Saturday, December 01, 2007

Voting for an arid environment in the Eden Project

The Edge

This item is only really relevant to you if you are interested in livelihoods in the semi-arid zones of Egypt, but might be of interest to those looking at the impacts of past climate change on, for example, livelihoods of prehistoric people in the Western Desert.

The Eden Project in Cornwall, U.K. has worked to undertake research on biodiversity and to present it to the public. The project is ongoing, and the next phase is under discussion. One option is to create a biome which recreates arid and semi-arid habitats where life for all species is usually very challenging. It is hoped that if the project is developed it will help to assist with decision making processes about sustainablie livelihoods in desert and Sahel type environments.

It will also look to the past to try to understand how people adapted to environmental change, and it will look at contemporary indigenous solutions that have been put into practice.

The biome, called the Edge, is one of four short listed projects in competition for a £50 million grant from the Big Lottery Fund, and the outcome is to be decided by popular vote. Information about the Eden bid and on how to vote can be accessed at the above website:

The Edge biome will be presented on ITV1 at 11pm on Monday 3rd December. Telephone voting runs between 9am on Friday 7th December until noon on Monday 9th December. Alternatively, it is possible to register now to vote by email.

This competition represents the best chance of securing the funding requiremd for creaing the Edge biome.

You can see what The Edge would look like on the project's website.

There's a film about The Edge on the website.

Details about how to vote can also be found on the site.

For general details about the Eden Project look at their home page.

More details about the Lottery vote can be found at The People's 50 Million website.

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