Negociatrix policy game: building capacities in trade policy analysis

The Negociatrix Policy Game is a tool for training in multilateral negotiation, which has been developed through a partnership between FAO and the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands. This tool is a software based on a quantitative model and a simulation that consents to underline the importance of analytical capacities in negotiations and to demonstrate the importance of consistency of the strategies of negotiation. This software is applied to the multilateral trade negotiations for agriculture. It is inspired by the simulation called Negociatrix (www.fao.org/tc/tca/negotiation) that FAO developed at an earlier stage (2005) and that has been presented at the Harvard PON/IRENE conference in November 2005 in Paris. The software allows simulating several successive rounds of negotiation and notably revealing after each round the impact of the agreement concluded to the previous round. In that sense, the strategy of negotiation adopted can be more directly evaluated. The software is conceived like a tool to support the preparation of decisions and negotiations. This article presents the structure of the software, explains how it works, comments the first application modalities and proposes the conditions of use

Mycorrhizas in South American Anthropic Environments

The agricultural expansion has leaded to increase the irrigated cropland area and the use of fertilizers, resulting in water degradation, increased energy use, and common pollution. Of particular concern is the increased interest to reduce the environmental impacts of high quantities of water dedicated to irrigation by agricultural activities We are now truly recognizing the importance of sustainable measures in agriculture such as conservation of the vegetation cover and management approach to understand surface and deep soil responses to global change. The agroecology management based on key processes from natural ecosystems can help to solve some agricultural difficulties. Increasing studies on the Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) has showed their importance for soil ecology and studies on their biodiversity have spread in some agro-ecosystems such as corn and soybean monocultures. Therefore, it is needed to deeply study the mycorrhizal functions under global change. In this chapter, we examine the major developments and advances on mycorrhizal fungi based on recent research from South American countries. New reports on the occurrence of mycorrhizas in Amazonian dark earth, as well as the inoculum production of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi native of soils under native forest covers, have resulted in a more detailed understanding of the soil biology from South America. Reports from Amazonian dark earth or “Terra preta do índio” soil has stimulated the use of biochar worldwide as a soil conditioner that can add value to non-harvested agricultural products and promote plant growth. Few reports from Brazil showed that the addition of inorganic fertilizer, compost and chicken manure resulted in increases in plant cover and plant species richness. In this sense, the biochar/mycorrhizae interactions also can be prioritized for sequestration of carbon in soils to contribute to climate change mitigation

Negociatrix policy game: building capacities in trade policy analysis

The Negociatrix Policy Game is a tool for training in multilateral negotiation, which has been developed through a partnership between FAO and the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands. This tool is a software based on a quantitative model and a simulation that consents to underline the importance of analytical capacities in negotiations and to demonstrate the importance of consistency of the strategies of negotiation. This software is applied to the multilateral trade negotiations for agriculture. It is inspired by the simulation called Negociatrix (www.fao.org/tc/tca/negotiation) that FAO developed at an earlier stage (2005) and that has been presented at the Harvard PON/IRENE conference in November 2005 in Paris. The software allows simulating several successive rounds of negotiation and notably revealing after each round the impact of the agreement concluded to the previous round. In that sense, the strategy of negotiation adopted can be more directly evaluated. The software is conceived like a tool to support the preparation of decisions and negotiations. This article presents the structure of the software, explains how it works, comments the first application modalities and proposes the conditions of use

Options for increasing nutrient use efficiency in Dutch dairy and arable farming towards 2030 : an exploration of cost-effective measures at farm and regional levels

De mogelijkheden zijn onderzocht om de nutriëntengebruiksefficiëntie (N en P) te verhogen door de inzet van bedrijfs- en regionale maatregelen in de melkveehouderij en akkerbouw. Belangrijkste verbeteringen kunnen bereikt worden in de melkveehouderij, vooral in de conversie van voer naar nuttig product (vlees en melk) door fokkerijmaatregelen en voerverbetering. Daarnaast wordt de gebruiksefficiëntie van fosfaat vooral verhoogd door een verbod op P-kunstmest voor P-verzadigde gronden. End of pipe maatregelen kunnen verliezen van N en P verminderen maar zijn op dit moment nog tamelijk duur; alleen door het veranderen van landbouw in ‘slimme natuur’, zoals het creëren van wetlands in veengebieden, kan winst geboekt worden. Het gebruik van de indicator nutriëntengebruiksefficiëntie blijkt nuttig in het verduidelijken en onderscheiden van de belangrijkste milieu-uitdagingen in de Nederlandse landbouw. Bezien vanuit een globaal perspectief kan slechts een verhoging van de nutriëntengebruiksefficiëntie de verhoogde vraag naar landbouwproducten ondervangen, terwijl tegelijkertijd de verliezen naar het milieu verminderen.Trefwoorden: Nutriëntenmanagement, stikstof, fosfaat, nutriëntengebruiksefficiënti

Unraveling the unsustainability spiral in sub-Saharan Africa: an agent based modeling approach

Sub-Saharan Africa is trapped in a complex unsustainability spiral with demographic, biophysical, technical and socio-political dimensions. Unravelling the spiral is vital to perceive which policy actions are needed to reverse it and initiate sustainable pro-poor growth. The article presents an evolutionary, multi-agent modelling framework that marries a socio-ecological approach to a world system perspective and takes agriculture as the engine for sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa. A number of possibilities for empirical validation are proposed

Unraveling the unsustainability spiral in sub-Saharan Africa: an agent based modeling approach

