This column will bring you an update on various groups and individuals working in fields related to environment, development and the sciences. This time some information on interesting and useful publications and networks
Environet
Honey bee
THIS honeycomb is at the Indian
Institute of Management in
Ahmedabad. The worker bee is
Anil Gupta, a professor at the institute who specialises in socio-ecological studies of communities living in dry areas. His product is a
publication called Honey Bee: an
informal newsletter for documentation and experimentation of local
innovations developed by farmers,
pastoralists, artisans, horticulturist
men and women. Quite an amazing
publication coming out of an institution welfare most students look for
the honey in corporate careers.
In Honey Bee you can find
extraordinary examples of people's
knowledge and use of natural
resources - from water conservation and soil conservation practices
to use of local herbs to cure animal
diseases. For instance Ramesh
Prajapati has informed Gupta that,
according to Dudhaji Dhulaji
Thakor of village Nava in
Banaskantha district, leaves of the
Calotropis gigantica are immersed
in the irrigation channels by his fellow villagers to minimise aphid
infestation in the mustard crop.
Honey Bee is a gold mine for
this kind of people's knowledge. By
the end of last year, Gupta had collected 500 examples of people's
creativity in his database. People
are writing in from around the
globe - from West Indies to Africa.
And editions of the publication are
multiplying rapidly: English,
Hindi, Tamil, Gujarati. Gupta is
-]so getting samples of the plants
and insects collected for identification.
One development that gladdens
Gupta's academic heart is the
response he is getting from PhD
students. He says proudly, "I have
received queries from Tamil Nadu
Agricultural University, Indian
eterinary Research Institute,
University of Agricultural Sciences,
Bangalore, Indian Agricultural
Research Institute, etc."
"Search for collaborators in
other languages is actively on. It is
a huge enterprilse and I wonder
how I will cope with it," says
Gupta. Join the Honey Bee family if
you can contribute.
Gene politics
IF you're not lucky enough to get to
Rio for the UNCED, but happen to
care about how political leaders
deal with the subject of preserving
the world's life forms, try getting in
touch with GRAIN: Genetic
Resources Action International.
Diplomats are negotiating a biodiversity convention, but little public discussion has taken place over
this convention. The group has
made a brave effort to keep NGOs
informed about the issues involved.
The group has been working on
biodiversity issues for many years,
especially the role of small farmers
in gene conservation. It has produced a series of briefings on the
convention. If interested, ask them
to keep you informed.
Climate change
THE United Nations Environment
Programme has recently set up an
Information Unit on Climate
Change, which is working out of its
Geneva office. The unit is headed
by Alain Leclerc, a Swiss diplomat
who was earlier involved with the
negotiations on the Basle convention on toxic wastes.
Leclerc promises to send information on all issues relating to climate change. The unit has produced an excellent series of factsheets ranging from issues like the
economics of climate change to the
special concerns of island states.
Remember the President of the
Maldives who said that if indeed a
serious sea-level rise were to take
place, his country may simply go
extinct. Well, this unit can send
you over 200 factsheets that it has
produced uptil now.
To get in touch ...
Anil Gupta
Centre for Management in
Agriculture
Indian Institute of Management
Vastrapur
Ahmedabad 380015
Genetic Resources Action International
Jonqueres 16, 69 D
E-08003 Barcelona
Spain
Information Unit on Climate Change
United Nations Environment
Programme
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
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