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TOMORROW FOOD AND INNOVATION 117

PRESENTING BIODIVERSITY. FOOD GARDENS IN AFRICA PROJECT
GIVING RESOURCES BACK TO THE COMMUNITY
Set up in order to support the associated projects, the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity works to protect food biodiversity
and promote sustainable agriculture. The Foundation is especially active in the southern hemisphere, in countries where the
protection of biodiversity is vital to the survival of local communities. It runs projects such as Food Gardens in Africa, Slow
Directly linked to the TASTE DON’T Africa, promoted by the Slow Food Food Presidia (recovering traditional processing methods, safeguarding native breeds and local plant varieties), Ark of Taste
WASTE campaign and to the call Foundation for Biodiversity. This (cataloguing small-scale quality productions at risk of extinction that belong to the cultures, history and traditions of the entire
to action regarding responsible started with an initial contribution planet) and Earth Markets (development of a worldwide network of local farmers’ markets respecting the Slow Food philosophy,
consumption of food, Costa Cruises of funding for the setting-up of the i.e. fair prices and sustainable agriculture). Launched in 2010, the Food Gardens in Africa project has created approximately
is supporting the protection of first 50 food gardens in 2018. From 3000 gardens in schools and communities across the continent, mobilizing over 60,000 people (farmers, students, teachers
biodiversity by helping to establish now on, the number of gardens to be and agronomists) in 35 African countries. The gardens are practical models of sustainable agriculture; they use
a network of environmentally aware funded will depend on the amount of compost made with discarded vegetables, manure and ash, and a mixture of traditional and modern techniques
ESTABLISHMENT for the efficient deployment of resources. The food garden network is developing gradually thanks in no small
OF THE FIRST farmers in African. We are reinvesting food saved by the guests on board. measure to the process of teaching young people and farmers. The project aims to make a difference in the
the equivalent of the reduced negative Therefore, the 50 gardens set up this
50 FOOD short term but is also designed to ensure the long-term development of a social economy linked to the land and
GARDENS impacts generated each year by the year are just the first step in our joint environment. The Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity’s Food Gardens in Africa project promotes an idea
FUNDED BY responsible behavior and actions of commitment to contributing to global of agriculture based on knowledge of the terrain and respect for biodiversity: an agriculture that is capable of
COSTA CRUISES
guests on board (this can be calculated efforts to tackle food waste, eliminate meeting the nutritional requirements of African communities without distorting social relations,
12 IN MOZAMBIQUE by Winnow’s software) in the growth hunger and under-nutrition, and protect while respecting local cultures, the land and its ecological equilibrium. The whole project revolves
around the presence of local coordinators directly involved in the establishment and management
26 IN TANZANIA of the network of Food Gardens in biodiversity. of the gardens and in the creation of a network of farmers who are aware of the value of their own
12 IN SOUTH AFRICA land and culture.