Challenges and approaches to accelerating the uptake of conservation agriculture in Africa and Europe.

2022 ◽  
pp. 101-121
Author(s):  
Gottlieb Basch ◽  
Emilio J. González-Sánchez

Abstract Over the past few decades the concept of Conservation Agriculture (CA) has spread globally, and almost exponentially, with an adoption rate of around 10 M ha per year in the past few years. This uptake has, however, been experienced rather unequally throughout the different regions. Whereas in the Americas and Australia the share of cropland under CA is considerable, in Africa and Europe both the area under CA and its share of total cropland lag far behind. This chapter provides an overview of the most recent figures available on CA adoption for Africa and Europe, and identifies the major challenges faced by the spread and adoption of CA. Different reasons are identified for the lagging behind of these two continents as a result of huge contrasts between Africa and Europe in terms of agroecological conditions, infrastructure, education and agriculture. Other challenges, however, such as farmers' mindsets, missing or inadequate policy frameworks and institutional support, are common. Yet encouraging opportunities do exist, namely with regard to the political agenda that, if followed up subsequently, could result in concerted efforts towards the expansion of truly sustainable agriculture, including the concept of CA. To be successful in the two continents, however, approaches to mainstream CA need to be tailored to the different regions, and even locally.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Winfried Böttcher

In retrospect, the decade from 2010 to 2020 has provoked a crisis in human progress. In this book, the author proves this thesis using six occurrences, while also paying particular atten-tion to Europe’s role in relation to them: the refugee crisis the conflict in Ukraine Brexit the environment as a political issue nationalism the new coronavirus These six examples, which have had a staggering influence on the past decade, will also de-termine the political agenda in the coming decade. In view of this, the European Union has no future in its current state and thus needs to be reconceived.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoltán Loboda

A tanulmány aktualitását az adja, hogy 2015-ben az UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organistion) közgyűlése a nemzetközi közösség felnőttoktatás-politikájára vonatkozóan új ajánlást fogadott el, amellyel egyben hatályon kívül helyezte a 39 évvel korábban elfogadott, és a nemzetközi felnőttoktatás-politikában sokáig meghatározónak számító ajánlását . Az új ajánlás nemcsak egy globális szakpolitikai reflexió az eltelt időszak politikai-ideológiai, társadalmi, gazdasági változásaira, hanem egyfajta szintézise is az UNESCO humanisztikus hagyományának és az OECD s az Európai Unió felnőttoktatás-politikájának. A tanulmány célja, hogy áttekintse, hogyan változott az elmúlt 40 évben a felnőttoktatás-politika célja, fogalmi és szakpolitikai keretrendszere, s hogyan ébredt az UNESCO a 2010-es évek közepére egy hosszú „csipkerózsika-álomból” s definiálta újra globális felnőttoktatás-politikáját.***Adoption of the new UNESCO Recommendation on adult education, and repailing the nearly forty years old recommendation, which provided reference points for international edult education policies and discourses, gave a momuntum for the analysis. The new recommendation is not only a global reflection on the political, ideological and econmical, social changes occured during this period but a sort of synthesis of the humanistic traditions of the UNESCO and the adult education (learning) policies of the OECD and the European Union. The aim of the study is to review how the concepts, policy frameworks and objectives of the international adult education policies changed in the past forty years and how the UNESCO awoke from its ’dream of Sleeping Beauty’ in the years of mid 2010’s and re-defined its new global adult education policy. 


Rural History ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Elisa Botella-Rodríguez ◽  
Ángel Luis González-Esteban

Abstract Cuba is a paradigmatic case where the term and concept of the peasantry remains of lived importance. Cuban peasants had a significant role in the past as they did return to the political agenda after the Revolution with particular emphasis under Raul Castro’s administration. However, the Cuban case has not been significantly explored from a long-term perspective that connects the old debates and dimensions of land reforms under developmentalist states to the new agrarian questions in the global era. Based on secondary sources, semi-structured interviews and updated data on land structures, this article explores the long-term process of land reform in Cuba.


2021 ◽  
pp. 76-103
Author(s):  
Tereza Vaňáčová ◽  
Vladimír Naxera

Interpreting and staging the past is an integral part of politics in its different forms. Selected historical events that are attached greater importance have often been contested politically. In the last two decades or so, clashes over the past have escalated in most consolidated democracies and have become more closely linked with other dimensions of political conflict. In the already consolidated Czech democracy, disputes have reopened over both the Communist regime and a much older past, with history fully entering the political agenda. These conflicts have been centred on both the historical subjects and fundamental points of collective memory, and on locations related to that memory and history. In a specific time and space, those places represent a certain tale, a certain interpretation of historical events, and at the same time allow for the development of other tales, often updated and in some cases politically contested. The forms and nature of the physical places of collective memory may vary. Firstly, these may be places “where bodies lie or have lain” – mass graves, destroyed communities or other places of collective suffering. This paper tackles this issue and analyses the narratives constructed by leading Czech politicians of the WWII Roma concentration camp in Lety. It presents the main arguments of the competing narratives and their changes throughout the post-Communist period.


