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Posts Tagged ‘genetic-resources’
Farmers’ Rights Consultation
We herewith invite you to participate in global consultations on Farmers’ Rights as these are addressed in Article 9 of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (also called the Plant Treaty; see www.planttreaty.org). The background for these consultations is a decision made by the Governing Body of the Plant Treaty at its third session (Resolution 6/2009). Here the Governing Body recalls the importance of fully implementing Farmers’ Rights, and, among other things, requests the Secretariat to convene regional workshops on Farmers’ Rights to discuss relevant national experiences. The Fridtjof Nansen Institute (www.fni.no) in Norway is assisting the Secretariat in carrying out this task. Funding is limited, so we begin by carrying out consultations via e-mail, in order to involve as many stakeholders as possible, in all parts of the world. The e-mail consultations have been made possible thanks to support from SwedBio of Sweden and the Development Fund, Norway. We are still trying to raise the funds necessary to hold a consultation conference towards the end of the year, which will then be global, with regional components. The results of the global consultation process will be presented to the Governing Body of the Plant Treaty at its Fourth Session in 2011, as a basis for its deliberations on promoting the realization of Farmers’ Rights at the national level.
The following questionnaire is designed to obtain information in the context of Resolution 6/2009 of the Governing Body and to facilitate discussions at the consultation conference. The Secretariat will follow this process and provide information to Contracting Parties accordingly.
Please distribute this questionnaire to organizations and individuals engaged in plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and farmers’ rights – in your own country and abroad. We would also be grateful if all those who are working with farmers take this opportunity to distribute the questionnaire among them, or to convene group consultations among farmers to complete the questionnaire collectively, if appropriate, and send it to us.
We sincerely hope that you will take the time to complete this questionnaire to the best of your capacity, and return it to us.
The final deadline for submission of this questionnaire is 31 August 2010.
Please e-mail the questionnaire to email hidden; JavaScript is required or as fax to (+47) 67 11 19 10.
We will publish the results of this e-mail based part of the consultation by the beginning of November 2010 in the form of a report, with the responses presented region-wise. For more information please visit the website of the Farmers’ Rights Project of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute at (www.farmersrights.org) or contact Tone Winge (email hidden; JavaScript is required).
Oslo, Norway 6 July 2010
Sincerely yours,
(sign.)
Regine Andersen,
Senior Research Fellow and
Director of the Farmers’ Rights Project
Fridtjof Nansen Institute
THE QUESTIONNAIRE
English: http://dgroups.org/?56n6yhjx
French: http://dgroups.org/?fmcgl3nf
Spanish: http://dgroups.org/?tm9assp9
ABOUT THE TREATY AND THE CONSULTATION
English: http://www.farmersrights.org/about/fr_in_itpgrfa_7.html
French: http://www.farmersrights.org/FR/concernant_traite4.html
Spanish: http://www.farmersrights.org/ES/acerca_tratado4.html
We herewith invite you to participate in global consultations on Farmers’ Rights as these are addressed in Article 9 of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (also called the Plant Treaty; see www.planttreaty.org). The background for these consultations is a decision made by the Governing Body of the Plant Treaty at its third session (Resolution 6/2009). Here the Governing Body recalls the importance of fully implementing Farmers’ Rights, and, among other things, requests the Secretariat to convene regional workshops on Farmers’ Rights to discuss relevant national experiences. The Fridtjof Nansen Institute (www.fni.no) in Norway is assisting the Secretariat in carrying out this task. Funding is limited, so we begin by carrying out consultations via e-mail, in order to involve as many stakeholders as possible, in all parts of the world. The e-mail consultations have been made possible thanks to support from SwedBio of Sweden and the Development Fund, Norway. We are still trying to raise the funds necessary to hold a consultation conference towards the end of the year, which will then be global, with regional components. The results of the global consultation process will be presented to the Governing Body of the Plant Treaty at its Fourth Session in 2011, as a basis for its deliberations on promoting the realization of Farmers’ Rights at the national level.
