Download or read book More than a resource the social significance of local seed systems and seed exchange in the Global South written by Jonas Metzger and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-05-31 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seeds are at the heart of a transformation process that affects more than two billion people worldwide. This study on smallholder farmers in Tanzania examines how local seed systems are anchored in the socio-cultural structures of smallholder life worlds. Using the example of seeds, the close interweaving of agricultural and social practice is traced and it is worked out how individual processes of modernisation brought in from outside have far-reaching consequences for smallholder coexistence. The study provides a concrete, detailed and differentiated account of everyday farming life and of how smallholder households deal with seeds. A particular focus is on seed exchange relationships and how these provide both social security and social cohesion in the study region. The study is based on extensive field research and intensive interviews with farmers, who also have their own say in the work.
Download or read book Community Seed Banks written by Ronnie Vernooy and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-05-15 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Community seed banks first appeared towards the end of the 1980s, established with the support of international and national non-governmental organizations. This book is the first to provide a global review of their development and includes a wide range of case studies. Countries that pioneered various types of community seed banks include Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Nepal, Nicaragua, the Philippines and Zimbabwe. In the North, a particular type of community seed bank emerged known as a seed-savers network. Such networks were first established in Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA before spreading to other countries. Over time, the number and diversity of seed banks has grown. In Nepal, for example, there are now more than 100 self-described community seed banks whose functions range from pure conservation to commercial seed production. In Brazil, community seed banks operate in various regions of the country. Surprisingly, despite 25 years of history and the rapid growth in number, organizational diversity and geographical coverage of community seed banks, recognition of their roles and contributions has remained scanty. The book reviews their history, evolution, experiences, successes and failures (and reasons why), challenges and prospects. It fills a significant gap in the literature on agricultural biodiversity and conservation, and their contribution to food sovereignty and security.
Download or read book Saving More Than Seeds written by Dr Catherine Phillips and published by Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. This book was released on 2013-12-28 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Saving More Than Seeds advances understandings of seed-people relations, with particular focus on seed saving. The practice of reusing and exchanging seeds provides foundation for food production and allows humans and seed to adapt together in dynamic socionatural conditions. But the practice and its practitioners are easily taken for granted, even as they are threatened by neoliberalisation. Combining original ethnographic research with investigation of an evolving corporate seed order, this book reveals seed saving not only as it occurs in fields and gardens but also as it associates with genebanking, genetic engineering, intellectual property rights, and agrifood regulations. Drawing on diverse social sciences literatures, Phillips illustrates ongoing practices of thinking, feeling, and acting with seeds, raising questions about what seed-people relations should accomplish and how different ways of relating might be pursued to change collective futures.
Download or read book Development and Social Change written by Philip McMichael and published by SAGE Publications. This book was released on 2016-01-25 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this new Sixth Edition of Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective, author Philip McMichael describes a world undergoing profound social, political, and economic transformations, from the post-World War II era through the present. He tells a story of development in four parts—colonialism, developmentalism, globalization, and sustainability—that shows how the global development “project” has taken different forms from one historical period to the next. Throughout the text, the underlying conceptual framework is that development is a political construct, created by dominant actors (states, multilateral institutions, corporations and economic coalitions) and based on unequal power arrangements. While rooted in ideas about progress and prosperity, development also produces crises that threaten the health and well-being of millions of people, and sparks organized resistance to its goals and policies. Frequent case studies make the intricacies of globalization concrete, meaningful, and clear. Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective challenges us to see ourselves as global citizens even as we are global consumers.
Download or read book Enabling the Business of Agriculture 2016 written by World Bank Group and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2016-03-18 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Enabling the Business of Agriculture 2016 provides a tool for policy makers to identify and analyze legal barriers for the business of agriculture and to quantify transaction costs of dealing with government regulations. Building on an earlier progress report published in November 2014, this volume presents the main results for 40 countries, for the first time using indicator scores to showcase good practices among countries in different stages of agricultural development. It also presents interesting results on the relationship between efficiency and quality of regulations, discriminatory practices in the laws, and whether regulatory information is accessible. Regional, income-group, and country-specific trends and data observations are presented on six topics: seed, fertilizer, machinery, finance, markets, and transport. The report also discusses the continued development of several topics that will be added in future reports: information and communication technology, land, water, livestock, gender, and environmental sustainability.
