Paris,
30 November 2009
EFITA newsletter / 439 / European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture,
Food and the Environment
To read this newsletter on the efita.net web site...
See: http://www.efita.net?d=6716
GMO at the FAO World Food Summit
You will find the final declaration of the FAO World Food Summit held in
Rome at the following link.
As you will see biotech is mentioned at paragraph 26.
26. We recognize that increasing agricultural productivity is the main means
to meet the increasing demand for food given the constraints on expanding land
and water used for food production. We will seek to mobilize the resources needed
to increase productivity, including the review, approval and adoption of biotechnology
and other new technologies and innovations that are safe, effective and environmentally
sustainable.
See:
Declaration/WSFS09_Draft_Declaration.pdf
The agricultural annals of Valahia university of Targoviste (Rumania)
See: http://agricultura.valahia.ro/Anale%202009%20final.pdf
Contact: Gabriela TEODORESCU
E-mail:theo_0200(a)yahoo.com
Call for chapter proposals - Proposal Submission Deadline: December 15, 2009:
Agricultural and Environmental Informatics, Governance, and Management: Emerging
Research Applications
A book edited by Zacharoula Andreopoulou, Basil Manos, Nico Polman, Davide
Viaggi
To be published by IGIGlobal: http://www.igi-global.com/requests/details.asp?ID=746
> Introduction
Agricultural and environmental governance and management issues emphasize on
unclear decision and risk analysis for management, mathematical methods for
systems modelling and optimization, agricultural and environmental statistics
and applications, agricultural and environmental data and data management, ecological
modelling and assessment, simulation, optimization, and control of waste treatment
and pollution reduction processes, agricultural and environmental GIS, RS and
other spatial information technologies, monitoring techniques of quality, artificial
intelligence and expert systems for agricultural and environmental applications.
Sustainable development has increasingly become a major overall goal of national
governments, EU, transnational networks, NGOs, and so forth. The governance
of natural resources has to face the increased multiplicity of connections between
different environmental aspects and decisions of local, regional, national,
and supranational relevance, with high coordination and exchange between administrative
entities and actors across the public/private and the expert/stakeholder divide.
In that general context, informatics can play a keyrole while implementing governance
and management, either at a local, national, international, or transnational
level. Environmental and agricultural informatics can be defined as research
and system development focusing on the environmental and agricultural sciences
relating to the creation, collection, storage, processing, modelling, interpretation,
display, and dissemination of data and information. Environmental and agricultural
research, impact assessment, planning and management have grown increasingly
reliant on computer-based approaches in the past few decades. Geographic information
systems (GIS), remote sensing, statistic and dynamic simulation modeling, for
example, are utilized in a variety of scientific and professional endeavors,
ranging from forestry, landscape mapping, and watershed ecology to pollution
detection and geology.
The discipline of informatics can support tools and techniques aiming to produce
high quality environmental and agricultural information resources, in usable
formats, to serve the needs of individuals, communities, and organizations at
all levels, and also decision support tools and environments. Information resources
and agricultural decision support tools can be used by faculty, extension agents,
and the broader agricultural production communities. Informatics, environmental
decision support tools, and data resources can be applied to a wide range of
environmental management applications. Network technologies can integrate geospatial
technologies aiming to sustain environmental observation networks and mission-critical
agricultural and environmental applications can be deployed. Environmental Informatics
emphasizes not only the methods and skills of using computational and analytical
techniques to solve environmental problems, but also the science and societal
issues behind those problems. In a global context, non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) created by natural or legal persons with no participation or representation
of any government, exploit widely informatics, as globalization has turned the
Internet into a key-point middleware.
For the aforementioned reasons, a need exists for an edited collection of articles
in this area.
> Objective of the Book
This book will aim to provide relevant theoretical frameworks and the latest
empirical research findings in the area. The core aim of the proposed book is
to present the latest results of the relevant research, either in its pure theoretical
aspects or in applied instances; such a book can serve as an excellent dissemination
tool for highly specialized ICT governance issues like those of the agricultural,
natural resources, and environmental sector. The book also aims to integrate
knowledge, both across disciplines and between science, policy, and the public,
regarding the way to obtain practical results within international relations
and global governance structures.
The use of new theories, technologies, models, methods, conceptual frameworks,
techniques, and principles are emphasized. Both researchers and practitioners
are invited to share their experiences and discuss novel approaches to agricultural,
environmental, natural resource, biodiversity governance, and the interconnections
between such areas, considering the multi-level context and trying to provide
insights beyond the individual cases. Extensive case studies of effective applications
within agriculture, natural resources and the environment can well contribute
to the overall objectives of the book.
> Target Audience
As the book will introduce the new information technologies deployed in governance
and management in agriculture, natural resources, and environment, and will
demonstrate agricultural and environmental case studies of these with beneficial
results and implementations in an edited book, it is expected to attract the
interest of many academic researchers and practicing professionals in IT and
ICT based governance and management issues around the world.
Academics and students will be able to use such a book as a state-of-the-art
reference book for agricultural and environmental applications of the informatics
technologies. As the techniques applied in these applications can be extended
and applied to other areas as well, researchers from disciplines like economics,
marketing, Web developers, database management technicians, can gain as well.
