Nibbles: Parliamentary buzz, Weeds, Malthus, Suceava genebank, Fukushima farmers, Mangifera, Fermentation, Macaws, Biodiversity banks, Asses

EU parliament, and others, urged “to improve conditions for pollinators in Europe”.
Weeds. A book from Richard Mabey, now published and reviewed in the US.
Ismail Serageldin will present the 2nd annual Malthus Lecture on 14 July at IFPRI. I’ll be staying late to follow the webcast.
The Romanian genebank at Suceava seems to have a kind of progress report.
They’re making a film about the organic farmers of Fukushima.
Mango diversity picture goodness.
Turns out making ginger beer doesn’t involve ginger. What it does involve is a weird agrobiodiversity symbiosis, but you had me at beer.
Ancient Chacoans bred macaws. And why not.
Biodiversity offsets are a huge market. What I want to know is if any of than money could go to genebanks.
Ethiopian donkey power.

A paean to diverse diets is just what we all need.
And another one, from the MIT Technology Review of all places.
Menawhile, there’s only one reference to dietary diversity in the World Bank’s investment framework for nutrition.
Maybe you have to quantify that diversity before you can save it? Now where have I heard that before?
Meanwhile, Europe reports on biodiversity-friendly farming practices. Does that include the biodiversity of the actual crops? Perhaps surprisingly, yes!
You want biodiversity-friendly farming practices? Talk to Indigenous people. The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) has launched an e-consultation on “Preserving, strengthening and promoting Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems and traditional practices for sustainable food systems.”
There’s diversity in asparagus too.
Genebanks can help with those biodiversity-friendly practices, diverse diets and rops and Indigenous practices.
Even big international genebanks.
Even the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
But some are in trouble.
Though others are coming back.