As part of the celebrations of the International Year of Biodiversity, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is marking the occasion with a Photo Contest on the biodiversity of the Hindu Kush Himalayan region and its role in people’s lives.

The photo contest also reflects the theme for the International Day for Biological Diversity 22 May 2010 ‘Biodiversity, Development and Poverty Alleviation’. The aim is to raise awareness of the vital role that mountain biodiversity plays in sustaining life in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region and beyond.

The contest has 5 main categories : 1) Mountain agrobiodiversity, 2) Livelihoods and ecosystem services related to biodiversity, 3) Women and mountain biodiversity, 4) Indigenous/ traditional knowledge and use associated with mountain biodiversity, and 5) Threats to mountain biodiversity.

The photo contest is open to everyone and it starts today until the 10 May 2010. For more information about terms & conditions, or if you would like to submit your photo: click here

A Bioversity publication has just been released  that discusses how farmers manage, exchange and conserve their seeds in the rural areas of Cuba, Mexico and Peru.

¿Cómo conservan los agricultores sus semillas en el trópico húmedo de Cuba, México y Perú? Experiencias de un proyecto de investigación en sistemas informales de semillas de chile, frijoles y maíz. /Hermann, M.; Amaya, K.; Latournerie, L.; Castiñeiras, L. (eds.)

This publication (in Spanish) is the result of a research project that examined how local, informal seed systems used by farmers and rural communtities  are important in protecting and maintaining the biodiversity of crops that are vital to these farmers’ livelihoods. The research focused primarily on the corn, beans and capsicum.  To read more click on the book cover:

I just came across this website on farmers’ rights as they are addressed in the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, thanks to a news feed from the Communications Initiative.

The site provides extensive background on farmers’ rights and their role in agricultural development, a database of legislation on farmers’ rights, examples of best practices, and a practical guide to realising farmers’ rights.

It looks like a really useful resource for anyone interested in the subject, and is a valuable contribution to efforts to ensure farmers’ rights are more widely recognised and implemented.

The site has been developed by the Farmers’ Rights Project of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI), brought to you with the support of the GTZ project People, Food and Biodiversity which is implemented on behalf of BMZ, Germany.

An article on the BBC News website highlights concerns over the increasing focus of donor agencies on ‘bean-counting’ publications as a measure of scientific quality (The corruption of science?).

According to the author of the article, “In the old days it didn’t matter so much which journal research was published in. Now it counts for everything.”

The article cites Professor Peter Lawrence, an emeritus professor at Cambridge University as saying that, in the past, grants were awarded by “people reading the [research] papers and determining whether it contained sparks of originality and quality of rigour and argument. Now that aim has been more or less abandoned.” But now scientists are evaluated on how many papers they publish in top flight journals and how often they are cited.

This is a dangerous trend, especially for development-oriented research like that done in the CGIAR centres. Communication efforts aimed at getting information to the end users — publications, presentations, field days and the like — drop off the radar and gain no credit from the bean counters. And yet without these efforts, less of the research output will reach those who can use it to make a difference to people’s lives.

Let’s hope that we can get back to some of the old ways in judging the quality of research, where a broader view was taken of the value of communication outputs in all media.

LEISA’s Farm is about sustainable family farming, but there’s a short article on the blog about a farmer from India who would qualify as a ‘guardian of diversity’.

According to the blog post, Mrs Mayadevi Adhikari of Chitwan district has over 1000 species of plants and animals on her farm. Impressive. Unfortunately, the rest of the article focuses on Mrs Adhikari’s compositing methods rather than the biodiversity, but it still makes interesting reading.

Welcome to 2010!

Welcome to the International Year of Biodiversity!

The International Year of Biodiversity will help raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity all over the world. Through activities and events in many countries, the global community will work together to ensure a sustainable future for us all.   The message for this special year is:

Biodiversity is Life – Biodiversity is our Life

To learn more about this important year please visit the official website of the International Year of Biodiversity. Here you will find a wealth of information about upcoming events, world-wide celebrations, and news items.

Let’s enjoy and celebrate this year, and the important message that it brings.

ILEIA, the Centre for learning on sustainable agriculture, has announced the launch of its new magazine – Farming Matters: Small-scale agriculture for a sustainable society.

Farming Matters will put local experiences in a global context, bringing you background to the news, opinions, debate, and practical examples of how sustainable, small-scale farming contributes to providing food security, social justice, and a healthy environment.