Governance institutes and stakeholders of different levels can especially gain
from practices and experiences applied by their counterparts in different parts
of the world, thus improving their effectiveness.
Recommended topics for chapter proposal include, but are not limited to, the
following:
- ICT governance
- natural resources governance
- governance of agricultural resources
- management of agricultural resources
- environmental, natural resources, and ecosystems management
- multi-level environmental governance
- multi-level governance of water
- biodiversity governance
- EU Water Framework application
- Natura 2000 application
- e-government in agriculture
- environmental e-government
- sustainable management and “green” management
- farm regional management
- ICT adoption in farm management
- ICT for environmental management
- NGO and international governance
- governance and globalization
- Internet governance
Empirical studies and case studies, trends and perspectives are highly welcome.
Authors are encouraged to consider both the technical (e.g. informatics design)
and functional (e.g. costs and effectiveness) of the tools considered in their
papers.
> Submission Procedure
Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before December 15,
2009, a 2-3 page chapter proposal clearly explaining the mission and concerns
of his or her proposed chapter. Proposal authors will be notified by January
15, 2010 about the status of their proposals and, if accepted, they will receive
chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by March 15,
2010. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis.
This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.),
publisher of the “Information Science Reference” (formerly Idea Group Reference)
and “Medical Information Science Reference” imprints. For additional information
regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com.
Important Dates:
- December 15, 2009: Chapter Proposal Submission Deadline
- January 15, 2010: Notification of Chapter Proposal Acceptance
- March 15, 2010: Full Chapter Submission
- June 15, 2010: Review Result Returned
- July 15, 2010: Final Revised Chapter Submission
- August 15, 2010: Final Deadline
Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded electronically only (Word document)
to
Zacharoula S. Andreopoulou
E-mail: randreop(a)for.auth.gr
China's road towards mechanisation
Government support and private enterprise combine to
drive the world's fastest growing agri-machinery market
Different competencies and partnership strategies for
the Chinese market were shared by the speakers at the Chinese-European Farm
Mechanisation Summit on Tuesday, 10 November held at Agritechnica. But one message
was clear throughout – that China offers unrivalled potential for the global
agri-machinery sector. More
Contact: Malene CONLONG
E-mail: m.conlong(a)dlg.org
Arthur and the Witch
Young King Arthur was ambushed and imprisoned by the monarch of a neighbouring
kingdom. The monarch could have killed him but was moved by Arthur's youth and
ideals.
So, the monarch offered him his freedom, as long as he could answer a very difficult
question. Arthur would have a year to figure out the answer and, if after a
year, he still had no answer, he would be put to death.
The question?... .What do women really want? Such a question would perplex even
the most knowledgeable man, and to young Arthur, it seemed an impossible query.
But, since it was better than death, he accepted the monarch's proposition to
have an answer by year's end.
He returned to his kingdom and began to poll everyone: the princess, the priests,
the wise men and even the court jester. He spoke with everyone, but no one could
give him a satisfactory answer.
Many people advised him to consult the old witch, for only she would have the
answer.
But the price would be high; as the witch was famous throughout the kingdom
for the exorbitant prices she charged.
The last day of the year arrived and Arthur had no choice but to talk to the
witch. She agreed to answer the question, but he would have to agree to her
price first.
The old witch wanted to marry Sir Lancelot, the most noble of the Knights of
the Round Table and Arthur's closest friend!
Young Arthur was horrified. She was hunchbacked and hideous, had only one tooth,
smelled like sewage, made obscene noises, etc. He had never encountered such
a repugnant creature in all his life.
He refused to force his friend to marry her and endure such a terrible burden;
but Lancelot, learning of the proposal, spoke with Arthur. He said nothing was
too big of a sacrifice compared to Arthur's life and the preservation of the
Round Table.
Hence, a wedding was proclaimed and the witch answered Arthur's question thus:
What a woman really wants, she answered... Is to be in charge of her own life.
Everyone in the kingdom instantly knew that the witch had uttered a great truth
and that Arthur's life would be spared.
And so it was, the neighbouring monarch granted Arthur his freedom and Lancelot
and the witch had a wonderful wedding.
The honeymoon hour approached and Lancelot, steeling himself for a horrific
experience, entered the bedroom. But, what a sight awaited him. The most beautiful
woman he had ever seen lay before him on the bed. The astounded Lancelot asked
what had happened.
The beauty replied that since he had been so kind to her when she appeared as
a witch, she would henceforth, be her horrible deformed self only half the time
and the beautiful maiden the other half.
Which would he prefer? Beautiful during the day... or night?
Lancelot pondered the predicament. During the day, a beautiful woman to show
off to his friends, but at night, in the privacy of his castle, an old witch?
Or, would he prefer having a hideous witch during the day, but by night, a beautiful
woman for him to enjoy wondrous intimate moments?
What would YOU do?
What Lancelot chose is below. BUT...make YOUR choice before you scroll down
below. OKAY?
Noble Lancelot said that he would allow HER to make the choice herself.
Upon hearing this, she announced that she would be beautiful all the time because
he had respected her enough to let her be in charge of her own life.
Now ....what is the moral to this story?
The moral is...
If you don't let a woman have her own way...
Things are going to get ugly
Contact: Anne GOUYON
Mél : editor(a)naturalguide.org
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