, many researchers and teacher-researchers from several UMRs and their Gabonese partners are involved in the success of this training programme.
