Global EverGreening Alliance
The Global EverGreening Alliance works with, and through, its numerous member organisations - and with governments and multi-lateral agencies - to implement massive land restoration programs. In so doing, the Alliance fosters collaboration, learning, sharing and harmonisation across institutions, sectors and borders.
Communities
Select a community to browse its collections.
- This is where you can find details on how to use the Global EverGreening Alliance Digital Library and Institutional Repository. This space also contains information generated by the Alliance to share with its Members, Fellows, and the world.
- The Global EverGreening Alliance Institutional Repository collects the works created by the Fellows and houses them in one place; making their knowledge accessible to a wider audience and sharing their intellectual legacy with future generations.
- The Global EverGreening Alliance Library is a completely digital library which utilises, builds on, and connects with the work undertaken within the current resource centre on our website. It collects and shares information related to the Global EverGreening Alliance’s organisational goals and provides equitable access to reliable information through the reduction of barriers related to discovery, access, language, and confidence.
Recent Submissions
Disaster response and sustainable transitions in agrifood systems
(Springer Nature, 2024-08-22) Ranson, Elizabeth
Agrifood scholars have long called for changes to the dominant food system, with the goal of making food systems more sustainable and just. This paper focuses on the ways in which recent and future food system shocks provide an opportunity for sustainable transitions in the food system. However, this requires strategic engagement on the part of alternative agrifood initiatives—agrifood niches—otherwise food systems are likely to return to business as usual. Drawing on the multi-level perspective (MLP) within the sustainability transitions framework, core themes that emerge from social science studies of disasters in agrifood systems are identified. These are summarized as resources, polices, and practices that can assist niches in transforming agrifood regimes in response to disasters. The results highlight that while niches are generally independent of governments, niches would be better positioned to engage in post disaster agrifood change if they have some pre-existing connections with local or regional governments.
Anthropomorphism – a double edged sword: influences on acceptance of livestock keeping
(Springer Nature, 2024-08-23) Knörr, Andrea; Zhou, Xiao; Bearth, Angela; Siegrist, Michael
Anthropomorphism, the attribution of human-like qualities to non-human entities, can influence comprehension of the surrounding world. Going beyond previous research on the general assessment of anthropomorphism, the current study aimed to explore how anthropomorphising a specific animal species influences public acceptance of livestock keeping practices. Specifically, we focused on welfare-infringing practices that limit animals’ freedom, describe disruptive procedures, social isolation, or other stressful situations. Lacking experience in livestock keeping, it is likely that people project their own preferences to animals when judging livestock keeping practices. Questionnaire data from a sample of the Swiss German public (N = 1232) were analysed regarding their acceptance of livestock keeping practices, as well as anthropomorphism for three animals: cattle, pigs, and poultry. We showed that judgement of livestock keeping was related to an anthropomorphic view of animals. This takes two opposite directions: (1) anthropomorphising was connected to a more critical view of livestock keeping practices and (2) the attribution of more cognitive capabilities to cattle and poultry was associated with a higher acceptance of welfare-infringing livestock keeping practices. The tendency to anthropomorphise was species-dependent, with the two mammals eliciting a higher tendency to anthropomorphise than poultry. The results suggest that the tendency to anthropomorphise plays a significant role in shaping the public’s opinion on livestock keeping. We argue that, when activating the tendency to anthropomorphise in the media, advertisements, or political publicity (e.g. by highlighting human-like features), a certain level of caution should be taken to avoid undesirable outcomes.
The emergence of microbiological inputs and the challenging laboratorisation of agriculture: lessons from Brazil and Mexico
(Springer Nature, 2024-08-21) Goulet, Frédéric; Fonteyne, Simon; Ridaura, Santiago López; Niederle, Paulo; Odjo, Sylvanus; Schneider, Sergio; Verhulst, Nele; Van Loon, Jelle
In this article, we analyse the tensions associated with the emergence of microorganism-based agricultural inputs in two Latin American countries, Brazil and Mexico. More specifically, we examine the ways in which these technologies, which are based on the use of living organisms, leave public microbiology research laboratories and are further developed by manufacturers or farmers. To this end, we draw on the concept of the ‘laboratorisation’ of society, part of the actor-network theory. We show that the emergence of these technologies is currently facing a number of challenges, due to the risks associated with their biological nature and the difficulty involved in establishing production processes as reliable as those used in reference laboratories. Whether produced by companies or on farms, the quality and safety of the practices and of these products are the subject of debate, as well as the focus of scientific, economic and political scrutiny. These microbiological inputs are evidence for the transformation of the relationship between science, industry, users and politics that is taking place around the emergence of alternatives to synthetic chemical inputs in agriculture, and more broadly, about the use of microbiological resources in agriculture.
Creating dialogues as a quiet revolution: exploring care with women in regenerative farming
(Springer Nature, 2024-07-24) Aare, Ane Kirstine; Umantseva, Anna; Sørensen, Laura Brandt
Around the world, practitioners and academics are engaging in the rise of regenerative farming. On the margins of the predominant farming system, and often with little support and acknowledgement, regenerative farming is surprisingly persistent and represents a radical response to industrialization, ecological crises and alienation. This study uses feminist theories to grasp farmers’ regenerative experiences and explores how dialogical methodologies can create collective thinking among farmers and between academia and practice. The study is based on dialogues and iterative writing between three female researchers and two female regenerative farmers in Denmark in which we explore regenerative farming practices, female perspectives, feminist (more-than-human) care, and the sustainability crises we are facing today and in the future. The exchange of thoughts provides insights into what it is to be human in farming, including more-than-human relationships, as well as reflections on composting as a reproductive practice, and the (quiet) revolutionary potential of regenerative farming. Thus, we experience how creating collective thinking about common concerns across academia and practice can entail feelings of being part of a community as well as involve actual consequences and risks. Finally, it reminds us that sharing fragility by laying bare our work (and thoughts) as both researchers and practitioners allows for careful dialogues and valuable insights.
A buzzword, a “win-win”, or a signal towards the future of agriculture? A critical analysis of regenerative agriculture
(Springer Nature, 2024-07-15) Wilson, Kelly R.; Hendrickson, Mary K.; Myers, Robert L.
As the term regenerative agriculture caught fire in public discourse around 2019, it was promptly labelled a buzzword. While the buzzword accusation tends to be regarded as negative, these widely used terms also reflect an important area of growing public interest. Exploring a buzzword can thus help us understand our current moment and offer insights to paths forward. In this study, we explored how and why different individuals and groups adopt certain key terms or buzzwords, in this case the term “regenerative agriculture”. We used an interpretivist approach to understand how “regenerative agriculture” is being constructed, interpreted, understood, and employed, drawing from 19 semi-structured interviews conducted with farmers, researchers, private companies, and NGO/nonprofits. Several interviewees felt that regenerative agriculture is making an important societal shift in thinking towards addressing major issues like climate change and parity in our food and agricultural systems. However, farmers in particular felt that the term is being greenwashed, coopting the work they do, and even diluting the meaning. We also found that regenerative agriculture is being advanced as mobilizing “win-wins”—for farmers, for consumers, for society—but that this discourse may be veiling the political and economic agendas of the big companies using the term. Our findings further illustrated the debates over standardizing the term regenerative agriculture, with some contending that there should be room for “continuous improvement” but others felt it is meaningless without a definition.