I am currently doing an incredibly exciting trip across Zambia, Malawi and northern Mozambique, about which I will try to post something in the next couple of day. First I wanted to share another exciting piece of news, namely that my Veni grant application was approved by the Dutch national research council NWO. This means 3 years of dedicated research, starting 2012!
The full title of the project is: Nature 2.0: the political economy of conservation in online and Southern African environments
And the summary of the proposal goes as follows:
Web 2.0 and social media applications that allow people to share, form and rate online content are crucial new ways for conservation organizations to reach audiences and for concerned individuals and organisations to be (seen as) „green‟. Recent research indicates that these developments might significantly change the political economy of conservation: the production and consumption of conservation and their social effects. Two important changes relate to how online activities stimulate and complicate the commodification of biodiversity, ecosystems and landscapes and how they help to reimagine ideas and ideals about „pristine‟ nature. Above all, this „nature 2.0‟ now (seemingly) allows those concerned about global biodiversity and ecosystem decline to more directly engage with and influence the governance of socio-ecological realities in other parts of the world. The research aims to investigate these transformations in relation to biodiverse areas in Southern Africa, a region with a chequered history of western-imposed conservation. Three questions are central: How do online, web 2.0 and social media conservation activities relate to and influence the governance of biodiverse areas in Southern Africa and the people who live there? Why and how do these activities depend on the reimagination and commodification of nature? What are the implications of these dynamics for (theorizing) the global political economy of conservation?
Innovatively combining insights and methods from political ecology, anthropology and media studies, the research will engage these questions by studying how online activities relate to, shape and reflect other social, political and economic practices. It transcends conventional empirical research by connecting actors, actions and technologies involved in the production and consumption of conservation across space and time. In times of increasing tensions between biodiversity decline and demands for human development, the practical and theoretical implications of the study will be highly relevant for sustainable global and local natural resource governance.
Considering the topic, it will become even more important to regularly post research outcomes and progress online! 🙂
Bram Büscher 
Er is een oplossing voor de wereld wijde energie problematiek. Een energie winning met vele kanten, het betreft een nieuwe selectie Jatropha welke ruim de dubbele productie levert per Ha t.o.v. de traditionele selecties. Je moet denken aan een productie van 4000 tot 6000 L olie per Ha. De pulp welke overblijft na het persen is zeer geschikt als vee- en visvoer, 18.000 Kg per Ha. De nieuwe Jatropha is niet toxisch en is rijk aan proteine, dus naast een Jatropha kwekerij kan een viskwekerij en/of een veefokkerij gestart worden. De olie van Jatropha kan één op één in een diesel motor gestookt worden, zij is van een uitzonderlijke kwaliteit. De landen welke u noemt voor uw spannende reis zijn allen geschikt voor de teelt van Jatropha. Het gaat niet ten koste van vruchtbare landbouw gronden, Jatropha gedijd prima op schrale gronden.