Author: mapg0002

The 2024 Dag Hammarskjöld Lecture: My reflections on global peace, leadership, and sustainable food systems

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This blog post is written by Mary Theodorah Ajal, Master’s student at SLU.

From left: Peter Wallensteen, Mary Theodorah Ajal, Jan Egeland, Reina Lee, Linnea Törnlund and Janithrika Jayasundara. Photo: Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation

On 16 September 2024, I had the honor of representing the Swedish University of Agricultural Science as one of the panelists during the Dag Hammarskjöld annual lecture, organised by the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation.

Before the invitation to participate as one of the panelists, I did not know who Dag Hammarskjöld was nor anything about Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation. Luckily, I was brought to speed with different materials and information about Dag Hammarskjöld and the previous Dag Hammarskjöld annual lectures. I must say I was so overwhelmed when I learned about the high-profile individuals, who in the previous year’s gave lectures, and the speakers I would be meeting. I am grateful for the guidance offered by Prof. Peter Wallensteen; it did calm me down to give my best.

Dag Hammarskjöld served as the UN Secretary-General from 1953 till his death in 1961. He lost his life in the pursuit of peace, on a mission to mediate the Congo crisis in the 1960s. I am humbled to have participated in an event that celebrates and honors the life and service of Dag Hammarskjöld.

I had the honor of sharing the stage with several distinguished guests including Rena Lee, Ambassador for International Law and Chief Executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, Secretary General for the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, Prof. Peter Wallensteen, Senior Professor of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University, and my fellow panelists Janithrika Jayasundara, Pax et Bellum and Linnea Törnlund, the Vice President Uppsala Association of Foreign Affairs.

I was privileged to meet the Vice Chancellor of Uppsala University, Professor Anders Hagfeldt, Chairperson Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation Board of Trustees, Hans Wallmark, and many other distinguished guests.

In one sentence the event was surreal.

I learned from Secretary General Jan Egeland that peace can’t be pursued passively. Conflict resolution isn’t possible with hypocrisy or selective application of laws.

Despite all, there’s hope as long as there is someone making the bold steps to restore peace. As long as there is someone speaking up and acting on it, there is hope for peace.

Ambassador Rena Lee is a woman crowned in grace, wisdom, and humility. She’s a testament that anything is possible. As a young woman looking forward to making the world a better place, she fueled my will and zeal.

I had the great opportunity to ask her questions about

the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement) or “High Seas Treaty” in the areas of deep-sea exploration and plastic management in the oceans.

I thank SLU for the opportunity to participate in the Dag Hammarskjöld annual lecture. I am also privileged to receive funding from SLU Global through the Minor Field Study (MFS) grant to facilitate my master’s thesis research abroad in the Karamoja region, North Eastern Uganda. My study will focus on the Characterization and productivity of kitchen gardens and their contribution to food security and livelihoods in the Karamoja region. I am excited about my research because it will be able to inform policy and shape how kitchen gardens can be implemented in agropastoral and pastoral regions to enhance food security and livelihoods.

Kitchen gardens in Moroto, North Eastern Uganda, where I am doing my research for my Masters thesis.
Photos: Mary Theodorah Ajal

I am eager to gain an understanding of kitchen gardens in an agropastoral and pastoral region. “Is it the same as my understanding of kitchen gardens in Sweden, or in my small hometown in Tororo, Eastern Uganda or is it something new and beautifully different?”

About my future plans, I am looking forward to pursuing a PhD when an opportunity opens but I am also open to working with organizations that are supporting local/indigenous food systems to become more sustainable and resilient.

To learn about Dag Hammarskjöld visit: https://www.daghammarskjold.se/

Watch the recording of the Dag Hammarskjöld lecture 2024 here: https://www.daghammarskjold.se/dag-hammarskjold-lecture/the-dag-hammarskjold-lecture-2023-2024/

Yours truly, Mary Theodorah

United in science: SLU’s role in unraveling genetic mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance in Escherichia coli amid Morocco’s climate change crisis

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This blog is written by Ikhlass El Berbri, associate professor of animal infectious diseases at the Agronomy and Veterinary Institute Hassan II, Morocco.

Ikhlass El Berbri and Erik Bongcam-Rudloff in Rabat, Morocco.

