News stories by Sabina Zaccaro, page 3

Biodiversity in agriculture is about culture. Traditional knowledge and culture are as important as research and investments, aver farmers, researchers and academicians who are gathered in Rome to celebrate International Day for Biodiversity on Saturday.

Development does not protect women. The number of women physically and psychologically abused at home is at alarming levels across Europe.

World farmers are not part of the official delegations at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) food summit on food security that opened here Monday. But they came anyhow to express their views, since, they say, it is their communities that are most impacted by the food crisis.

'They beat us. They beat everyone, men and women. They usually beat us in the same room where we were kept. But they took some people out of the room. Not me, but they took other women out of the room.'

An alarming rise has been recorded in the number of Nigerian girls trafficked to Italy.

Many civil society organisations are staying on in Sardinia island in support of a region severely affected by the economic crisis, after the G8 leaders summit was moved from there to the city of L'Aquila.

The promotion of biodiversity in agriculture needs political backing, Emile Frison, Bioversity International Director-General tells IPS in an interview. This kind of biodiversity can provide food security and promote health, he says.

How many varieties of date palm or melon exist? And why should we care? IPS spoke to three 'Guardians of Diversity' so named by Bioversity International for their contribution to conservation.

The new president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development takes over at a time when women farmers are becoming a growing force - without a growing voice.

Civil society groups are looking to the World Social Forum this year to strengthen their campaign for justice in the face of organised crime.