Skip to main content
Disciplines
Automotive Business IT + Informatics Construction + Real Estate Electrical Engineering + Electronics Energy + Sustainability Insurance + Risk Finance + Banking Management + Leadership Marketing + Sales Mechanical Engineering + Materials
Events
DE
EN
Books
Journals
Topic Page
Marketing
Start single access now
Access for companies
EXTENDED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Biodiversity and Conservation
Published in: Biodiversity and Conservation 1/2009

01-01-2009 | Review Paper

Cultivating participatory policy processes for genetic resources policy: lessons from the Genetic Resources Policy Initiative (GRPI) project

Authors: Edilegnaw Wale, Nyasha Chishakwe, Robert Lewis-Lettington

Published in: Biodiversity and Conservation | Issue 1/2009

Log in

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config
loading …

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to draw lessons and document experiences from the Genetic Resources Policy Initiative (GRPI) project, a project which has been underway in six countries and two sub-regions during the last 5 years. Its focus has been to experiment an approach to participatory policy processes, coined by the project, called the multi-stakeholder, multi-disciplinary and multi-sector or in short the 3M. This approach, which was demand-driven due to the nature of the policy problems being examined, aims to create a platform to address competing interests inherent in genetic resources issues from multiple perspectives. It is meant to enable different stakeholders to balance issues they diverge and/or converge upon in genetic resources management, thereby harmonizing trade-offs, objectives and strategies. Experiences from the project in applying the 3M in Egypt, Nepal, Vietnam Peru and Zambia highlight several lessons in participatory policy processes. The experiences show that the success or otherwise of participatory policy making processes is dependent on various factors that have to do with stakeholder capacities, process orientation, shared understanding versus vested interests and institutional functions. They highlight that the most effective approach to stakeholder engagement in policy processes is to construct them around an actively engaged ‘process leader’ that possesses, or has the potential to champion the process by mobilising the required cognitive knowledge and institutional engagement. They further suggest that since genetic resources policy issues are cross-cutting, they will demand a more holistic approach with a clear identification of impact pathways through which policy changes can be expected to influence the outcome variables. Since policy making processes are perpetual, the question of sustaining project ideas and recommendations beyond the life of a project has to be part of the planning exercise in any participatory genetic resources policy research and formulation.
next article Spatial variability in woody species richness along altitudinal gradient in a lowland-dryland site, Lokapel Turkana, Kenya

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 102.000 Bücher
  • über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Automobil + Motoren
  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
  • Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
  • Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 67.000 Bücher
  • über 390 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Automobil + Motoren
  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
  • Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
  • Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe




 

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now
Footnotes
1
Biological diversity (or biodiversity in short) is the number, variety and variability of all living organisms in terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are parts (UNCED 1992). Conceptually, it encompasses both the number (stock) and variability dimensions. Agro-biodiversity is a subset of biodiversity which is relevant for agriculture. Crop diversity is a subset of agro-biodiversity relevant for crop production. Genetic resources mainly refer to the stock (and information contained therein) dimension of biodiversity. All these terms have been used in this paper as relevant.
 
2
‘Legal positivist’ in the sense of being derived exclusively from the existing principles or body of law rather than seeking to develop more specifically appropriate approaches. The authors recognise that the understanding of positivism varies significantly within and between disciplines and use this definition for the purposes of this article. For a discussion on positivism see the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy at http://​plato.​stanford.​edu/​entries/​legal-positivism/​. Website last viewed 25th April 2008.
 
3
The experiences used as the basis of this article are drawn from across the project. However, due to its unique nature, experiences from work in Ethiopia are only incidentally considered here and have, instead, been documented in Wale (2008).
 
4
This is economically important stimulant cash crop in South and Eastern part of Ethiopia. Consumers chew the leaves and get stimulated.
 
5
GRPI is partly based on the implicit assumption that, today, policy, and particularly the jurisprudential aspects of policy, inevitably require state participation and action. They are no longer something that can be coordinated at a purely local level (Seidman 1975).
 
6
It is recognized that ‘quality’ can be a very subjective term. A logical approach would be to judge it in terms of the intended purpose or objective, which would imply considering it in terms of the effectiveness of a given policy. However, GRPI’s 5 years experience is of too short a lifespan to undertake such a task. The project’s underlying assumption can be seen as being that better informed policy processes using broadly founded evidence based decision making approaches will be of a higher ‘quality’ i.e. in the long-term more effective in their intended objectives, than those which are more closed or abstract.
 
7
It should also be noted that GRPI’s 3M contributes to the implementation of Paragraph 9.2(c) of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Anonymous 2001), which is clearly of a normative nature in its recognition of farmers’ “right to participate in making decisions, at the national level…”.
 
8
It is possible that this may have been exacerbated by GRPI’s typical entry points into most of the countries in which it operated. These were usually either ministries of agriculture and environment or biodiversity conservation institutes (gene banks) or national agricultural research organisations, which tended to be dominated by a variety of biological scientists.
 
9
‘The orthodox attribution of stakeholder cognitive competence’ refers to the assumption that stakeholders possess particular knowledge of their own fields and interests that enables them to act in an informed and effective manner in any given participatory process.
 
