Grundtvig – Our Agro Bio Diversity

Agricultural Development and Environmental Protection in Transylvania.
Fundația ADEPT, founded in 2004, is a biodiversity conservation and rural development NGO based in Saschiz, Romania.

+40 (0) 265 711 635
Email: office@fundatia-adept.org

Fundatia ADEPT Transilvania
Str. Principală, 166, Saschiz, Mureș, 547510, România

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Grundtvig - Our Agro Bio Diversity

Grundtvig - Our Agro Bio Diversity

Learning Partnership / development of a network of non-governmental organizations in both old and new EU Member States

Funded by: Grundtvig - European Commission

Project Duration: 2011 - 2013 (2 years)

Budget: 20.000 Euro

Project Objectives

Develop a network of non-governmental organizations in both old and new EU Member States, which protect and regain use of agro-biodiversity, that offer a variety of education tools to motivate older and younger people in rural areas to preserve and use agro-biodiversity.
The project includes information exchange about several ongoing educational projects of each participant. On the basis of this exchange and experiences common ideas for knowledge transfer will be developed and a spirit of entrepreneurship regarding the production and use of agro-biodiversity in local communities will be initiated.
Promote production of a diversity of rare species as an added source of revenue for farmers, and innovative and tasty recipes and value added products as a source of culinary delight for consumers.
Develop educational actions to protect the agro-biodiversity in ways that complement policy initiatives.
Raise public awareness about responsible consumption that will enable the conservation of all aspects of agricultural landscapes, including humans.
Add value to farmers' products, to increase their commercial viability.
Build volunteer based community initiatives.

Grundtvig is an EU funding programme which aims to provide adults with more ways to improve their knowledge and skills, facilitate their personal development and boost their employment prospects. It also helps to tackle problems associated with Europe’s ageing population.

It covers not only teachers, trainers, staff and organisations working in the sector, but also learners in adult education. These include relevant associations, counselling organisations, information services, policy-making bodies and others such as NGOs, enterprises, voluntary groups and research centres.

The programme funds a range of activities, including particularly those supporting adult learning staff to travel abroad for learning experiences, through exchanges and various other professional experiences. Other larger scale initiatives involve, for instance, networking and partnerships between organisations in different countries.

Project Updates

Consumer environmental education and improvement of partners' educational curricula, involving farmers, chefs, consumers, and tourists
Processing of products from rare varieties, exploration and popularization of recipes using old varieties and marketing of quality products
Database with most typical regional plants and farm animals
Volunteering potential
Improvement of technical and specific English language skills related to agricultural biodiversity.

Loss of agricultural biodiversity is a non-reversible process that poses a serious threat to the stability of ecosystems, the development of agriculture and food security (FAO 2008). The EU target to halt biodiversity decline by 2010 has not been met, which shows that policy initiatives alone are unlikely to make a difference without the active involvement of civil society organisations. The understanding, knowledge and interest of farmers, as well as of consumers, are core issues for the conservation and enhancement of agro-biodiversity.

The reason for protecting agro-biodiversiy is its extreme importance as our common heritage and our best guarantee for food safety and health.

Agricultural biodiversity loss can only be stopped by changing consumption patterns. Using and bringing agro-biodiversity to the market could be a good way to keep the small farms, rural jobs, local communities, and one of the last preserved rural landscapes in Europe.

For more professionalism and the creation of networking and business possibilities, people from all relevant sectors in the production chain need to exchange ideas and educational support and build linkages. Land owners (farmers, elderly people and pensioners) need educational options regarding processing and marketing of products from rare varieties. Stakeholders in environmental education need to imagine new options regarding nature-experiences for children and families, as well as guidelines for planting of old varieties of vegetables. Stakeholders in tourism, local recreation and cultural history need educational options regarding the use of culinary heritage (catering and gastronomy). The stakeholders in regional marketing need educational options about how to link all offers of one region and communicate them to their target groups and how to do regional product marketing.

All partner-organisations offered different education and learning tools for older and younger people to provide them with sustainable ideas to work with and protect agro-biodiversity. All partner organisations as well as all associated partners are actors in structurally weak areas and provide positive impulses regarding education and environmental protection. Furthermore, all organisations are working in the field of consumer education, therewith raising consumer awareness.

Read here information on the Workshop held in Romania in 2013.