Resilience is the real "in" word. Here in the Philippines USAID is targeting rural -urban resilience in economic development as part of its SURGE project.
I am still having problems in distinguishing resilience from sustainability and sustainable development- or perhaps the synonym is the "robustness of the sustainable system" to outside shocks to such thing as climate change?
In the Philippines where agricultural land water and for agricultural use eco- systems are certainly not for the most part in "sustainable" modes -robust or fragile- the challenge is to get sustainability recognized as critically important for "near future" livelihood.
I work with a large agricultural production cooperative, SIDC with contract raisers of hogs,poultry and aquaculture . my own work focuses on trying to make such contract raising systems environmentally sustainable as well as profitable.A major focus of our coop Green Farm unit is to make animal manure profitable to raisers through use in the generation of or methane used for heat and power needs for members and the Coop itself and by composting of manure sludge for organically registered organic fertilizer. We are also partnering with organic vegetable growers in Cordillera highlands of Northern Philippines to transport and sell our organic fertilizer in exchange fro organically grown temperate crop fruits and vegetables,
The tropical (and temperate) highlands of the Philippines (and much of SE Asia and South Asia) are among the areas of greatest degradation, unsustainability and 'free-fall towards abandonment to waste - lands. This is a result of initial thin soils, reduced ground tree and plant cover, steep slopes and high rates of erosion, resource- mining, surface and ground water er pollution from pesticide and herbicide applications,blocking of soil nutrients from use of inorganic fertilizers. I hope that current work to make such eco-systems and land water and other resources sustainable will be successful. Resilience or robustness of such sustainable ecosystems to external changes- climate change,population change,amenity migration urban development and the need to generate additional employment for populations with limited skills and little or no ownership or secure access to land water and other resources is indeed desirable.Just let us arrest the current unsustainable agro- and resource use eco-systems as the primary target!
I applaud this initiative of WLE and its CGIAR partners.I look forward to learning from the proposed debate and discussions. I hope we can include a major focus on fragile upland and mountain agricultural and resource use systems, in spite of the absence in the formal partnership of such agencies as ICIMOD .
Resilience is the real "in" word. Here in the Philippines USAID is targeting rural -urban resilience in economic development as part of its SURGE project.
I am still having problems in distinguishing resilience from sustainability and sustainable development- or perhaps the synonym is the "robustness of the sustainable system" to outside shocks to such thing as climate change?
In the Philippines where agricultural land water and for agricultural use eco- systems are certainly not for the most part in "sustainable" modes -robust or fragile- the challenge is to get sustainability recognized as critically important for "near future" livelihood.
I work with a large agricultural production cooperative, SIDC with contract raisers of hogs,poultry and aquaculture . my own work focuses on trying to make such contract raising systems environmentally sustainable as well as profitable.A major focus of our coop Green Farm unit is to make animal manure profitable to raisers through use in the generation of or methane used for heat and power needs for members and the Coop itself and by composting of manure sludge for organically registered organic fertilizer. We are also partnering with organic vegetable growers in Cordillera highlands of Northern Philippines to transport and sell our organic fertilizer in exchange fro organically grown temperate crop fruits and vegetables,
The tropical (and temperate) highlands of the Philippines (and much of SE Asia and South Asia) are among the areas of greatest degradation, unsustainability and 'free-fall towards abandonment to waste - lands. This is a result of initial thin soils, reduced ground tree and plant cover, steep slopes and high rates of erosion, resource- mining, surface and ground water er pollution from pesticide and herbicide applications,blocking of soil nutrients from use of inorganic fertilizers. I hope that current work to make such eco-systems and land water and other resources sustainable will be successful. Resilience or robustness of such sustainable ecosystems to external changes- climate change,population change,amenity migration urban development and the need to generate additional employment for populations with limited skills and little or no ownership or secure access to land water and other resources is indeed desirable.Just let us arrest the current unsustainable agro- and resource use eco-systems as the primary target!
I applaud this initiative of WLE and its CGIAR partners.I look forward to learning from the proposed debate and discussions. I hope we can include a major focus on fragile upland and mountain agricultural and resource use systems, in spite of the absence in the formal partnership of such agencies as ICIMOD .