10
“In most cooperative situations, it is difficult to over emphasise the importance of charismatic leaders, or dedicated staff with the attitude, time and resources to maintain momentum and seek new opportunities. Cooperative actions and partnerships are fundamentally about people and social relationships.” (Davies et al. 2004).
 
Literature
Anonymous (2001) International treaty on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. FAO
Bardsley D, Thomas I (2005) In situ agrobiodiversity conservation for regional development in Nepal. Geol J 62:27–39
Bellon MR, Pham J-L, Jackson MT (1997) Genetic conservation: a role for rice farmers in plant genetic conservation. In: Maxted N, Ford-Lloyd BV, Hawkes JG (eds) Plant genetic conservation: the in situ approach. Chapman and Hall, London UK, pp 261–289
Blackstock K, Yirk E, Chang Y et al (2006) Public participation and consultation in SEPA regulatory regimes (R50063PUR): final report. Macaulay Institute
Brown WL (1983) Genetic diversity and genetic vulnerability—an appraisal. Econ Bot 37(1):4–12
Costanza R (ed) (1991) Ecological economics: the science and management of sustainability. Columbia University Press, New York
Davies B, Blackstock K, Brown K et al (2004) Challenges in creating local agri-environmental cooperation action amongst farmers and other stakeholders. Macaulay Institute
Day-Rubenstein K, Heisey P (2001) Agricultural resources and environmental indicators: crop genetic resources, No. AH722, Chapter 3.2
de Boef W (ed) (2003) Genetic Resources Policy Initiative (GRPI): southern country demand analysis-Zambia. Multistakeholder Workshop Report. IPGRI
de Boef W (ed) (2004) Genetic Resources Policy Initiative (GRPI): southern country demand analysis-Nepal. Multistakeholder Workshop Report. IPGRI
Drucker AG (2004) The role of economics in animal genetic resources policy. Paper presented at a workshop on the role of economics in genetic resources policy. IPGRI, Rome, 28–30 June 2004
GRPI-Egypt (2007) Genetic Resources Policy Initiative. Egypt Phase I (2004–2005)
Harlan JR (1976) Genetic resources in wild relatives of crops. Cr sci 16:329–333
Holmes T, Scoones I (2000) Participatory environmental policy processes: experiences from North and South. IDS Working Paper 113. Institute of Development Studies
IDRC/IPGRI (2002) Genetic Resources Policy Initiative: strengthening capacity to analyse national options, project proposal, January 2002
IPGRI (2005) Genetic Resources Policy Initiative: strengthening capacity to analyse national options, revised project proposal, March 2005
Mburu J, Wale E (2006) Local organizations involved in the conservation of crop genetic resources: conditions for their emergence and success in Ethiopia and Kenya. Genet Resour Crop Evol 53(3):613–629. doi:10.​1007/​s10722-004-2683-1 CrossRef
Perrings C, Lovett J (1999) Policies for biodiversity conservation: the case of Sub-Saharan Africa. Int affs 75(2):281–305CrossRef
Seidman R (1975) Law and development: the interface between policy and implementation. J Mod Afr Stud 13(4):641–652CrossRef
Srivastava J, Smith NJH, Forno D (1996) Biodiversity and agriculture: implications for conservation and development. World Bank Technical Paper no. 321. The World Bank, Washington, D.C
Tripp R (1996) Biodiversity and modern crop varieties: sharpening the debate. Agric hum val 13(4):48–63CrossRef
UNCED (1992) Convention on biological diversity. United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Geneva
Wale E (2004) The economics of on-farm conservation of crop diversity in Ethiopia: incentives, attribute preferences, and opportunity costs of maintaining local varieties of crops. Ph.D thesis, University of Bonn
Wale E (2006) What do farmers financially lose if they fail to use improved seeds? Some econometric results for wheat and implications for agricultural extension policy in Ethiopia. Ethiopian J Econ 12(2):59–79
Yifru T, Hammer K (2006) Farmers’ perception and genetic erosion of tetraploid wheats landraces in Ethiopia. Generic resources crop evolution 53:1099–1113CrossRef
Metadata
Title
Cultivating participatory policy processes for genetic resources policy: lessons from the Genetic Resources Policy Initiative (GRPI) project
Authors
Edilegnaw Wale
Nyasha Chishakwe
Robert Lewis-Lettington
Publication date
01-01-2009
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Published in
Biodiversity and Conservation / Issue 1/2009
Print ISSN: 0960-3115
Electronic ISSN: 1572-9710
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-008-9444-y

Other articles of this Issue 1/2009

Biodiversity and Conservation 1/2009 Go to the issue

Original Paper

How ethnobotany can aid biodiversity conservation: reflections on investigations in the semi-arid region of NE Brazil

Original Paper

Seasonal fluctuations in butterflies and nectar resources in a semi-natural grassland near Mt. Fuji, central Japan

Original Paper

Recent dynamics of the wet pastures at Oukaimeden plateau (High Atlas mountains, Morroco)

Original Paper

Exotic plant invasion in the highly degraded upland landscape of Hong Kong, China

Original Paper

Tree and stand level variables influencing diversity of lichens on temperate broad-leaved trees in boreo-nemoral floodplain forests

Original Paper

The relationship between productivity and multiple aspects of biodiversity in six grassland communities