The public awareness unit at Bioversity recently presented a video that focuses on seven individuals who are passionate about biodiversity and safeguarding genetic resources for food and agriculture. Mediterranean farmers, scholars and people like Carlo Petrini who founded the Slow Food Movement are featured.
The video is titled “Guardians of Diversity”
Worth a look!
Posted in Biodiversity, Genetic resources
ICIMOD have published the latest issue of their newletter which focuses on Biodiversity and Climate Change in the Himalayas.
Please find below some of the interesting articles that we have selected that can be accessed full-text: -
Biodiversity Environment Change and Regional Cooperation in the Hindu Kush-Himalays
Climate Change in the Mountains – Who Wins and Who Loses
Climate Change in the Himalayas: the Vulnerability of Biodiversity
Linking Traditional Ecological Knowledge Systems with Modern Approaches
Regional Research on Biodiversity : Improved Knowledge as a Basis for Better Livelihoods
To see the rest of the table of contents, click here.
While you are browsing the website, take the time to look at their other technical publications, there is a treasure trove of information – most of it freely available.
Posted in Biodiversity, Climate change, Environment, Livelihoods
The International Society for Plant Pathology and the STM publisher, Springer, have launched a new journal titled Food Security: the Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food.
The first issue of the journal is freely available online, and it features a foreward by the Norman Borlaug ( Nobel Peace Prize Laureate).
There is a paper that addresses the question: “Why does famine persist in Africa?” There is another paper “The politics of plants” that looks at the issue of biofuels, as well as other papers authored by notable CGIAR scientists.
This is an issue that is well worth looking at.
Posted in Food & Nutrition, Research
The Bioversity International 2008 Annual Report is now available on the web; as an entire PDF, or as individual stories. Some of the stories you will find include:
Diverseeds Documentary Film. Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
In agriculture, the widespread adoption of a few improved varieties has narrowed the genetic base of important food crops and led to the disappearance of hundreds of landraces. Conserving and using plant genetic diversity is vital in meeting the world’s future development needs in Europe, Asia and elsewhere. This documentary shows why biodiversity is important for agriculture and how it is conserved and used in many different locations in Europe and Asia.
The film describes – with splendid pictures from Europe and Asia – the relevance of traditional landraces, crop wild relatives, genebanks (including the Global Seed Vault), and civil society movements in the global challenge to preserve and use plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.
The production of the film was part of the activities carried out in the 2-year EC funded project DIVERSEEDS (www.diverseeds.eu). The aim of the project was to enhance networking activities on conservation and use of plant genetic resources between Europe and Asia, and the film was part of the dissemination activities for a general audience.
The film can be used to explain the importance of plant genetic resources to farmers, students, high school students, government officials, funding agencies or the general public. The DVD contains the Diverseeds Documentary Film (50 minutes) but also several short film clips on different subjects such as:
Several of the short films can be watches for free at the DIVERSEEDS website (http://www.diverseeds.eu/index.php?page=video).
To get the DVD and see the whole documentary film you can order via dvd@diverseeds.eu
Thanks to Markus Schmidt for providing us with this information
CABI has announced free access to its specialist Global Health database in an effort to assist health workers and researchers in the battle against swine flu (influenza A – H1N1). The Global Health database holds global knowledge on every aspect of influenza since 1910.
“Our mission is to help people worldwide through the provision of scientific knowledge,” said Dr Trevor Nicholls, CEO of CABI. “Today we are offering our most applicable resource, over the coming weeks, to help health professionals and others working on the front line.”
The database can be accessed at: www.cabdirect.org/globalhealth
Well done CABI!
Posted in International, Livelihoods, Research
Bioversity International has recently released on their website a new publication that looks at the underutilised food crop Maca. (Lepidium meyenii)
The publication is titled “The transition of Maca from neglect to market prominence: lessons for improving use strategies and market chains of minor crops”.
Maca is an edible root crop of the crucifer family endemic to the Puna of the high Andes in Central Peru around Lake Junin, a chilly plateau at 4000 m altitude. Grown in the late 1980s exclusively in its native area, on no more than 50 ha, Maca has experienced over the last years a great interest from many sectors.
Interested in reading more, or downloading the PDF? Click here.
ScienceWatch.com has recently announced the top scientific journals in the field of ecology and environmental sciences. These rankings are based on citations per paper among journals with 10,000 or more citations.
The top five journals on the list include:
* Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution & Systematics
* Nature
* Science
* Trends in Ecology and Evolution
* Ecological Monographs
Interested in knowing who the other top 15 journals are? Click here
Posted in Environment, Research
It’s Friday, and we thought it would be fun to end the week with a video.
It is about climate change, and we saw it at the ClimateChangeCorp blog. This video has been developed by Oxfam.
It’s a short, quirky video which I’m sure our readers will enjoy.
Posted in Climate change, Environment, Livelihoods
Today, the 22nd April is Earth Day.
This day has been celebrated since 1970, and was the brainchild of the U.S. senator Gaylord Nelson and is celebrated in many countries every year.
We particularly liked the following post : Earth Day, It’s History, And 10 Things You Can Do Right Now To Help What Can We Do Today To Help Our Planet? by Thomas Hagey
It’s short, concise and straight to the point. You can also have some fun taking the The Earth Day Ecological Footprint Test. Enjoy!
Posted in Environment
