Author Archives: cosv

The cultivated biodiversity and the work of Vavilov

Long before E. Wilson introduced the word “biodiversity” in common language, many other thinkers, scientists, men and women of culture and action had placed the concept of biodiversity at the center of their attention. There is no tradition, culture or religion that has not reflected on the wealth represented by all the living beings that surround and feed us; and has not celebrated, with different images, the main features of biodiversity: value, beauty, complex dynamics.

Noah, before the announced catastrophe of the flood, calls his children and prepares the Ark, to gather and save – without exception – all the animal species and return them to the new reconciled world. Biodiversity, evolutionary processes, life on Earth, individual and social responsibility are issues that always intertwined in our history and now are back in the limelight of the scientific and political scenarios.

The production of diversity is the main driver of evolution, both in terms of individual organisms and species: “speciation” imprisons and keeps variations in populations, as well as genetic mutations produce changes at individuals’ level.

In order to better use the radiant energy that the sun gives us, the components of the biosphere, all living beings – plants and animals – tend to be structured to increase their receptive capacity. If there are multiple and well differentiated receptors, the overall performance of energy increases; with only one type of receptor, the system performance decreases and its vulnerability raises to external unfavorable events.

Biodiversity is the most explicit expression of a better structural setting strategy, dynamically refined by the biosphere.

With agriculture man has generally reduced biodiversity, because of the focus only on plants/crops more convenient for short duration and easier to manage production cycles. The so-called industrialized agriculture, resulting from the Green Revolution, developed and disseminated on a model based on economies of scale, fragmentation of the production phases and specialization of activity, that means, in agronomic terms, greatly simplified and intensified monocultures that reduce or exclude the presence of an agro-forestry complex system with hedge-rows, buffer wooded or grassland strips, spontaneous plants, wild flora.

With agriculture a new dimension of biodiversity came into being, which today is referred to as agro-biodiversity, a term that refers to the result – over the centuries – of the interaction between the processes of natural selection and direct and indirect actions of farmers. It is therefore an expression of the different levels of an agro-ecological and socio-economic culture and a political life of a society. Agrobiodiversity individual and collective management decisions strongly influence quali-quantitative levels, food production stability, agricultural and enterprise systems sustainability on a regional scale, the delicate structural and functional relationships characterizing the agricultural landscape.

On a global scale, the present structure of agriculture is very similar to a tall and narrow pyramid: out of the 250,000 to 500,000 species of plants existing, only 1,500 are used; out of the current 120 crops of national importance, only 15 to 20 are of global importance, 90% of energy and protein comes from 15 crops and 8 animal species. Among the cultivated species only three crops, wheat (Triticum spp.), rice (Oryza spp.) and corn (Zea mays) provide more than half of the energy that humanity derives from food (FAO, 1998). The number of cultivated varieties of these agricultural species is still in contraction: in the last century more than 90% of the cultivated varieties have disappeared from farmers, and are partly conserved in the collections of germplasm of some research institutes (gene or seed banks).

It ‘s been nearly a century since one of the greatest scholars of agrobiodiversity, Nickolay Ivanovich Vavilov began collecting species from all over the world in order to understand its potential.

In 1932, Vavilov wrote, “many historical problems can only be understood on the basis of the interactions between humans, animals and plants.” The work and thought of Vavilov has formed the basis of many studies and research on plant genetics, still carried out throughout the world: thanks to this Russian agronomist we know the concept of centers of origin of cultivated plants (Proiskhozhdenie i geografiia kul’turnykh rastenii). Vavilov wrote: “the centers of origin of most of the crops began to stand out in botanical areas where powerful processes of formation and selection of plant types were active. It’s evident that primitive men crossed these regions, rich in plant species associations among which large numbers of edible plants “.

In the 20s of last century, Vavilov was commissioned by the Soviet government to initiate a program of deep transformation of agriculture that would allow, thanks to the availability of new resources, a subsequent industrial progress. Vavilov based his theory on the development of Mendelian ones, according to which the genetic material of a plant provides the mechanism for the transmission of characters from one generation to another.

To improve yields, Vavilov proposed to use all the morpho-physiological characteristics variability of plant modified by humans and their ancestors, by exploiting both the work of many generations of farmers and the gifts of nature. Vavilov had the intention to gather in Russia all world major crops germplasm and created the VIRV (Pan Soviet Institute of plant breeding) where for years he cultivated many varieties of fodder, vegetables, cereals and fruit taken from this wide collection. The VIRV had also a network of experimental stations. In 1925 he began the first shipments in all areas of Russia, and later in all agricultural areas in the world. In a few years, VIRV organized 200 expeditions in 65 countries to bring to the USSR more than 150,000 samples of seeds or plants. During these expeditions, Vavilov discovered the existence of geographic centers of cultivated plants variability and the parallelism of changes in species and in related families (law of homologous series in genetic variability). He identified the centers in those areas where he could find the maximum variability of the species, that is to say where he had been able to collect plant material of the same species, but with shapes, colors and different life cycles; moving away from the center of origin, the variability decreased.

Vavilov, brave collector of biodiversity, has left us a botanic, genetics and agronomy interpretation key, having clarified the connection between the genetic traits of a plant, its geographical origins, the following evolution and its agronomic potential. Vavilov’s schematic representation of the historical, geographical and agronomic biodiversity, it’s still relevant today and it’s is a powerful theoretical framework useful in the interpretation of complex co-evolutionary phenomena taking place within the agro-food systems around the world.

