CAWR Newsletter

October 2019

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.'

News

Community rights to land, seeds and natural resources for agroecology in West and East Africa – New video available!

A new series of short videos are now available on the importance of community rights in Africa and efforts by various actors in the food sovereignty movement to better protect them. The videos document the discussions that took place at two workshops organised in 2018-19 by Priscilla Claeys and Stefanie Lemke in Mali (with IRPAD) and Uganda (with AFSA) and the methodology they used to get participants to collectively identify research gaps. Their objective was to co-develop, with local partners, a research agenda on community rights in Africa. Aussi disponible en français.

Scaling Agroecology -  Some of The Latest Thinking in 5 Edited Collections! 

There has been a lot of talk about the scaling of agroecology as a new paradigm for food and agriculture. There have been calls for scaling up, scaling out, massification, transitions, transformations and more. Five recent collections of articles/chapters have recently been published that we thought we’d draw your attention to. Click here to find out more.

BioRich are in the news! 

The BioRich farm lab team, including Donna Udall and Francis Rayns, are in the news. There’s been intense interest in this project and the team are now helping build another bid to expand farmer led research in this area. We’ll keep you updated. Click here to read more on the news coverage. 

Discussions on agroecology in Berlin

Professor Michel Pimbert was invited to a Round table on Agroecology in Berlin (Germany) at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) on 21 October 2019. To help frame discussions on policy choices for BMZ , Michel presented a paper on Transformations for Sustainable and Just Food Systems through Agroecology. Participants in Berlin and Bonn (via video link) included senior staff from BMZ and GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), the German Ministry of Agriculture, a trade union of German farmers, and Civil Society Organisations (CSO) responsible for food, agriculture and rural development.You can view the presentation here. 

Professor Pimbert participated the next day in a follow up session on Overcoming Global Crises with Agroecology. Michel’s presentation focused on Institutional and political transformation for more agroecological policies and practices. View the presentation here. 

Last, Michel also engaged in a round table discussion and public debate involving about 160 people at the Heinrich-Böll Foundation on 22 October in Berlin. There were lively exchanges between the audience and panelists who represented the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO),   Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), a major German political party, Biowatch South Africa, and the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR).  The debate on Overcoming Global Crises with Agroecology was moderated by Benny Haerlin, former CSO Bureau member of the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD). The day’s events were jointly organised by Misereor,  Inkota, Bread for the World, and Oxfam Germany.

Seperation Sciences and Mass Spectrometry

This month Ramón González-Méndez attended the 1st Iberian Meeting on Separation Sciences and Mass Spectrometry, Santiago de Compostela (Spain), as a invited speaker. Ramon gave a talk on his work on “Evolution and Developments of Proton Transfer Reaction-Mass Spectrometry for Security Applications.” Ramon has also been awarded Chartered Chemist status from the RSC (Royal Society of Chemistry). Congratulations Ramon! 

These Extraordinary Times: Indigenous Peoples and Coalition Building for Agroecology and Food Sovereignty

The first in a blog series commissioned to develop ideas circulating during the recent Agroecology Now International Workshop, Carol Kalafatic explores the coalition-building of Indigenous Peoples. As Carol argues, the industrial food system relies on ‘rupture of relationships’; counter to this, Food Sovereignty is based on a solidarity that ‘will reinforce our resilience in the face of increasing unpredictability’. Read the full article here.

BBSRC-GCRF Agri-Systems project

Dr James Bennett and Dr Stefanie Lemke travelled to South Africa for two weeks in early October as part of the BBSRC-GCRF funded project ‘Trade-Offs in Communal Grazing Systems in South Africa’. They organised and hosted two stakeholder workshops. The first was a two-day workshop that brought together 35 representatives from academia, government, NGOs as well as local communities to work through some of the trade-offs that will be required to deliver different environmental and social benefits both for the communities themselves and more broadly.  Three key areas focused on were removal of invasive wattle trees, rethinking the management of community land at a landscape scale and building institutional capacity to facilitate this.  The second, related workshop focused on governance of the rangeland commons and involved only community members.  Key constraints identified were the difficulty of some communities to control access to natural resources by people from outside the community and an inability to enforce rules regarding grazing management.  The outcomes of both workshops will inform the direction of the project over the next 18 months.

