At the very end of year, after an extentend process of editing and re-editing, Henryk and Michael published the special issue entitled ‚Coexistence or competition for resources? Transboundary transformations of natural resource use in China’s neighborhood‘ in the journal Eurasian Geography & Economics. The issue contains six contributions and can be openly accessed under https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rege20/current.

© https://www.bioecon-societal-change.de/ On November 10th, the TRANSECT team hosted the annual meeting of the junior research groups within the BMBF funding scheme "Bioeconomy as societal change" at the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNE). The program was moderated by Dr. Förster from Projektträger Jülich. Also present was Dr. Walter, representing BMBF Referat 725. The meeting brought together nine junior research groups of which four had recently launched their projects. The meeting shed light on several dynamic transformation processes concerning bioeconomy, covering topics such as social inequalities in biomass production, stakeholder mentalities, local knowledge, the bio-based construction sector, meat industry, use of agricultural residues, and bioeconomy policy strategies. For a more detailed report, please refer to: https://biooekonomie.de/foerderung/foerderbeispiele/biooekonomie-als-gesellschaftlicher-wandel-statustreffen-der-bmbf-gefoerderten-nachwuchsforschenden

© Henryk Alff 2023 Among the external advisors present were Ralf Bloch (HNE Eberswalde), Andrei Dörre (FU Berlin), Irna Hofman (University of Oxford), Ulan Kasimov (TU Dresden), Hermann Kreutzmann (FU Berlin), Daniel Müller (Leibniz Institute), Martin Petrick (Giessen University), Fabricio Rodríguez (University of Freiburg), and Matthias Schmidt (Augsburg University). The program entailed an update by the TRANSECT group on their progress since the last meeting (held in 2021). Henryk reported on agrarian modernization processes in South and Central Asia. Mehwish and Michael held a joint presentation on their research on the complex and multifaceted seed sector in Pakistan. Aksana presented her findings on organic agriculture in Tajikistan’s cotton sector and challenges therein. Christoph reported on his crop type mapping study in South Punjab. The team also reported on the participatory workshops held with the rural stakeholders of the 3 case studies in Kazakhstan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan and the preliminary findings of the workshops. Critical discussions followed each presentation. The afternoon was dedicated to the discussion of outlook for the TRANSECT group. All the participants, including the advisory board members, reported on their present engagements and future research plans and synergies were discussed. The day ended with a visit to the Tadshikische Teestube in Berlin where discussions continued in a traditional Tajik tea house setting.

At DKG’23, Michael and Henryk co-organized paper and discussion panels on various themes related to the TRANSECT research themes: Double panel “ The Great Convergence? Agricultural Modernization and its Others in Global Perspective ”, with Stefan Ouma, Bayreuth University Modernization, originating from different power centres (‘the West’, the former Soviet Union, China), remains the dominant paradigm of agrarian change. This session discusses points of con- and divergence among discourses on agrarian change in different parts of the world. Panel “ Putting China’s belt and road initiative into perspective ”, with Matthias Schmidt, Augsburg University This session investigates China’s and other transnational investments and development interventions abroad, with a focus on the Global South. Exploring local implications in the receiving countries, it questions the idea of a ‘Chinese exceptionalism’ in overseas engagements. Panel discussion “ Contested ecologies in Eastern Europe: Crises, politics, and activism ” with Alexander Vorbrugg, Bern University Russia’s 2022 invasion caused ecological havoc within Ukraine. It also had more indirect effects on environmental regulations and policies, and further issues, in neighbouring countries and internationally. Authoritarian tendencies in some Eastern European countries have an increasing impact on state environmental governance as well as activism, while past involvement of Western European countries and the EU in respective policy fields brought mixed results. The climate crisis, too, has an increasing impact on eco-politics in the region. Drawing on diverse, rich, and longstanding engagement with ecological issues in different Eastern European countries, the panellists address current events and their environmental implications, and geographers’ and activists’ responses to them. They also give insights into the longer traditions of environmental research and activism in ‘the region’, and how these matter for thinking about and conceptualizing political ecology and environmental issues more broadly and beyond this region. Moreover, Michael, Henryk, and Aksana shared their TRANSECT research in three different presentations: “ Chinese hybrid rice seed and the corporatization of agriculture in Pakistan ” (Michael Spies), “ Socio-economic factors affecting smallholder farmer decision-making in times of crises in south-western Tajikistan ” (Aksana Zakirova), and “ Modernisation beyond Soviet and Western technocracy? Lessons from agrarian practice for future sustainable agricultural development across the Central-South Asian divide ” (Henryk Alff). At Tropentag 2023, Mehwish contributed with a poster presentation on “ Is there a future for smallholder farmers in Bioeconomy? ‘Improved seeds’ based intensification in south Punjab, Pakistan ” (Mehwish Zuberi). This presentation was part of the session on governance and (bio)economic aspects of food systems transformation which brought together several contributions on the complexities of governing bioeconomic transitions in Global South agriculture.

