Sweet news for Kenya’s apiarists: the European Union has advanced Sh13 million to increase the flow, marketing and returns on honey. More than 3000 beekeepers in seven projects across the country stand to benefit. Here’s hoping they don’t import any dodgy sick bees from Australia — current favoured culprits for the cause of colony collapse disorder. I wonder whether fruit and veg harvests might improve too.
China losing biodiversity “at a frightening rate”
Land in Beijing, mind at one in the morning, the rest of the world at 7, get to the waiting lounge, discover free wireless, scan internets, discover — hold the front page — that China is losing biodiversity extremely rapidly. A thoughtful piece in the Asia Times uses the demise of the Yangtze River Dolphin to take quite a detailed look at why conservation does not seem to get any traction here. Turf wars between ministries seem to be the prime reason. There’s little talk of agriculture (I know, we sound like a cracked record ((An early form of sound storage prone to defects, for our younger readers)) on this) aside from a very brief mention of ecosystem services. The fact is, China’s agriculture is among the oldest in the world, and the menu must be among the most diverse, but all the indications are that they are no longer growing the diversity they used to and that they are eating much of the animal diversity into extinction.
I’m on my way to Kunming, to see at first hand some exciting projects that make use of agricultural biodiversity to improve livelihoods. If connectivity there is as good and easy as it is here, and if I have the time, I’ll be sure to report here.
Atomic energy for agriculture
Make food not war: FAO head praises International Atomic Energy Agency.
Norway to ban pig castration
To snip or not to snip? Norway bans pig castrations, The Economist ponders the ramifications.
Kenyan community ranch wins UN award
A community ranch dedicated to wildlife and conservation has won the UN’s Equator Initiative prize of US$30,000. The Shompole Group Ranch offers a five-star eco-tourist experience and has made great efforts to increase wildlife on its 62,000 hectares, spreading the benefits to community members. But does the ranch also grow the food to feed all those wealthy tourists locally? The story does not say, and nor do the many web sites that tout Shompole ranch as a resort. OK, it is a dry area, but there is freshwater in two permanent rivers.
Meanwhile, just across the border in Tanzania, the President of Sacramento State University apparently pulled strings to enable wealthy benefactors to hunt animals — including endangered species — as trophies.
The common thread, of course, is that wildlife has value — dead and alive — and cashing in on that value may be the most important way for local people to benefit directly.