Special Issue on Learning for Transformation in Food Movements

This special issue, published in the Journal of Agriculture and Human Values, focuses on the role of popular education, critical pedagogy and adult education - or learning for transformation - in social movements for food sovereignty, agroecology and food justice. Click here to read more.

Visit to Bogota Columbia

Professor Susanne Charlesworth was invited to the University of the Andes by Dr Juan Pablo Rodriguez Sanchez on the UK PACT (Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions) funded project: Systemic perspectives on low‐carbon cities in Colombia: An integrated urban modelling approach for policy and regulatory analysis.

The focus of the week was on the potential for implementing Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) in 2 case study sites, one to the north of Bogota at the Suba wetlands, and the second to the south of the city centre in the San Cristobel Park. Both sites have been impacted by urbanisation, with the former under threat from a main road proposed to be built through the centre of it, as well as the construction of further housing, and the latter by polluted surface runoff being directed into the Fucha River which runs alongside the park.

San Cristobel Park visit: A sustainable drainage management train has been implemented in the Park to treat runoff before its discharge into the river. It comprised a sinuous grass swale, and retention basin followed by a hard infrastructure swale into a detention basin (pictured). In spite of heavy rainfall, the train performed well, dealing with the extra volumes of stormwater and encouraging the particulates to settle out.

Looking down the management train in San Cristobel Park

They were hosted by one of the members of the wetland reserve, who explained the impacts of the nearby housing estate, and the plans for future construction in the catchment. Problems included general pollution associated with urbanisation, as well as fly tipping of construction waste, solid waste and vandalism. However, there was evidence of community action on the site in the planting of new trees and native vegetation.

During the visit, Sue was able to discuss the potential for future research collaboration with the group at the University of the Andes and also have meetings with Natalia Bernal, a Masters student undertaking a project on the development of a set of Ecosystem Services indicators to develop a decision support tool for use in urban planning in Bogota.

Sue’s visit ended with her giving both a workshop on the place of SuDS in the overall project and a research seminar “Sustainable Drainage in Challenging Environments: refugee camps, informal settlements, favelas” which generated lively discussion around the techniques which could be used in the context of Columbia’s informal settlements.

The group discuss the impacts of the wetland drainage on the Bogota River

Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute

Asst Prof Dr Sara Burbi was invited to the final reporting event held at the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute at Hillsborough, Northern Ireland, on October 4th. Keynote speakers were: Tara Pelembe, Deputy Director of the South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute (SAERI), Prof Jim McAdam OBE, grassland ecosystems specialist, and Dr Rodrigo Olave, sustainable agri-food and agroforestry specialist. Dr Olave, who is a Honorary Research Fellow at CAWR, presented the final results from the work he carried out last year in the Falkland Islands. The work was funded by the Shackleton Scholarship Fund and focused on gas fluxes from agricultural land, predominantly used for sheep grazing, the main agricultural activity on the islands. Future research opportunities are being considered to evaluate comprehensively the sustainability of sheep grazing, in particular regarding profitability and future prospects under climate change threat, and how agroecological principles and the integration of evidence-base with farmers’ knowledge can positively contribute to safeguard this important agricultural activity for the islands, while also showing how these farming systems can be more resilient facing the effects of climate change.

Electrofishing for the Salmon in the Stour project

Laura Allen, one of our PhD students shares her recent adventure as part of her work:

"I feel lucky that with my PhD I am collaborating with the Severn River Trust, a fantastic organisation doing incredible work for the environment and local communities across the Severn River Basin. Through September I was fortunate enough to go out on four days of Electrofishing for the Salmon in the Stour project. These surveys were to asses the fish stocks through the Stour as a complementary method to previously taken Environmental DNA (eDNA) samples. This was my first experience of Electrofishing and the first time I have had fish in hand since I was a child, so the experience never lost it's excitement. Not only this but I also got to observe another element of the work my partner organisation is a part of. "

A Guide to Mapping For Food System Change

Many people and organisations interested in agroecology and food sovereignty are mapping. It is all the rage! This new publication highlights the issues, challenges and emerging opportunities that might arise when designing mapping processes with the intention of supporting them to be more powerful tools for food system change. Click here to read more. 

