- Online map of horticultural projects. Mash it up with the CGIAR map, anyone?
- Evolution and taxonomy of crop groups: Annonaceae and Allium.
- Dealing with wheat stripe in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Some good news there.
- Nigel Chaffey does his usual thing. Inimitable.
- Today’s thing on what Africa needs for this Greener or Double Green or whatever Revolution everyone wants it to have.
- Latest from FAO on what’s happening in livestock genetic resources conservation around the world.
- And the latest wonder food. I’ll pass, thanks.
- Improving capers through radiation. One of those things where you have to wonder whether it’s really all worth it.
- The genetic diversity of the Polish common hamster. Wait, what?
- Biofortified crops to the rescue. Again. Gotta wonder about overexposure. The backlash, when it inevitably comes, is going to be a doozy.
Nibbles: Maasai, Arbutus, Yak, China, USA
- ILRI video on helping herders with that climate change thing.
- Nutritional composition of Strawberry tree fruits.
- The genetic history of the yak.
- Chinese food archaeology: noodles and fruits.
- Colonial food in early America.
Nibbes: Opium, Crop Wild Relatives, Coconuts, Multicropping, Plant Health, Genebank portal
- Sustainable alternative to opium. Still waiting for my man.
- “Crop Wild Relative community calls for united global efforts“. Good to know.
- Small-scale coconut growers to benefit from Kasaragod Declaration?
- Australian farmer doubles number of species, doubles yield shock.
- Plant health clinics take expertise where it is needed most. Now for the mobile edition …
- Crowdsourcing improvements to a portal to genetic information. Now there’s an idea.
Nibbles: PNG & CC, Pasture, Nagoya, Sesame, CIMMYT, Oryza, Tradition
- A view from Papua New Guinea on a project to prepare PNG agriculture for climate change.
- How to grow a properly biodiverse pasture. Hint: money isn’t enough.
- Another Nagoya round-up. And another.
- Sesamum monographed.
- Award for CIMMYT genebank.
- African rice domestication deconstructed.
- Traditional practices bad for Nigerian children, good for Chinese fish.
Jebel Abdul Aziz protected area to get development help
Maybe it’s the spirit of Nagoya, but the Global Arab Network is announcing that
the State Ministry for Environment Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture, the United Nations Development Program and the local committees of the villages of Abdulaziz Mountain reserve signed on Tuesday three agreements for establishing development projects…
The aim?
…serving national communities in Abdulaziz Mountain area and reducing the effect of human activity on biodiversity in it, in addition to supporting the joint administration of the reserve’s resources among the various relevant establishments and organizing the management of the grants provided to local committees.
The Jabal Abdul Aziz protected area is in northeastern Syria, where the vegetation “represent[s] the nearest living examples to Neolithic sites along the Euphrates.”
The area clearly has eco-tourism potential. It’s also got crop wild relatives and other plant genetic resources:
The site includes a number of species that have an economical and ecological importance. Of these we mention:
(1) Genetic resources of fruit trees, Of these are: Pistacia atlantica, Pistacia khunjuk, and Amygdalus orientalis
(2) Excellent protein rich forage species. Of these we may mention Atriplex leucloda, Avena barbata, Dactylis glomerata, Salsola villosa, Stipa barbata, Aegilops spp., and Vicia spp.
(3) Medicinal plants are present in prosperous populations. Some of these species are: Thymus syriacus, Artemisia herba-alba, Capparis spinosa, Teucrium polinum, Achillea spp., Ziziphora spp.
(4) Ornamental species adapted to dry zone such as Gladiolus aleppicus, Ixiolirion tataricum and Tulipa montana are found too.
But will it be managed in such a way as to maintain these species?