Subject Sweden's migration policy. Significance Sweden's welcoming approach to migration has been replaced with more restrictive policies over the past year. Although this has led to a drastic fall in the number of new arrivals, immigration and asylum policies continue to dominate the political agenda. Impacts The slowdown of arrivals has temporarily turned the political focus from immigration to integration. Sweden will need to boost investment to alleviate the housing crisis exacerbated by the need to provide accommodation to refugees. Sweden is at risk of losing its international reputation as a migrant-friendly and compassionate society.


Water Policy ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 401-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaas Schwartz

The reform of public water utilities has received increasing attention over the past decade. In this paper, the reform paths of five public water utilities from five different developing countries are compared. This paper finds that for each case, an external event or crisis brought the issue of water services high on to the political agenda, leading to a window of opportunity in which relatively radical reforms could be implemented. However, as political support for continued reforms withered, performance improvements became difficult to sustain. Without continued political support, performance improvements can be followed by a relapse to poor performance.


Author(s):  
A. Smirnov

The dynamics of modern Polish–Ukrainian relations gives reason to speak not only about changes in the dialogue of the two countries but also about a partial change in its political agenda. In accordance with the position of the new Ukrainian administration, the historical reconciliation of Warsaw and Kiev may be achieved under observance of a number of conditions. First, the presence of negative and painful topics in the information field and the political discourse of both countries should be either excluded or drastically limited. Secondly, under any opportunity it is necessary to focus public attention on those points of the past that may be presented as a visible evidence of the convergence of Poland and Ukraine. The most convenient and advantageous theme in this situation is to combat the power of imperial and totalitarian regimes, personified mainly by Moscow. At the same time a “breakthrough” in bilateral relations declared by top political figures becomes rather ephemeral in the light of constant delays characterizing Warsaw attitude to the problem of “Ukrainian memorable places” and leaving Kiev with less desire to go to unilateral concessions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (02) ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Elisa Botella

Cuban peasants had a significant role model in the past as they returned to the political agenda after the Revolution, and with particular emphasis during the Special Period, to confront the lack of food imports. The fall of Communism in the wider world forced Cuba to implement an alternative agriculture model that revolutionised production patterns and decentralised land structures and commercialisation. Did these changes create opportunities for small farmers during the 1990s and early 2000s? And if so, what kinds of opportunity were created? This article assesses the initial effects of re-peasantisation in terms of increasing small farmers’ incomes and significance in numbers, and their contribution to national food production (considering production and productivity levels), from 1990 to the end of Fidel Castro’s administration.


Author(s):  
Denis Dokuchaev

Historical politics at the regional level is, on the one hand, a particular pattern of politics of memory; however, on the other hand, it should be regarded as a combination of regional practices used by various actors to build the image of the past. Having recourse to history at the regional level means its incorporation in the image policy of the territory (including for promotion at the federal level, tourism development), at the same time, local history (and its interpretations) is involved in the process of regional identification. The main objective of the study is an attempt to analyse the use of the symbolic capital of regional history in the political agenda of local authorities at the present stage (in the 2010s), to determine the main actors and models of historical politics. As a result, four basic models of the history use at the regional level are identified: traditionalist, institutional, electoral-oriented and pragmatic ones. Each of these models of historical politics has its specific goals, certain objectives, diverse actors and methods. According to the findings, the change in historical politics models usually occurs during the transit of regional power.


Author(s):  
Albina Mikhaleva

The migration and the problem of preserving national identity remain the central issues of the political agenda and public debate in many modern countries. The article discusses the views of the French imam Tareq Oubrou – the author of the concept of "sharia of the minority" – on the issues of Muslim identity, as well as the integration of migrants in France. T. Oubrou symbolizes a figure at the junction of two civilizations: a kind of theorist and mediator for the reorganization of Islam in France. The research was based on monographs, individual articles, and texts of speeches of the French imam over the past twenty years. The work involved the methods of cognitive and conceptual text analysis, which made it possible to reconstruct the structure of the political message and its individual components. The research results suggest that T. Oubrou refocuses Islamic identity to its inner dimension by revising its defining markers. Minimizing Islamic identity is designed to preserve and maintain the Muslim presence in the West. At the same time, he nationalizes Islamic identity, subordinating it to the civil and political norms of France. Despite the fact that the proposed identification model evokes ambiguous emotions in the Muslim environment and great doubts in the host society, some of its provisions are in demand at the state level.


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