1. The Contribution of Traditional Agroecological Knowledge as a Digital Commons to Agroecological Transitions: The Case of the CONECT-e Platform
- Author
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Antonio Perdomo-Molina, Manuel Pardo-de-Santayana, María Carrascosa-García, Laura Calvet-Mir, Victoria Reyes-García, Petra Benyei, Daniel López-García, Laura Aceituno-Mata, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Red de Semillas Resembrando e Intercambiando, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Fundación Entretantos, Universidad de La Laguna, and Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3)
- Subjects
Knowledge management ,Organic farming ,agroecosystem ,Geography, Planning and Development ,010501 environmental sciences ,01 natural sciences ,Renewable energy sources ,recinto ,local knowledge ,agroecosistema ,enclosure ,social-ecological system ,Agricultura biológica ,GE1-350 ,licencia de copyleft ,varietat autòctona ,License ,agroecologia ,Environmental effects of industries and plants ,agroecología ,erosión ,04 agricultural and veterinary sciences ,recinte ,coneixement local ,erosion ,Digital Commons ,erosió ,Agricultura biològica ,Food systems ,misappropriation ,agroecology ,variedad autóctona ,apropiación indebida ,apropiació indeguda ,sistema agroalimentario ,sistemes socioecològics ,copyleft license ,llicència de copyleft ,TJ807-830 ,Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law ,TD194-195 ,Body of knowledge ,Knowledge-based systems ,agri-food system ,Traditional knowledge ,sistema agroalimentari ,landrace ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment ,business.industry ,Copyleft ,conocimiento local ,Environmental sciences ,Sustainability ,040103 agronomy & agriculture ,0401 agriculture, forestry, and fisheries ,sistemas socioecológicos ,business - Abstract
Traditional agroecological knowledge (TAeK) refers to the cumulative and evolving body of knowledge, practices, beliefs, institutions, and worldviews about the relationships between a society or cultural group and their agroecosystems. These knowledge systems contribute to maintaining environmental and culturally sensitive food systems and have been considered very relevant for agroecological transitions, or the processes of scaling-up and -out agroecology. However, TAeK&rsquo, s erosion and enclosure threatens its use and reproduction, which in turn might affect TAeK&rsquo, s potential contribution to agroecological transitions. Here, we explore how transforming TAeK, and particularly TAeK on landraces, into a digital commons can contribute to its maintenance and protection, and thus to agroecological transitions. We do so by analyzing the CONECT-e platform, an initiative for digitally storing and sharing TAeK in a participatory way. One year after being launched, CONECT-e has documented 452 geographically distinct landraces from 81 different species. The information shared in this platform is well-structured, clear, and reliable, it thus allows for the replication of the knowledge reported. Moreover, because CONECT-e makes the documented information freely available and protects it with a copyleft license, placing information in this platform could help one face landrace misappropriation issues. CONECT-e, or similar initiatives, could contribute to agroecological transitions via maintaining TAeK under the digital commons framework, making it accessible to all society and avoiding enclosure processes.
- Published
- 2018