September 26th, 2013

From 2-4 September 2013, the national level dialogue workshop “Cultivating Diversity” was held by the Indo-German research program BioDIVA at MSSRF in Chennai. The workshop brought together around 50 scientists and practitioners, all of them having a stake in the overall topic of transdisciplinary research on agrobiodiversity and land use change.

After an informal opening with reflections on the results of the BioDIVA research project from 2010 until 2013, the first evening concluded with a welcome reception. On the second day, after the lighting of the lamp, the workshop was officially opened by MSSRF ED Dr. Ajay Parida, and the Director of the MSSRF Community Agrobiodiversity Centre (MSSRF-CAbC) at Kalpetta, Dr. Anil Kumar, BioDIVA project leader, Prof. Martina Padmanabhan, as well as by Mrs. A. Devaky, Vice President, District Panchayath, Wayanad.

The workshop’s inaugural address was presented by Dr. V. Pal Singh, Regional Coordinator South Asia, ICRAF, New Delhi. The workshop comprised three thematic sessions (1) Transdisciplinary, (2) Equity and Sustainability, (3) Agrobiodiversity, Agroecosystems and Land use change.

On the late afternoon of 3^rd September, the BioDIVA key publication “Cultivate Diversity! A handbook on transdisciplinary approaches to agrobiodiversity research” was launched at the Indo-German Centre for Sustainability (IGCS), IIT Madras. The new publication was presented to IGCS head, Prof. Sudhir Chella Rajan. After a working group session on perspectives for transdisciplinarity and a plenary session on transdisciplinarity in practice: Linking academics with practicioners, the workshop was closed by Prof. M.S. Swaminathan. Prof. Swaminathan was expressing his best wishes for the BioDIVA research project and hoping for a continuity of the partnership.

Photos of the workshop in Chennai