HDR of Irene TEIXIDOR TONEU “Ethnobiology and sustainability science: reciprocal contributions between society and nature as levers for transformative change”.”

Mrs. TEIXIDOR TONEU Irene, Functional ecology: from socio-ecological systems to molecules team, will support his Habilitation to supervise researchthe Tuesday 25 November 2025 in the Charve Amphitheatre on the St Charles Campus from 2pm.

In front of a jury made up of :

• Edmond Dounias, DR IRD - Rapporteur - Centre for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology
• Adeline Barnaud, DR IRD - Rapporteur - Plant Diversity, Adaptation and Development
• Marie Jacqué, MC AMU - Rapporteur - Population Environment Development Laboratory
• Emma Rochelle-Newall, DR IRD - Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences
• Wadi Badri, PR U Hassan II - Biology Department of the Ben M'sik Faculty of Science
• Matthieu Salpeteur, CR IRD - Local Heritage, Environment and Globalisation
• Anne Bousquet-Mélou, PR AMU - University tutor - Mediterranean Institute of Biodiversity and Marine and Continental Ecology

Summary of work:

Responding appropriately to the current environmental and social crisis requires innovative research that transcends disciplinary, geographical and epistemological boundaries. Sustainability science is emerging as a new field of academic research to address the growing socio-ecological challenges, from the local to the global scale. Indigenous and local knowledge systems, the preferred objects of study in the interdisciplinary research field of ethnoecology, are now considered essential for formulating and implementing transformative changes towards sustainable societies. However, indigenous peoples and local communities continue to be marginalised in the academic and political spheres. This HDR examines the characteristics of indigenous and local knowledge systems that make them exemplary in mitigating environmental degradation and adapting to global change. By analysing the diversity of these systems at various social, temporal and spatial scales, it is possible to understand their short- and long-term dynamics and evolution. This understanding supports the successful mobilisation of this knowledge for sustainable development projects. Based on the conceptual framework of reciprocal contributions between man and nature and on empirical data, positive feedback loops for human and ecosystem well-being are identified through a number of case studies. From Europe to North Africa and Latin America, these examples illustrate the processes leading to care practices and their ecological impacts. This HDR therefore also identifies the theoretical and methodological challenges and opportunities for co-constructing transdisciplinary research with holders of indigenous and local knowledge, and proposes new approaches for linking ethnobiology and the sustainability sciences through research and teaching.