Driving innovative transdisciplinary research on resilient food and water systems
Introduction to our Research The Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) is driving innovative, transdisciplinary research on the understanding and development of resilient food and water systems internationally. Food and water security is increasingly threatened by factors such as climate and environmental change, loss of biodiversity, conflict and market volatility. New knowledge, policies and technologies are needed to develop systems that are more resilient to change, and which ensure the health of our food and water supplies. Resilient systems are better able to withstand and recover from stresses caused by short-term change or long-term events, including natural processes like flooding, or human impacts such as war or water pollution incidents. Through its focus on food and water, the Centre’s research develops and integrates new knowledge in social, agroecological, hydrological and environmental processes, as well as the pivotal role that communities play in developing resilience. Unique to this Centre is the incorporation of citizen-generated knowledge – the participation of farmers, water users and other citizens in transdisciplinary research, using holistic approaches which cross many disciplinary boundaries. CAWR also aims to advance resilience science through creative work on a new generation of key issues linked to the governance of food systems, hydrological change, urban agriculture and water, biodiversity, stabilisation agriculture, river processes, water quality and emerging pollutants.
The Centre is conducting research in the following themes: • • • •
Resilient food and water systems in practice Fundamental Processes and Resilience Community self-organisation for resilience Policies and institutions to enable resilient food and water systems.
Resilient Food and Water Systems in Practice In the transition toward more resilient food and water systems, a range of practical techniques, processes and approaches are required, that are adapted to specific socio-environmental contexts. Here we use transdisciplinary knowledge to underpin the development of individual components of a system as well as the whole system itself, with communities in rural and urban settings being an integral part of these systems.
These applied research approaches are based on principles of agroecology, hydrology, and eco-mimicry that will ensure effectiveness in terms of resilience, productivity, nutritional security and ecosystem health. They include sustainable approaches to drainage and irrigation, permaculture, regenerative agriculture, organic and biodynamic production and design systems. Cross cutting social science areas of concern include knowledge and innovation systems, community engagement, access to resources, gender, and holistic economics.
The community garden in Za’atar Refugee Camp, Jordan is a good example of Stabilisation Agriculture. Agroecology in refugee camps provides nutritious crops and allows the safe use of organic wastes for compost and greywater for vegetable irrigation.
The key research areas:
• Agrobiodiversity and invasive species • Agroecological farming systems • Urban and peri-urban food and water systems • Environmental remediation and ecological restoration • Stabilisation Agriculture • Soil-plant-human health relationships. By bringing together action and reflection, theory and practice; our research in this area uniquely includes water users and re-users (rain water harvesting, greywater reuse etc), food providers (farmers, pastoralists, indigenous peoples, peri-urban farmers, urban gardeners) and other citizens in defining research objectives and co-constructing a solid body of resilience science and practice. This direct public engagement in research is essential in a context of rapid change and uncertainty in which collective intelligence and collective problem-solving are increasingly needed to develop resilient food and water systems.
The production of charcoal from invasive Prosopis juliflora trees in peri-urban areas of Mogadishu, Somalia is part of stabilisation agriculture. In post-conflict areas following long periods of instability, the management of invasive species is a priority, otherwise agricultural re-development is held back. Staff in CAWR have worked on the management of invasive species for over three decades.
Fundamental Processes and Resilience. This theme focuses on developing understanding of the fundamental processes that lead to system resilience, irresilience or instability in aquatic, terrestrial and agricultural systems and in societies. Resilience can be defined as the ability of natural or modified ecosystems to recover from a variety of disturbances, including climate change, dynamic natural processes, environmental disasters, pulsed and long-term pollution, and land-use changes. The theme seeks to monitor the changes caused by such disturbances over time and space, to understand the processes and mechanisms that drive such changes and responses, and to model and predict possible future scenarios. Researching, deciphering and modelling the fundamental underlying processes in both resilient and less-resilient systems allows us to identify, quantify, understand and predict the role of complex interactions which promote or restrict resilience in aquatic and terrestrial environments. The knowledge thus generated will permit the development and implementation of more effective mitigation measures and policies that promote resilience at different scales, for example from rivers to catchments, or from farms to whole landscapes.
Study of climate impacts on river flows and floods in UK, Europe & Africa.
The key research areas:
• River processes, flood generation, erosion, modelling landscape/catchment instability, and ecological impacts • Climate impact on hydrological systems, droughts, soil erosion, water resources and water pollution • Dynamics, fate and impacts of pollutants, including new and emerging contaminants • Urban water, including river flow response, sediment mobility, and water quality dynamics • Hydroecological processes and ecosystem responses to disturbance and management interventions • Water resource systems, social processes and communities.
Understanding and modelling river processes and the protection of aquatic ecosystems are key areas for CAWR.
Community Self Organisation for Resilience This research focuses on the complex and contested ways in which communities self-organise to manage the food and water resources that they depend on. From re-purposing and re-valuing forgotten resources and skills in an age of austerity, to adopting new technologies for new opportunities, or re-building livelihoods after disasters or conflicts, communities embrace multiple strategies and tactics in their pathways to resilience. We understand community resilience as a cyclical process of personal and collective action, which is dynamic, plural and adaptive. We critically examine the various ways in which ‘resilience’ has been mobilised in different discursive, disciplinary and policy settings; and we analyse the large scale political-economic structures which enable or restrict the ability of communities to be resilient.
