My work has been structured around long-term strategic initiatives and projects that connect science, data infrastructures, international cooperation, innovation and operational services. These initiatives are not isolated projects.
Together, they form a coherent trajectory: building trusted capacities that allow countries, institutions and users to access, understand, transform and use environmental information for research, public policy, innovation and sustainable territorial action.
Strategic initiatives
Pacific and Oceania Initiatives
Co-building regional geospatial capacities
Small island states and territories need trusted, adapted and sustainable geospatial capacities to address climate vulnerability and strengthen resilience.
In the Pacific and Oceania, I have supported the emergence of regional geospatial dynamics through Data Terra Oceania, the Community of Oceania Geospatial and Geospatial4PICTs.
These initiatives aim to strengthen the ability of Pacific Island Countries and Territories to use geospatial data and services for climate resilience, water resources, wetlands, forests, coastal zones, marine governance and sustainable territorial management.
The approach is based on partnership, co-construction and institutional ownership by countries and regional organizations. Events such as the Oceania Geospatial Symposium in 2022 and COG25 have helped bring together regional institutions, countries, island territories, scientific communities, GEO, development partners and geospatial actors around a shared agenda for resilience and sustainable development.
Regional Space Observatories and Earth Infrastructures for Tropical Regions
SEAS, GEOSUD, AGEOS and DINAMIS
Infrastructure only matters when it becomes a living capacity used by people, institutions and territories.
Many of my initiatives were born from a practical challenge: how to make satellite and environmental data truly usable by countries, regions and institutions that need them.
SEAS-Guyane, SEAS-OI, SEAS-Gabon/AGEOS and GEOSUD were built around more than satellite reception stations. They combined data access, long-term archives, training, centres of expertise, research projects, public-policy support, innovation and durable institutional partnerships.
These initiatives supported applications in forest monitoring, mangrove mapping, water resources, coastal and marine observation, illegal mining, urban dynamics, environmental impact assessment and territorial governance. They also helped create bridges between scientific communities, public authorities, space agencies, development partners and private-sector actors.
Within Data Terra, DINAMIS has extended this logic by facilitating access to very-high-resolution satellite imagery for research, public policy and innovation, within a shared national infrastructure framework.
Brazil, Amazonia and South Atlantic Cooperation
Scientific diplomacy for environmental governance
Scientific diplomacy can help transform shared environmental challenges into structured cooperation, common knowledge and public-policy support.
Brazil and Amazonia have been central to my career. As IRD Representative in Brazil and Paraguay, I supported cooperation with INPE, Brazilian universities, ministries, research foundations, ACTO and international partners.
This work addressed biodiversity, forests, water resources, climate, ocean observation, land degradation, Amazonian monitoring and sustainable development. It also contributed to triangular cooperation between Europe, Brazil, Latin America and Africa, including initiatives connected to COP21 and South Atlantic cooperation.
My work also included cooperation in Earth observation with INPE, including links with the Amazon Regional Centre, South–South cooperation connected to AGEOS in Gabon, cross-border cooperation through Guyamazon, and ACTO collaborations on issues such as water-resource management and environmental monitoring.
Europe - Africa Cooperation
From political ambition to operational services
Earth observation cooperation becomes meaningful when it creates regional ownership, operational services, training, institutional capacities and long-term partnerships.
I was part of the coordination dynamics of AMESD — African Monitoring of the Environment for Sustainable Development - one of the founding programmes of African Union- European Union cooperation on Earth observation.
Working with the African Union, African Regional Economic Communities, the European Union and international experts, this programme helped translate political ambition into regional services for environmental monitoring, natural resources management, water, agriculture and sustainable development.
This experience continued through GMES & Africa-related activities, GEO capacity-building, SEAS-Gabon/AGEOS and other regional initiatives. It showed that Earth observation cooperation becomes meaningful when it is embedded in regional ownership, training, institutional capacities, operational services and long-term partnerships.
European program
EOSC, Copernicus, Destination Earth and European digital ecosystems
Europe’s digital environmental infrastructures can demonstrate how trusted, distributed and interoperable systems support science, sovereignty and sustainable transitions.
For many years, I have contributed to European dynamics linking research infrastructures, open science, Earth observation and digital services. From early GMES working groups and the French “Terre et Espace” network to EOSC-Pillar, FAIR-EASE, FAIR-IMPACT, ENVRI-related collaborations, Data Terra’s positioning within EOSC and connections with Copernicus, Destination Earth and EuroHPC, my work has supported the development of interoperable environmental data ecosystems.
Data Terra’s ambition is to connect national capacities with European and international infrastructures, while making environmental data and services FAIR, AI-ready and usable by scientific communities, public institutions and policy actors.
Data Terra
Building a trusted Earth system data infrastructure.
Trusted Earth Intelligence requires trusted data infrastructures, collective expertise, shared standards, long-term governance and sustainable user support.
Data Terra has become France’s reference research infrastructure for Earth system and environmental data and services. It connects data producers, scientific communities, public institutions, private actors and users around a shared objective: making trusted environmental data and services accessible, interoperable and usable.
Structured around national data hubs covering ocean, atmosphere, solid Earth, continental surfaces and biodiversity, Data Terra federates service centres, FAIR services, high-resolution satellite data access, in situ observations, models, storage, computing and AI-ready resources. It provides a distributed, science-driven and user-oriented infrastructure model that can inspire similar approaches in Europe and internationally.