Download or read book The Governance of Urban Green Spaces in the EU written by Judith Schicklinski and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-04-28 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data collected in twenty-nine European cities from all four European geographic regions, this book examines the governance of urban green spaces and urban food production, focussing on the contribution of citizen-driven activities. Over the course of the book, Schicklinski identifies best practice examples of successful collaboration between citizens and local government. The book concludes with policy recommendations with great practical value for local governance in European cities in times of growth.
Download or read book Diversifying Food and Diets written by Jessica Fanzo and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-06-26 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Currently 868 million people are undernourished and 195 million children under five years of age are stunted. At the same time, over 1 billion people are overweight and obese in both the developed and developing world. Diseases previously associated with affluence, such as cancer, diabetes and cardio-vascular disease, are on the rise. Food system-based approaches to addressing these problems that could enhance food availability and diet quality through local production and agricultural biodiversity often fall outside the traditional scope of nutrition, and have been under-researched. As a consequence, there remains insufficient evidence to support well-defined, scalable agricultural biodiversity interventions that can be linked to improvements in nutrition outcomes. Agricultural biodiversity is important for food and nutritional security, as a safeguard against hunger, a source of nutrients for improved dietary diversity and quality, and strengthening local food systems and environmental sustainability. This book explores the current state of knowledge on the role of agricultural biodiversity in improving diets, nutrition and food security. Using examples and case studies from around the globe, the book explores current strategies for improving nutrition and diets and identifies key research and implementation gaps that need to be addressed to successfully promote the better use of agricultural biodiversity for rural and urban populations and societies in transition.
Download or read book Seed Policy and Programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean written by and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2001 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The meeting recognised the need for the sustainable use of plant genetic resources for sustainable agricultural development of the region. Discussions focused on the appropriate mechanisms required to ensure capacity for the maintenance, production and equitable distribution of good quality seeds from a wide range of plant varieties. The meeting agreed to establish the Seed Consultative Forum for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Download or read book Seeds for Diversity and Inclusion written by Yoshiaki Nishikawa and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book will contribute to a more nuanced debate around seed system resilience that goes beyond the dominant dichotomous conceptualization of seed governance often characterized as traditional vs modern, subsistence vs commercial, or local vs global. While reflecting on the expanding oligopoly in the current seed system, the authors argue that such classifications limit our ability to critically reflect on and acknowledge the diverse approaches through which seed governance is practiced around the world, at various scales, creating a mosaic of dynamic complementarities and autonomies. The authors also highlight the importance of this much needed dialogue through case studies of seed governance approaches and practices found in and around Japan.
Download or read book Redesigning the Global Seed Commons written by Christine Frison and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-11-08 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is much current controversy over whether the rights to seeds or plant genetic resources should be owned by the private sector or be common property. This book addresses the legal and policy aspects of the multilateral seed management regime. First, it studies in detail the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (the Treaty) in order to understand and identify its dysfunctions. Second, it proposes solutions - using recent developments of the "theory of the commons" - to improve the collective seed management system of the Treaty, a necessary condition for its member states to reach the overall food security and sustainable agriculture goals. Redesigning the Global Seed Commons provides a significant contribution to the current political and academic debates on agrobiodiversity law and governance, and on food security and food sovereignty, by analyzing key issues under the Treaty that affect the design and implementation of regulatory instruments managing seeds as a commons. It also examines the practical, legal, political and economic problems encountered in the attempt to implement these obligations in contemporary settings. In particular, it considers how to improve the Treaty implementation by proposing ways for Contracting Parties to better reach the Treaty’s objectives taking a holistic view of the human-seed ecosystem. Following the tenth anniversary of the functioning the Treaty’s multilateral system of access and benefit-sharing, which is currently under review by its Contracting Parties, this book is well-timed to examine recent developments in the field and guide the current review process to design a truly Global Seed Commons.
