Knowledge for Development

International

A selection of international S&T organizations.


ARIDnet: Research Network for Studies of Global Desertification

ARIDnet is research coordination network. Our goal is to provide leadership for developing and testing a new synthetic paradigm for desertification. This paradigm, which we call the Dahlem Desertification Paradigm, is based on the simultaneous roles of the meteorological and ecological dimensions of desertification (the biophysical factors) and the human dimensions of desertification (the socio-economic factors). Arguments surrounding the topic of desertification create confusion in policy and management programs intended to help many of the world’s poorest people. Hence, there is an urgent need for new, interdisciplinary approaches for addressing this global problem. ARIDnet will provide the leadership to support on-going international discussions and strengthen recruitment of researchers, including undergraduate students, to study the principles, criteria, and policies related to global desertification, especially as outlined under the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.

18/07/2007


Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology

The Anita Borg Institute is working to increase the impact of women on all aspects of technology, and increase the positive impact of technology on the world’s women. Since 1995, ABI has developed tools and programs designed to help industry, academia and government recruit, retain and develop women technology leaders. By providing inclusive platforms designed to ensure women’s voices, ideas and spirits will result in higher levels of technical innovation, ABI delivers programs that are changing the world for women and for technology.

20/02/2008


Agrifood Food Chains and Networks

This is one of the main research areas of Wageningen International. Markets for agricultural and other food products have changed greatly in recent years. To stay competitive food chains need to combine their strong points with the technological and economic opportunities and strengthen or develop new product-market combinations. This requires both a multidisciplinary research approach and increasing collaboration between public organisations and the private sector.

4/04/2006


ACIPA - Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture

IP: Understanding Plant Breeders' Rights website. The Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture (ACIPA) and the PBR Office in IP Australia have launched new website on plant breeders' rights (PBR). It provides comprehensive information on case law, commercialisation, enforcement and the relationship of PBR to other intellectual property rights.  

9/06/2006


IDRC - International Development Research Centre: Empowerment through Knowledge - mutual learning

Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC, the Centre) is one of the world’s leading institutions in the generation and application of new knowledge to meet the challenges facing developing countries. It funds applied research by researchers from developing countries and provides technical support.  IDRC builds local capacity in developing countries to undertake research and create innovations, believing that people from developing countries must take the lead in producing and applying knowledge for the benefit of their own communities. IDRC supported a 3 year’s programme on climate change issues in the early nineties and it supported a south-south network project on climate change in 2000.

12/10/2005


IFSA - International Farming Systems Association

IFSA consists of he International Farming Systems Association (IFSA) and the regional associations and working groups of : Africa - East & Southern, Africa - West, Asia, Australia & Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East & North Africa and North America. FAO provides support to this web-based information dissemination activity of IFSA. IFSA’s mandate is "To move beyond doing good research to making a difference to the lives of small farmers and the rural poor" and its approach: to redraw the boundaries of its research to go beyond rural producers to include urban consumers, to go beyond the farm gate to include far off markets, to scale up beyond a handful of ‘experimenting farmer groups’ to experiment in larger agro-ecological and political units.

28/06/2006


SANTFA - South Australian No-Till Farmers Association

Promotion of no-till systems for sustainable farming practice SANTFA is state-wide farming organisation with over 1150 members across the farming areas of South Australia.  The Association’s aims are: to promote the role of no-till systems as an economic and environmentally sustainable farming practice and to help facilitate the sharing of information between farmers on applying successful no-till cropping systems.

28/06/2006


Practical Action - Food production: Sustainable approaches to agriculture

Practical Action's experience in Food Production is that traditional crop and animal combinations can be adapted to increase productivity - when the biological, land and labour resources are efficiently used. This has enhanced not only yields and the food security of farmers, but also the agricultural diversity and environmental integrity of the production system. These low-input, sustainable agriculture approaches are a win-win strategy - more stable levels of total production per unit area than high-input systems, economically favourable rates of return, a livelihood acceptable to small farmers and their families, and sustainable use of the natural resource base. Practical Action's work with small scale farmers and pastoralists aims to help them increase their food production capacity, to achieve sustainable livelihoods in the context of a rapidly changing global food system. With farmers in East Africa, Latin America, Southern Africa and elsewhere, Practical Action assists communities to develop and improve low-input sustainable agriculture.

28/06/2006


IJAS - International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability

'Increase knowledge on what technologies and processes are contributing to agricultural sustainability' The International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability is a cross-disciplinary and peer-reviewed journal dedicated to advancing the understanding of sustainability in agricultural and food systems. The IJAS publishes both theoretical developments and critical appraisals of new evidence on what is not sustainable about current or past agricultural and food systems, as well as on transitions towards agricultural and rural sustainability at farm, community, regional, national and international levels, and through food supply chains. It is committed to clear and consistent use of language and logic, and the use of appropriate evidence to substantiate empirical statements. The IJAS will increase knowledge on what technologies and processes are contributing to agricultural sustainability, what policies, institutions and economic structures are preventing or promoting sustainability, and what relevant lessons should be learned. The IJAS will only accept critical reviews if they present genuinely novel perspectives on agricultural sustainability, and is unlikely to publish papers with just a single disciplinary focus.

28/06/2006


ECAF - European Conservation Agriculture Federation

The European Conservation Agriculture Federation brings together fifteen national associations which promote among Europe's farmers the soil management "best practice" aspects of conservation agriculture. At national level ECAF's member organisations aim to: improve technology transfer to farms; promote agricultural and environmental policies supportive of sustainable soil management;improve information exchange in the research, policy and practitioner communities; and, research, develop, evaluate and promote soil management systems to improve crop production and protection of the environment.

28/06/2006


Banana Link

Banana Link's website gives information on the many social and environmental issues that affect the banana trade. At the bottom of most pages you will find links to online documents, relevant web pages and documents available to order. New documents, links to websites, and updates of the texts are constantly provided.  

3/04/2006