Planet Under Pressure takes place this week – a major event focusing on solutions to the global sustainability challenge, leading up to Rio+20 in June 2012.

Bioversity International is organizing a live web-cast for us all to be there and contribute – see the message from Bioversity International’s web site

To mark the event, why not join Bioversity International for a live chat ‘Agricultural Biodiversity and our Planet‘ on Tuesday 27 March at 14:00 from Rome, Italy (Central European Summer Time – CEST) which you will be able to follow live from this page. Check out the International Time Converter.

Our expert panel – Emile Frison, Bruce Cogill, Fabrice DeClerck and Stephan Weise – will respond to questions and comments about how agricultural biodiversity can contribute to the global sustainability challenge and improve nutrition and livelihoods in smallholder farming communities.

As well as opportunities to contribute questions and comments during the event, we are also now taking advance questions through Twitter – #abdchat

Dr Sean Mayes, Associate Professor in Crop Genetics at the University of Nottingham on Global food security UK web site tells us about the value of diversification and the importance to rely also on underutilized species, more capable to cope with water constraints and other issues brought by climate change.

Read bout it here

A book on food relocalisation and knowledge dynamics in rural development

Quoting from the From a review on the publisher’s website, where you find more information about this recently published book

Reviews: ‘The book is one of the most succesful attempts of the last years to highlight the relevance of local resources to strategies of sustainable rural development for Europe. While it provides a sound and innovative theoretical framework, the book shows an impressive amount of empirical evidence, covering countries and regions often neglected in the international literature.‘
Gianluca Brunori, University of Pisa, Italy

Sustainability of trade in kava (Piper methysticum), which was severely compromised by a 2002 ban on exports from Pacific Islands to European pharmaceutical companies, has reached a new phase. Exporters vigorously fought the ban, imposed as a result of claims that kava pills, sold as herbal remedies for reducing anxiety, sleeplessness, and depression, were toxic to the liver of individuals who took them. Concerted reaction by Pacific interests such as the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat led to the formation of the International Kava Executive Committee, which sought ways to get the ban lifted. A 2007 World Health Organization report found that the process of manufacturing the pills was more likely to be toxic to some pill takers than the kavalactones drunk in traditional beverages; quality control and changing the manufacturing process could allow exports of kava to Europe to resume.

To access the article:
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/contemporary_pacific/summary/v021/21.2.pollock.html

Montpellier, France

Facing the crisis and growing uncertainties, can science and societies reinvent agricultural and food systems to achieve sustainability?

What current changes imply for research is a question that must be addressed collectively. This is why we invite you to join us in this symposium to reflect upon future choices, design appropriate scientific agendas, and help renew actions and policies so that innovation systems can better achieve sustainability.

Researchers from all disciplines are welcome, as well as stakeholders and policy makers, from Northern and Southern countries.

We hope to greet you soon in Montpellier!

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