Gaming and simulation to explore resilience of contested agricultural landscapes

Abstract

Over the past decades, smallholder farming communities have become increasingly affected by an ever larger number of (unexpected) non-local economic and institutional drivers. At the same time, also environmental consequences of past and current agricultural activities have become more apparent. Consequently, farmer’s decision-making is now part of a complex social-ecological system in which stakeholders from various scales and levels exert power to influence smallholders’ decision-making. The capacity of rural communities to adapt to this fast-changing environment is key in securing the continuation of  livelihoods in rural parts of the world. Improving the adaptive capacity of rural communities has been proposed as the largest challenge of the century, especially in contested areas were the interests of non-local stakeholders often strongly conflict with those of local communities. