Rural development is integral in offering women and men from indigenous communities increased social and environmental sustainability. In particular, the
conservation of traditional rice landraces presents an area of expertise in
which tribal people have accumulated agro-ecological knowledge. As men and
women hold different roles and responsibilities in rice cultivation systems,
gender equity is crucial for achieving long-term sustainability. The
international and intercultural BioDIVA research team seeks to explore the
agrobiodiversity of rice while focusing on the use of genetic diversity by
indigenous communities in Wayanad, South India. To halt the loss of
agrobiodiversity and to develop future perspectives for indigenous people is of
central concern to BioDIVA. Land use change and genetic erosion of traditional
rice varieties is driven by the economically favourable, but ecologically
unsustainable conversion from rice to banana cultivation, which might result in
the preparation of arable land for real estate construction. The Indian-German
cooperation aims to address these issues by conducting inter-and
transdisciplinary research accompanied by capacity building. With the help of
spatial modeling that provides possible future scenarios, BioDIVA aims to advance
the dialogue on sustainable use of natural resources in rural areas.
- Title Original : BioDIVA: Sustainable and Equitable Life-Worlds
- Website : http://www.biodiva.uni-hannover.de
- Project start : 2010
- Project end : 2014
- Contact Person : Dr. habil. Martina Padmanabhan (padmanabhan@umwelt.uni-hannover.de)
- Funding Agency : Federal Ministry of Education an Research (BMBF)
- Project Partners : M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), German Development Cooperation (GTZ), International Food and Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)