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Call for Contributions Urban Agriculture Magazine # 21 | |
We would like to receive your contribution or suggestions for the next issue of the UA-Magazine: NO. 21: LINKING RELIEF, REHABILITATION AND DEVELOPMENT - A ROLE FOR URBAN AGRICULTURE? (DECEMBER 2008) The Urban Agriculture Magazine The UA-Magazine is produced under the RUAF programme Cities Farming for the Future (CFF), funded by DGIS (the Netherlands) and IDRC (Canada).
The UA-Magazine is published two times a year on the RUAF-website (www.ruaf.org) and in a hardcopy version. It is available in English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Chinese, and Portuguese. The UA-Magazine welcomes contributions on new initiatives at individual, neighbourhood, city and national levels. Attention can be focused on technical socio-economic, institutional or policy aspects of sustainable urban food production, marketing, processing and distribution systems. Although articles on any related issue is welcome, and is considered for publication, each UA-Magazine focuses on a selected theme (for previous issues visit: www.ruaf.org). We are currently seeking contributions for the following issue: Linking Relief, Rehabilitation and Development - A Role for Urban Agriculture? In the past few issues of the UA-Magazine we have highlighted the multiple functions of urban agriculture, its role in building communities and sustainable environments, and the technological, organisational and institutional innovations taking place to further its integration in urban agriculture. In this issue of the UA-Magazine we will look into the role that urban agriculture can play in mitigating the effects of crisis situations and in rehabilitation and development following the crisis situations. The issue will also discuss how urban agriculture may contribute to building resilient cities. Natural disasters, political conflicts, wars and economic crises make it difficult for people to maintain their livelihoods and often result in people being forced to leave their homes. Many international refugees or internally displaced people have to remain for an extended period in refugee camps, or reside (often illegally) in and around cities. Under such conditions displaced people may improve their food security by establishing some form of agriculture, be it small-scale gardening on open spaces inside or outside camps or settlements, or by using non-soil bound forms of agriculture. So what role may urban agriculture play when the relief assistance is drying up and people search for opportunities to build up a livelihood in the refugee camp or the nearby city? Increasingly the potentials of vegetable gardening and other agricultural production activities (e.g. eggs, mushrooms, medicinal herbs, etc.) in protracted refugee situations is being recognised. Similarities exist between agriculture in refugee camp settings and urban and peri-urban agriculture in “normal” cities. Urban agriculture, with its emphasis on space confined technologies (like container gardening, vertical gardening, multi-storey gardens, rooftop gardening), use of composted organic wastes, rainwater harvesting and recycling of grey wastewater, may offer good options for provisioning fresh vegetables, eggs, dairy products and other perishables to the population of the “new town” and generate some income. Moreover, gardening and animal husbandry activities may contribute to enhance the knowledge and skills of the refugees (which also may be of value when returning to their home area), and may play a role in building the new community and improving the living environment (greening, shade, wood fuel) in the camp (often without a single tree!). In many cities around the world, urban agriculture is recognised for its complementary role in food security, but also for its potential contribution to sustainable (urban) development, local economic development, environmental management and community building, providing specific opportunities for vulnerable people. It is important to share experiences gained in early initiatives in this field and to draw some lessons. It is also important to link such experiences with intensive small scale agriculture inside and around refugee camps and with other approaches to rehabilitation and development and efforts to build more resilient communities and cities. We are interested to receive your articles and well-documented experiences regarding agricultural activities after crisis situations in and around cities or in protracted refugee situations, for example:
Please clearly mention in your article where these experiences were gained, who the main actors were and the conditions under which the activities were developed. The article should also preferably present clearly the precise impacts achieved, the related costs, problems/challenges encountered and solutions found, the major lessons learnt and recommendations for both practitioners and planners or policy makers. Articles Articles on urban agriculture should consist of maximum 2000 words (three pages), 1300 words (two pages), or 600 words (one page), preferably accompanied by an abstract, a maximum of 5 references, figures and digital images or photographs of good quality (more than 300 dpi or in jpg format more than 400 kb preferably).The articles should be written in a manner that is readily understood by a wide variety of stakeholders all over the world. Other information on the subject We also invite you to submit information on recent publications, journals, videos, photographs, cartoons, letters, technology descriptions and assessments, workshops, training courses, conferences, networks, web-links, etc., especially those relating to this theme. Issues of the UA-Magazine in 2009 The following issues will be produced in 2009 and your ideas and contributions of articles are already most welcome: No. 22: Linking Urban Producers to Markets; Chain development for urban Of course, all other suggestions and comments on UA-Magazine are also welcome. Please take a moment to voice your opinion by sending an e-mail to the editor at ruaf@etcnl.nl, or write a letter to: The Editor UA-Magazine | |