The following questionnaire is designed to obtain information in the context of Resolution 6/2009 of the Governing Body and to facilitate discussions at the consultation conference. The Secretariat will follow this process and provide information to Contracting Parties accordingly.
We hope that you can distribute this questionnaire to organizations and individuals engaged in plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and farmers’ rights – in your own country and abroad. We would also be grateful if all those who are working with farmers take this opportunity to distribute the questionnaire among them, or to convene group consultations among farmers to complete the questionnaire collectively, if appropriate, and send it to us.
We sincerely hope that you will take the time to complete this questionnaire to the best of your capacity, and return it to us.
The final deadline for submission of this questionnaire is 31 August 2010.
Please e-mail the questionnaire to email hidden; JavaScript is required or as fax to (+47) 67 11 19 10.
We will publish the results of this e-mail based part of the consultation by the beginning of November 2010 in the form of a report, with the responses presented region-wise. For more information please visit the website of the Farmers’ Rights Project of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute at (www.farmersrights.org).
Oslo, Norway 6 July 2010
Sincerely yours,
(sign.)
Regine Andersen,
Senior Research Fellow and
Director of the Farmers’ Rights Project
Fridtjof Nansen Institute
THE QUESTIONNAIRE
English: http://dgroups.org/?56n6yhjx
French: http://dgroups.org/?fmcgl3nf
Spanish: http://dgroups.org/?tm9assp9
ABOUT THE TREATY AND THE CONSULTATION
English: http://www.farmersrights.org/about/fr_in_itpgrfa_7.html
French: http://www.farmersrights.org/FR/concernant_traite4.html
Spanish: http://www.farmersrights.org/ES/acerca_tratado4.html
Adaptive Management Course in Ghana 18 October-5 November 2010
From Nico Rozemeijer, Senior advisor Collaborative Natural Resources Management and Rural Development, Centre for Development Innovation, Wageningen UR:
I would like to draw your attention to the upcoming short course on Adaptive Management in Ghana from 18 October – 5 November 2010. It seems far away but the deadline for applying for fellowships is June the first, and responding early never hurts… [Please find the course announcement with further information here.
Famine Foods
From Robert Freedman, Tucson, Arizona:
I am doing ethnobotanical research on a little-known category of underutilized plants – Specifically, the data I am coordinating documents food plants used throughout the world, during periods of drought-induced famine and food scarcity. These data are accessible, on the Web, at: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/FamineFoods/ff_home.html
My intention, in coordinating these data, is to provide a resource, of proven drought-resistant food plants, some of which, because of known high nutrient content, have a potential for improvement, that would make possible the development of new crops, for populations relying on non-indigenous and environmentally at-risk spp.. This idea is articulated further, on the Web, at ‘Notes on the Famine Food Web Site’: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/FamineFoods/faminefoods.html
Based on what is known of those famine food plants, which have been analyzed in the laboratory, these data also provide a large corpus of spp.., still in need of nutritional analysis, to ascertain which may have nexpectedly high nutritional values and thereby become candidates for growth trials and selection. I would like to contact other specialists, who have an interest in arid land subsistence; and development of underutilized food plants. If you could suggest any individuals and organizations whom I can contact, I will be most appreciative.
For more information please contact Bob Freedman at email hidden; JavaScript is required
Vavilov-Frankel Fellowship – 2010 Call for Research Proposals
Bioversity International is pleased to announce the 2010 Call for Research Proposals for the Vavilov-Frankel Fellowship. You can find all the relevant information (announcement, application form and guidelines) here.
The Vavilov-Frankel Fellowships Fund aims to encourage the conservation and use of plant genetic resources in developing countries by awarding Fellowships to outstanding young researchers to carry out relevant innovative research at an advanced research institute outside their own country for a period of three months to one year.
