"Community based conservation" and "peoples' participation" have become part of the conventional rhetoric and more attention is being paid to this approach on the ground by international and national organisations. There are now several examples of projects which involve local communities in conserving and sustaining biodiversity important for food, agriculture, health, local livelihoods and culture in a variety of settings.
However, community based or local management of agricultural biodiversity remains a relatively isolated practice. Its spread to more people and places is constrained by at least three interrelated and mutually reinforcing trends:
- public sector and civil society organisations that understand “participatory” development in ways that cede little or no devolution of power to local communities engaged in conservation and development;
- the emerging structure, organisation and reach of the global food system that yields disproportionate benefits to corporations and their shareholders;
- development options that increasingly shift economic power and control over policies, resources and institutions from local citizens to global corporations.
This paper identifies some of the reforms needed to encourage democratic participation and more genuine local control in the management of agricultural biodiversity. Emphasis is placed on strengthening diversity, decentralisation and democracy through the regeneration of more localised food systems and economies.
