Communities and Livelihoods
- Boys in Syria displaying collected pistachios. Credit: S. Padulosi/Bioversity. This photo comes from the Neglected and Underutilized Species Media Gallery
The relationship between the conservation of genetic resources and their use is an intimate one. On-farm, in situ and community-level conservation and use have become integral to the conservation of plant genetic resources. Because of this, biodiversity research must take into account social and cultural factors, including decision-making patterns, local institutions, indigenous knowledge and value systems.
To find out about some of the different areas of research in this area, scroll down or click on the links below.
Home Gardens
Home gardens are microenvironments containing high levels of species and genetic diversity within larger farming systems. These gardens are not only important sources of food, fodder, fuel, medicines, spices, construction materials and income in many countries around the world, but are also an important means for in situ; conservation of a wide range of plant genetic resources. It is important to understand however that it is not individual home gardens that make the biggest impact on biodiversity, it is the 'community' of gardens that is important for plant genetic resources conservation and use.
Home gardens are dynamic in their evolution, composition and uses. Their structure, composition, and species and varietal diversity have been influenced by the changes in socioeconomic circumstances and cultural values of the users of these gardens. The understanding of these factors and the ways they change according to the behaviour and decision-making patterns of users of the home garden is crucial in shaping strategies for including home gardens as a viable option for in situ conservation of agrobiodiversity.
Home gardens have several features that make them a viable and important option for in situ conservation. They can serve as refuges for crop and crop varieties that were once more widespread in the larger agro-ecosystems. Farmers often use home gardens as a space for plants with little or no market value that may offer important nutrient combinations, figure prominently in local food culture, or have religious significance to the farmer. Home gardens are sites for experimentation and introduction of new cultivars arising from the exchange and interaction between cultures and communities. These are also sites for initial processes of domestication of plant species. It is therefore crucial to understand their dynamics so that they can take their place as a component of in situ conservation of global agrobiodiversity.
Scientific investigation on the status roles and dynamics of these gardens, and their potential as a viable conservation unit has been lacking. Despite the fact that they are increasingly perceived to be under threat, home gardens are an integral part of the farming systems in countries around the world and often play an important role in the livelihood of communities.
Publications
Home Gardens and Agrobiodiversity (external link)
Home gardens and in situ conservation of plant genetic resources in farming systems
In situ conservation of plant genetic resources in home gardens of southern Vietnam
Ethnobiology
Ethnobiological methods are used to investigate how local peoples characterise and value genetic diversity and how their practices, cultures and institutions maintain genetic resources and shape crop evolution.
The ethnobiological research is complemented with biological analyses to identify where and how variation and genetic diversity in crops is found and valued. The results of this work provide information that national programmes can use to better focus conservation and use activities, support in situ conservation and conservation through use and assess genetic erosion in ecosystems.
Ethnobiological methodology aims to answer three questions:
- How much biodiversity exists within different indigenous and underutilized crops across microenvironments
- How are the species managed and used by people from different communities with distinct socioeconomic conditions
- What is the potential of various traditional species for further development
Ethnobiological indicators of genetic diversity can be used in locating, collecting, conserving, characterizing and evaluating plant genetic resources. The information generated is also useful for germplasm maintenance, its enhancement and crop improvement. This activity focuses on traditional cultivars to highlight the contribution of locally managed genetic diversity to food security and sustainable ecosystem management.
Publications
Biodiversity for Community Development: Mediating between Cultural Preservation and Development (PDF 130 KB)
International Congress of Ethnobiology Symposium, November 2006
Links
Protecting Rights: Legal and Ethical Implications of Ethnobiology
People and Plants Handbook, Issue 2 - July 1996
Growing Diversity
Cultivando la Diversidad
People and Plants Handbook, Issue 7 - September 2001
International Society of Ethnobiology
Development Gateway: Indigenous Issues
Community-based biodiversity management
Community-based biodiversity management is a participatory approach to strengthen the capacity of local institutions and farmers for managing biodiversity for social, economic and environmental benefits.
The rationale of community biodiversity management is that the local community institutions or individuals with in a community can be strengthened through the management of community based knowledge systems to identify, conserve, manage, add value, and exchange on-farm local diversity.
Community-based biodiversity management is embedded in existing social structures and local institutions ranging from families to markets. Local systems of classification of crop and species diversity reflect socio-cultural perspectives for recognizing and using genetic diversity and its functional attributes. Locally managed seed systems are among the most important institutions for agricultural biodiversity management. Seed diversity and its associated knowledge is regulated by a set of specific rights, responsibilities and division of labour, often related to gender and age.
Social networks play a key role in determining access to seed and information. Relationships of trust and affection within the extended family or beyond are fundamental to the decision-making process, while norms, laws, rules, procedures, traditions, customs and practices influence the choice of individuals. All of which affect the movement of germplasm among households, villages and over larger geographic areas.