Prof. Stefano Bocchi

PhD in Plant Biology and Productivity of Cultivated Plant

University of Milan

Meeting general election candidates

A significant group of civil society organizations promoting the Appeal entitled “International development cooperation: the global community the connective fabric” met today with the general election candidates who answered to the Appeal.

As of today (but the membership continue to arrive), adhering candidates to the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic are more than 40, belonging to seven different political parties (Partito Democratico, Sinistra Ecologia e Libertà, Scelta Civica con Monti per l’Italia, Partito Socialista Italiano, Rivoluzione Civile con Ingroia, Unione di Centro, Lista Liberali per l’Italia).

Apart from individual adherence, some parties have joined and committed to pursuing the ten-point agenda for international cooperation: Partito Democratico, Sinistra Ecologia e Libertà, Scelta Civica con Monti per l’Italia, Partito Socialista Italiano.

Two representatives from each party have been invited to take part to the debate, led by journalist Carmen Lasorella: Federica Mogherini and Paolo Beni (PD); Giulio Marcon and Riccardo Sansone (SEL), Mario Giro and Andrea Olivero (Lista Monti), Riccardo Nencini and Bobo Craxi PSI, Flavio Lotti and Alberto Borin (RCI) – while many other candidates attended in the audience.

The candidates have pledged their strong commitment in the next legislature, each in their own way, to achieve the ten-point agenda.

Several initiatives were launched by the candidates to immediately realize the strong political commitment on cooperation issues: the main proposition raised is the creation of an interparliamentary group (Chamber of Deputies and Senate of the Republic) dedicated to international cooperation. The 40 candidates who have signed the Appeal could form the basis of this group cross.

The organizations sponsoring the Appeal will publish the outcomes of this debate available to the millions of citizens who support and share its values, as well as to the media. They will continue to raise awareness among parties and candidates who have not yet responded to the Appeal and after the election, they will ensure the meeting of commitment.

The organizations sponsoring the appeal

Rome, February 6, 2013

The appeal and the list of promoters are available and updated on the web site www.ongs.it

Fighting domestic violence in Maputo

At the center for women victims of domestic violence, managed by the organization Nhamai in the province of Maputo (Mozambique), there’s a poster welcoming visitors and guests. It shows a woman trying to cope with an heavy basket over her head, a basket full of words: physical violence, psychological violence, sexual violence, social violence, economic violence, moral violence. It addresses the guests with a simple and direct question: “Did you know that domestic violence against women can have different shapes?”

“Domestic violence is a vicious cycle,” says Telma, COSV coordinator for the project. “It starts from verbal  forms to become physical, but also economic. There are many cases of women whose husbands don’t allow to work and don’t give them money, going as far as to deprive them of food. It is important to know the different forms that violence can take, to gain awareness and understand that being a wife doesn’t mean to be owned by a man. “

Information and awareness are essential to cope with the widespread cases of domestic violence, that in the area of intervention of Nhamai center involve about 30% to 45% of women. A spread that is closely linked to the deep cultural roots of violence: “domestic violence here is part of the normal process of marital relationships,” says Telma, “there’s a saying that goes – if your husband beats you, it is because he loves you. Women show signs of violence to their daughters, preparing them to what awaits them in marriages, and beatings and bruises become a topic of conversation. A situation that mobilizers and activists are trying to eradicate, with continuous information and awareness activities. “

There are 24 activists in Nhamai, trained through the project on the new Mozambican law against domestic violence, its legal implications and how to manage conflict and how to psychologically support the victims. The activists, both men and women, are mainly employees of social services and community leaders, and in turn they have formed 80 social mobilizers who closely work with communities in the districts of Matola, Maguede, Namahacha, Matutuine Moamba, Marracuene, Boane, Maputo . Their activities are carried out in close connection with the police and social services.

“In one of the communities where we work, we became aware of a rather serious situation where the wife constantly suffered physical violence by her husband,” one of the activists told us. “When we talked to the family, the woman told us that it was a private business, and therefore it had to remain within the household environment. But domestic violence is not a private matter, it is a deep problem in our society that starts from small episodes to expand in many areas. Women silently repress their anger for the violence suffered for long periods, until they react with extreme acts: that’s why prisons in Mozambique are filled with victims of abuse who escape their pains with physical revenge. It’s a social problem, and that is why we work informing and raising awareness, to achieve a cultural change”.

The center of Nhamai is the only one in the area, and now that renovation works finished it is all ready to properly receive guests. Someone has already arrived, finding at the center and among its staff all the material, psychological and legal support needed to tackle a path out of their daily life consisting of abuse.

The center is also experiencing its first results of the activation of small income-generating activities and the related training to Nhamai associated women – the activities started with the project, both for the sustainability of the center, both to allow the transfer of skills to the guests . The poultry farm has already made a first sale in December, with good satisfaction for the profit and the tailoring activity is experiencing a great time: at the beginning of the new school year (mid-January), they received orders for students’ uniforms. In Mozambique students are expected to have that proper uniform by the end of March, and in January families begin to commission the work to the tailors. The center of Nhamai has collected several orders, thanks to a discounted price, and it is expected that orders increase. These activities have been chosen after a thorough market research, that highlighted the lack of these services in the area .. everything is now ready also for the new hair salon, which will open soon!