Mobilizing agro-biodiversity and social networks to cope with adverse effects of climate and social changes: experiences from Kitui, Kenya

Poster presented at 13th Congress of the International Society of Ethnobiology. Montpellier (France), 20-25 May 201

The global diversity of taro: ethnobotany and conservation

Taro is a staple crop for several hundred million small farmers and planters throughout the tropical world. Often associated with Asia and Pacific, it is also important in the Americas and Africa. This book explores the diversity of taros and their uses as well as the status of taro genetic resources in all the major geographic regions where it is grown. While new market opportunities and taro's versatility are responsible for its growing popularity in markets, diseases and climate change also pose ever greater threats to its production and distribution. The current outbreak and spread of the devastating taro leaf blight in West Africa clearly highlights this vulnerability. By taking a global approach to the crop, the authors highlight ways to address new outbreaks of pathogens such as taro leaf blight. Diversity in cultivars is also important in coping and adapting to climate change especially when genetic diversity science and farmer knowledge can be brought together

Indicators of resilience in socio-ecological production landscapes (SEPLs)

The following policy report constitutes an important supplement to a set of 20 indicators for resilience in socio-ecological production landscapes (SEPLs) that was developed over the course of joint collaboration between Bioversity International and the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS). The indicators were disseminated widely in pamphlet form for the first time in March 2012. Subsequently, a need was identified for sharing a more in-depth overview of the considerations that went into creating this list of indicators as well as the outcomes of initial field-testing

Toolkit for the indicators of resilience in socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes

This toolkit provides practical guidance for making use of the “Indicators of Resilience in Socio-ecological Production Landscapes and Seascapes (SEPLS)” in the field. The indicators are a tool for engaging local communities in adaptive management of the landscapes and seascapes in which they live. By using the tested methods presented in this toolkit, communities can increase their capacity to respond to social, economic, and environmental pressures and shocks, to improve their environmental and economic conditions, thus increasing the social and ecological resilience of their landscapes and seascapes, and ultimately make progress towards realizing a society in harmony with nature. The approach presented here is centred on holding participatory “assessment workshops”. These involve discussion and a scoring process for the set of twenty indicators designed to capture communities’ perceptions of factors affecting the resilience of their landscapes and seascapes. The participants in these workshops are members of the local community and stakeholders in the local area. Their participation allows them to evaluate current conditions across the landscape and identify and reach agreement on priority actions, contributing to enhanced communication among stakeholders and empowered local communities. Workshops may be planned and implemented by people from within or outside the community. The guidance provided in this toolkit is primarily intended for organizers and facilitators of resilience assessment workshops

Derechos de propiedad, acción colectiva y recursos genéticos vegetales

Los recursos genéticos son el material genético de las plantas y animales que determina las características útiles que la gente puede conservar, identificar, evaluar y usar para satisfacer sus necesidades. No son simplemente los genes codificados en el ADN sino que son expresiones específicas de los genes que los agricultores, científicos y fitotecnistas han reconocido y seleccionado. Según investigaciones, a partir de 1945 el monto correspondiente al incremento del rendimiento mundial de las cosechas derivado de los nuevos genes y de la modificación genética equivale a aproximadamente US$115 mil millones al año.Non-PRIFPRI1; 2020; CAPRiEPTD; DG

Property rights, collective action, and plant genetic resources

Genetic resources are the genetic material in plants and animals that determine useful traits that people can conserve, characterize, evaluate, and use to meet their needs. These resources are not simply the genes encoded in DNA, but particular expressions of the genes that farmers, scientists, and plant breeders have recognized and selected. Research has estimated that the value of increases in crop yields derived from new genes and genetic modification since 1945 has amounted to about US$115 billion a year worldwide.Non-PRIFPRI1; 2020; CAPRiEPTD; DG

Home gardens and agrobiodiversity

Smithsonian books has published Home Gardens and Agrobiodiversity, edited by Pablo Eyzaguirre and Olga Linares. What is a home garden? The editors write that ”home gardens are microenvironments within a larger farming system that contain high levels of species diversity and may contain crop species or varieties of species different from those found in surrounding agroecosystems.” They are thus important as reservoirs of agricultural biodiversity and the knowledge to make use of it. The book contains three sections. The first deals with Theory and Methods. It covers, for example, the importance of microenvironments for the selection, evolution and maintenance of home garden plants. The second is a survey of research results from a global project on home gardens, carried out by the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute and national partners in seven countries and funded by the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ). The third is in some measure a synthesis of the first two, and looks at how the genetic diversity of key crops can be managed and conserved in home gardens. ”Theres a great deal of diversity in home gardens,” said Eyzaguirre, ”but the most important thing is that everywhere weve looked, people keep the crops they really value close to home. Thats the way to look after agricultural biodiversity.” Eyzaguirre is a senior scientist at Bioversity International in Rome and Linares is a staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama. Linares is also a member of Bioversity's Board of Trustees

Participatory plant breeding: Proceedings of a workshop on participatory plant breeding, 26-29 July 1995, Wageningen, The Netherlands

The papers in this volume were originally presented at a workshop on participatory plant breeding. The workshop was convened to crystallize a novel approach that plant breeders, genetic resource conservationists and social scientists were demonstrating with increasing success. That approach is to place knowledge about genetic resources, as well as enhanced germplasm, directly at the disposal of farmers for them to use and develop according to their own needs and practices. Experiences indicated that in using this approach, biological and social scientists were learning a great deal about the useful diversity in target crops and farming system. Farmers were also benefiting from access to greater diversity and from the partnerships they were forming with plant breeders

Home gardens and in situ conservation of plant genetic resources in farming systems: Proceedings of the second international home gardens workshop, 17-19 July 2001, Witzenhausen, Germany

The results of the Home Garden Project presented in these Workshop Proceedings contribute to national and global strategies for including home gardens as a distinct and important component of in situ conservation of agrobiodiversity. The national and comparative studies have also begun to establish a clear link between home garden diversity and household livelihoods and food security. IPGRI will continue to build the global research partnerships that provide national programmes and local organizations with the tools to include genetic resources management at the household and ecosystem levels in national biodiversity conservation and development strategies and policies. We thank the many institutions, communities, and individuals that have contributed to the research on home gardens genetic resources and Germany for its financial support of the Workshop and the research activities