Maximizing the contribution of agricultural biodiversity to sustainable livelihoods may involve strengthening human and social capital in ways that support the management of the natural capital, including plant genetic resources. Biodiversity is an important but often undervalued asset available to resource-poor farmers for managing vulnerability, uncertainties, shocks and stresses. For this reason, issues relating to access to and control of local genetic resources are critical for the optimal management of biodiversity on farm.
Publications
Farmer participatory research on coconut diversity: workshop report on methods and field protocols
L'approche participative dans la recherche sur le mode de gestion des especes cultivaes localement en fonction du genre au Mali: methodologie et techniques
Participatory approaches to the conservation and use of plant genetic resources
Participatory Plant Breeding
Links
CGIAR's Systemwide Program on Participatory Research and Gender Analysis (PRGA)
Agro-biodiversity in Nepal: Wise Insurance
IDRC Reports magazine (April 2007)
The potential of small holder technology in quinoa producing communities of the Southern Bolivian Altiplano
Global Facilitation Unit for Underutilized Species feature article, May 2007
Gender analysis
In rural areas, the conservation and use of plant genetic resources begins with women. In some regions and for certain crops, women farmers are involved in many aspects of the crop cycle, including seed selection to planting, harvest, storage and processing. Within the household, women are responsible for food needs and welfare, including the cultivation or gathering of food, fodder, fuel, medicinal plants and fibre. In these roles, women often play a key a role in determining which plant resources to conserve and use, which crop varieties to grow, which food products to keep for home consumption and which to sell at the local market.
For this reason, gender analysis and gender sensitive approaches are a core apart of conservation and use of genetic resources in production systems. Research in this area produces indicators for monitoring and mainstreaming gender sensitive approaches in biodiversity and genetic resource projects. Case studies on gender-differentiated management of agrobiodiversity provide a rich body of empirical information that supports the use of gender analysis to obtain a more complete view of the extent, value, and uses of genetic resources by rural communities. Such an understanding can help us improve the current conservation strategies that appear to focus mostly on male farmers.
Publications
Women Farmers and Andean Seeds
El Rol Del Genero en la Conservacion, Localizacion y Manejo de la Diversidad Genotica de Papa, Tarwi y Maiz
Links
The role of women in the conservation of the genetic resources of maize
Guatemala
El papel de la mujer en la conservacion de los recursos genoticos del maiz
Guatemala
The Gender and Diversity Programme of CGIAR
CGIAR's Systemwide Program on Participatory Research and Gender Analysis (PRGA)
Royal Tropical Institute: Gender
Documentation of traditional knowledge
Traditional knowledge is closely related to the environment that the people live in. It is a living knowledge that changes over time in the same way that crops adapt to their changing environment.
Other factors influencing traditional knowledge are changes in social structure and values, as well as interactions with other communities. Knowledge arises from close relationships farmers have with their environment and the plants and animals they cultivate or raise. In situ conservation in turn helps to maintain that living knowledge.
Documenting indigenous knowledge brings information about local use of genetic resources to researchers. It also serves to empower and encourage local communities to participate in genetic resources management and conservation of genetic activities.
Links
The International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR)
Recording And Using Indigenous Knowledge: A Manual
Local institutions and resource rights
Land and water are crucial "partner resources" needed for the conservation of genetic resources. In particular land tenure and water rights are likely to affect in situ conservation for a variety of reasons.
The type and strength of property rights affect farmers' time horizon and investment choices and, as a consequence, crop diversity. Stronger land use and management rights for farmers can increase their ability to grow a variety of crops. Where farmers' investments are crop specific, however, security of property rights might lead to less-diversified cropping patterns.
Property rights, together with available genetic resources, affect people's capacity to manage diversity and risk. Many traditional communities present "patchwork landscapes" with various ecological niches that favour the use of unique varieties and plant types adapted to those niches. High genetic diversity reduces risk, and access to a diverse pool of plant genetic resources improves the long-term resilience of the agricultural production system in the face of adverse shocks like drought.
Maintaining traditional varieties that remain central to farmers' livelihood strategies demand policies that build upon local values, cultures, and traditional resource rights. Planning for the conservation and use of plant biodiversity needs to begin by identifying and consulting with local community groups and in some cases, individual farmers.
Farmers make their decisions about what to cultivate based on their relationship with local community institutions, together with the higher levels of government and the rules, norms, and guidelines that they provide.
Institutions may include local traditions, market forces, or cultural values. Unless carefully coordinated, the various institutions often provide contradictory sets of incentives. Understanding the mechanisms linking competing local-level and higher-order institutions to individual decision-making, requires a strategy to systematically identify the total number and various types of pathways by which local institutions influence individuals' choices.
Links
The CGIAR System-wide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi)