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The access to the contents of this doctoral thesis it is limited to the acceptance of the use conditions set by the following Creative Commons license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/?lang=en PhD THESIS OPEN GRANARIES: PREVENTING TRADITIONAL AGROECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE EROSION AND ENCLOSURE IN THE ERA OF OPEN SCIENCE Petra Johanna Benyei Peco Director/Tutor: Director: Victoria Reyes-García Marta Rivera-Ferre PhD Programme in Environmental Science and Technology Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona November 2019 Granaries are places where seed is kept and stored. But granaries need to be somewhat open and breathe so that the seeds do not rot, safeguarding them for the next planting season. Every year, seeds are brought in and taken out of the granary. New seeds from other farmers might come in, or seeds from your own plants that have been modified by crossbreeding. You might also give seed from your granary to other farmers in exchange. This is what guarantees future crops for you and others. As seeds, knowledge also needs to breathe, be freely exchanged and cross-pollinated to guarantee humanity's capacity to know, innovate and adapt. CONTENTS SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................... 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. 9 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 11 PART 1. THE NEED ..................................................................................................... 33 Storing and sharing: A review of Indigenous and Local Knowledge conservation initiatives ..................................................................................................................... 35 Resistance to Traditional Agroecological Knowledge loss in industrialized contexts: The case study of la Plana de Vic (Catalonia) ............................................................ 55 PART 2. THE PROCESS ............................................................................................... 85 What’s in it for you? Participant diversity and engagement in politically motivated citizen science projects. .............................................................................................. 87 PART 3. THE IMPACT ............................................................................................... 113 Seeds of change: Reversing Traditional Agroecological Knowledge’s erosion through a citizen science school program in Catalonia. ......................................................... 115 PART 4. THE OUTCOME .......................................................................................... 141 The contribution of Traditional Agroecological Knowledge as a digital commons to agroecological transitions: The case of the CONECT-e platform ............................ 143 CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................... 161 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................. 173 ANNEX I ...................................................................................................................... 203 SUMMARY In the past decades, traditional agroecological knowledge (TAeK) has suffered a rapid process of erosion and privatization, especially in industrialized contexts. As a response to this situation, numerous TAeK conservation initiatives have emerged, including initiatives engaging in local TAeK revitalization (in situ o contextualized knowledge conservation) and initiatives engaging in global TAeK documentation and inventorying (ex situ or decontextualized knowledge conservation). On another level, emerging efforts coming from the open science and post- normal science movements are trying to include multiple epistemological standpoints in the production of knowledge, pushing for recognizing the validity of locally grounded expertises. However, these complementary approaches to restoring the perceived legitimacy of TAeK are not always linked together. This thesis advances our understanding of the nexus between the conservation of TAeK, public participation in science, and knowledge co-production and co-management in digital environments by exploring the potential of digital citizen science to become a participatory tool for traditional knowledge conservation. Specifically, through this thesis, I evaluate the need for, the process, the impact and the outcomes of a technology mediated citizen science initiative aiming at documenting, sharing, and protecting TAeK as a digital commons: the CONECT-e project (www.conecte.es). The need for this project was evaluated by looking both into the global literature on traditional knowledge conservation and the local reality of TAeK conservation efforts in a case study in Catalonia. The project’s process was examined by looking into CONECT-e’s platform users’ participation and profile data. The impact of the project was evaluated by testing if CONECT-e could enhance valuation and access to TAeK among agricultural technical students in Catalonia. Finally, the project’s outcome was examined by looking into the content and visits to CONECT-e’s platform and by evaluating the overall platform’s contribution to TAeK conservation as a digital commons. Results from this work show that there is a need for this type of initiatives, since most TAeK conservation projects in the academic world are not participatory and follow a rather top-down approach. The need for this type of projects is also showcased by the multiplicity of locally grounded projects found working in close connection despite their different approaches to TAeK conservation and their different discourses about TAeK loss. Moreover, my results demonstrate that initiatives such as CONECT-e can attract diverse and active participants, partly because of their political nature and their ability to establish tight partnerships with interested actors. Results from this work also highlight that initiatives like CONECT-e can help increase valuation and access to TAeK among young agricultural students in industrialized contexts, thus contributing to halting TAeK’s erosion. Finally, my results show that resisting to TAeK erosion Page | 5 and enclosure is in line with resisting to industrialized food systems, and that the participatory documentation, sharing, and protection of TAeK as a digital commons can contribute to agroecological transitions. Thus, overall, this work contributes to the literature on TAeK conservation and on political agroecology by highlighting elements that can prevent the erosion and enclosure of TAeK, a key knowledge base to agroecological transitions. Furthermore, findings from this thesis contribute to the literature on participation and post-normal science as they advance our understanding of 1) the complexity inherent to any participatory method and 2) the limitations and opportunities of citizen science as a tool for TAeK conservation. RESUMEN En las últimas décadas, el conocimiento agroecológico tradicional (CAeT) ha sufrido un rápido proceso de erosión y privatización, especialmente en contextos industrializados. Numerosas iniciativas de conservación del CAeT han surgido como respuesta a esta situación, incluyendo iniciativas que se dedican a la revitalización local del CAeT (conservación de conocimiento in situ o contextualizado) e iniciativas que se dedican a la documentación e inventario global del CAeT (conservación de conocimiento ex situ o descontextualizado). A otro nivel, esfuerzos emergentes que provienen de movimientos como la ciencia abierta están tratando de incluir múltiples puntos de vista y epistemologías en la producción de conocimiento, presionando para que se vuelva a reconocer la validez de los saberes locales. Sin embargo, estos enfoques complementarios no siempre se han combinado. Esta tesis avanza nuestra comprensión sobre el nexo entre la conservación del CAeT, la participación pública en la ciencia y la co-producción y co-gestión del conocimiento en entornos digitales al explorar el potencial de la ciencia ciudadana digital para convertirse en una herramienta participativa para la conservación del conocimiento tradicional. Específicamente, en esta tesis, evalúo la necesidad, el proceso, el impacto y los resultados de una iniciativa digital de ciencia ciudadana cuyo objetivo es documentar, compartir y proteger el CAeT como un bien común digital: el proyecto CONECT-e (www.conecte .es). La necesidad de este proyecto se evaluó analizando la literatura global sobre la conservación de los conocimientos tradicionales y la realidad local de los esfuerzos de conservación del CAeT en un estudio de caso en Cataluña. El proceso del proyecto se evaluó analizando los datos de perfil y participación de los usuarios de la plataforma CONECT-e. El impacto del proyecto se evaluó midiendo cambios en la valoración y el acceso al CAeT entre