The world is currently facing an anthropogenic climate crisis that is already impacting human health and is likely to do so in increasingly severe ways. Climate change effects on human health include heat-related mortality, a variety of health issues from natural disasters like flooding and droughts, food insecurity due to reduced crop yields, and a heightened risk for the transmission of infectious diseases and the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Furthermore, climate-induced changes in temperature and rainfall, along with extreme weather events, promote the proliferation of resistant bacterial strains and increase the need for antibiotics, compounding the problem of antibiotic resistance.

The emergence of multiple drug-resistant bacteria is indeed rising to dangerously high levels globally, severely undermining the effectiveness of available antibiotics. As a result, even minor injuries and routine medical procedures now pose serious risks due to antibiotic-resistant infections.

Escherichia coli is a common pathogen found consistently in the digestive tracts of animals and humans, as well as in the environment. Multidrug resistance in Escherichia coli has become a concerning issue, increasingly observed in both humans and veterinary medicine worldwide. E. coli is intrinsically susceptible to almost all clinically relevant antimicrobial agents, but this bacterial species has a great capacity to accumulate resistance genes, mostly through horizontal gene transfer. In recent years, E. coli has become one of the common bacterial sources to antimicrobial resistance genes, which has been prevalent and exhibited an increasing trend. One of the most important factors favouring this spread is ecosystems and climate deregulation, which cause human and animal populations to migrate and create novel transmission pathways for pathogens, including E. coli.

In this context, and to assess the role of the environment in the transmission and spread of resistant bacteria, our project aims to determine the genetic relatedness of multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli isolated from animals and their environment.

With this regard, and to ensure that the results are thoroughly and effectively explored to understand the genetic mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, and in order to improve my skills in term of genomic sequencing and bioinformatics analysis, I have opted for a collaboration with a team with international renown researchers from the Department of Animal Sciences, Bioinformatics Section, led by Professor Erik Bongcam-Rudloff, at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). The team’s innovative work and collaborative environment offer a unique chance to explore the complexities of my research, using their expertise to improve my understanding of the outcomes of my results.

      A photo capturing the essence of teamwork at the lab at SLU. Photo: Udeshika Sewwandi

During my stay at SLU, I gained a wealth of valuable knowledge and experience. I had the privilege of engaging with renowned experts in the field and built a strong network of contacts. These connections are very important for my academic journey and are also instrumental in facilitating future collaborations. Professor Erik Bongcam-Rudloff also visited the Veterinary Institute Hassan II in Morocco, where he delivered lectures and tutorials on bioinformatics for students and researchers. Following these productive exchanges of researchers between Sweden and Morocco, we are now prepared to launch new projects that leverage our combined expertise to address significant global health challenges.

 

Beyond university gates: How research makes big impact to society in Rwanda

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This blog post is written by Alin Kadfak, researcher at the Department of Rural and Urban Development (SLU), in connection with a visit to Sweden by researchers from the University of Rwanda. The blog post was first published at SIANI’s website.

Dr. Jennifer Batamuliza talking about how the University of Rwanda contributes to gender equality in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Photo: SLU Global

Obliged to focus on teaching and engaging with busy research work, researchers often fail to think beyond academic results. Dr. Jennifer Batamuliza and Professor Alfred Bizoza from the University of Rwanda (UR) informed us about techniques for transferring university knowledge to real-world impacts. 

What bring you to Sweden?

We are here to continue planning our courses as part of our collaboration between SLU and the UR in one of the fifteen sub-programmes of Sida-funded bilateral capacity-building programmes. The Engendering Rural Transformation and Sustainable Development (ENTRUST) sub-programme has four PhD students, three of whom are studying at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.  Since 2017, we have closely collaborated with the Department of Rural and Urban Development and the Department of Economics at SLU. While visiting Sweden, we are collaborating developing two doctoral courses to be integrated at the University of Rwanda. The first PhD course “Farming, food consumption and health”, is being co-designed with Associate Professor Linley Chiwona Karltun of SLU. This is a collaborative undertaking with Dr Franklin Amuakwa Mensah at Luleå University of Technology, where our fourth PhD candidate is based. The second course focuses on “Information Communication Technology, Gender and Rural Transformation”, and we are partnering closely with Associate Professor Caroline Wamala Larsson, based at SPIDER at Stockholm University. Both courses are planned to be run as pilots in May-June 2025 and will be open to PhD students globally, focusing on the African context.