From June 22nd to June 24th 2023, the TRANSECT research group held its final conference in HNEE’s city campus. HNEE President opened the conference with a welcoming address, followed by Dr. Michael Spies, the group leader of TRANSECT, who outlined the main objectives of the conference. As part of the BMBF's funding line 'Bioeconomy as Societal Change,' TRANSECT researchers have gained an in-depth understanding of agricultural dynamics in local case study areas in Central and South Asia over the course of more than four years. The two-day conference focused on localized research approaches towards agricultural change and bioeconomy development, featuring invited speakers from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan. Moreover, it included thought-provoking papers from other regions of the Global South, as well as research groups and scientific centers in Germany. Lively discussions among participants enriched the scientific encounter and brought together perspectives from different geographic and thematic angles. The conference concluded on June 24th with an excursion to Eberswalde's forest botanical garden and the Biosphere Reserve Schorfheide-Chorin.

Kazakhstan © HNEE 2022 / Christoph Raab

Dried soil after irrigation, Kazakhstan All photos © HNEE 2022 / Christoph Raab In May 2022, TRANSECT researchers and colleagues from Tajikistan conducted an extensive field data collection expedition in Jaloliddin Balkhi, a district in the south-west of Khatlon Region, Tajikistan. Data on crop types were gathered in order to derive a remote-sensing-based crop type map for the area of interest using these reference locations. For this, a classification algorithm will be applied to multi-temporal Sentinel-2 images in the future. As statistical data on agricultural land use are spatially aggregated, this will provide detailed information on the distribution and share of different crop types for our study region. The agriculture of the district is mainly characterised by cotton cultivation, which is irrigated using a network of large and small channels. Secondary crops include wheat, alfalfa (also called lucerne), fruit trees and other minor crops. Salinisation phenomena sometimes occur, often related to difficulties with the drainage of the fields.

Participants of MARISCO workshop in Dushanbe, Tajikistan All photos © HNEE 2022 / Michael Spies, Henryk Alff From May 10 to 12, 2022, TRANSECT researchers and colleagues from Tajikistan facilitated the first three-day participatory workshop in Dushanbe, the capital city of Tajikistan. The workshop proceeding was based on TRANSECT's adapted MARISCO method (Adaptive MAnagement of vulnerability and RISk at COnservation sites). MARISCO represents a toolbox and an approach to adaptive ecosystem-based management. The method has been adapted to agrarian settings with a stronger emphasis on social dimensions of resource use and bio-based economy. The workshop was jointly organised with the National Centre for Genetic Resources of the Tajik Academy of Agricultural Sciences and FARNICO Tajikistan LLC . Participants of the MARISCO workshop brought together insights and perspectives from diverse local stakeholders including farmers and agronomists from Jaloliddini Balkhi and Huroson districts of Khatlon region, representatives of Water Users Associations, research institutes, academia and agricultural NGOs. A similar workshop was conducted together with local farmers and other stakeholders about three weeks later (May 31 to June 1) in Panfilov district, Kazakhstan. The workshop was jointly organised by TRANSECT and our partner university, the Kazakh National University , named after Al-Farabi. It was facilitated by a team of five German and Kazakh researchers. While the format of the workshops was new to most of the participants, they quickly took the role of acting as local experts. They engaged in the process of knowledge mapping very actively. Both workshops aggregated valuable results for the TRANSECT research project, in terms of methodology as well as regarding new insights into farmers’ perspectives on the local social-ecological systems and challenges. In Kazakhstan and in Tajikistan, the participants found the holistic approach of the MARISCO methodology insightful. They admitted that mapping local knowledge jointly with other local experts enabled them to look at their existing social and ecological problems systematically, beyond their own farm and household boundaries.

Tajikistan © HNEE 2022 / Christoph Raab