Sub-Saharan Africa is trapped in a complex unsustainability spiral with demographic, biophysical, technical and socio-political dimensions. Unravelling the spiral is vital to perceive which policy actions are needed to reverse it and initiate sustainable pro-poor growth. The article presents an evolutionary, multi-agent modelling framework that marries a socio-ecological approach to a world system perspective and takes agriculture as the engine for sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa. A number of possibilities for empirical validation are proposed

Opening the black box: deciphering carbon and nutrient flows in Terra Preta

The soils of the Amazon region are usually unfertile, due to the high decomposition rate of organic carbon (C), rapid losses of nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) through leaching, and rapid phosphorus (P) fixation to (hydr-) oxides of iron (Fe) and aluminium (Al). Consequently, these soils (oxisols, ultisols) are known for their low suitability for agricultural production purposes. However, relatively fertile, pH-neutral soils also occur in the Amazonian lowlands. Such soils of high fertility are remnants of ancient pre-Columbian inhabitants. They are known as terra preta de índio or Amazonian Dark Earths (ADE) (Woods and McCann 1999). Terra preta contain up to eight times more carbon than adjacent soils. Furthermore, available and total nitrogen is two to eight times higher and there is up to 1,000 times more available phosphorus and up to ten times more total phosphorus than in adjacent soils (Lehmann et al. 2003). Five years after Wim Sombroek, who can be considered the founder of research on terra mulata, passed away, his legacy is still alive in Wageningen, the city where he spent much of his career. Anthrosols are common in many areas in the Netherlands and, consequently, much research has been done on these soils in Wageningen. Sombroek's parents used to farm so called eerdgronden (Plaggen soils). The soil formation history of ADE shows similarities to these eerdgronden and both types are classified into the FAO-category of man-made anthrosols. To compare, P levels of eerdgronden (currently under forest) vary from 375 to 3,000 mg kg−1 (TW Kuyper, unpublished data, 2008) and ADE from 73 to 8,800 mg kg−1 (e.g. Costa and Kern 1999; Glaser 1999; Madari et al. 2003; Ruivo et al. 2003; Lehmann et al. 2003; Schaefer et al. 2004), whereas adjacent soils (non man-made) contain on average 150–300 mg kg−1 (Guttmann et al. 2006). C levels in Northern European sandy anthrosols vary from 1.3% to 2.8% (Blume and Leinweber 2004) which is lower than C levels in ADE which are between 2.8% and 9.0% (Costa and Kern 1999; Glaser 1999; Lehmann et al. 2003; Madari et al. 2003)

Options for increasing nutrient use efficiency in Dutch dairy and arable farming towards 2030 : an exploration of cost-effective measures at farm and regional levels

De mogelijkheden zijn onderzocht om de nutriëntengebruiksefficiëntie (N en P) te verhogen door de inzet van bedrijfs- en regionale maatregelen in de melkveehouderij en akkerbouw. Belangrijkste verbeteringen kunnen bereikt worden in de melkveehouderij, vooral in de conversie van voer naar nuttig product (vlees en melk) door fokkerijmaatregelen en voerverbetering. Daarnaast wordt de gebruiksefficiëntie van fosfaat vooral verhoogd door een verbod op P-kunstmest voor P-verzadigde gronden. End of pipe maatregelen kunnen verliezen van N en P verminderen maar zijn op dit moment nog tamelijk duur; alleen door het veranderen van landbouw in ‘slimme natuur’, zoals het creëren van wetlands in veengebieden, kan winst geboekt worden. Het gebruik van de indicator nutriëntengebruiksefficiëntie blijkt nuttig in het verduidelijken en onderscheiden van de belangrijkste milieu-uitdagingen in de Nederlandse landbouw. Bezien vanuit een globaal perspectief kan slechts een verhoging van de nutriëntengebruiksefficiëntie de verhoogde vraag naar landbouwproducten ondervangen, terwijl tegelijkertijd de verliezen naar het milieu verminderen.Trefwoorden: Nutriëntenmanagement, stikstof, fosfaat, nutriëntengebruiksefficiënti

Prevalence of spondylosis deformans in the feline spine and correlation with owner-perceived behavioural changes

Objectives: The primary objective was to determine the prevalence, spinal distribution, and association with the signalment of cats suffering from different grades of feline spondylosis deformans (spondylosis). The secondary objective was to document behavioural changes associated with spondylosis by owner observation. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed to determine the prevalence of feline spondylosis (group 1). A prospective study was performed to determine the association between radiographic abnormalities of the lumbosacral region (L3-S1) and owner perceived behavioural changes based on a completed questionnaire (group 2). The radiographs were reviewed using a grading system (0-3) for spondylosis. Results: The prevalence of spondylosis in group 1 was 39.4% (158/402). Cats with spondylosis were significantly older than cats without spondylosis (

Prevalence of spondylosis deformans in the feline spine and correlation with owner-perceived behavioural changes

Objectives: The primary objective was to determine the prevalence, spinal distribution, and association with the signalment of cats suffering from different grades of feline spondylosis deformans (spondylosis). The secondary objective was to document behavioural changes associated with spondylosis by owner observation. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed to determine the prevalence of feline spondylosis (group 1). A prospective study was performed to determine the association between radiographic abnormalities of the lumbosacral region (L3-S1) and owner perceived behavioural changes based on a completed questionnaire (group 2). The radiographs were reviewed using a grading system (0-3) for spondylosis. Results: The prevalence of spondylosis in group 1 was 39.4% (158/402). Cats with spondylosis were significantly older than cats without spondylosis (