We understand communities in the broadest sense of the term, to include local groups, socio-cultural groups and shared interest groups, and we recognise that communities are diverse, complex and defined by multiple tensions. They can simultaneously be sites of domination and resistance, exclusion and inclusion, division and cohesion, vulnerability and resilience. We find it especially important to listen to the experience and knowledge of indigenous or marginalised communities.
Selling produce grown from a ‘patchwork farm’ (community of farms and allotments) in London.
We specialize in participatory research methods, which recognise the value of citizen knowledge and expertise. These methods can unlock the transformative potential arising from the blurring of boundaries between scientific, professional and traditional knowledge systems. Our ambition is to work creatively with diverse communities to co-produce the knowledge-practices and processes that will regenerate water and food systems that ultimately contribute to a more just, caring and resilient world.
The key research areas: • • • • • • • • •
Territorial food systems and short supply chains Food justice and food sovereignty Gender, nutrition and health Food and the city Community enterprise, ethics and social innovation Food and digital/online spaces Animal geographies and cross-species resilience Food consumption and waste Water - society relations.
Mango harvest in The Gambia
Policies and Institutions for Resilient Food & Water Systems This theme seeks to identify the policies and institutions required to scale-up and mainstream equitable and resilient systems for food and water security. It focuses in particular on exploring the policies and institutional frameworks needed to enhance community self-organisation for social-ecological resilience at different scales. Our transdisciplinary research analyses the power relations implicit in adaptive management, as well as the historical, cultural and political-economic processes that drive humanenvironmental changes that impact on water and food security/food sovereignty.
This research aims to better understand how, and under what conditions, citizens can be more centrally involved in policy-making and the governance of resilient food and water systems. It also seeks to improve citizen engagement in decision-making, contribute to community and socioecological resilience, and help realise peoples’ fundamental right to water and food security/sovereignty. Our policy research lives up to traditional academic measures of excellence while also aiming to solve real-world problems.
Coventry Food Justice walk. October 2015.
A citizens’ jury on GMOs and the future of agriculture in Mali.
The key research areas: • • • • • • •
Strengthening the human rights to ‘food’ and ‘water’ through transdisciplinary and gender transformative research Enabling conditions for equitable property rights and community control over natural resources for food and water sovereignty Strengthening the roles of local organisations and collectives in the management and governance of food and water to enhance social justice and socio-ecological resilience Identifying enabling policies for the spread of resilient food and water systems in the context of climate change as well as increasing natural and human induced disasters Re-governing markets, trade and investments for socially just and resilient food and water systems Working towards transdisciplinarity and post-disciplinarity in policies and institutions for resilient food and water Democratising knowledge and policies governing food and water systems.
People’s Knowledge
(People’s Knowledge and Transdisciplinarity Working Group) Participatory, Transdisciplinary and Transformative Approaches to Research. This cross-cutting and transdisciplinary research group is based on the premise that all people, from whatever background, are capable of contributing insights to the production of new knowledge. People’s Knowledge aims to break down the barriers that exist between those who work as educators and researchers, those who have gained skills through formal training as experts and those whose expertise comes through their life experience. The world’s most intractable problems – from local to the global – can only be tackled by building trust between people with different perspectives, knowledges and experiences in a range of different fields. We carry out collaborative research with farmers, civil society groups, businesses, individuals and especially with marginalized groups. Our work uses a range of methods including citizens’ juries, participatory action research, participatory video and dialogic performance.
Training women farmers on the use of video cameras and community-controlled film making, Mali, Sowing Diversity-Harvesting Security project.
The key research areas: • Participation: Power-equalising collaboration in all stages of the research process, particularly building democratising processes with non-dominant groups • Transdisciplinary insights: Valuing the knowledge systems used by people with diverse and overlapping identities, including as consumers, producers, indigenous peoples and artists, along with their visions for the future • Transformation: Our research is orientated towards transformation for social justice and resilience.
Biodiversity Festival, Telangana, India.
Study with us Doctoral Research
CAWR offers a dynamic and flexible programme of modules and workshops designed and developed in consultation with our students to meet their needs. This is delivered through our Doctoral Training Centre, by our team of specialists who bring a wide range of expertise from across the globe. Combined with lively research seminars and a number of other formal and informal events, CAWR provides a vibrant and stimulating learning environment for students. We welcome enquiries from individuals who would like to base their doctoral research within our areas of expertise. Expressions of interest, with a brief proposal and ideas for funding the proposal, can be submitted to potential supervisors within CAWR. To identify potential supervisors, please see our staff list on our website.
MSc in Agroecology and Food Security
Food security is of critical concern globally, and the development of food systems that provide food of high quality and quantity in a sustainable way, is now both a research and policy priority. The MSc degree in Agroecology and Food Security is designed to equip professionals and graduates with the knowledge to critically analyse and assess the relationships between agroecological food production and management, farming systems, climate change economics and the environment, and law and governance. Please see our website for further information on the Master’s Course and how to apply. www.coventry.ac.uk/foodsec-msc
Contact us For enquires regarding the Centre, our work or courses please contact: Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience Coventry University Ryton Gardens, Wolston Lane Ryton-on-Dunsmore Coventry CV8 3LG United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 24 77 651 602 / 24 77 651 601 Email: cawroffice@coventry.ac.uk Website: www.coventry.ac.uk/cawr Facebook: /CovUniCAWR/ Twitter: @CoventryCAWR