Organic Matters

Francis Rayns attended the ‘Organic Matters’ horticulture conference that was organised by the Organic Growers Alliance (OGA). This event was an opportunity for producers to consider issues such as soil analysis techniques, the management of pests and beneficial insects and the potential of composted wood chips to maintain soil fertility. After the conference there was a visit to Sims Hill Shared Harvest - a community supported agriculture scheme on the outskirts of Bristol. Discussions here included the use of plastic mulches for weed suppression, a contentious practice that is one of the topics within the Organic-PLUS project.

Sustainable Water in the 21st Century

Dr Anna Bogush attended a one-day conference "Sustainable Water in the 21st Century" organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry. The very interesting presentations and very important discussions were in two sessions: 1) Delivering Water Sustainably – the Role of the Chemical Sciences in Policy, Industry, Standards, Risk and Regulation; 2) Delivering Water Sustainably – the Role of the Chemical Sciences in Helping Solve Challenges to Water Sustainability. This conference was inspirational and very informative.

Holistic Management of Emerging Forest Pests and Diseases Survey

The HOMED project (an EU Horizon 2020 funded project) is looking at Holistic Management of Emerging Forest Pests and Diseases and has launched a survey for people working with trees, and those who are interested in identifying or managing emerging tree pests and diseases. The survey is interested in awareness, identification and management of emerging tree pests and diseases, and the HOMED project's aim is developing scientific knowledge and practical solutions.

We are looking for responses from people working with trees and tree health throughout Europe. (Translations are underway.) Click here to take the survey. 

Vacancies at CAWR 

Research Assistant (Organic-PLUS Horticultural Science Research Assistant)

£26,723 - £35,856 per annum

Closing date: 07/11/2019

Full Time (1 FTE) - Fixed term contract from 1st January 2020 to 31 December 2021 (2 years)

Associate Professor in Gender and Water Governance

£51,044 - £63,684 per annum

Closing date: 11/11/2019

To apply or find out more about either of these vacancies, please visit the Coventry University Online Portal by clicking here. 

Congratulations to Natasa and Morwenna

Natasa Tziampou passed her PhD viva subject to minor corrections. Her title was Research on the evaluation of new barrier systems for Pervious Pavement Systems (PPS) to control flooding and Urban Pollution. Congratulations Natasa! 

Morwenna McKenzie also passed her viva with minor corrections. Her title was Response of macroinvertebrates to fine sediment pollution. Congratulations Morwenna! 

Events

Applying the adaptive cycle to Community Food Initiatives: the case of Tamar Grow Local in the South-West of England with Simon Platten

Hydro-hazards in New Zealand: from alpine water towers to water-scarce drylands with Daniel Kingston

Biological invasions: Exploring new challenges in a changing world with  Dr. Simone Guareschi

Publications 

Anderson, C. R., Bruil, J., Chappell, M. J., Kiss, C., & Pimbert, M. P. (2019). From Transition to Domains of Transformation: Getting to Sustainable and Just Food Systems through Agroecology. Sustainability, 11(19), 5272.

Our new publication presents 6 "domains of transformation" and focuses on power and governance in transformations for sustainability and social justice: 1) access to natural ecosystems; 2) knowledge and culture; 3) systems of exchange; 4) networks; 5) discourse; and 6) gender and equity.

Anderson, C. R., Binimelis, R., Pimbert, M. P., & Rivera-Ferre, M. G. (2019). Introduction to the symposium on critical adult education in food movements: learning for transformation in and beyond food movements—the why, where, how and the what next? Agriculture and Human Values, 36(3).

Buchanan, C. (2019). Dealing with Undeniable Differences in Thessaloniki’s Solidarity Economy of Food. Sustainability, Sustainability, 11(8). Open Access.

Claeys, P. and Duncan J. (2019). Food sovereignty and convergence spaces. Political Geography. Open Access.

Eden, J.M., Kirkken, F. and Drobyshev, I. (2019) An empirical prediction approach for seasonal fire risk in the boreal forests, Int. J Climatol. (in press).

Pirozzi C., Pontoni L., Fabbricino M., Bogush A., Campos L.C. (2019) Effect of Organic Matter Release from Natural Cork Used on Bisphenol A Removal from Aqueous Solution. The Journal of Cleaner Production 244.

Sabogal-Paz L.P., Campos L.C., Bogush A., Canales M. (2019) Household slow sand filters in intermittent and continuous flows to treat water with low mineral ions concentrations and Bisphenol A. Science of the Total Environmental, accepted.