From farmer-led conservation of different rice varieties in Vietnam to the development of a tool that helps companies in developing countries to manage the risks and opportunities arising from their dependence and impact on ecosystems. These are two of a wide range of cases presented in a recent report, “Contributing to resilience”, which summarises the main results and experiences from the five year long SwedBio Collaborative Programme.

In “the rice bowl” of Vietnam, in the Mekong delta, the organisation SEARICE (Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment) works to strengthen farmers’ rights to plant genetic resources conservation, development and use. The overall aim is farmer empowerment for sustainable agriculture and livelihoods. To date more than 300 communities have participated and almost 600 farmer-trainers have been trained to assist other farmers in techniques for sowing, selection, production and knowledge of genetic resource conservation.

Now, the farmer-developed rice varieties cover a land area of 100 000 hectares and have proven to contribute significantly to food security, for instance when there was an outbreak of the pest insect “brown plant-hopper”. Seeds of two of the farmer-developed varieties, both resistant to the infections following the insect outbreaks, were multiplied by farmers and successfully distributed to other affected areas. The farmer-developed varieties have also been adapted by local seed centres, implying that the farmer-developed varieties have also found their way through the formal seed distribution system.

The experiences of the project are now starting to be mainstreamed in the province agricultural extension work, and, as an effect, both on-farm rice genetic diversity and household benefits have increased. In the Mekong Delta, farmers reported a mean net income of US$ 645 per hectare resulting from the combined improvement of the farming system and use of good quality seeds from their own varieties. This is highly significant in comparison with the US$ 257 per hectare income from conventional farming systems using improved varieties.

25 featured cases

The above example is just one of 25 featured cases in a recent report from The Swedish International Biodiversity Programme (SwedBio). Another example is the “Corporate Ecosystem Services Review”, developed by World Resources Institute. It is a methodolgy for business managers that want to develop proactive strategies to manage the risks and opportunities arising from their company’s dependence and impact on ecosystems. The SwedBio report labelled “Contributing to resilience” summarises the main results and experiences from projects supported through the five year long SwedBio Collaborative Programme, with the goal to disseminate these insights to a broader audience of people and organisations involved in Swedish international development cooperation.

The Swedish International Biodiversity Programme (SwedBio) was initiated in 2002 by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) in collaboration with the Swedish Biodiversity Centre (CBM). SwedBio’s purpose is to allow a pro-active and strategic approach to safeguard biodiversity for local livelihoods within Swedish international development cooperation. It also provides a source of expertise to Sida and, on request, from Sida to the Government offices. The overall aim is to contribute to poverty alleviation and improved livelihoods through equitable, sustainable and productive management of biodiversity resources at all levels – genes, species and ecosystems.