The Urban Agriculture Network
[TUAN] Report:

Up-Date On What We Are Up To


September, 1996

TUAN
1711 Lamont St. NW,
Washington, D.C. 20010 USA
tel: 202 483 8130 - fax: 202 986 6732
72144.3446@compuserve.com
1. On Sept 29th Jac was the keynote speaker at the American Community Gardeners Assoc. 17th annual conference in Montreal, Canada, and received a standing ovation. What is particularly remarkable is that this four-day conference, focused on community gardens [CG], had the following workshops:
   • The role of CGs in building the new agriculture;
   • CGs as an urban planning issue --;
   • Community food security --;
   • Employment, Education, Empowerment and Economic Development;
   • The politics of CGs in Germany;
   • Long term solutions for vacant [urban] land;
   • FGU: a model for urban revitalization;
   • CSAs and the urban-rural connection;

2. We received word this week that we will be assigned to do the UA 'Agricultural Technical Notes' for IBRD. We will be riding on your shoulders.

3. FAO's W. Baudoin has decided to join TUAN in a small study of popular hydroponics or low-cost greenhouses, possibly in Peru.

4. UNCHS has decided to fund the French edition of the book: "Urban Agriculture: f, j, & sc".

5. The final text of TUAN article on UA is approved for the WFSummit edition of "Our Planet".

6. TUAN will be presenting on Oct 18th at the American Agricultural Consultants Association annual conference in Atlanta.

7. IDB has requested TUAN to participate in the 'Urban Greening' conference on Dec 2-5 in Mexico City. Fliers are available with us.

8. The National Agriculture Library Beltsville MD will be visiting TUAN on Oct 15 to assess our library.

9. The recent 'urban waste for agriculture' 2-day workshop at the WB [we assisted in design] was truly seminal. This could be a turnaround. Please check with T. Schillhorn. UA was included in the vice president's keynote speech.

10. We are informed that FAO has a UA initiative in Peru regarding access to peri-urban land.

11. The WFSummit will distribute a two-page brief on urban agriculture. It quotes from "the Book" [page -26-].

---

July 10, 1996

TUAN
1711 Lamont St. NW,
Washington, D.C. 20010 USA
tel: 202 483 8130 - fax: 202 986 6732
72144.3446@compuserve.com

1. This week TUAN made a presentation for the World Future Society Conference. We were joined by the eminent Futurist Rashi Mayur who has four projects going on in three countries including urban agriculture. The panel, from 10 am to 12 noon on the 15th was moderated by Tamara Belt of the World Bank. We did a 'meet the authors' session at 3:30 pm the same day. The next evening, 16th, Jac presented a future vision of urban agriculture in the American Capital Region, with eminent experts.

2. We are in the second stage of preparing the next regional UA conference. It will be November 26-29 in Jakarta, Indonesia. We are the guests of the Ministry of Environment with the Universities in Bandung and Bogor co-hosting. There will also be three professional organizations co-hosting. More in a few weeks.

3. Two weeks ago [June 25] we assisted the World Bank's educational unit EDI/ENV to design a UA policy training project. For one day specialists in UA from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe and North America convened to direct the purpose, clientele, and method of training policy makers in UA. Several UA list members were there and a report will be coming out soon.

4. Jac Smit was the resource person on a panel at Habitat II with Anders Wijkman of the UNDP. There was a wonderful group of interested persons participating for three hours. Several interesting press articles resulted.

5. Also at Habitat II, TUAN became more directly interrelated with the 'Healthy Cities' and 'Best Practice' global programs. Both of which have well-funded web sites.

6. Here in America's Capital City we are carrying out negotiations with the School Board to start-up a UA youth program. We welcome any tips on resources for this venture.

7. Today we have an offer from a Nigerian Agriculture Research Centre to serve as the secretariat for a Nigerian Urban Agriculture Network. Is there and support out there? This possibility was opened up by Rudy Schippers at NRI.

8. TUAN is collaborating with 'City Farmer' and 'ETC Foundation' in preparing proposals in response to the Communications Group of SGUA meeting on March 19th, for a newsletter and a web site.

9. A news item we should all be aware of is that the 15 agriculture research centers in the Republic of South Africa have been authorized to conduct research in urban agriculture under the oversight of a vice president. Thus UA has moved beyond policy to administrative directive.

10. Urban Agriculture, and TUAN in particular, are showing up more frequently in the press. Look for items in:
    • Scientific American, June [page 18]
    • Metropolis, September
    • NextCity, August
    • New Scientist, June 15th
    • Observer [London], 26th of May
    • African Urban Quarterly, September
    • WSAA Newsletter, Spring
    • New Garden, Summer [last page]

    We have contracts for articles in 'Scientific American' and 'Planet', the new UNEP popular magazine. The latter will be distributed free at the 'food summit'. GEO, the European 'National Geographic' is doing an article on urban agriculture with our advice, featuring Greater Cairo.

11. For July 28th, 8:00 am to 10:45 am, Joe Nasr has organized a panel, "Urban Planning and the Future of Urban Food Systems" at the ACSP/AESOP 1996 Conference in Toronto. This includes some truly interesting papers.

12. On September 29th Jac Smit will be a featured speaker at the American Community Gardening Association conference in Montreal.

13. The Interamerican Bank 'Urban Greening' conference in Mexico City, October 21-23, will include urban agriculture both inside the main agenda and in a workshop which we are organizing.

Return to Contents of Site