In January 2000, an ambitious project was launched called Growing Diversity. Two years later and with 65 case studies from 37 countries, this ambitious project will culminate in a conference in Brazil in May 2002. The conference, held in the Amazon region, will host all the case studies generated to be shared between each other and the rest of the world.
The focus of the project has been the local management of agricultural biodiversity in its broadest sense: the part of biodiversity that sustains, nurtures and feeds people. It includes experiences with domesticated plant and animal diversity, and "hidden" (wild) diversity that is such an important source of food and health for many people. The project has also focused on those that have, as a guiding principle, the strengthening of community control over biodiversity. It has been an opportunity to share the experiences of different groups involved in the local management of agricultural biodiversity. This in turn has led to the empowerment and strengthening of the groups involved and an increase in awareness of the central importance that biodiversity has for rural people.
The project has been developed in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The breadth of subjects, crops, animals, wild foods, people and organisations encompassed by the project show that diversity is not just a part of agriculture. Rather. diversity permeates the different cultures, the different environments and, of course, the people behind all the growing diversity.
The results of all the case studies including photos, contacts and other related documents and links will available on the Internet: www.grain.org/gd in May 2002. Or contact GRAIN for more information by post at our Barcelona office: Girona 25 ppal, Barcelona 08010, Spain.
The organisations which initiated the Growing Diversity project include:
GRAIN; Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, Stockholm, Sweden; Bread For
the World, Stuttgart, Germany; and Centro Internazionale Crocevia, Roma, Italy.
The Growing Diversity website will soon be available. Subscribe to newfromGRAIN to find out when it will be available.