Richness in diversity

It's common to grumble (though not necessarily on a blog) about one's work - too much, tight deadlines - or if you work for yourself - not enough coming in. I thought I would mark a change by saying how much I am enjoying my work at the moment. I have a number of projects on different subjects (economics, participatory development, natural history and tropical forest management) written with different styles (academic journals, annual reports, PhDs). When I have enough of one author or topic I can switch to another - (I have found out that my good attention span is about two and half hours after which it is more productive to go and do something else). My research interest in ecological farming taught me that one of its benefits is diversity - in maintaining environmental conditions, reducing vulnerability to pests, drought or to market price fluctuations. But diversity also has a social aspect. It is good for people to vary their routine, to be able to switch from pruning trees in the morning to weeding the maize in the afternoon. It keeps us interested in what we do - (as opposed to having to sow fifty hectares of cotton before the next new moon). My one gripe is that there are so many projects coming through my office at the moment that I have very little time for blue sky activities (in either sense of the term). So I have decided to set aside a week soon to do nothing else and will - appropriately enough - be going to the Festival of Diversity in Bonn, staged to coincide with the Convention of Biological Diversity and the Protocol on Biosafety - international meetings that will have a huge influence on the rights of farmers and governments of poor countries to manage their own biological resources. Let’s hope the arguments in favour of diversity prove stronger than those for uniformity.