Category: Climate change

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Tajikistan to sustain agrobiodiversity in the face of climate change

A Google Alert pointed me to an article in the Times of Central Asia purportedly about a new Global Environment Facility-funded project in Tajikistan intriguingly entitled “Sustaining Agricultural Biodiversity in the Face of Climate Change.” Alas, the article is behind a paywall, so I wont even link to it, but some judicious googling led me to a UNDP press release. Which eventually led me to the project documents. Here are the objectives of the project in brief:

  • Strengthened institutional and financial framework for the agro-biodiversity conservation and joint use of the benefits of the sustainable use of the agro-ecosystems.
  • Increased mechanism of co-operation with local communities on agro-ecosystem management including the traditional knowledge of conservation.
  • Ecosystem-based conservation and management of wild crop relatives established in the selected territories/communities.
  • Lessons and experiences from target Jamoats created conditions for replication and expansion of conservation programmes.

A bunch of “possible interventions” are listed under each of these headings, but it’s unclear to me from the documents that are available online what will actually be done. This may be a project to write a bigger project. I just don’t know enough about how GEF works. If you know more, drop us a line.

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Nibbles: Kenyan drought, Ugandan agroforestry, American foodways, Beans, Forages, Bees to the nth, Indigenous farming, Brazilian and Cuban farming, Chinese aquaculture, Nigerian seedlings, Belgian dukes, IFPRI climate change study, Phytophthora

  • Internets all aglow today, so hang on to your hats, here we go. Drought forcing Kenyans out of maize, towards indigenous crops, wheat and rice. Wait, what?
  • Making money from tree seedlings in Uganda. Including indigenous stuff. Damn you, allAfrica, why are you so good?
  • ‘Turkey’ Hard Red Winter Wheat, Lake Michigan Whitefish, the Hauer Pippin Apple, and the St. Croix sheep, among others, added to Ark of Taste. Ok, I’m gonna have to see some explanation for that wheat one.
  • Singing the praises of pulses. Even Virgil gets a namecheck.
  • Tall Fescue for the Twenty-first Century? Seriously, who writes these titles?
  • nth study on bees announced. And n+1st reports. And n+2nd called for. CABI does a bit of a roundup. Bless you.
  • Declaration calls for “…the creation of democratic spaces for intercultural dialogue and the strengthening of interdependent networks of food producers and other citizens.” Interesting.
  • Small scale farmers produce most of what Brazilians eat. And no doubt manage most of the country’s agrobiodiversity. And Cuba?
  • Chinese aquaculture goes green? Riiiiight.
  • “Earlier this year, farmers from the north who had benefitted from previous improved seedling activities by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) demanded for more improved seed varieties from scientists.” Oh come on, gimme a clue. What crop? Improved how?
  • Medieval Bruges palace cesspit reveals dukes ate Mediterranean honey. Sybarites even then, the Belgians.
  • Scientific American says IFPRI says “traditional seed varieties and livestock breeds that might provide a genetic resource to adapt to climate change are being lost.”
  • Late Blight 101.
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Nibbles: WFP and Millennium Villages, Agroecotourism squared, Mango, Wild pollinators, CGIAR change process, Grape breeding, Landraces and climate change, Mau Forest, Eels

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Nibbles: Non-wood forest products, Landraces and climate change, Brewing, IRRI, Agroforestry, Borlaug, Mutant

  • New NWFP Digest is out. Bamboo, bamboo and more bamboo. You all have subscribed, right?
  • Your indigenous seeds will set you free. Not if you don’t have a breeding programme and decent seed companies they wont. Or not only.
  • College students to evaluate hop varieties. What could possibly go wrong?
  • “The IRRI is not involved in any projects on land acquisition for rice production, nor do we provide advice on land acquisition.”
  • Agroforestry professor interviewed by Mongabay.
  • Edwin Price vs Vandana Shiva on Borlaug on Oz radio. Let the games begin.
  • Cool chimeric apple.
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Nibbles: Légumes oubliés, Mazes, Poultry, Business, Roquefort, Herb, Evolution, Benin, Egyptian pigs, New York food, Cabbage pest control, Cider making