 

Such true collaboration brings up many lessons from both partners. We have learnt great stories from your works that create real impact on society. Can you share some of those examples with us?

One concern is that gender inequality remains high in the higher learning education in Rwanda. As shown in figure 1, the number of teachers, both male and female, has dropped drastically after primary education. One-fourth of the lecturers at university level are female. There are a serious concern that many of the girls and women do not make it to the top to pursue a professional career.

Figure 1: Male and Female Teachers/ Lecturers at all levels of education in Rwanda (Statistical Year Book , MINEDUC,2023) 

Women and girls make up half of the world’s population and hold half of the world’s human potential. When their lives are improved, the benefits reverberate across society. Access to decent work and regular income in the hands of women, for example, contributes not only to poverty reduction (SDG 1) but also supports better education, health and nutrition outcomes for women and girls and those who depend on them (SDGs 2, 3 and 4).

Mainstreamed diversity and gender perspectives in law and established programmes on gender studies lead to structural changes in institutions to make equality possible. At UR, we have a unique programme that supports girls and women in pursuing their education in science to build a more inclusive and equitable career path in science and technology. This is because we believe that science-related fields play a crucial role in sustainable development and women’s potential for creation and innovation cannot be left behind. Professional education for women is one of the solutions.

Source: Dr. Jennifer Batamuliza

Source: Dr. Jennifer Batamuliza

So, it is time to rethink gender relations to science! What is the role of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in countering this challenge?

Yes! STEM is a learning approach that integrates the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), and we hope to encourage more girls and women to participate in this programme at our university. As many of us know, STEM is a male-dominated space, and we are trying hard to stop the leaky pipeline of women within the STEM field and create more inclusive workplaces and ecosystems to retain and support women in their STEM career advancement. Gender inequality in STEM is a result of stereotypes, bias and inequality that limits girls’ expectations and professional goals.

In Rwanda, as in many parts of the world, women and girls continue to be subject to social and cultural restrictions. Limited access to education and unfavourable treatments in working environments may hamper women’s advancement. At present, only 32% of young women are entering STEM programmes in Rwanda due to issues such as social and cultural restrictions and societal structure, which need to be changed.

 

How to address gender inequality through STEM?

There are many things you can do, but here are some points where we have started to see changes.

  • Creating role models: at the University of Rwanda, there is the Association of Women in Science and Engineering (RAWISE). This group is self-initiated by many female faculty members who come together and mentor to other female students. Having such a platform creates more than a role model, where the students can see their near future potential, and it provides open and safe spaces to share opportunities and challenges.
  • Networking: we started a virtual regional platform that serves as a networking space for women in STEM and helps them share and make available training courses and digital materials. Our university celebrates the International Day of Women and Girls in Science every year.

Can you tell us more about your other outreach activities beyond university gate?

Through the ENTRUST programme, we initiated a Societal University Village Initiative (SUVI) model in 2019, piloted and tested by the UR in 2018. We select “SUVI champions”, graduate students paired with people in the communities, and develop project ideas focusing on rural development, poverty alleviation and food security to implement at village level. Our SUVI champions work with local people to solve the real problems concerning their livelihoods, using the students’ science and technology skills. Results and stories from implementing the model tell us that this model is scalable and impactful.

There are several success stories from SUVI champions. The prominent one is their ability to create their own business plans to address the challenges facing their communities. For instance, SUVI champions are helping small farmers establish kitchen gardens to address issues of malnutrition. Similarly, others have initiated their small businesses, such as livestock rearing (cows, goats, sheep, pig, rabbits) and farming-related activities, such as farming mushrooms and other crops, in collaboration with communities where they are deployed. The SUVI model helps students to create their own jobs after their service through SUVI instead of waiting three to five years before getting employed. This model makes the skills and competencies available for rural transformation and ensures the equity in knowledge distribution across the country rather than being concentrated in the cities.

Source : SUVI, 2023

Source: SUVI, 2019

Source: SUVI, 2019

Dr. Jennifer Batamuliza is a lecturer at the University of Rwanda and a head of Data Driven Incubation Hub and Short Professional Courses at African Center of Excellence in Data Science, University of Rwanda. She is also a founder of RWA TECH HUB an organization that trains and mentors girls in ICT.  

