According to the recently released Humidtropics Situational Analysis report for Xishuangbanna Prefecture, Yunnan, China, the region was an area of extreme biodiversity and cultural diversity, although much of that biodiversity has now been lost to monoculture rubber plantations. The Situational Analysis summarizes the situation of rural development, agriculture and environment as it is perceived by expert opinion and literature evidence, as of 2014/2015. This report is the second Situational Analysis to be completed in the Central Mekong Action Area. It was conducted during the stages of … [Read more...]
Participatory Diagnostic Tool for Complex Agricultural Problems
Rapid Appraisal of Agricultural Innovation Systems (RAAIS) is a participatory, diagnostic tool for integrated analysis of complex agricultural problems and capacity to innovate. RAAIS facilitates the analysis of interactions between: (1) different dimensions, levels and stakeholder dynamics of complex agricultural problems, (2) innovation capacity in the agricultural system, and (3) the existence and performance of the agricultural innovation support system. RAAIS has been developed and tested to identify and analyze opportunities for dealing with parasitic weeds in rainfed rice production in … [Read more...]
R4D Platform Launch in China
The fourth Humidtropics Platform in the Mekong region was launched on September 24 in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province, China. Fifty stakeholders attended from government, research, business and NGO sectors. Two thirds of the participants were local, and the remainder came from Yunnan or National level organisations. Xishuangbanna is famous within China for biodiversity and cultural diversity: it covers 0.2% of China’s land area, but harbors 16% of China’s plant species, 22% of mammals, and 36% of birds. There are eight distinct major ethnic groups with separate languages, and many … [Read more...]