Knowledge Management Portal

The global discussion on the value of pollinators is focused on agriculture, on the production of stimulants, vegetables, fruits, nuts, spices etc. Increasingly, the value of pollinators for biodiversity is discussed, in particular that e.g. bird populations depending also on pollinators as prey can suffer from pollinator decline. However, we humans depend in many more aspects on pollinators. When we will notice the real consequences of pollinator loss on other ecosystem services and human wellbeing, it will be too late. We should also anticipate potential consequences to avoid counterproductive human responses.

In 1993, the United Nations (UN) decided to create an International Day for Biological Diversity. In 2000, the UN decided to dedicate 22 May to biological diversity. This year, 22 May highlights agrobiodiversity and its importance for nutrition and human health.

The African Initiative (AI-CD) Knowledge Hub has been formally launched on 30 April 2019. The new collaboration between AI-CD partners and the CGIAR will facilitate the systematic transfer of valuable knowledge to the target African countries. The knowledge shared in partnership with the AI-CD is indicative of the research for development efforts made by the CGIAR Centers in the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and with the aim of improving livelihoods and ecosystems services, enhancing local capacities, supporting gender equality, and endorsing the role of youth in transforming the African countries.

Morocco is already known to be one of the richest countries of the Mediterranean Basin for its terrestrial biodiversity. However, its bee diversity remains poorly documented despite the importance of these insects as major pollinators of many crops and wild plants. Our project helps filling this gap of knowledge and shall contribute to the conservation of Moroccan bees.

Farming with Alternative Pollinators (FAP) is a knowledge-based approach requiring minimum investment by farmers. Therefore, many different ways of communication are used to train and inform farmers, e.g. film, PDF files to be sent to smart phones, Farmer Field Schools, social media, public TV, brochures etc. Audiovisuell information plays an important role in particular for illiterate farmers.

The German channel Deutsche Welle prepares a documentary on the IKI project to be broadcasted in June globally and in four languages: English, German, Arabic and Spanish.

Pollinator protection is a prerequisite for biodiversity protection in terrestrial areas. Morocco, the benchmark country of the IKI project “Conservation of Pollinator Diversity for Enhanced Climate Change Resilience” took a major step ahead to develop a pathway for pollinator protection in Morocco and other countries.

By Spring 2020, an online information system will be developed to provide public high quality data on climate variability, with the aim of facilitating climate change adaptation and mitigation decision making in Central Asia.