Prof. Alfred R. BIZOZA is a Professor of Agricultural Economics from the University of Rwanda (UR) with extensive academic and policy research experience in areas of Agricultural Economics, Institutional Economics of Soil and Water Conservation, Economics of Land, Economics of Climate Change Adaptation, and Economic perspectives of Gender. 

Associate Professor Linley Chiwona Karltun is a researcher at the Department of Urban & Rural Development, Rural Development division at SLU, and a co-lead investigator for the Sida-funded bilateral capacity building programmes Engendering Rural Transformation and Sustainable Development (ENTRUST) sub-programme.  

Millets – ancient crops with a bright future

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This blog post is written by Katarina Börling, research adviser at SLU Global, in conjunction to the International Year of Millets 2023.

Sowing millets in the village of Samadey in 1995 ­– a collaborative process. One person created a pocket (hole), while another carefully placed 10-15 seeds into each pocket. After a few weeks, a thinning process took place, and only the three healthiest plants were retained. Photo: Katarina Börling

My first encounter with millets was in the 1990s, spending numerous hot hours in a pearl millets field in the village Samadey outside Niamey in Niger. This was part of a Minor Field Study linked to the PhD thesis of Johan Rockström, where he annually brought two SLU students. The fieldwork gave a good opportunity to follow the cultivation of millets on a farmer’s field. The daily routine also included a morning stop on our way out of Niamey, to buy “maza” – small millets pancakes, from a woman cooking them on a roadside wood stove, which served as our field lunch.

Purchase of lunch – millets pancakes – before leaving Niamey for a day of fieldwork. Photo: Katarina Börling

As one of the earliest domesticated crops with a history dating back 7 000 years, millets have been a staple crop in many parts of the world. However, in the past half-century, millets have been replaced in many regions, in favor of higher-yielding crops such as maize, rice and wheat. Yet, there is a rising interest in millets as they are resilient crops with low input requirements and an ability to cope with increasing effects of climate change, such as drought and flooding. In addition, the interest is driven by the health benefits and nutritional value of millets, providing gluten free grains rich in minerals, vitamins and antioxidants.

Here I’m measuring soil water content in the millet field during the sowing period, protecting the instrument from the hot sun with a shirt. Photo: Kristina Gullbrandsson

SLU symposium dedicated to millets

In India, the spotlight on millets was set a few of years ago, when declaring 2018 as the National Year of Millets. Building on this, the Government of India also proposed to the United Nations General Assembly to declare 2023 the International Year of Millets (IYM 2023). Throughout the year, information has been gathered and several events have been organised to inspire stakeholders from policymakers to farmers, civil society and researchers, promoting a reassessment of the crucial role that millets play both in diets and in production.

In contribution to IYM 2023, we at SLU Global together with SLU Plant Protection Network and SLU Breeding Network, organised a symposium dedicated to millets in September 2023 in Alnarp.The event brought together SLU researchers and MSc students, as well as several international participants. Keynote speaker was Patrick Okori, the Executive Secretary of the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), who gave an inspiring talk where he framed the role of different millet crops in a changing climate and how it can be used for diverse purposes, including as a healthy food alternative. However, he pointed out the need for further research and development on millets.

At the symposium, we discovered that the typical millet yield in Africa is as low as one ton per hectare. However, it was underscored that there is an unleashed yield potential of millets, which can be unlocked through improved breeding materials, optimized agricultural practices and improved seed systems. Concerning health benefits, several positive effects of millets consumption was raised, and we also learned that millets can be used for making nutritious porridge for undernourished children.

I was also very inspired by invited speaker Alexandra Klang from Svalorna (LINK) who talked about the Millets sisters in India. A group of Dalit women who are leading a change of norms in India by supporting small scale millets farmers, pushing politicians to introduce millets in schools, working with seed banks and improving market for millets. By sharing knowledge nationwide, they have elevated the millet cultivation, promoting indigenous knowledge and through that, provided food sovereignty.

Several of the speakers addressed the concern of vanishing cooking traditions, highlighting that millets pose a challenge in terms of preparation due to their unique demands in the kitchen. Also, some new millets varieties give a high yield, but doesn’t taste well, which emphasizes the delicate balance needed between cultivation benefits and gastronomic appeal in millets breeding. However, for us, the day at the millet symposium was nicely framed as we were served tasty millets-cookies for “fika” and a nice millet lunch, which made the day a holistic experience.

