A new information resource for the Indian Ocean: the Bio & Agri Portal

From CIRAD - Sophie Della Mussia

The islands of the Indian Ocean have launched, under the auspices of the IOC (with support from the CIRAD and financial support from Europe, the French & Réunion Government) a new information resource on the web: the Indian Ocean Biodiversity & Agriculture portal.

It's finally here - the Bio & Agri OI Web Portal is now open to business, where you can discover more about the natural and agricultural heritage of the islands of the Indian Ocean. This region is one of the world's biodiversity hotspots, and each of the five member states of the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), - Comoros, Reunion, Madagascar, Mauritius and the Seychelles - have pledged to preserve this biodiversity.

Promoting agro-ecology

In order to safeguard our biodiversity, members of the Indian Ocean agricultural community have agreed to adopt more environmentally friendly policies.
"These new policies are basically equitable management of natural resources, to improve soil fertility, protect crops against pests and improve irrigation and using fewer resources, while maintaining a satisfactory level of production. This is the challenge of today’s agro-ecology, and the main concern of national authorities will be to address climate change," says Tahina Rakotondralambo, coordinator of the Regional Agro-ecology & Climate Change Initiative (IRACC), launched by the IOC and financed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). This will enable farmers to better cope with droughts, overcome the difficulty for islanders of obtaining supplies, so as to enhance their autonomy. Aims also include avoiding resource depletion. These are the practices the IOC member states have pledged to promote.

A new way of exchanging information

The Bio & Agri OI web portal is part of this initiative. The address of the portal is http://agriculture-biodiversite-oi.org, and is designed for :

• Professionals in agriculture and the environment, who are invited to share their successful experiences in agro-ecology.
• Scientists, who will publicize their successes;
• States, who will share their agricultural and environmental policy ideas;
• Anyone curious about the natural and agricultural heritage of the Indian Ocean;
• The press

How rainwater harvesting is helping Nicaraguan farmers

By Alejandra Martins, BBC Mundo

 

Prized resource: The aim is to ensure a year-round supply of water

"I've been a farmer for more than 40 years, but I never had an opportunity like this," says Victor Beltran.

Mr Beltran lives in northern Nicaragua, one of the poorest and driest areas of the country, where a pilot project to harvest rainwater is beginning to transform local agriculture and local people's lives.
"Farmers have come from other parts of the country to see what is happening here. I no longer depend on seasonal rainfall. I produce three times more maize and have a surplus to trade," says Mr Beltran.
The project involves building earthen dams to form reservoirs or ponds that can collect surface water run-off from the hills during the rainy season.

 

Farmer Victor Beltran says the project has changed the way he works

 

The water is then used for irrigation during periods of drought.
"The problem in Nicaragua and the majority of tropical areas in Latin America is that you have a huge contrast between the rainy and the dry season," says Gonzalo Zorrilla, who is directing the project.
"In Nicaragua's case, you have a lot of rain for six months and then six months when there is practically none."
Catching the rain The idea for the initiative stemmed from work in southern Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay by the Latin American Fund for Irrigated Rice (FLAR) and supported by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).
In these countries, more than 1m hectares (2.5m acres) of rice have been irrigated with water collected by the farmers themselves.

 

The key to the project is finding the right location to build a dam

 

"With our partners in Nicaragua, the local rice farmers' association, we thought it could be possible to use the same technology to help small farmers in the tropics," said Mr Zorrilla.
"We convinced a UN agency, the Common Fund for Commodities, CFC, to fund the project."
The idea is to construct the reservoirs as cheaply and simply as possible.
A dam is built between two hillsides to catch the rainwater run-off and create a pool of water.
An outlet tube reinforced with steel bars lies underneath the dam, so all the farmer has to do to irrigate his crops is open the valve.
"If you go anywhere in northern Costa Rica, Panama or Nicaragua, there is massive unemployment during six months of the year. People have no income, no crops, and in severe cases their cattle are dying," says Edward Pulver, agricultural scientist at FLAR.
When the project started, he says, many farmers were not optimistic about their future.
"But as soon as we started mentioning irrigation, their eyes lit up like Christmas tree lights because they had hope.
"They saw they didn't have to be poor, there was a way out. It is incredibly impressive to see that."

 

Nicaragua is susceptible to floods - and drought

 

Fourteen dams have been completed or are being built in Nicaragua, and similar projects are under way in Costa Rica and southern Mexico.
"We are getting the same yields of maize in Nicaragua that you get in the Midwest in the US," says Mr Pulver.
"Fresh corn was not available in the dry season. Now, because of irrigation, some farmers sell their whole production as fresh corn for human consumption," says Mr Zorrilla.
This means a potential income of several thousand dollars per hectare, an amount that was "completely unimaginable in the past", according to Mr Zorrilla.
The project has also helped farmers to vary their diet, as some of them have introduced a small fish, tilapia, to the reservoirs.
Farming's future? Many countries in Latin America, including Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Costa Rica have the right topography and conditions to harvest water, says Mr Pulver.
"In Latin America we have excess water. Our problem is we have flooding, so if we can just capture this water, store it and plant crops during the dry season, we can feed ourselves very easily.
"This technology can work in the poorest of countries, and the CFC wants us to take the idea to Africa."

