Toillier, Aurélie

Curriculum Vitae : Aurélie TOILLIER

Assignation

·         Département Environnement et Société, UMR Innovation, Montpellier, France

Functions

• Researcher, PhD in agronomy-geography

Discipline

• Agronomy, geography, management sciences

Address

CIRDES  

BP 454 Bobo-Dioulasso 01

Tél : (+226) 20-97-20-53/20-97-26-38

Fax : (+226) 20-97-23-20.

E-mail : aurelie.toillier@cirad.fr

Key qualifications

·         Farming systems, land use planning and natural resource management  ·         Farmers’ adaptation and innovation capacities   ·         Participatory methods for learning and collective action   ·         Innovative tools for environmental governance and rural development : Payments for Environmental Services (PES), community-based approaches, extension approaches

Research fields

 My research focuses on the design of methods and tools aiming at enhancing farmers’ adaptation and innovation capacities. My approaches are based on in-depth case studies and research-action methods, at three main levels: household, local territories and regional level, in partnership with agriculture professionals, socio-economic organizations and local government. A major challenge consists in the development of innovative participatory approaches based on decision-making process which encourage rural stakeholders to analyze the agricultural and environmental problems they face and to recognize endogenous innovation/adaptation processes in order to find and implement appropriate solutions. I particularly worked in forest regions, with a strong emphasis on the issue of conciliating both forest conservation and rural development. Presently, I develop new field researches in Burkina Faso, addressing specifically ecological intensification issues and the role for extension services in enhancing farmers’ adaptation capacities.

Professional experiences

 ·         2 years in France as an engineer on land-use planning and agricultural dynamics surrounding protected areas: spatial analysis (GIS), modeling and farming systems analysis.

·         5 years in Madagascar as a researcher for the French Research Institute for Development (IRD), in the eastern rainforest, addressing agricultural transitions, ecosystem dynamics and environmental policy. Good knowledge of environmental and conservation policies, PES mechanisms and REDD strategy, slash-and-burn agriculture and rice-based farming systems.

·         2 years in Madagascar and Comoros as a consultant for international organizations (GIZ, AVSF, GRET): expertise on governance tools to manage both environment and rural development, design of farm-level and territorial approaches in order to help stakeholders improving the sustainability of local land management and use of natural resources (agroforestry, integration of agriculture and breeding, ecological intensification).

Geographical experiences

·         Indian Ocean : Madagascar, Comoros ·         Western Africa: Burkina Faso

Teaching activities

·         Participation in post-master professional certificate program on sustainable territorial management and development (ENGREF, Clermont-Ferrand)

·         Participation in specialized training course : social management of water resources, territorial dynamics analysis

·         Students' advisor (agricultural scientist, masters, DEA)

Main publications

Toillier A., Serpantié G., Hervé D. & Lardon S., 2010. Livelihood strategies and land use changes in response to conservation: an insight into pitfalls of community-based forest management in Madagascar. Journal of Sustainable Forestry (1-2): pp20-56

Toillier A. & Lardon S., 2009. From forest-clearers to environmental managers: farmers’ adaptation capacities in the eastern rainforest of Madagascar. Outlook on Agriculture vol. 38 (2): 119-126

Toillier A. & Lardon S., 2008. Assessing Farmers’ Adaptation Capacities and Land Use Changes in Response to Forest Conservation in Madagascar, Italian Journal of Agronomy, vol. 3, n° 3 : 819-820.

Toillier A, Lardon S. & Hervé H., 2008. An environmental governance support tool: community-based forest management contracts (Madagascar). International Journal of Sustainable Development, vol 11 (2/3/4) : 187-205

Toillier A. & Serpantié G., 2008. Concilier conservation et développement : un nouvel enjeu pour l’aménagement du territoire ? Geocarrefour 82 (4) : 209-218.

  Language skills

	Reading	Speaking	Writing
French	5 – Excellent	5 - Excellent	5 - Excellent
English	5 – Excellent	4 - Good	3 - Good
Malagasy	3 - Average	3 - Average	3 - Average