Summary of the conference: The genre Homo is the one we, Homo sapiens, As such, it has long been a subject of study in palaeoanthropology. Yet researchers in this discipline no longer know how to define it. This conference will attempt to explain why and how we have arrived at this point.

However, many species are highly threatened with extinction, with only 0.12% protected at European Union level. Environmental changes brought about by human activities are upsetting the balance of ecosystem services, leading to more negative impacts on health, agriculture and food, and reinforcing a generally unfavourable perception of insects.

And yet..,local conservation initiatives have been in place for several decades to reverse this trend. While for a long time reintroductions (or similar actions) were mainly aimed at mammals and birds, in the case of insects they could be more closely linked to habitat conservation actions.

Based on the Crau cricket (Prionotropis rhodanica), an endemic species, and the LIFE SOS Crau locust came to an end after 10 years of action, the SOS insectes conference, aims to :

• Share knowledge acquired
• Identifying gaps in insect conservation
• Explore all the stages of a successful reintroduction, including analysis of threats, scientific monitoring and management of the species and its habitat

Laurent Tatin, co-organiser of the conference and associate researcher in the EECAR-IMBE, We are invited to discover the challenges and solutions involved in conserving endangered species and their habitats.

Contact: thierry.dutoit@imbe.fr

Ethnobotany explores the links between plants and societies, combining traditional knowledge with contemporary science. The 2026 annual conference is an invitation to rethink the discipline: transcending borders, crossing knowledge, and imagining transdisciplinary, decolonial and multi-species practices.

The programme Conferences, workshops and meetings on :
- indigenous intellectual sovereignty and research ethics
- contextualised approaches to ethnopharmacology and traditional medicines
- agro-ecology, food and resilience
- arts, design and plant materials
- linguistic diversity and pluriversal exchanges
- community participation and global health

The conference is intended to be a forum for dialogue between researchers, artists and local communities, where plants are not just studied but seen as partners and teachers.

Organised by Society for Ethnobotany, in partnership with the University of Montpellier, IRD, CIRAD, CNRS and MSH SUD.

🔎 More information to come - stay tuned!

🗓 From 1 to 5 June 2026, The SEEB will take place in France, Portugal and Senegal, on the theme of«Science in action: restoring nature, transforming territories».».

Within this framework, the IMBE (EECAR team), will offer the Thursday 4 June 2026 site visits in the Crau plain (Fos-sur-Mer, France), making the‘operations ecological restoration.

• Morning : a visit to France's first natural compensation and restoration site, where a an abandoned intensive orchard has been rehabilitated as Mediterranean grassland, in partnership with CDC Biodiversité.
• Afternoon: participation in operations to restore local ecosystems affected by :
  • the exploitation of aggregates in a quarry (with SCLM)
  • dismantling old industrial buildings in the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille area (with GPMM)

A unique opportunity to discover science in action and concrete ecological restoration projects !

La 15th European Conference on Ecological Restoration, co-organised by IMBE, will be held from 24 to 28 August in Brest.