 

Irrigation also means more varied crops can be grown

 

A key aim of the pilot project, which ends in 2012, is to train local people and officials so they can build their own dams and reservoirs.
"If we finish with just 14 dams in Nicaragua, nothing would have change there because too few farmers would have benefited," says Mr Zorrilla.
"Globally, despite the challenges of growing populations, water is really under used.
"The intelligent, sustainable use of water could give rise to a water revolution, a blue revolution," he says.
One key factor seems already guaranteed: the conviction of the farmers themselves.
"If you expand access to this technology, you can help to lessen the impact drought has in Nicaragua," says Mr Beltran.
"Farmers can have a balanced diet, money for their farm and for their children's education. On my farm, there's now work for four of us.
"This project has really changed the way we think."

 

Harvesting rainwater is changing some people's views about life on the land

Source: bbc.co.uk
24 November 2011 Last updated at 10:53 GMT

Two Guernsey politicians oppose third golf course plan

An interesting read on agriculture land conservation vs development!

 

The land at La Ramee would be turned into an 18 hole golf course

Plans for a third 18-hole golf course in Guernsey have been formally opposed by two politicians.

Deputies Tony Spruce and Robert Sillars filed an amendment against the creation of a course on former greenhouse and farm land at La Ramee in St Peter Port.

Deputy Spruce said the plans represented a conflict between the search for a new golf course and the need to retain land for agriculture.
He said: "We feel it's essential agricultural land... is protected."
Deputy Spruce said: "To move another 150-odd acres of land from agriculture or dairy farming over to a golf course is just a step too far."

Environmentally friendly

However, the plans have been supported by Deputy Ivan Rihoy.
He said: "Environmentally it would make the area fantastic. Golf courses are really environmentally friendly."
Deputy Spruce's amendment, seconded by Deputy Sillars, suggests preserving La Ramee exclusively for agriculture.
It will be put to the States in the November meeting as part of a debate on the government's strategic land use plan.
Guernsey currently has two 18-hole golf courses, situated at L'Ancresse and La Grande Mare, as well as a smaller course at the St Pierre Park hotel.



Source: bbc.co.uk
21 November 2011 Last updated at 11:44 GMT

Is the world running out of fish: Build a sustainable fishing industry

How can we build a sustainable fishing industry that maintains healthy fish stocks and valued employment? OECD analyst Saba Khwaja talks about OECD work that helps governments formulate effective fisheries policies, while fish seller Antoine Mallaird tells us about the changes he's seen in his business.

L’île durable fait fausse route

Admin's note; This guy rocks. He is one of the best living brains of Mauritius. Google his worth! !!

Photo: Sanju Deenapanray chercheur en systémique
SCIENTIFIQUE GLOBE-TROTTER, partisan de la « croissance zéro », Sanju Deenapanray livre sa vision du développement durable. Aussi troublant que clairvoyant.
Des pays font appel à vous pour mettre en place des politiques environnementales. A peine rentré du Soudan, vous repartez en Namibie. N’y-a-t-il pas suffi samment à faire à Maurice?
J’aide ces pays à réduire leurs émissions de gaz à effet de serre et à accéder aux crédits carbone. Si j’avais eu le choix, évidemment, j’aurais préféré travailler à Maurice. C’est tout le paradoxe : d’un côté, je lutte contre la pollution ; de l’autre je prends réguliérement l’avion, qui est le moyen de transport le plus polluant. Mais je dois gagner mon pain, et pour travailler à Maurice, il faut des réseaux. J’ai vécu dix sept ans à l’étranger, en Australie, en Afrique-du-Sud, en Suéde, j’ai des contacts partout dans le monde mais je ne connais pas grand-monde ici !
C’est peut-être le moment de vous faire connaître…
Au départ, je suis physicien, j’ai eu mon doctorat en Australie. Ensuite, j’ai fait de la recherche sur le photovoltaïque. J’ai développé une nouvelle technologie de cellules solaires, un brevet a été déposé, cette technologie est sur le point d’être commercialisée. A l’université, j’ai été surpris par le fossé entre la recherche et les politiques environnementales publiques. Aujourd’hui, je travaille pour rapprocher ces deux mondes. L’originalité de ma démarche, c’est l’approche systémique.
Je cherche à comprendre comment s’imbriquent les dynamiques écologiques, sociales et économiques pour proposer des solutions globales.
Ce sont les trois piliers du développement durable...
Sauf qu’à Maurice, les deux derniéres dimensions, l’économie et le social, sont complétement occultées. Au fond, on ne s’intéresse qu’aux énergies renouvelables, où il n’y a rien à inventer.
Que voulez-vous dire ?
Changer de structure énergétique, d’autres pays l’on fait avant nous, on connaît, il y a des outils. Ce qui est plus diffi cile, c’est de penser cette transition de façon systémique. Chercher à comprendre, par exemple, comment le vieillissement de la population va affecter la demande énergétique. Mais le probléme est beaucoup plus large, l’île durable fait fausse route en focalisant sur la question énergétique. Nous envisageons la durabilité de maniére sectorielle sans nous soucier des interdépendances. La dégradation de l’environnement, les modes de production et de consommation, la répartition des richesses, la criminalité, etc., tout est lié. D’où l’intérêt d’adopter une approche globale pour mieux voir, mieux comprendre et mieux agir.
Dans quels domaines, par exemple ?
Maurice a aujourd’hui un gros probléme de congestion routiére. Raisonnement classique, construisons plus de routes. Erreur ! D’un point de vue systémique, cette solution n’en est pas une. Plus on construit de routes, plus on encourage le transport privé. Un phénoméne analogue s’observe du côté de la demande en électricité : se doter d’ampoules plus économiques incite les consommateurs à les laisser allumées plus longtemps. Cet « effet rebond » explique pourquoi il ne faut pas penser uniquement le probléme en terme énergétique, mais remettre aussi en cause notre
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