Plant Genetic Resources in the Pacific
During September 2009 a suite of meetings and events will take place in Fiji, related to plant genetic resources:
21-22 September: “Crops for the Future in the Pacific”. This consultation meeting aims to explore the potential of under-utilized species as crops for the future in the Pacific region and highlight the areas/gaps that would benefit from further action. The outcomes from this seminar will feed into the next phase of the Pacific PGR network (PAPGREN) project.
23-24 September: ITPGRFA meeting. This meeting is a follow up to the 3rd Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) meeting in Tunis, Tunisia (June 2009). At this 3rd Session meeting the Pacific officially placed the collections held in trust by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees into the Multilateral System of the Treaty. At the two day workshop in Fiji participants will cover the following issues related to ratification and implementation of the Treaty, namely (a) using the SMTA (b) how to fulfill your obligations under the Treaty (c) issues related to accession to the Treaty (d) international and regional cooperation in the implementation of the Treaty
25 September: Opening of the new Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT) in Suva.
26 September – 2 October: PAPGREN meeting and training. This is the annual meeting of the Pacific Plant Genetic Resources Network (PAPGREN) during which PAPGREN members will present their country activities for the last year. The role that diversity plays in climate change, nutrition and trade will be discussed as these are key issues in the Pacific. Three days of this week long meeting will be spent conducting training in genebank management to include morphological and molecular characterization.
The above meetings are co-organised by the Secretariat of the Pacific Communities (SPC), the Asia-Pacific Association for Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI) and Crops for the Future. For more information contact Mary Taylor.
New fund for international seed sharing
SciDev.Net reports on the recent meeting of the International Treaty for Plant Genetic Resources in Tunis 1-5 June 2009: “Years of deadlock between developed and developing nations on seed sharing have been broken with an agreement to set up a fund to help poor farmers preserve the world’s biodiversity…” Read on
Geneflow 2007
Geneflow is an annual magazine that contributes to promoting awareness of the importance of the Earth’s agricultural biodiversity and the role it plays in improving people’s lives and livelihoods. It is produced by Bioversity International, but carries stories from all around the globe, from a wide range of sources including national, regional and international development agencies, non-governmental organizations and research workers.
Download the publication (3 MB) from bioversityinternational.org
Now Geneflow is looking for contributions to “Geneflow 2009″
Dear Colleagues:
We are gathering story ideas for the 2009 Geneflow. I would be grateful for any story ideas you might have.
Please send in your story ideas by June 30th at the very latest.
This year the feature section will focus on Guardians of Diversity- individuals who have dedicated their lives to conserving agricultural biodiversity. However, don’t feel you have to limit yourselves–we’ve got an extensive news section as well. I would especially appreciate stories that highlight the work of your partners.
Please remember that your stories must be accompanied with high quality digital images.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
All the best
Ruth (email hidden; JavaScript is required)
Descriptors for Farmer’s knowledge of plants
The list of Descriptors for Farmer’s knowledge of plants, is a first attempt to combine a documentation system traditionally used in controlled environments (genebanks, breeding institutes) with an approach that involves people and their knowledge ‘in the field’. We hope that this list, which is the result of many years of review of fieldwork by scientists and field practitioners, will become an important tool for integrating scientific and traditional knowledge. The list is primarily targeted at the plant genetic resources community, to increase the range of knowledge recorded during plant collection, its widespread use by others, including communities and organizations, is encouraged. It is intended to be user-friendly and practical, whilst balancing inclusiveness and concision.
Read the full arcticle at The Platform for Agrobiodiversity Research.
The International Foundation for Science – Call for Grant applications
The International Foundation for Science (IFS) is looking for young scientists in developing countries for IFS Research Grants to do research on the sustainable management, use, or conservation of biological or water resources. This broad statement covers natural science and social science research on agriculture, soils, animal production, food science, forestry, agroforestry, aquatic resources, natural products, water resources, etc. Applications are accepted all year and are to be made on an IFS Application Form.
Closing Date: Until filled
The full guidelines, eligibility criteria, and instructions to apply are available here: www.ifs.se/Programme/granting_programme.asp