Partnering for inclusive business in food provisioning

This review aims to unravel how partnering processes relate to processes of inclusion in the context of food provisioning. In food provisioning, inclusion has two key dimensions: the inclusion of (low-income) consumers to increase levels of food security, and the inclusion of smallholder producers to promote inclusive economic growth. This review discusses both dimensions and shows that the tandem of inclusive businesses and partnering processes reconfiguring the terms under which social groups at both sides of the agri-food chain are included is largely uncharted terrain. The paper ends with three promising areas for further research, which require a further integration of different literatures and perspectives

Partnering capacities for inclusive development in food provisioning

_Context_ This paper focuses on partnerships working on inclusive development and food security in agri‐food chains and agribusiness clusters that may feature institutional arrangements reinforcing inequality or inducing exclusion. _Research question_ The paper develops a theory‐driven capacity framework for investigating how intervention strategies related to partnering generate developmental outcomes. _Methods_ Building on action research and drawing on complementary literature streams, the framework distinguishes four specific capacities that individually and in configuration contribute to processes of inclusive development triggered by partnering processes. The framework is applied to two case examples targeting inclusive development in agri‐food chains and agribusiness clusters in domestic food markets in Benin and Nigeria. _Res

Landscapes in transition: an analysis of sustainable policy initiatives and emerging corporate commitments in the palm oil industry

The recent Southeast Asian haze crisis has generated intense public scrutiny over the rate, methods and types of landscape change in the tropics. Debate has centred on the environmental impacts of large-scale agricultural expansion, particularly the associated loss of high carbon stock forest and forests of high conservation value. Focusing on palm oil—a versatile food crop and source of bioenergy—this paper analyses national, international and corporate policy initiatives in order to clarify the current and future direction of oil palm expansion in Malaysia and Indonesia. The policies of ‘zero burn’, ‘no deforestation’ and ‘no planting on peatlands’ are given particular emphasis in the paper. The landscape implications of corporate commitments are analysed to determine the amount of land, land types and geographies that could be affected in the future. The paper concludes by identifying key questions related to the further study of sustainable land use policy and practice

Harnessing Wicked Problems in Multi-stakeholder Partnerships

Despite the burgeoning literature on the governance and impact of cross-sector partnerships in the past two decades, the debate on how and when these collaborative arrangements address globally relevant problems and contribute to systemic change remains open. Building upon the notion of wicked problems and the literature on governing such wicked problems, this paper defines harnessing problems in multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs) as the approach of taking into account the nature of the problem and of organizing governance processes accordingly. The paper develops an innovative analytical framework that conceptualizes MSPs in terms of three governance processes (deliberation, decision-making and enforce-ment) harnessing three key dimensions of wicked problems (knowledge uncertainty, value conflict and dynamic complexity). The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil provides an illustrative case study on how this analytical framework describes and explains organizational change in partnerships from a problem-based perspective. The framework can be used to better understand and predict the complex relationships between MSP governance processes, systemic change and societal problems, but also as a guiding tool in (re-)organizing governance processes to continuously re-assess the problems over time and address them accordingly

Histone modification regulated bysuppressor of Zeste 12 and Ipl1 : Aurora-like kinase in Drosophila

Polycomb group (PcG) proteins are a group of genome wide silencers that are crucial for many processes during the development. In Drosophila PcG proteins are organised into four different complexes: PRC1, PRC2, PhoRC and PR-DUB. PRC2 consists of four core proteins: Su(z)12, E(z), Esc and Nurf. E(z) is the only known proteins with a known function, it possess a methyltransferase activity that specifically methylates lysine 27 on histone 3 (H3K27). A novel PcG gene was identified in 2001 in screen for modifiers of zeste-white interaction. This gene suppressed zeste’s repression of white and gave it the name Suppressor of zeste 12 (Su(z)12). The Su(z)12 gene is alternatively spliced into two transcripts; a 4.1 kb mRNA called Su(z)12A and a 3.7 kb mRNA called Su(z)12B. These transcripts are translated into two isoforms; a 95 kDa Su(z)12A protein and 100 kDa Su(z)12B protein. These isoforms show a sequence similarity of 95% and the only difference is the C-terminal end. During development these two isoforms are present at different levels. Interaction of the two isoforms with the other core components in PRC2 showed that only Su(z)12B interacts with Nurf. Also the two isoforms showed interaction with each other with the exception of a single copy of Su(z)12A that couldn´t interact with Su(z)12B. Overexpression of Su(z)12B in vivo caused lethality and homeotic transformations. Aurora kinases belong to a conserved family of serine/threonine kinases that are important for many processes in mitotsis, such as spindle formation, chromosomal segregation and cytokinesis. Aurora kinases are overexpressed in many human cancers and inhibitors of Aurora A and Aurora B has shown to inhibit growth and induce apoptosis. There are three Aurora kinases in vertebrates; Aurora A, Aurora B and Aurora C and although they are highly similar, they have different roles and location during mitosis. Aurora B is a chromosomal passenger protein and forms the chromosomal passenger complex with INCENP, Survivin and Borealin. Depletion of Aurora B causes severe effects in mitosis and lead to large cells with several nuclei and polyploidy. The Drosophila homologue of Aurora B is called IpI1-like-Aurora kinase (ial). The c-Myc transcription factor, or its relatives N-Myc and L-Myc, are also overexpressed in many, if not all human cancers. Drosophila has only one Myc protein, dMyc, which is encoded by the diminutive (dm) locus. In Drosophila, dMyc is mostly associated with size and growth regulation and depletion of dm results in endoreplication and growth arrest in early development. Previous work has shown that mammalian c-Myc induces Aurora A and Aurora B kinases. When Myc-driven lymphomas are treated with Aurora B inhibitors, cells are accumulated in G2/M phase and apoptosis is induced. Here we show that these conserved proteins have a potential connection in Drosophila as well since knockdown of ial causes severe phenotypes and leads to larger cells. When ial is knocked down or when dMyc is overexpressed the flies become smaller. Interestingly however transgenic flies which overexpress dMyc and knock down ial exhibit a different pheontype - the flies become bigger. This showing evidence that a relationship between Myc and Aurora B is evolutionary conserved down to Drosophila

Co-producing a Research Agenda for Sustainable Palm Oil

The rise of palm oil as the world's most consumed vegetable oil has coincided with exponential growth in palm oil research activity. Bibliometric analysis of research outputs reveals a distinct imbalance in the type of research being undertaken, notably a disproportionate focus on biofuel and engineering topics. Recognizing the expansion of oil palm agriculture across the tropics and the increasing awareness of environmental, social, and economic impacts, we seek to reorientate the existing research agenda toward one that addresses the most fundamental and urgent questions defined by the palm oil stakeholder community. Following consultation with 659 stakeholders from 38 countries, including palm oil growers, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and researchers, the highest priority research questions were identified within 13 themes. The resulting 279 questions, including 26 ranked as top priority, reveal a diversity of environmental and social research challenges facing the industry, ranging from the ecological and ecosystem impacts of production, to the livelihoods of plantation workers and smallholder communities. Analysis of the knowledge type produced from these questions underscores a clear need for fundamental science programmes, and studies that involve the consultation of non-academic stakeholders to develop “transformative” solutions to the oil palm sector. Stakeholders were most aligned in their choice of priority questions across the themes of policy and certification related themes, and differed the most in environmental feedback, technology and smallholder related themes. Our recommendations include improved regional academic leadership and coordination, greater engagement with private and public stakeholders in Africa, and Central and South America, and enhanced collaborative efforts with researchers in the major consuming countries of India and China