About the Conference
The three-year Agrobiodiversity@knowledged Knowledge Programme (started in 2011) aims to break through the barriers that limit the scaling up, institutional embedding and horizontal extension of practices that build on agricultural biodiversity for improved livelihoods and resilient food systems. At the heart of the programme is a global knowledge and experience community of organizations working on agricultural biodiversity with millions of farmers worldwide, where evidence and insights are generated, shared and tested. The knowledge programme aims to synthesize knowledge from a local to a global scale, conduct research on approaches and analytical frameworks that provide new perspectives on agricultural biodiversity and its role in resilient socio-ecological food systems, and improve horizontal and vertical knowledge flows towards positive change and transformation.
Since the start of the Knowledge programme, there have been two meetings of the agricultural biodiversity community (abc). The first agricultural biodiversity meeting in Thika in October 2011 established the state of knowledge around agricultural biodiversity and identified knowledge gaps, common ground and support for the development of the abc. During the second abc meeting in Thailand in July 2012, strong foundations were laid for the community through the formulation of a shared vision and mission, identification of five strategic themes for action, the joint development of action plans to achieve the goals of the community and platforms for communication. Since then, abc members have joined forces at key international fora, shared knowledge and collaborated bilaterally as well as multilaterally to start breaking glasshouses all over the world. To keep the fire of the abc going and take the next steps towards implementation of joint initiatives and synthesis of accumulative knowledge, this third abc@work working conference will be held from 9-13 July in Madurai India.
The aim of the abc@work conference is to develop tangible knowledge products that are relevant to the abc and beyond and for participants to leave with (renewed) inspiration, a clear idea of what the abc means to their organizations and vice versa, insights into each other’s successes and their underpinnings, concrete ideas for and commitment to future abc initiatives.