Johan Rockström and my fellow SLU student, Kristina Gullbrandsson, taking a break in the shadow during the fieldwork. The millet plants are growing bigger every week. Photo: Katarina Börling

Looking at the bright future for millets

During the week when I wrote this blog post, my excitement for millets reached new heights as I tuned into a news programme on national Swedish TV. Among the often discouraging news reports, a ray of positivity emerged when I witnessed the Indian farmer, Pradeep, passionately talking about his own experience of millets, and how millets can address the issue of food security. “More people’s hunger can be satisfied if more people eat millets, there is no doubt about it”. The journalist behind the feature, Malin Mendel, is a well-known Swedish international correspondent that has a taste for Indian cuisine and has written several cookbooks on the subject. When Malin tasted the millet pancakes that the farmer and his wife had cooked, she said with satisfaction “It tastes healthy!”, maybe implying that millets will become the new fashionable, healthy food making a comeback in the urban areas of India.

With increasing impacts of climate change that calls for resilient crops, coupled with an increasing demand for nutritious and healthy foods, I feel hopeful that the IYM 2023 will increase the interest in millets and that millets are ready for comeback.

The people in Samadey passing through the millets field at the end of the season before harvest of the millets. Photo: Katarina Börling

Find out more about SLU’s research and activities on millets and other traditional crops on SLU Global’s web here.

SLU has an important role to play in the implementation of Agenda 2030, in Sweden and beyond.

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This blog post was written by Jens Olsson, researcher at the Department of aquatic resources,Vice Dean responsible for environmental monitoring and assessment at the NJ-Faculty; and coordinator for SLU Water Forum.

Photo: Jens Olsson

The High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) is an annually recurring meeting that serves as UN’s platform for sustainability and focus on reviewing the progress and achievements of Agenda 2030. This years’ forum took place in early July, and was the first since the pandemic to be held on site in the United Nations headquarters in New York. The theme for the meeting was recovery from the pandemic while also advancing the implementation of Agenda 2030. The Sustainable Development Goals (SGD’s) in focus for the meeting were SDG 4 (Quality Education), 5 (Gender Equality), 14 (Life Below Water), 15 (Life on Land) and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).

As SLU has extensive and decisive knowledge for the implementation of at least SDG 14 and 15, we were invited by the Government Offices of Sweden to be part of the Swedish delegation for HLPF. In my role as Vice Dean responsible for environmental monitoring and assessment at the NJ-Faculty and coordinator for SLU Water Forum, I participated as SLU’s representative in the delegation.

The reports shared at the meeting on the progress towards global sustainability was anything but positive. Despite that we are approaching the half-time summit of Agenda 2030, it is apparent that goal fulfilment is moving too slow, and in many cases in the opposite direction to what is desired. This is mainly the result of the Corona pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but also due to a lack of political will and societal commitment. The Ministerial declaration following HLPF was also one of the weakest so far, with substantial backlash with regards to gender equality and rights of vulnerable groups.

In spite of this negative development, during HLPF it was clearly stated that we now must go from words to action and accelerate the implementation of the extensive societal transformation needed to reach the ambitious goals of Agenda 2030. This also to hamper the impact of the concurrent and multiple global crises including climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. What was also obvious at the meeting is that the perspectives of young and vulnerable people are essential for this transformation to happen, as is making use of local knowledge from, among others, indigenous people. It was concluded that economic growth needs to be decoupled from negative impacts on biodiversity, and that we are at a stage in time where knowledge for reaching the goals is available. Now, perhaps more than ever before, political will and societal commitment are essential to move from words to action.

Photo: Jens Olsson

For me this was a true personal experience, and despite the reports of slow progress and backlash towards reaching the goals of the Agenda in 2030, it was fascinating to see and meet that many countries and committed people in one place at one time. In spite of all the bad news, the spirit of hope was present, and I witnessed that the majority of participating countries shared their ambitions for a more sustainable future. It was also instructive to be part of a large and inclusive delegation with participation from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds including representatives from governmental agencies (for example The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and The Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management), the civil societies, youth organisations and municipalities, and also politicians.

I think that for the implementation of Agenda 2030 in Sweden and beyond, SLU has a key role to play. However, we need to raise awareness of the Agenda in our organisation and accelerate our positive impact and contribution to social and environmental sustainability. Even more, I believe that we as a university can make a greater contribution with knowledge, data, advice, innovation and education to support the achievement of the ambitious goals of the Agenda.