The Tour du Valat newsletter
n°49 | July 2025 | | | | | FEEDBACK FROM THE FIELD - Spring 2025 | | This month, we bring you a visual retrospective of the actions carried out in the field by the Tour du Valat between April and June 2025. Our teams have been engaged in various visits during public and partnership events, as well as scientific monitoring. The Petit Saint-Jean agro-ecological farm also carried out its second bottling of the year directly on the site: new vintages that you will soon be able to find on your summer tables! | | Tour du Valat 2024 activity report is online | | Every year, Tour du Valat publishes its activity report, illustrated with beautiful photos and presenting our main achievements of the past year. It is the fruit of numerous collaborations with our partners, whether institutional, scientific, technical or financial. | | | | | A crowdfunding campaign to support a Dragonfly: the Dark Spreadwing (Lestes macrostigma) | | A project led by Tour du Valat, aiming to restore a temporary brackish pond in the Camargue —a key habitat for the survival of the rare and threatened Lestes macrostigma— has been selected by the new crowdfunding platform “Flamingo.eco.” | | | | | A weekend of naturalist inventory at the Petit Saint-Jean agroecological farm | | From 16 to 18 May 2025, a naturalist inventory took place at the Petit Saint Jean agroecological farm. 70 amateur and professional naturalists took part over the weekend to document the biodiversity of this site owned by the Tour du Valat, in the Camargue Gardoise. | | | | | Highlights from the 2025 Festival of the Camargue and Rhône Delta | | As part of the 2025 edition of the Festival of the Camargue and Rhône Delta, three field trips were organised by the Tour du Valat to explore wetlands. The Foundation also took part in a roundtable discussion on the theme of hunting, which is available as a podcast at the end of this article. | | | | | Publication of the 26th ornithological report Camargue-Crau-Alpilles 2013-2018 | | Published in the international ornithological journal Alauda, the 26th Camargue-Crau-Alpilles Ornithological Report 2013-2018 is now available online. It covers the avifauna of the Camargue in the broadest sense (Plan-du-Bourg, Grande Camargue, Camargue gardoise), as well as the Crau and the Alpilles massif, and continues a long tradition that began in 1930. | | | | | - From 23 to 31 July 2025 I 15th Conference of the Parties to the Ramsar Convention in Zimbabwe I Every 3 years, it brings together representatives of the 172 Contracting Parties to the Convention and observer organisations, including the Tour du Valat I COP 15 RAMSAR
- From 15 to 19 September 2025 I ‘Biodiversity and Vectors’ summer school I Training course organised at the Tour du Valat for professionals I more info
- From 24 to 26 September 2025 I 17th Ramsar France seminar in Bourg-en-Bresse I Open to elected representatives, managers and partners of Ramsar sites, as well as stakeholders involved in the knowledge, management, preservation or enhancement of wetlands I more info
- From 19 to 21 November 2025 I National wetlands research-management forum in Arles I Organised by Tour du Valat, as part of the Wetlands Resource Centre run by the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB), and in partnership with the French Ministry for Ecological Transition, Biodiversity, Forestry, the Sea and Fisheries I more info
| | | | | A new study reveals the contrasting effects of agriculture and urbanisation on bird and reptile communities in the Gediz Delta (Türkiye) Tour du Valat, in partnership with Turkish researchers, has just published the results of an in-depth study on the effects of land-use changes in the Gediz Delta, Türkiye. Conducted between 2019 and 2021, it offers valuable insight into the conservation challenges faced by Mediterranean wetlands | | | | | Conserving wetlands helps waterbirds adapt to climate change Conservation measures that directly target wetland conservation are most likely to help waterbird communities adapt to climate change, according to a study recently published in the journal Biological Conservation. | | | | | PhD Thesis I Demographic processes of the Eurasian Spoonbill in the face of global change Hugo Ferreira, a doctoral student at the Tour du Valat since 2020, defended his thesis and was awarded an honorary degree in Portugal last March. This thesis examines how the Eurasian spoonbill, a partially migratory waterbird, adapts to global change through its behaviour, experience and ecological flexibility. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Tour du Valat Fondation Research Institute for the Conservation of Mediterranean Wetlands Visit our website www.tourduvalat.org | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Editorial comitee : J. Jalbert, R. Billé, B. Guénebeaud, C. Hermeloup et E. Stamm. Contributors to this issue : A-S. Hervy, A. Marquis-Soria and N. Chokier. Photo credits and illustrations : A. Marquis-Soria (bannière) ; T. Blanchon ; P. Lambret ; P. Sapède ; A. Marquis-Soria ; T. Galewski ; D. Arslan ; M. Thibault ; T Annesi + H. Lucas ; T. Blanchon & C. Girard (bannière Adopte un flamant). All rights reserved © Tour du Valat Fondation, 2025 | | | |
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