21 September 2023
Signing of the High Seas Biodiversity Treaty at the UN: the race for ratification has begun
What’s the difference between signing and ratifying a treaty? After signature, which is the first formality, comes ratification, which is the formal act by which a signatory state agrees to be bound by the treaty when it enters into force. The text is officially submitted for ratification. This second stage is more complex, as it
September 18, 2023
How can science be better integrated into political decision-making? Tara Europa Lab’s ambition
Why do scientists and policy-makers need to communicate? What is science-to-policy? Science-to-policy is the process of enabling political decision-makers to make informed choices underpinned by scientific knowledge. The volume of scientific knowledge produced is immense, and yet there is still a relatively wide gap between science and policy, particularly when it comes to taking effective
July 7, 2023
Impact of anthropic activities on biodiversity along the shoreline: development of coastal occupation
What is the shoreline? According to Michel Desse, professor of human geography of coastal areas at the University of Nantes, the shoreline is an interface zone between land and sea/ocean that fluctuates depending on the day (under the influence of tides, for example), season and climate-related events, such as marine submersion. In some places, the
June 6, 2023
[Tara Océans] Discovery of new viruses in the ocean: Mirusviruses
Viruses infect plankton in the ocean Scientists characterized a new group of DNA viruses which they named «mirusviruses». “Mirus“ is a Latin word which means strange, or even surprising. The name reflects the unusual evolutionary traits of these viruses which have very complex genomes, with hundreds of genes and many functions which are currently completely
June 2, 2023
[Tara Pacific] First results of an extraordinary expedition
Five years of analysis: the time for scientific research Thousands of samples to study While the long time between the end of the expedition and the publication of the results may seem surprising, it is nevertheless usual for this type of scientific work. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, the quantity of data generated
May 12, 2023
International treaties: deciphering their workings to better understand our actions
What is the UN ? The United Nations Organization (UNO) was created on October 24, 1945 after the Second World War. It is an international organization whose primary objectives are to maintain peace and international security. The UN promotes the protection of human rights, humanitarian aid, the guarantee of international law and has specific powers
April 18, 2023
Tara Pacific: Towards a new understanding of coral reefs, sentinels of climate change
What is coral? Coral: animal, vegetable, mineral? When observing a coral on a reef, we do not observe an animal, nor an alga, nor a rock, but all three combined. Indeed, a coral is a colony of animals fixed on their limestone skeleton, sheltering in its tissues micro-algae which give them their bright colors. These
They talk about us
2 June 2023
There's way more tiny life on Earth than scientists had thought, study of coral reefs finds
Eu.usatoday
20 December 2021
UMaine professors complete another leg onboard Tara research schooner
Bangordaily News
2003-2023: 20 years of sponsorship actions for the Tara Ocean Foundation
Agnès Troublé, known as agnès b: 20 years of philanthropy For almost 2 decades, the designer Agnès Troublé, called agnès b.– a brand the stylist launched in 1975 – has been associated with the research schooner Tara, sailing on the Ocean around all continents: In 2003, Agnès Troublé and her son, Étienne Bourgois, CEO of
April 12, 2023
How are the logistics of an oceanographic expedition organized?
The origins of modern oceanographic campaigns: from the Challenger to the schooner Tara In 1872, the HMS Challenger set sail for a four-year scientific mission that is considered retrospectively to be the first modern oceanographic campaign. The Royal Navy ship traveled approximately 65 000 nautical miles across the Atlantic, Southern, Indian and Pacific Oceans. The
March 15, 2023
Artistic residency aboard Tara: a fruitful cohabitation between artists and scientists
Art & Science: The emotion of discovery Nature is a real playground for artists and scientists who find themselves with the same goal: to understand and describe the surrounding world that continues to amaze us. So what’s so different about the artistic and scientific approach? Information such as temperature, salinity, photographs or sounds are collected.
March 6, 2023
After fifteen years of negotiations, the UN adopts the Treaty for the Protection of Biodiversity in the High Seas!
Although three States are not satisfied with all the provisions of the text and have expressed reservations about the final draft, the conclusion of these negotiations represents a historic moment for the Ocean, which lacked a protection instrument for biodiversity beyond the coastal areas under national jurisdiction. The text will now be forwarded to a
February 9, 2023
The high sea: how to protect the little-known biodiversity of international waters?
What is the High Sea? The concepts of freedom and infinity have often been associated with the human conception of maritime space throughout history. In the early definition of the Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius (17th century), the Ocean was declared a free and limitless space (mare liberum), which escaped all State sovereignty (res nullius). But
January 16, 2023
Tara, a legendary oceanographic sailboat, evolving through scientific missions and shipyard overhauls
History of the schooner Tara’s overhauls The schooner is now 33 years old, and has been sailing under the name Tara for 20 years. Before each new mission, a reflection is carried out about how to arrange and adapt the spaces for the needs of science and future navigations. – Tara Arctic 2006-2008 In 2006,
January 9, 2023
United Nations Convention on Law Of the Sea, forty years later
Starting with the principle of “freedom of the seas”, which has long been enshrined and affirmed in treaties and doctrine, various issues and questions led States, well before 1982, to structure their relations and their hold on these spaces. However, a timid environmental objective was associated with this movement of appropriation of the seas, illustrated
December 6, 2022
COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity: how to integrate marine ecosystems into the global biodiversity conservation strategy?
1992-2022: What assessment 30 years after its ratification? In 1992 was held the Earth Summit in Rio, a historic meeting during which the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was created, among other things, a major governance framework for environmental protection. This Convention deals with biological diversity at all levels: ecosystems, species and more recently genetic