At the Farmer First Revisited workshop last week we made videos of some participants talking about thier involvement in farmer participation in agricultural research. Watch Robert Chambers, Paul Van Mele,…
ON VIDEO: FARMER FIRST REVISITED
FARMER FIRST REVISITED KICKS OFF
After much organisation, anticipation and plenty of expresso coffee, 80 delegates from around the world have finally arrived at the Institute of Development Studies in Brighton, UK, for three days…
FOOD VS FUEL: CHINA’S BIOENERGY CHALLENGE
By ADRIAN ELY, STEPS Centre member A recent spotlight on biofuels on the SciDev.net website gives a detailed overview of research issues, including risks and benefits for developing countries and…
PUTTING FARMERS FIRST
In 1987 a meeting of 50 social and natural scientists proved a defining moment in the development of farmer participation in agricultural research. Now the Future Agricultures Consortium in association…
WILL BALI DELIVER ON CLIMATE CHANGE?
About 190 nations have gathered in Bali today to try and thrash out a new global pact to fight climate change by 2009. Droughts, heatwaves and rising sea levels will…
STEPS SEMINAR: BILL ADAMS ON THE POLITICAL ECOLOGY OF CONSERVATION
By JULIA DAY, STEPS Centre member Listen to the podcast of Bill Adams’ STEPS Seminar Read Bill Adams’ presentation The author of many seminal works on green development, Bill Adams…
DEATH BY WATER
The Guardian’s economics editor Larry Elliott turns his attention to sanitation today, in particular, the situation in Bangladesh. “The vacuum [of action on sanitation] needs to be filled – by…
INNOVATION IN INDIA
By JULIA DAY, STEPS Centre member India may have strengths like democracy, diversity, demography, interdependence and role models, but it can’t become a global research giant unless it harnesses the…
BIOFUELLED PATHWAYS TO SUSTAINABILITY?
By ADRIAN SMITH, STEPS Centre member Last week, Achim Steiner, head of UNEP, and one of the sponsors of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change, joined an increasingly audible group…
ACCOMODATING DISSENT
By JULIA DAY, STEPS Centre member Providing cures for health problems isn’t enough, if people’s personal or cultural beliefs clash with the scientific approach. STEPS Centre director Melissa Leach…