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Guatemala has a rich cultural history and is a centre of origin and diversity for cultivated plants. This case study seeks to examine the role of human culture in the evolution of plant resources and the dynamic relationship between people and their natural environment. It focuses on the agricultural production of maize in Guatemala and looks at the role that women have played in its genetic conservation.
Charting the political, social, and environmental history of efforts to conserve crop diversity. Many people worry that we're losing genetic diversity in the foods we eat. Over the past century, crop varieties standardized for industrial agriculture have increasingly dominated farm fields. Concerned about what this transition means for the future of food, scientists, farmers, and eaters have sought to protect fruits, grains, and vegetables they consider endangered. They have organized high-tech genebanks and heritage seed swaps. They have combed fields for ancient landraces and sought farmers growing Indigenous varieties. Behind this widespread concern for the loss of plant diversity lies another extinction narrative that concerns the survival of farmers themselves, a story that is often obscured by urgent calls to collect and preserve. Endangered Maize draws on the rich history of corn in Mexico and the United States to uncover this hidden narrative and show how it shaped the conservation strategies adopted by scientists, states, and citizens. In Endangered Maize, historian Helen Anne Curry investigates more than a hundred years of agriculture and conservation practices to understand the tasks that farmers and researchers have considered essential to maintaining crop diversity. Through the contours of efforts to preserve diversity in one of the world's most important crops, Curry reveals how those who sought to protect native, traditional, and heritage crops forged their methods around the expectation that social, political, and economic transformations would eliminate diverse communities and cultures. In this fascinating study of how cultural narratives shape science, Curry argues for new understandings of endangerment and alternative strategies to protect and preserve crop diversity.
Plant genetic resources provide a basis for food security, livelihood support and economic development as a major component of biodiversity. The Second Report on the State of the World’s Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture demonstrates the central role plant genetic diversity continues to play in shaping agriculture growth in the face of climate change and other environmental challenges. It is based on information gathered from Country Reports, regional syntheses, thematic studie s and scientific literature, documenting the major achievements made in this sector during the past decade and identifying the critical gaps and needs that should urgently be addressed. The Report provides the decision-makers with a technical basis for updating the Global Plan of Action on Conservation and Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. It also aims to attract the attention of the global community to set priorities for the effective management of plant genet ic resources for the future. Purchase a print copy.
Community seed banks first appeared towards the end of the 1980s, established with the support of international and national non-governmental organizations. This book is the first to provide a global review of their development and includes a wide range of case studies. Countries that pioneered various types of community seed banks include Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Nepal, Nicaragua, the Philippines and Zimbabwe. In the North, a particular type of community seed bank emerged known as a seed-savers network. Such networks were first established in Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA before spreading to other countries. Over time, the number and diversity of seed banks has grown. In Nepal, for example, there are now more than 100 self-described community seed banks whose functions range from pure conservation to commercial seed production. In Brazil, community seed banks operate in various regions of the country. Surprisingly, despite 25 years of history and the rapid growth in number, organizational diversity and geographical coverage of community seed banks, recognition of their roles and contributions has remained scanty. The book reviews their history, evolution, experiences, successes and failures (and reasons why), challenges and prospects. It fills a significant gap in the literature on agricultural biodiversity and conservation, and their contribution to food sovereignty and security.
Wild crop plants play a significant part in the elucidation and improvement of the genomes of their cultivated counterparts. The 10-volume Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources offers a comprehensive examination of wild crops as a gold mine for breeding. It details the status, origin, distribution, morphology, cytology, genetic diversity and available genetic and genomic resources of numerous wild crop relatives, as well as of their evolution and phylogenetic relationship. Further topics include their role as model plants, genetic erosion and conservation efforts, and their domestication for the purposes of bioenergy, phytomedicines, nutraceuticals and phytoremediation. Wild Crop Relatives: Genomic and Breeding Resources comprises 10 volumes on cereals, millets and grasses, oilseeds, legume crops and forages, vegetables, temperate fruits, tropical and subtropical fruits, industrial crops, plantation and ornamental crops, and forest trees. It contains 126 chapters contributed by 380 authors from 39 countries.
