[Reader-list] [Announcements] [infosouth] Living Labs: A global TV series probing how to grow more food with less water

Sun Mar 18 17:12:32 IST 2007

Announcing 'Living Labs':
A global TV series probing how to grow more food with less water

Dedicated to the International Decade for Action: Water for Life (2005  2015)

15 March 2007; Colombo, Sri Lanka and Washington DC, USA: Between 70 and 90 
per cent of all freshwater drawn in the developing world is used for 
growing crops. But this needs to change fast: with water scarcity emerging 
as a global concern, agriculture cannot afford to remain so hooked on water.

Todays crowded world needs to produce more food using both less water and 
land. This calls for smarter, thriftier methods of increasing waters 
productivity in agriculture. And it must be achieved without damaging the 
environment, or threatening peoples food security, health and jobs.

TVE Asia Pacifics new global TV series Living Labs looks at efforts by 
researchers, farmers and local communities in different parts of the world 
to respond to this challenge. It profiles a major global effort looking for 
solutions through action research.

Produced in partnership with the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food 
(CPWF), it was filmed in late 2006 in nine countries in Africa, Asia 
Pacific, Europe and Latin America. As the research initiative started 
synthesizing its findings after three years of field work, we visited eight 
of its benchmark river basins, to find out what has been accomplished  and 
what remains to be done.

Living Labs series comprises:
- 1 x 29 min global documentary, providing an overview of the problem and 
solutions, presented under five thematic areas
- 8 x 5 min short videos, containing stories from different river basins - 
living labs where the Challenge Programs research happens

The series was filmed in 9 countries on four continents, viz:
- Africa: Limpopo River Basin (South Africa); Nile River Basin (Uganda); 
Volta River Basin (Ghana)
- Asia: Indo-Gangetic River Basin (India); Mekong River Basin (Thailand); 
Yellow River Basin (China)
- Latin America: Andean System of River Basins (Colombia); Sao Francisco 
River Basin (Brazil)
- Europe: Additional filming was done during the World Water Week 2006 in 
Stockholm, Sweden - a leading annual gathering of experts and activists 
engaged in freshwater management issues.

The series reflects the spirit of the Challenge Program: researchers 
working with each other, as well as with farmers, officials and others 
having a stake in water management, land use or food production. Interviews 
bring in the views of men and women from different backgrounds, who speak 
over a dozen local languages.

Filmed on DV Cam (PAL) and produced to international broadcast standards, 
the series comes with an English narration. Non-English interviews have 
been sub-titled.

Supervised by TVEAPs location filming director, all filming was done by 
locally-based and internationally credentialed camera crews in each country 
- an important element in TVEAPs policy of engaging local talent. The 
series was edited in Melbourne, Australia.

This was one of the most ambitious and challenging video production we 
have undertaken, says Nalaka Gunawardene, TVEAPs Director and CEO, who 
wrote and executive produced the series. We immediately recognized the 
scientific, survival and development value of these stories. But we wanted 
to tell these stories in a way that everyone can understand and relate to.

In conceptualizing and producing Living Labs, TVEAP applied its 
tried-and-tested approach: be informed by science, but not immersed in it.

The Living Labs series was premiered at the International Forum on Water 
and Food, held in Vientiane, Laos, on 12 - 17 November 2006, hosted by the 
Mekong River Commission (MRC). It brought together 300 top researchers and 
policy makers from all over the world.

Background

A regionally operating non-profit foundation, TVE Asia Pacific has a 
decades experience in documenting the Asia Pacifics quest for 
environmentally and socially sustainable development. It taps the power of 
moving images to tell factual, authentic stories drawn from the ground 
level and ground zero. All TVEAP films are produced journalistically to 
suit non-technical, public audiences, and are distributed without copyright 
restrictions worldwide. <http://www.tveap.org/>www.tveap.org

The Challenge Program on Water and Food is a worldwide research initiative 
under the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research, or 
CGIAR -- a strategic alliance of members, partners and international 
agricultural centres that mobilizes science to benefit the poor. 
Ultimately, the Program seeks to reduce poverty and enhance food security 
- two of the most important international development priorities. 
<http://www.waterandfood.org/>http://www.waterandfood.org/

This series is available to broadcast, educational and civil society users 
everywhere without licence fee or copyright restrictions. For broadcast 
interest, please contact: <mailto:sales at tveap.org>sales at tveap.org

Video and DVD copies may be ordered directly, at cost-recovery (duplication 
& dispatch) prices from TVEAPs online e-shop at: 
<http://www.tveap.org/shopping/search.php>http://www.tveap.org/shopping/search.php

The shorter films in this series can now be viewed on TVEAP's channel on 
You Tube at: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=tveapfilms

Note: Living Labs Series Executive Producer and script writer Nalaka 
Gunawardene is available for contact and interviews in Washington DC, USA, 
until 22 March 2007. Mobile phone: + 1 571 265 7998

...................................................................
Nalaka Gunawardene
Director and CEO
Television for Education - Asia Pacific (TVE Asia Pacific)
9/3, Gemunu Mawatha, Nawala Road, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka.
Phone: +94 11 4412 195; Fax: +94 11 4403 443
Email: <nalaka at tveap.org>
www.tveap.org | www.digits4change.net | www.childrenoftsunami.info | 
www.savingtheplanet.tv

Moving images, moving people  

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