Landscape Measures 'Proof of concept' planning workshop
May 2009

On May 12th the Landscape Measures group at Ecoagriculture Partners conducted a 'Proof of Concept' Planning Workshop in Washington, DC.

The workshop was hosted by the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment, and facilitated by the Generative Change Community (GCC). 

Workshop Participants during a Discussion Table.

The day-long meeting engaged members of some 15 international organizations who are pursuing conservation, agriculture and/or rural development goals at landscape scale, and seek to share their experience and learn more about approaches, methods and tools that can improve their practice. 

The main goal of the workshop was to initiate a process for critically examining the Landscape Measures approach and anticipating its relevance in a variety of programmatic contexts and landscape settings as a basis for further developing the approach and its supporting methods and tools.

A leadership group emerged from the workshop who will plan and initiate next steps with input from all participants.

Jeff Mc Neely visits Cornell University
September 2008

Jeff McNeely, Chief Conservation Scientist at IUCN and co-founder of the concept of ecoagriculture, visited the Ecoagriculture Working Group at Cornell University during mid-September. While at the University, he made two presentations: Ecoagriculture: Origins, Development, Implementation, and Challenges, on September 16, and 2008 Ecoagriculture approaches to biofuels, on September 17.

Ecoagriculture Partners at Cornell University
Summer 2008

Ecoagriculture Partners held an organization staff meeting on the Cornell campus from July 28-August 1st. Some 12 staff members came from Washington DC, California, the United Kingdom, Colombia and Kenya to participate.

Seminar on Ecoagriculture at Cornell University
Spring 2008

The seminar introduced students to ecoagriculture as a landscape model of natural resource management that seeks to sustain agriculture and food production, conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services, and secure local livelihoods. Students and instructors explored a coupled systems framework for planning and evaluating ecoagriculture land use strategies and analyzing landscape performance.  We read and discussed chapters from a new ecoagriculture text and supplemental articles. Students worked in pairs or small groups to investigate reality-based ecoagriculture problem-situations in developing countries and North America, and contribute to their solution.

• Instructors: Louise Buck (IARD), Jim Lassoie (NTRES), Peter Hobbs (CSS).
• Course denomination and dates:  IARD 694 (2 credits), S/U NTRES 694. Thursdays, 1:25-3:05 pm, CSS 694 Fernow 304.

EWG coordinator, Louise Buck visit EP in Uganda and Kenya

Summer 2007 - In July and August 2007, EWG coordinator Louise Buck visited ecoagriculture partners in Uganda and Kenya. In Kenya, Louise was accompanied by Jamie Herring, a PhD student in the Department of Natural Resources. Their purpose was to interview key actors in characteristic ecoagriculture landscapes and to photo-document their situations and innovations. The material will be used in the Landscape Measures Resource Center (LMRC) and for a graduate level class in International Conservation in the Department of Natural Resources. Contact Louise Buck for further information.

Jeff Milder worked at CATIE, Costa Rica
Summer 2007

Graduate student Jeff Milder (NTRES) worked at CATIE in Costa Rica, collaborating with scientists there on research that will contribute to his dissertation. Jeff's two-part study is designed to: 1) evaluate land cover-based proxies for measuring the landscape-scale conservation impacts of ecoagriculture management practices, with the goal of identifying and testing methods that are the most accurate and cost-effective in particular contexts, and 2)  test stakeholder-driven monitoring processes in disparate landscapes and synthesize the knowledge gained from these experiences.

EWG Multi-stakeholder Workshop in Kenya and Uganda
February 2007

Members of the EWG (Louise Buck, Tom Gavin and Jeff Milder) traveled to Mt. Elgon in Kenya-Uganda to conduct a multi-stakeholder workshop with partners in IUCN, WWF and ICRAF on measuring ecoagriculture landscape performance.

Vision of the landscape in Uganda. Photo: Jeffrey Milder

Sara Scherr visited Cornell University
February 2007

The President of Ecoagriculture Partners, Dr. Sara Scherr, visited Cornell to meet with members of the EWG, and to give two seminars. On January 31, she presented to the CIIFAD Forum on Agroecological Perspectives in Sustainable Development, a seminar entitled Farming with Nature: The Science and Practice of Ecoagriculture, based on her forthcoming book of the same title. On February 1, Sara presented to the Seminar in Ecoagriculture a lecture entitled Sources of Synergy in Ecoagriculture Systems.

EWG offers a creadit-bearing seminar at Cornell University
January 2007

The EWG began offering a credit-bearing service seminar at Cornell University.  Louise Buck,  Tom Gavin and Laurie Drinkwater, co-instructors for the seminar.  Steven Degloria, Jim Lassoie, and Christina Tonitto also are contributing.

Louise Buck and Sara Scherr traveled to Kenya and Uganda
October-November 2006

Louise Buck, Coordinator of the EWG, traveled to Kenya and Uganda with Sara Scherr, President of Ecoagriculture Partners, to meet with partners and identify landscapes for focusing activity on understanding ecoagriculture and enhancing capacities for management.

EWG participate in the First Ecoagriculture Conference and Practitioner's Fair
September-October 2004

Members of the EWG presented findings from their Assessment of the Scientific Foundations for Ecoagriculture at the First Ecoagriculture Conference and Practitioner’s Fair held September 27 to October 1, 2004, at the World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi, Kenya.