In ‘Reclaiming Nature’, leading environmental thinkers from across the globe explore the relationship between human activities and the natural. This is a bold and comprehensive text of major interest to both students of the environment and professionals involved in policy-making.
This volume provides a very high quality set of papers on the relationship between globalization and human development. . . any one with interest in this wide ranging subject matter would find the volume an interesting and engaging read. Global Business Review Honoring Keith Griffin s more than 40 years of fundamental contributions to the discipline of economics, the papers in this volume reflect his deep commitment to advancing the well-being of the world s poor majority and his unflinching willingness to question conventional wisdom as to how this should be done. Four overarching themes recur in Keith Griffin s work and this book: the need to both eradicate poverty and redress inequalities in the distribution of wealth within and among nations; the impact of growth on inequality, and conversely inequality s impact on growth; the political economy of policy-making; and the need for openness to heterogeneity in both analytic tools and in policy recommendations. The volume begins with an introduction by the editors followed by a paper by Keith Griffin. In succeeding chapters the contributors explore strategies for reducing poverty and inequality, and provide perspectives on issues such as human development, the rural/urban divide in China, and biodiversity and sustainability. Students, researchers, policymakers and NGO analysts exploring issues in development economics, development studies, alternative economic systems, globalization, environmental sustainability, inequality and well-being will find this book of great interest.
If youre interested in the cutting-edge of the very best thinking on economics and the environment, its right here. Boyce has done a masterful job integrating issues of equity and ecological thinking into economics, and presenting deep and important ideas accessibly with the latest research to back them up. Not just recommended, but essential. Juliet Schor, Boston College, US and author of True Wealth: How and Why Millions of Americans are Creating a Time-rich, Ecologically-light, Small-scale, High-satisfaction Economy A colleague of mine puts it best: when thinking about the fundamentals of the economy and the environment, there is Pigou, Coase, and Boyce. Boyce adds to traditional economics the critical understanding that social power is a determinant of the extent and spatial scale of environmental degradation. In these essays, on subjects ranging from housing and credit markets to agriculture and globalization, Boyce mixes a data-driven picture of unequal environmental protection with a keen and useful discussion of the many forms of social power that can help right the scales. Eban Goodstein, Bard College, US This fascinating volume has at its heart a simple but powerful premise: that a clean and safe environment is not a commodity to be allocated on the basis of purchasing power, nor a privilege to be allocated through political power, but rather a basic human right. Building upon this premise, James K. Boyce explores the many ways in which economics can be refashioned into an instrument for advancing human well-being and environmental health. Comprising a decades worth of essays written since the publication of the authors pathbreaking book, The Political Economy of the Environment (2002), this volume discusses a number of diverse environmental issues through an economists lens. Topics covered include environmental justice, disaster response, globalization and the environment, industrial toxins and other pollutants, cap-and-dividend climate policies, and agricultural biodiversity. The first economics book to explore the idea that the environment belongs in equal measure to us all, this pioneering volume will hold great interest for students, professors and researchers of both economics and environmental studies.
Most food and fiber crops are produced from seed. This means that the world's population is dependent on annual seed production for its food supply. Vegetable seed production is much different and more challenging than production of grain crops. This book explains the biology and technology behind producing, maintaining, and enhancing the quality of vegetable seeds from breeding through to the marketed product. It begins with six chapters on a broad range of seed-related topics: the importance of seeds, reproductive biology of plants, genetic improvement strategies, quality assurance of seed production, post-harvest seed enhancement, and organic production. The remaining chapters cover seed production in eleven important vegetable families. Each chapter provides a description of the botany, types and cultivars, genetic improvement, pollination, soil fertility management, pest management, crop production, harvesting, post-harvest handling, and seed yields. The aim of this book is to educate how to produce high-quality vegetable seeds. Incorporating both current methodologies and recent research results, it is suitable for students, researchers, and professionals in the seed industry.