Download or read book Breeding Grounds for Biodiversity Renewing Crop Genetic Resources in an Age of Industrial Food written by Maywa Montenegro and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seeds are central to agrobiodiversity, and farmers have historically bred a rich array of crop seeds to sustain rural and urban communities. Over the past 150 years, however, trajectories in macroeconomic development, science and research, and agricultural policy have dovetailed with environmental changes to diminish seed diversity and the living agricultures it supports. While genetic erosion has emerged as a global challenge, access to that diversity has also come into stark relief: Industry consolidation, the development of transgenic crops, and intellectual property rights are now seen as constraints on free exchange of seeds and the ability of farmers and breeders to adapt and breed resilient crop cultivars. How can seed diversity – and access to it – be expanded once more? To address this question, my dissertation develops a ‘political ecology of seeds.’ Building on the foundational account of seed primitive accumulation by Kloppenburg (1988), I examine several dimensions left underexplored in this and other accounts: new, countervailing forces of repossession working against primitive accumulation; the knowledge politics of seed production and of seed science; and the co-production of institutions, policies, discourse, and knowledge together. Using a constructivist theoretical framework, my project explores how knowledge politics and coproduction are instrumental in carving out new – and retracing old – territories for seed enclosures in the contemporary era. By examining how often-invisible discourses and practices underpin seed dispossession, we are better equipped to organize alternatives – not only to reject colonial and capitalist habits of thought/practice, but to revitalize communal, ethical, and economic strategies of repossession. My thesis includes three core papers, alongside introduction, theory, and conclusion chapters. In the first paper, I critically interrogate meanings of ‘diversity’ via rivaling discourses of seed ‘loss’ and ‘persistence’ visible in the scientific, international policy, and farmer movement literatures over 40-plus years. On one hand, numerous studies and stories indicate that crop genetic diversity is rapidly eroding worldwide. On the other hand, much data suggests that far from disappearing, seed diversity persists – resisting homogenizing trends within industrial capitalism. Yet in lieu of binary analyses, a more accurate accounting, I argue, can come from investigating the epistemic practices and politics of agrobiodiversity: what is known – recognized, measured, valued – as being lost or maintained. Evaluating historical data on farmer naming systems along with newer methods of genomic and biochemical analysis, I develop a multi-dimensional framework for understanding seed diversity. My second paper considers crop wild relatives (CWR) as a fast-emerging site for new seed primitive accumulation. Faced with imminent climate change, scientists and agribusinesses are vying to develop crops that can survive drought, floods, and shifting pest regimes. CWR offer breeders the allure of ‘climate-hardy traits,’ infusing genomes of modern crops with ‘lost’ genetic variety. Paradoxically, wild relatives themselves are endangered, propelling CWR into the limelight as an international conservation and food-security priority. I examine accumulation processes along two fronts: conservation policies, where in situ approaches, typically regarded as empowering alternatives to ex situ, instead may support appropriation; and breeding and biotechnology research, which produces new use values for CWR while profoundly shaping upstream conservation priorities. My third and final paper explores the US-based Open Source Seed Initiative as one example of repossession. OSSI has created an alternative to intellectual property rights with a ‘protected commons’ for seed. Commons scholarship has contributed much on theories of institutional governance. But, I argue, attending to the practice of ‘commoning’ helps illuminate a more complex triad: communities who manage shared resources according to negotiated social protocols. Employing the metaphor of ‘beating the bounds’ – a feudal practice of contesting enclosures – I ask how OSSI defends the commons in intersecting arenas. First is legal, as OSSI negotiates a move from contract law toward moral economy law. Next is epistemic, as a ‘freelance’ breeder network revitalizes informal farmer-breeder knowledge, proving less structurally constrained than formal university breeders to lead commoning efforts. Third is seed sovereignty, as OSSI engages with global South movements whose diverse cosmovisions and seed cultures pose new challenges for constructing transnational commons. I conclude by using spatial ‘centricity’ to conceptualize power relations in seed systems. CWR exemplifies ‘ex-situ centric’ flows of seed knowledge, power, and value away from local communities to centralized, often distant sites of recognizing and classifying diversity. Expertise is conferred primarily upon those scientists and industrialists who can produce commodity goods. By contrast, OSSI mobilizes breeder and farmer knowledge in a countervailing, ‘in-situ centric’ direction: towards local spaces, towards legitimizing farmer-breeders as knowledge makers. This movement, I conclude, is not merely an opposite force: it triangulates across three bases of ‘emancipatory’ action at the heart of agroecology, food sovereignty and commoning. Uniting politics of recognition (race, gender, identity), politics of redistribution (class and inequality), and politics of representation (democracy and citizenship), the question of seed diversity and access, I suggest, is ultimately a political one. It calls for recognizing diverse knowledge-makers, redistributing genetic resources as commons, de-centralizing seed reproduction to suit heterogenous agroecologies, and addressing base inequalities in power that drive dispossession.
