Indonesia is in the spotlight! At least three out of the six participants who did their oral presentation at the Tropentag annual conference on Tuesday (15/9), had drawn their interest on the country known to the world as the third largest forest nation after Brazil and the Republic of Congo. And the theme on forest management was a kick off with a total of 6 participants (oral presentations) focusing on case studies coming from developing countries. The latest scheme of Reducing Emission on Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) was presented by Thomas Baldauf (vTI/ von Thuenen-Institute, Institute for World Forestry, Germany), with a topic of Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD): A Climate Change Mitigation Strategy on a Critical Track who focused his research in Indonesia and Madagascar. According to the speaker, and as a result to his research, the REDD scheme was seen to benefit Indonesia the most, due to the high deforestation rates in the country that was lately ranked as the 3rd largest greenhouse gas emitter due to deforestation (based on a report study released by Worldbank).

Oral Presentation III: Aquaculture and fisheries Ulfert Focken from Johann Heinrich von Thuenen-Institut opened the session where 3 participants presented their papers and moderated a quite lively discussion. Raymond Ouedraogo: Management of Fish Diversity in Lake Bam, Burkina Faso: Indigenous Knowledge and Implications for Conservation Raymond discussed that management of any type of resources particularly fish resources needs to account indigenous knowledge as it does have a distinct impact on its conservation. Further, he indicated that there are certain indigenous beliefs needs to be changed as these pushed for depletion of the fish stock. He even cites cases wherein people believe that “fish drop from sky and come from hills and caves” or that “authorities have to power to hide fish”. Furthermore, communal belief can be altered by institutions, education, religions, and economic change to push people towards the conservation their natural resources so not to push it to the brink of depletion. As of the moment, there are actions emanating from the grass roots level to provide conservation efforts like creating mini-dams and planting trees to fully delineate Lake Bam.

This is a flavour of one of the six presentations that occurred in the Genetic Resources Oral Presentations on Wednesday, September 15th. Genetic Diversity and Adaptation of Date Palm (Pheonix dactylifera L.) – Sakina Elshibli The date palm produces sugar rich fruits which are cultivated in arid areas of the world. One kilogram of dates produces approximately 3000 calories. Palm dates also contain a wide range of nutrients, vitamins, and amino acids. The date palm can tolerate drought, but when the fruit is cultivated irrigation is needed. Date palms are useful because they provide small microclimates through shade. They also have a wide range of social and economic values, such as a housing material. This is especially true in Sudan where this study was carried out. There is an apparent diversity of date palms (fruit shape, side leaf structure, and morphology stages.) Dates are usually divided into two groups: dry and soft. In Sudan there is no genetic characterization of morphological variability in date palms. Over past twenty years production has increased, however stresses have also increased. These stresses include: floods, spread of diseases, desertification, and drought. Propagation is also a main constraint to increased cultivation. Date palm seeds are not suitable for cloning. It is only possible for few cultivars to be cloned, leading to date palm monocultures. A high percentage of off-types increase the risk of contamination for traditional cultivars.

In the light of climate change, GTZ otherwise known as the international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development, lately emphasized their projects on issues dealing with sustainable management of natural resources. The results on four projects of GTZ were presented on Tropentag 2nd day of conference. One project highlighted is presented by Dr. Markus Buerli, SDC Programme Officer for Mongolia, which focused on a project on pasture ecosystem management; with a topic preserving the Green Gold of Mongolia. The main approach of the Green Gold project which started in 2004 was to facilitate the formation of Pasture User Groups (PUGs) which – lately – comprises of 10,000 herders, in order to support these groups in attaining legal recognition, empowerment of the communities, collective actions as well as to develop pasture management plans.