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CAWR Newsletter
March 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.'
News
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
V for Vienna and video - RECOMS 4th Training event
RECOMS 4th Training, the Creativity, visualisation and communication: Workshop and master class was held in Vienna, Austria hosted by BOKU University between 3rd-13th February 2020. The aim of the training was to equip the RECOMS fellows with skills in visualising research results and in creative communication to maximise their capacity to achieve research impact and stimulate on-the-ground transformative thinking. The work on the videos (storyboarding of the educational film clips, editing of a 2-minute video, and a session on participatory film making) enabled the fellows to produce videos, an important medium to communicate with the public. The Master Class on ‘research impact and transformative thinking through visual exhibition’ provided important input for the fellows who will have the opportunity to participate in preparing an exhibition as part of the final RECOMS event. Read more about it here.
RECOMS is funded by the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 765389.
New Special Issue on Agroecology Transformations: Connecting the dots to enable agroecology transformations
This special issue, published in the Journal of Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, includes six new articles sharing new insights into processes of transformation to enable agroecology as a model for a more just and sustainable food system. Find out more via this link.
AGM and Spring Open Day at Sacred Earth – project partner for the Ash dieback project
CAWR is partnering with Sacred Earth, a community owned land project in Sussex to set up a field trial as part of the Managing Ash Dieback project. Sacred Earth held its AGM and open day on 1st March, where Ffion Thomas, gave a talk about the research, focusing on the field trial that is being set up on one of Sacred Earth’s fields. Ash tree seedlings that have been gathered on site by volunteers will be planted out with various sustainable soil amendments produced on site. This will include willow wood chip and willow wood biochar, to ascertain whether improving soil health in turn improves ash tree health and their ability to withstand the ash dieback disease.
In the afternoon, local people had the opportunity to go on a guided walk around the site, including the biochar making area, the areas of the woodland where ash seedlings were gathered and the field where the ash trees will be planted. They were able to ask questions about the project and found out how they could volunteer to help, with a few of them having returned to help with crushing biochar and gathering seedlings.
The Barn - A Repository of Collective Action Stories
Farmers and land managers play a key role in the environmental and economic sustainability of the farming sector in Europe. The way they organise and network, and their ability to combine individual and collective work, will critically influence the future of Europe’s foods and landscapes. The aim of the BOND project is to reach higher levels of organisation and networking, and develop a healthier, resilient, productive and harmonious farming sector in Europe for the long term. From the very beginning of the project, BOND has collected case studies and success stories of collaboration in Europe’s farming sector, to teach, inspire, motivate and guide individuals, groups and entities of farmers and land managers.
Inside The Barn on the BOND project website you can access the initial 20 case studies collected during the study tours and 24 more interesting stories provided by our partners and representatives from different sectors (sustainable farming, market access, environmental sustainability) and the content is still growing.
Some of the stories are works in progress, some are works concluded, and others are just at the start or even a plan of a project with an expected impact. They are united by a common objective – creating bridging and bonding linkages and networks for the benefit of the food and farming sectors.
UK Tree Health Citizen Science Network
Mature elm in the afternoon sun, at Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, with members of the UK Tree Health Citizen Science network
Samantha Green from the EU funded HOMED project (Holistic Management of Emerging Tree Pests and Diseases) attended the UK Tree Health Citizen Science Network meeting at Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, on 26th February 2020, to hear about UK tree health citizen science initiatives and to invite participants to take and share the online HOMED survey studying awareness, detection and management of emerging tree pests and diseases in Europe amongst their networks. The HOMED survey is now closed. The team thank you for having taken part, and are now collating the results to share.
2020 is International Year of Plant Health. There are many wonderful tree health and tree recording citizen science projects in UK some of which can be done at home. For more information please visit this link.
UK Funding Masterclass
The Organic-PLUS project was invited by UKRO (UK Research Office) and Coventry University’s Research Funding Unit (RFU) to present at the UK Funding Masterclass held 5th March 2020 at Coventry University’s (CU) Technology Park. The program was packed with interesting presentations by Gregg and Jessica (CU Brussels Office), Jon Brookes (UKRO), Yannis (CU, RFU, pictured with summary of awards slide) and examples of Horizon-2020 and MSCA-IF funding experience by CU staff: Huma (IFTC), Ulrich (CAWR) and Chris (CTPSR).
