2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON: KNOWLEDGE COMMONS FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL INNOVATIONS

 

The commons and open source research group of Sociology and Anthropology of Development (SADE), Wageningen University, the Netherlands, in collaboration with Social Science Department of Maringá State University, UEM, Brazil, organises this conference to discuss current and emerging initiatives on open source- and commons-based knowledge production in agriculture.

 

The objective of the conference is to critically discuss research findings and experiences of stakeholders on open source- and commons-based knowledge production in agriculture from a comparative point of view. Therefore, scholars and representatives of civil society groups from Latin America, Asia, Europe, North-America, Africa and Australia are approached to present papers and discuss their experiences and insights on the developmental perspectives of open source and commons practices and particularly the role of commons-based knowledge in the (re)design of development-oriented agricultural practices and (bio)technologies.

 

In the domain of agricultural innovation, some promising steps toward the creation of a protected knowledge commons have already been taken by several initiatives like Tom Michaels’ General Public License for Germ Plasm (GPLGP), CAMBIA-BiOS’s biological open source license, the Public Intellectual Property Resource for Agriculture (PIPRA), the International HapMap Project, the Tropical Disease Initiative (TDI), the Science Commons initiative, the Acces-to-Knowledge (A2K) movement and the open source license of the BioBricks Foundation. So far, the impact of these initiatives has been marginal however and some, like CAMBIA-BiOS, have already been terminated. Nevertheless, it is clear that the struggle against the enclosure of the knowledge commons by private (but also public) entities could be intensified and this means that much more effort and intelligence is needed to invent new – and more radically commons-oriented - practices and strategies of knowledge commonization. The conference and its workshops aim to reflect on and strengthen the multitude of grass roots responses to the enclosure of the commons by private capital, mostly by large multinational corporations, and public entities by sharing experiences of commonization in Brazil, India, Europe and other regions.

 

The (re)empowerment of users (peasants, farmers, breeders, producers, etc.) and the preservation of inclusivity, autonomy and pluralism in agricultural innovation and production hinges on the creation and maintenance of protected knowledge commons. The issue of commons raises many questions. To name just a few: Is commonization an effective way to counter the dominant trend of commodification of seeds, knowledge and breeding technologies? How is commonization related to the reconstruction of sociotechnical assemblages and networks? By bringing together representatives of civil society groups and scholars the conference aims to confront the concrete experiences of various practitioners on commons with theoretical and conceptual frames on commons, aiming to strengthen an analytical understanding of commonization and commons practices and to contribute to the creation of more robust and vigorous practices of commonization in agricultural innovation and production. The discussions on commons-based knowledge developments for developmental-oriented (sustainable) agricultural innovations take place on basis of papers (written in English) presented in the workshops built around issues, such as:

1) Commonization of natural agricultural resources (land, plant genetic materials, seeds, etc.).

2) Commonization of agricultural knowledge resources in research institutions.

3) Conceptualizing commons distinguished from public and private goods.

4) Open source research strategies for expanding commons-based developments.

5) Commons in community-based agricultural practices (case-studies).

6) Social technology in creating commons-based agricultural innovations.

7) Food sovereignty and rights to food as commons.

8) University and communities for commons-based innovations.

9) Other issues mentioned in received papers

 

The conference will take place at April 8-10 at Departamento di Ciencas Socias, Universidade Estadual de Maringa, UEM. The papers (written in English) should be submitted before the 22nd of March via email in Word or pdf format to: secretariaat.sade@wur.nl and waniasilva@yahoo.com mentioning “Paper Commons Workshop Brazil”. Together with their full paper, authors should indicate if they need financial support. The organizers will be able to fund participation of about 10 people for travelling to Brazil. It is aimed to publish the conference papers as a special issue in a peer-reviewed journal or as a handbook on experiences of commons-based agricultural innovations.

 

Coordinators workshop: Prof. Dr. Guido Ruivenkamp (Wageningen University), Prof. Dr. Wania Silva (Maringa State University).