IK Monitor Websites (9-1)

Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor, March 2001

Contents IK Monitor (9-1) | IKDM Homepage | Suggestions to: ikdm@nuffic.nl | © copyright Nuffic-CIRAN and contributors 2001.

Websites

In this feature we recommend websites that deal with the subjects treated in this issue of the Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor. CIRAN's information specialists have searched the Internet for relevant, useful pages. Sometimes the sites offer background information; other times the information is supplementary.

Setting up farmers' research agendas in Lesotho

Lesotho agricultural data NewAfrica.com is a major portal to all sorts of information about Africa. The pages on agriculture in Lesotho present articles on horticulture, livestock, policies, food, and other topics. They also offer search options and access to free newsletters. The same sort of information is available on the site for other African countries as well.
http://www.newafrica.com/agriculture/country.asp?CountryID=26

Remote sensing and GIS in northern Australia

Remote Sensing and GIS The new website of the Northern Territory University's Remote Sensing and GIS Program offers information about and links to all courses, contacts, research projects and facilities (two GIS computing labs) available at the university and relating to spatial information. These include a mailing list (see below).
http://www.gis.ntu.edu.au/general/general.html

The Australian Remote Sensing & GIS List This list is intended as a forum for anyone who works with or is studying remote sensing and GIS, especially with reference to Australia. Any contribution relevant to the community is welcome: for example, announcements of conferences, workshops and other meetings of interest; discussions and inquiries related to research or application; offers of collaboration and ideas for future research directions; and the posting of employment offers or requests.

The value of this list as a communication medium will increase as the membership increases and becomes more and more willing to contribute. Everyone engaged in remote sensing and GIS in Australia is therefore encouraged to join, as is anyone else who is interested and possesses relevant knowledge and experience.
To join this list, visit http://www.onelist.com/community/RSGIS

The following announcement was recently posted through the list.

5th North Australian Remote Sensing and GIS Conference 3 - 5 July 2001 at the Northern Territory University, Darwin, Australia. The conference programme will be provided following receipt of all abstracts. For more information, contact the secretariat by e-mail: nargis01@ntu.edu.au
http://nargis01.ntu.edu/au

CINCRM homepage The Centre for Indigenous Natural and Cultural Resource Management was established in February 1997 at the Northern Territory University in Darwin, Australia. The Centre aims to be a national and international focal point for research which meets the needs of indigenous Australians and which facilitates career opportunities for indigenous researchers.
CINCRM supports indigenous students and scholars as they conduct research in natural and cultural resource management, community development and sustainable development.
CINCRM is actively involved in developing curriculum for indigenous resource management.
http://www.ntu.edu.au/cincrm/

Intellectual property rights regime for traditional livestock raisers

Sustaining Agricultural Biodiversity - (UKabc) is a portal offering access to public-interest organizations in the United Kingdom that are concerned with sustainable use, conservation, benefit-sharing, trade, patents, intellectual property, biopiracy, biotechnology, genetic engineering, biosafety and other issues related to the equitable use of agricultural biodiversity for local food and livelihood security.
The website has documents, information, and links to livestock programmes such as Heifer Project International, and FAO's Domestic Animal Diversity - Information System (see below).
http://www.ukabc.org/ukabc6.htm

FAO The UN World Food and Agriculture Organization has a website for its global initiative to foster genetic diversity in farm animals. The site offers, either online or as a PDF file, all documents related to the strategy for the management of farm animal genetic resources, including background information, summaries, conventions and agreements, reports of meetings, and the World Watch List for Domestic Animal Diversity.
http://www.fao.org/livestock/agap/agr/angrdc.htm

RAFI homepage Rural Advancement Foundation International is an international non-governmental organization in Canada dedicated to the conservation and sustainable improvement of agricultural biodiversity and to the socially responsible development of technologies useful to rural societies. RAFI is concerned about the impact of intellectual property rights on agriculture and world food security. The website offers news, documents, search facilities and cartoons(!) It does not present a lot of information about the biodiversity of livestock, however.
http://www.rafi.org/

Cultural Survival homepage Cultural Survival is an organization, founded in 1972, which seeks to ensure the rights of indigenous peoples to define and practise their own traditions and to participate as equals in the decisions affecting their ancestral territories. The titles of the organization's publications and projects indicate its concern for specific cases and specific peoples around the world. But all of this material can also be searched by topic with the excellent search facility on the website. A search on 'domestic animals' or 'local breeds' leads the user to relevant information contained in such specific reports as 'Totem Peoples Preservation Project', for instance.
http://www.cs.org/

LIFE homepage LIFE stands for 'Local Livestock For Empowerment of Rural People - A movement supporting rural communities through the conservation and development of indigenous livestock breeds and species'. This is a network with a website offering information about itself, the people involved, and the Sadri Declaration. The website is still under construction but will soon offer information and links under the features 'Current dialogue', 'Literature', and 'Participation'.
http://www.lifeinitiative.org/

Sadri Declaration These recommendations of an international conference and workshop held in India in November 2000 are available as a PDF file on the website of the German Development Cooperation Organization GTZ, under the project 'Managing agrobiodiversity in rural areas'.
http://www.gtz.de/agrobiodiv/pub/pub.htm

M.S. Swaminathan

M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation The website of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation offers an overview of its activities, which place science in the service of sustainable agriculture and rural development. One of the data services to which the site offers access is the Farmers' Rights Information Service (see below).
http://www.mssrf.org.sg/

In The Times of India online, M.S. Swaminathan is featured among the 'Indians of the Century' as one of the 'Great minds and spiritual lights'.
http://www.timesofindia.com/century/00guru4.htm

Farmers' Rights

Convention on Biological Diversity This website offers the full text of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which was first put forward for signature at the 1992 'Earth Summit' in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). The concept of Farmers' Rights as developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is based on this convention.
http://www.unep.ch/bio/conv-e.html

Farmers' Rights Information Service These pages and links provide an introduction to the issue of protecting agribiodiversity and offer information on interesting sub-topics, such as sacred groves.
http://www.mssrf.org.sg/, and click on data services.

'What has gender to do with Farmers' Rights?' is an article on the FAO website. It can be found among the documents on the relationship between farmers' rights and the conservation and use of plant genetic resources (PGR). The article identifies areas of action for achieving an equitable and 'gender-responsive' allocation of farmer's rights. It also discusses the importance of ensuring that everyone who plays a role in managing and conserving plant genetic resources have access to decision-making processes. The experience, knowledge, needs and priorities of many parties need to be recognized and incorporated into any activities associated with farmers' rights.
http://www.fao.org/docrep/x0255e/x0255e06.htm