Prioritising Agroecology and Challenging Corporate Technology-Led Approaches in the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit and Beyond
This new comment at agroecologynow.com joins other groups in expressing concerns over the corporate-led technocratic approach taking further hold at the UN, and in regards to the upcoming UN Food Summit in particular. It calls for the centering of bio-culturally diverse agroecology, the right to food and gender transformative approaches. Only from this perspective, rooted in a commitment to reversing environmental decline, supporting livelihoods and confronting all forms of inequity, will the summit be able to make a useful contribution to the long-term and difficult work ahead. Click here for more information.
Coventry University-led research to benefit Kenyan small-scale livestock farmers
Click here to read our press release on our recently awarded 'Evaluating the potential of intensive grazing and corralling to enhance ecosystem services in Africa’s communal rangelands' project.
Liberate research and technology from growth-first ideology
Check out this new video from Barbara Van Dyck that takes a critical view on research and technology to advocate for an orientation that enables “the pursuit of food-justice and the flourishing of all life”. Barbara will be joining the CAWR team in April.
Innovative Farmers workshop
CAWR recently hosted a second meeting of the Innovative Farmers group concerned with phasing out the use of plastic mulches. During the session, Dr. Francis Rayns and Judith Conroy discussed with growers what data they would like to collect and the practicalities of conducting field trials in the 2020 growing season. These farmer-led trials will be complementary to the work of Organic-PLUS which is investigating alternatives to the fossil-fuel derived plastic sheeting widely used in crop production to suppress weeds. A diverse range of growers are participating in the trial of alternatives which include biodegradable films and loose mulches such as chipped wood. Working alongside farmers in this way also provides the opportunity to discover any issues with the alternatives and investigate any barriers to their uptake, which is an important aspect of Organic-PLUS.
A GM future?
Dr. Julia Wright contributed to this article on GM and gene editing and shared her views. Click here to read the article.
World March for Women: Linking Struggles from Across the Globe
"Globalize the struggle! Globalize hope!” Sophie Ogutu with the World March of Women (Kenya) shares this message – one of the primary slogans of La Via Campesina – in the ninth short film in the #FoodSovereigntyStories series. For Ogutu, the US Food Sovereignty Alliance’s IV National Assembly allowed for strengthening our linkages and shared efforts to construct a just, equitable global society. Click here to find out more.
FAO’s Latest Newsletter and AgroecologyNow @ CAWR’s Work
This edition of the FAO Agroecology newsletter may be of interest (you might also consider subscribing). Notably it features:
- The latest publication in our Reclaiming Diversity and Citizenship Series CAWR by Paulo Petersen et al. on the LUME Method.
- Work on agroecology in Nicaragua - see the article in our special issue on agroecology transformation where Katharina Schiller et al. share a critical perspective on this case.
- A learning course on global governance from our partners at Schola Campesina (Paulo Freire).
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!
A Traits-based approach to determining flower visitation with Anya Goncalves Geiger
Agroecological practices as territorial development: an analytical schema from Brazilian agroforestry case studies with Les Levidow
Beyond Ecosystem Services: Brokering Agrobiodiversity Management Enterprises in Europe and Internationally with Humberto Rios Labrada
Publications
Anderson, C.R., Pimbert, M., Chappell, M.J., Brem-Wilson, J., Claeys, P., Kiss, C., Maughan, C., Milgroom, J., McAllister, G., Moeller, N., and Singh, J. (2020) Agroecology Now – Connecting the Dots to Enable Agroecology Transformations. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. 43(6).
Negri, A.P., Templeman, S., Flores, F., van Dam, J.W., Thomas, M., McKenzie, M., Stapp, L.S., Kaserzon, S., Mann, R., Smith, R.A., Warne, M.StJ. and Mueller J. (2020) Ecotoxicology of pesticides on the Great Barrier Reef for guideline development and risk assessments. Report to the National Environmental Science Program. Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, Australia. 128p.
Gwiriri, L. C., & Bennett, J. E. (2020). Balancing Democracy with Service Delivery: Power Relations, Politics and Accountability in Cooperatives Supporting Emergent Livestock Farmers in South Africa. International Journal of the Commons, 14(1), pp. 123–138
