The contribution of traditional agroecological knowledge as a digital commons to agroecological transitions : The case of the CONECT-e platform
Calvet Mir, Laura (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Benyei, Petra (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Aceituno Mata, Laura (Red de Semillas "Resembrando e Intercambiando")
Pardo-de-Santayana, Manuel (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Departamento de Biología)
López-García, Daniel (Fundación Entretantos)
Carrascosa-García, María (Red de Semillas "Resembrando e Intercambiando")
Perdomo-Molina, Antonio (Universidad de La Laguna)
Reyes-García, Victoria (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)

Date:	2018
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's erosion and enclosure threatens its use and reproduction, which in turn might affect TAeK'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.
Grants:	Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CSO2014-59704-P Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad BES2015/072155
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Published in:	Sustainability, Vol. 10, Núm. 9 (September 2018) , art. 3214, ISSN 2071-1050

Adreça alternativa: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/9/3214
DOI: 10.3390/su10093214

14 p, 1.5 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles