- More livestock films than you can shake a stick at.
- The Consortium all at sea.
- Road trip! Herbarium specimen collecting in Nepal.
- Call for nutritional composition data on the staples of Papua New Guinea.
- Wanna intensify agriculture in the highlands of East Africa? Here comes the PowerPoint.
- The Tragedy of the Commons averted in Mongolia through collective action.
- A new approach to functional traits? I don’t see the difference myself, but I’ll take their word for it.
Nibbles: Food insecurity, Resilience, AnGR
- Someone else has looked at Food Insecurity in the World 2011 … so we don’t have to.
- That Kenyan meeting on Knowledge exploration agricultural biodiversity, resilience and transformation starts this week.
- 17th meeting of the Assembly of European National Coordinators for Animal Genetic Resources. 17th? Wow.
How to implement the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources
A very useful message on DAD-Net brings us all up to date “on progress in the development of the set of guidelines that FAO is developing to support policy-makers and technical experts in the implementation of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources…” Here’s the state of play:
- Preparation of national strategies and action plans for animal genetic resources in English/French/Russian/Spanish
- Breeding strategies for sustainable management of animal genetic resources in English/French/Spanish
- Developing the institutional framework for the management of animal genetic resources in English
- Surveying and monitoring of animal genetic resources in English
- Draft guidelines on phenotypic characterization of animal genetic resources
- Draft guidelines on molecular genetic characterization of animal genetic resources
- Draft guidelines on the cryoconservation of animal genetic resources
Two observations. The first is that I wish we plant people were so organized. And the second is that surely a place could be found on the FAO or DAD-IS website for such a list.
Nibbles: Cow beauties, Ethnopharmacology etc
- UK High Comissioner in Namibia visits big agricultural show, discovers “hundreds of words [for] the markings on a cow“.
- CTA Wageningen has a (new?) dossier on Ethnopharmacology, food production, nutrition and biodiversity conservation: Towards a sustainable future for indigenous peoples.
Now that’s what I call a celebration of biodiversity

What goes up, must come down. Alpine farmers who take their livestock to higher pastures in the spring bring them down for the winter. The Human Flower Project shares the celebratory mood.