China's agriculture has grown rapidly over the last three decades. This is due to the liberalization of markets, rapid technological change, and the “household responsibility system”. When economies grow, they vary in how much the growth benefits the poor. In the recent growth of the Chinese economy, the growth in agriculture benefitted the poor three and half times as much as the growth of the rest of the economy (World Bank, 2008, p. 6). The growth in China's agriculture has been largely responsible for the decline in rural poverty from 250 million in 1978 to 14.78 million in 2007, according to the official poverty line and income indicator. China has largely eliminated the fear of hunger in the country. But these achievements are being threatened by climate change. Some parts of the country are more affected than others. One type of area that is especially sensitive to climate change is the ecotone, that is, where two different ecological communities (e.g., forest and grassland) border and overlap. Poor people who live in such areas are finding it even more difficult to overcome their poverty. The Chinese government's efforts to mitigate climate change often unintentionally make life more difficult for them.

CLIMATE CHANGE, FOOD PRODUCTION, AND POVERTY

Influence of Climate Change on Food Production

Climate change will cause productivity in the farming of major food crops to decline and be unstable in China. As a result of the increase in temperature and the decrease in water and arable land expected for the next twenty to fifty years, the period of crop production will be shortened and food production will be threatened. The production levels of China's three main food crops (rice, wheat, and maize) are expect­ ed to decrease by 14 per cent to 23 per cent, not taking into account possible adaptation measures (Lin Erda et al. 2008). See Table 3.1.

New constellations of learning

The three cases described in this book represent diverse but congruent, unfolding paths to learning – design, processes, and results. They include the development of holistic and dynamic curricula that integrate the various approaches and tools used in participatory CBNRM and PR & D research. The three initiatives offer curricula to different categories of learners – academics and graduate students; practitioners and researchers in the field; community groups; and policymakers. The three cases share the common feature of making curriculum development an emergent, collective, and adapative process, rather than establishment of a pre-set blueprint delivered by teachers or instructors who are the “know all” and “know best” and who are not truly engaged in the process.

The cases bring together the knowledge and expertise about CBNRM and PR & D of a diversity of people and organizations, working in a variety of political, socioeconomic and agro-ecological contexts. In all three cases, partners and participants have strengthened a number of important capacities – going beyond mere technical expertise, through a prolonged process of working and learning together. This pooling of expertise involves students, researchers, practitioners, community groups, policymakers, and staff of international organizations. Among those social actors are individuals who are either more or less experienced (in terms of dealing with rural development questions and being involved in capacity development processes), belonging to groups or organizations with often diverse histories.

This case study focuses on participatory action learning in the country's higher education system. In Part 1, the background and the main elements of the capacity development initiative are described and, in Part 2, a summary of the learning outcomes at various levels is given and some reflections on the achievements till date are included. It draws on theory, on personal and active experience in the initiative, and on the findings of multiple participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM & E) activities carried out throughout the capacity development process. As part of the learning experimentation personal learning stories are included in this case study. These stories aim to give some insight in the everyday learning process that was experienced, among others, about the enrolment in the initiative, the linkages established, and the emergent features that have come about in the innovation process.

Part 1: The capacity development initiative

Challenges in China's higher education

The field visit experience described above is the key part of a new course at the College of Humanities and Development (COHD) at China Agricultural University (CAU) in Beijing: “Community-based natural resource management – an introduction.” The course development experience – from design, through delivery, to evaluation – is part of a larger action research and capacity development initiative entitled “Participatory learning, curriculum development and mainstreaming of community-based natural resource management approaches in higher education in China” (COHD 2004). This initiative aims to contribute to the development and implementation of innovative, community-based and participatory development approaches in rural China.

This fragment of an e-mail message provides a glimpse of the experience documented in this book. Sent to a colleague at the other end of China, accompanying another group of M.Sc. and Ph.D. students visiting a rural community in the northern province of Ningxia, it illustrates the spirit of the educational innovation process highlighted in the following pages.