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CAWR Newsletter
April 2020
Our monthly newsletters are an easy way to keep up-to-date with new developments at our research centre. From successful project bids to upcoming events, our newsletter informs you on how we are 'driving innovative transdisciplinary research on resilient food and water systems.'
The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the contributors at the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Coventry University.
News
Field work at Ryton Organic Gardens continues
Field trials at the Ryton Organic Gardens site continue despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Working with Five Acre Community Farm, the community supported agriculture scheme based at Ryton, CAWR researchers are growing a range of crops for ongoing projects. For Organic-PLUS, onions and cabbages to find alternatives to black plastic mulch, and tomatoes to examine a range of vegan-organic fertilisers. For TRUE, assessments are being made of green manures (cover crops) for protected cropping and beans will be grown to assess the attractiveness of modern and heritage varieties to pollinators. Strict social distancing is of course being adhered to and we are pleased to be contributing to growing food for the local population whilst answering important agroecological questions in these uncertain times.
Learning Together: The Agroecology Movement Shares Stories for Change
A photo story on the Global Agroecology Learning Exchange which was organised by the Agroecology Fund in South India, last February 2020. CAWR was one of the invitees to this event, Learning Together: The Agroecology Movement Shares Stories for Change.
This photo story was prepared by Rucha Chitnis for the Agroecology Fund. As Rucha says “it was a privilege to meet movement leaders from Brazil, Nicaragua, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Philippines, India, among other countries. As Covid-19 also implicates our broken global food system, here are some voices and faces from the frontlines that are advocating for a shift in the food system for farmers, fisherfolk, nomadic communities and consumers”.
HOMED survey update
The HOMED team have now closed the HOMED surveys about new, emerging tree pests and diseases: awareness, detection and management which was available this winter to stakeholders interested in tree health in Europe. There were 240 responses via surveys in 9 languages from people interested in European tree health from all over the world, particularly in Europe. The results are currently being written up, and the HOMED team would like to thank all those involved, those who took the survey and put their views across, and those who distributed the surveys to their networks.
Towards an Asian Pollinator Initiative
In February, Barbara Smith visited CAWR collaborators at the Centre for Pollinations Studies (CPS) at the University of Calcutta in India where she is a Co-director. The CPS hosted a three-day meeting called ‘Towards an Asian Pollinator Initiative’ which brought together pollination ecologists and biologists from across Asia to discuss how the Asian research community can address the issues of environmental threats to pollinators. With a mix of plenary talks, workshops and a poster session, the meeting delegates worked together to produce a suite of scenarios for pollinator management that they called the ‘Good, the bad and the Ugly’! Delegates also drafted a review paper summarising the state of pollinator research in Asia and this will be published with multiple authors from across Asia. After the meeting, the CPS collaborated with the Zoological Society of India (ZSI), who hosted a two-day taxonomy workshop with expert taxonomists from India, the UK and China. Both meetings were incredibly stimulating and wonderfully organised, supported by an enthusiastic team of students from both Calcutta University and ZSI.
After the meeting Barbara attended a stakeholder meeting for the CMNS Pesticide Access Study project led by Edinburgh University in collaboration with The Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, The Public Health Foundation of India and Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA). This project is exploring the potential to remove pesticides from the farming system through agroecology and thereby reduce farmer suicides.
New E-Publication: Designing the world that we want
This publication compromises a collection of articles based on presentations from the International Permaculture Conference in London in 2015. The editorial team compromises of Julia Wright, Angela Hilmi, Barbara Smith, Immo Fiebrig, Katie Hartless-Rose, Marina Chang, Sara Burbi, Sue Charlesworth and Ulrich Schmutz. It aims to showcase a transdisciplinary range of authors, involved in research, policy and practice, across the three ethical principles of permaculture; Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Shares. The publication includes quotes from world renowned permaculturalist Geoff Lawton, and the poem that emerged from the conference. Click here to view the publication.
Organic-PLUS 2020 Consortium Meeting and AGA
On 1st April, the CAWR-led EU H2020 project, Organic-PLUS held its Annual General Assembly and Consortium Meeting. Originally scheduled to be held in Volos, Greece, the meeting was moved online as the impact of COVID-19 became apparent. Each 'work package' prepared and shared presentations of their work before the meeting, allowing more time for discussion and questions on the day. Although some aspects of the online meeting were less straightforward than a face to face gathering, the consortium still had a very productive day and moved forward cooperation within the project. Read more on the Organic-PLUS website.
Organising a solidarity kitchen
Bringing everyone to the table
Sao Paulo's Urban Living Lab
WASTE FEW ULL's Sao Paulo Urban Living Lab (ULL) created a video that is based on agroecological food production, preserving the Atlantic rainforest and addressing linearity and waste production in the food/ energy/ water nexus. Visit the project website for more information. Click here to view the video.
Funded studentships available
We have six funded studentships available to start in September 2020. Deadlines are fast approaching so get in touch with the named researcher if you have any queries.
Trees for climate change and agroforestry: towards sustainable planting strategies in Africa
Application deadline: 1st May 2020
Funding: Tuition plus bursary
Queries to: Dr. Katharina Dehnen-Schmutz
Modelling Nature Based Solutions to control flooding and erosion in Gihembe refugee camp, Rwanda
Treating New and Emerging Pollutants associated with slums in developing countries using Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS): monitoring and modelling
Building capacity for more sustainable and equitable governance of the rangeland commons in South Africa
Crisis, transformation and collaborative practice: agroecology and the co-creation of territorial food systems
Enhancing Mangrove Forest Resilience against Coastal Degradation and Climate Change Impacts using Advanced Bayesian Machine Learning Methods
Collaboration with Centre for Data Science
MSc in Agroecology, Water and Food Sovereignty
If you're interested in joining us in September on our Masters course and have any questions, please get in touch with our Postgraduate team who will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Watch this video to find out more about the course.
Events
At present, we're not hosting any seminars but will let you know in the meantime if and when this changes. Use this time to catch up on some of our previous seminars!
Muck and Magic with Charlotte Hollins
Pesticides and the Great Barrier Reef. How bad is it and can we do something about it? with Professor Michael Warne
A time of waste - sustainable environmental geoscience solutions with Chris Greenwell
Publications
Anderson, C.R. 2020. Confronting the Institutional, Interpersonal and Internalized Challenges of Performing Critical Public Scholarship in the Elite Academy. ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geography 19: 270-302.
Kalafatic, C. (2020) Indigenous Peoples Re-Membering Their Futures in Extraordinary Times. Development, 63, 27–30.
Kalafatic, C. (2019) Inclusion and engagement with Indigenous Peoples. In: Hendriks, S. (Ed.). Food Security Policy, Evaluation and Impact Assessment. Routledge.