The magazine is for development practitioners, educators, researchers, policy makers, farmers, entrepreneurs, students, and anyone interested in agriculture and development. Each issue has a theme as well as global content. This first issue looks at how sustainable agriculture practices have developed and spread over time, as well as looking at factors that have hindered the uptake of sustainable practices. The on-line articles of this issue can be read here.

A new technical bulletin has recently been released by Bioversity that looks at European landraces.

The authors first establish the context of European landrace diversity conservation and use; and reviews how landrace inventories can be generated, using practical examples of such inventories for European countries. They also provide specific case studies of the on farm management of landraces; and exemplars of how landrace use has been and might be further promoted within a European agricultural context.

The tome includes discussions of why we still need landraces, the current conservation status of European landraces, a review of the threats to on farm management of landraces and the opportunities for future landrace cultivation. The authors conclude with a proposal for a European on farm conservation and landrace management strategy that will both ensure the systematic conservation of landrace diversity and promote its sustainable use.

Want to read more? Click on the cover of the book to access the PDF.

The Diversity for Life is a global campaign hosted by Bioversity International to raise awareness of the value of agricultural biodiversity for people’s lives.

It targets schools, the media and policymakers. The campaign has a very human face. It concentrates on the relationship between people and plants, culture and agriculture all around the world. The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity has endorsed the Diversity for Life campaign, and the campaign is working closely with the Secretariat in the lead up to the UN-declared International Year of Biodiversity in 2010.  Our readers may recall in an earlier post we blogged about the the impressive Guardians of Diversity video done by the Diversity for Life campaign.

Examples of Guardians of Diversity include Doña Adeleiva Castillo who conserves 120 varieties of quinoa on her farm in the Peruvian Andes in memory of her son. They include well-known Japanese artist Mitsuaki Tanabe who uses his art to communicate the urgent need to conserve wild rice and protect the habitats in which it grows. Sharing the stories of these unsung heroes of diversity is a key objective of the Diversity for Life campaign.

Diversity for Life continues to search for stories about the Guardians of Diversity — individuals who have devoted their lives to ensuring that agricultural biodiversity is conserved and used for the benefit of all.  We need your help to find more stories about people who have dedicated their lives to the conservation and use of agricultural biodiversity.  The materials in a number of ways, including in exhibits and on the Diversity for Life website.

Please contact them with your suggestions by the end of December.

The UN Climate Change Confererence  [COP 15] starts today, and continues on till the 18th December.  Delegates from 192 countries will be gathering in Copenhagen, Denmark to discuss  how we, as a global community can cut down on carbon emissions.  It would seem that many countries participating in the conference are very keen in announcing their intentions of curbing their greenhouse emissions.

Some of the main issues that will be discussed include:

* Curbing greenhouse gas emission – finding appropriate targets,  in particular for developed countries

* Nationally appropriate mitigation actions of developing countries

* A carbon trading scheme aimed at ending the destruction of the world’s forests by 2030

Bioversity and the CGIAR will be actively participating  at Copenhagen, through events and exhibitions involving individual Centers as well as collective efforts through the new Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) Challenge Program. Three key events for the CGIAR include:

* Bioversity International in collaboration the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) will convene an official high-level Side Event titled “Building the global biodiversity informatics commons for climate change adaptation.” The event will be held on Tuesday, 8 December 2009 from 20h00 to 21h30 in the Dan Turell Room, Bella Center, Copenhagen. It will focus on the importance of international sharing and exchange of biodiversity information, in particular for improved decision-making in climate change adaptation efforts and managing the impacts on agriculture and food security. Invitation is open to all registered COP15 delegates.

* Agriculture and Rural Development Day (ARDD) on Saturday, December 12. ARDD will focus on “the road after Copenhagen: priority strategies and actions for ensuring food security and rural development in the face of climate change.” ARDD is sponsored by a large consortium of organizations, which includes the CGIAR, the Alliance of the CGIAR Centers and the CCAFS Challenge Program.

* Forest Day 3 on Sunday, December 13. This event is hosted by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the Collaborative Partnership on Forests and the Government of Denmark. The event will build on the success of Forest Days 1 and 2 in helping to ensure that forests remain high on the agenda for a future climate agreement.   If you’re interested in seeing all the CGIAR events at COP 15 please follow this link.

Also why not be part of the process, and cast your vote for the Earth at the Earth Hour website.  Vote Earth!