The Contribution of Traditional Agroecological Knowledge as a Digital Commons to Agroecological Transitions: The Case of the CONECT-e Platform

Laura Calvet-Mir, Petra Benyei, Laura Aceituno-Mata, Manuel Pardo- de-Santayana, Daniel López-García, María Carrascosa-García, Antonio Perdomo-Molina and Victoria Reyes-García
Additional contact information
Laura Calvet-Mir: Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3), Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Av. Carl Friedrich Gauss, 5. Parc Mediterrani de la Tecnologia, Castelldefels, 08860 Barcelona, Spain
Petra Benyei: Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellatera, 08193 Barcelona, Spain
Laura Aceituno-Mata: Red de Semillas “Resembrando e Intercambiando”, Caracola del Cir, Parque de San Jerónimo s/n, 41015 Sevilla, Spain
Manuel Pardo- de-Santayana: Departamento de Biología (Botánica), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, C/Darwin, 2. Ciudad Universiaria de Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain
Daniel López-García: Fundación Entretantos, Calle Antonio Lorenzo Hurtado, 1, 47014 Valladolid, Spain
María Carrascosa-García: Red de Semillas “Resembrando e Intercambiando”, Caracola del Cir, Parque de San Jerónimo s/n, 41015 Sevilla, Spain
Antonio Perdomo-Molina: Red de Semillas “Resembrando e Intercambiando”, Caracola del Cir, Parque de San Jerónimo s/n, 41015 Sevilla, Spain
Victoria Reyes-García: Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellatera, 08193 Barcelona, Spain

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 9, 1-14

Abstract: Traditional agroecological knowledge (TAeK) refers to the cumulative and evolving body of knowledge, practices, beliefs, institutions, and worldviews about the relationships between a society or cultural group and their agroecosystems. These knowledge systems contribute to maintaining environmental and culturally sensitive food systems and have been considered very relevant for agroecological transitions, or the processes of scaling-up and -out agroecology. However, TAeK’s erosion and enclosure threatens its use and reproduction, which in turn might affect TAeK’s potential contribution to agroecological transitions. Here, we explore how transforming TAeK, and particularly TAeK on landraces, into a digital commons can contribute to its maintenance and protection, and thus to agroecological transitions. We do so by analyzing the CONECT-e platform, an initiative for digitally storing and sharing TAeK in a participatory way. One year after being launched, CONECT-e has documented 452 geographically distinct landraces from 81 different species. The information shared in this platform is well-structured, clear, and reliable; it thus allows for the replication of the knowledge reported. Moreover, because CONECT-e makes the documented information freely available and protects it with a copyleft license, placing information in this platform could help one face landrace misappropriation issues. CONECT-e, or similar initiatives, could contribute to agroecological transitions via maintaining TAeK under the digital commons framework, making it accessible to all society and avoiding enclosure processes.

Keywords: agri-food system; agroecology; agroecosystem; copyleft license; enclosure; erosion; landrace; local knowledge; misappropriation; social-ecological system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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