Local Management of Agricultural Biodiversity Conference ReportLocal Management of Agricultural Biodiversity Conference Report

25 December 2001

Intern Megumu Ogata attended the Asian Regional Conference-Workshop on Local Management of Agricultural Biodiversity in Thailand.

Intern Megumu Ogata attended the Asian Regional Conference-Workshop on Local Management of Agricultural Biodiversity in Thailand.

Meg with Thai Farmers

North East Thailand

Megumu Ogata

I attended the Asian Regional Conference-Workshop ?gLocal Management of Agricultural Biodiversity?h from October 28 to 1 November in Thailand. This five day conference included a one day field trip and a day of small group discussions on planning follow up activities for the Asian region and for the next conference in Brazil.

It is one of a series of conferences from January 2000 being held in five different place. The object was ?gto provide a platform for discussion and sharing of experiences; to contribute to the empowerment and strengthening of the groups involved; to increase awareness on the central importance of biodiversity in rural livelihood systems and to promote the incorporation of local biodiversity management systems in a broader spectrum of rural development approaches, programmes and policies?h.

There were 61 participants altogether including farmers and representatives of sixteen NGOs from ten different countries. Nineteen case studies were presented that are related to the local management of biodiversity. None of us were native English speakers but English was the common language. We heard a diversity of English accents!

After each presentation, there was a time for the questions and answers. We also had a chance to talk and share what we could not cover during the presentations while we were eating. The Cambodian and Philippino farmers were having quite an exciting time exchanging their ideas even after we finished all the schedules at night.

One of the most impressive presentations was presented by Jahangir Jony the representative of Bangladesh?fs UBINIG which is working on non-chemical farming, seed bank and water management at the community level. In the Bangladesh tradition, women feel that the loss of seeds from the household also means the loss of women?fs power. They have seed network called the Nayakrishi Seed Network managing by women. The Philippinos also did a very dynamic presentation. One facilitator coordinated presentations on different topics from each presenter from different islands with different projects, so we could get an idea of what is happening in The Philippines in the larger picture.

Although each participant presented different case studies, in the most of the cases we must admit that the impact of the Green revolution is still remaining. Also the recent threatens from Multi National Companies are huge. The necessity of inter cooperation between Asian countries were insisted.

Ms. Otani from Japan made an important point regard to our approach towards the issue we discussed such as ?gagainst MNC/TNC?h and ?gpreserving biodiversity?h from the bottom level. Which is ?grevolution from our home kitchen by getting rid of the Multi National Companies from our kitchen covered?h. Her point made us aware that we need to approach the issues from various different social roles; not only in producer?fs role but also that of consumer?fs.

For the field trip we visited several farmers. One of the places we visited is Mr. Wiboon Kemchalerm. In 1.44 ha of agro-forestry farm, he has more than 500 species of plants, mainly trees. He has beautiful seed bank and library. For him trees are the source of vegetables and medicines. He suggested us that resource must be managed by farmers but not by others such as companies. If we expand what we work with beyond our capability, we cannot manage by ourselves. It is really important to know what we have.

We finished the conference with exchanging the seeds we brought from our country. The next conference under the same theme is going to be held in Brazil, June 2002. Some participants of the conference will attend the conference in Brazil.

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Classification

Subject  Biodiversity
Regional relation  Asia
Audience  NGOs - Friends of Seed Savers