Download or read book Sparking a Worldwide Energy Revolution written by Kolya Abramsky and published by AK Press. This book was released on 2010-08-01 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the earth’s carrying capacity continues to be stressed, the question of renewable energies is no longer whether, but when and by whom. Climate change and peak oil have hit the mainstream. Kolya Abramsky’s collection maps the world’s energy sector and shows how addressing these challenges necessitates an analysis of our economic priorities. Solutions must include massive shifts in our use of technologies and, most importantly, a democratization of the economic landscape based on broad new coalitions. With four distinct sections—Oil Makes the World Go 'Round; From Petrol to Renewable Energies; Struggle Over Choice of Energy Sources and Technologies; and Possible Futures—and over fifty essays from approximately twenty countries, there’s nothing like Sparking a Worldwide Energy Revolution to address our global energy crisis. The different chapters bring together a wealth of organizational and analytical experience from across the different branches of the energy sector, both conventional and renewable. Contributors include the following organizations and individuals: China Labour Bulletin (Hong Kong/China), Energy Watch Group (Germany), Focus on the Global South (Thailand), Integrated Sustainable Energy and Ecological Development (India), Public Services International Research Unit (United Kingdom), World Information Service on Energy (Netherlands), Preben Maegaard, and Hermann Scheer. Kolya Abramsky is a former secretariat of the World Wind Energy Institute, based in Denmark, a pioneering country in renewable energy. He is currently a research fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Science, Technology and Society in Austria, and is pursuing a PhD in sociology at State University of New York, Binghamton.
Download or read book Social Sector Communication written by Jaishri Jethwaney and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-07-22 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Communication, advocacy, and outreach are germane to the success of any organisation working in the social sector. This book provides a robust conceptual framework that is required to understand the demands of the sector and suggests strategies and tools for those engaged in social sector communication. This book not only highlights the theoretical underpinnings, practice, and skill of social sector communications in India but also provides an understanding of various skills and approaches required in communication including social marketing, media advocacy, social mobilisation, grassroots communication, and corporate social responsibility (CSR). With the aid of case studies, it offers suggestions on how to plan campaigns; write a concept note, field report, and press release, and effectively use social media to achieve developmental programme goals. This revised edition discusses the different perspectives of NGOs and programme implementers and helps in understanding the corporate–NGO interface vis-à-vis CSR projects. This book will be useful to students of social work, business, and management preparing for roles in social enterprises. It will also be of use to working professionals in the social sector.
Download or read book Managing Global Genetic Resources written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1993-02-01 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This anchor volume to the series Managing Global Genetic Resources examines the structure that underlies efforts to preserve genetic material, including the worldwide network of genetic collections; the role of biotechnology; and a host of issues that surround management and use. Among the topics explored are in situ versus ex situ conservation, management of very large collections of genetic material, problems of quarantine, the controversy over ownership or copyright of genetic material, and more.
Download or read book Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential Actions strategies solutions written by and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 984 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Genetically Engineered Crops written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2017-01-28 with total page 607 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Genetically engineered (GE) crops were first introduced commercially in the 1990s. After two decades of production, some groups and individuals remain critical of the technology based on their concerns about possible adverse effects on human health, the environment, and ethical considerations. At the same time, others are concerned that the technology is not reaching its potential to improve human health and the environment because of stringent regulations and reduced public funding to develop products offering more benefits to society. While the debate about these and other questions related to the genetic engineering techniques of the first 20 years goes on, emerging genetic-engineering technologies are adding new complexities to the conversation. Genetically Engineered Crops builds on previous related Academies reports published between 1987 and 2010 by undertaking a retrospective examination of the purported positive and adverse effects of GE crops and to anticipate what emerging genetic-engineering technologies hold for the future. This report indicates where there are uncertainties about the economic, agronomic, health, safety, or other impacts of GE crops and food, and makes recommendations to fill gaps in safety assessments, increase regulatory clarity, and improve innovations in and access to GE technology.
Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of Poverty in the Global South written by Rajendra Baikady and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-12-01 with total page 758 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook initiates fresh debates on poverty and its impact in a constantly changing Global South society. It studies the concept, theories, and causes of poverty, as well as the design and delivery of social welfare policies related to specific groups, such as women, children, and the elderly. The chapters are theoretical, evidence-based, and empirical in nature and bring together a holistic understanding of social problems and issues in developing countries. The volume brings together researchers, educators, and practitioners from across the globe to develop a hands-on reference work that will be requisite for several social science disciplines concerned with poverty and the welfare of poor people. The first of its kind, the handbook will be indispensable for scholars and researchers of development studies, economics, social work, political studies, poverty studies, population and demographic studies, sociology, social anthropology, public policy, and political economy, especially those concerned with the Global South.
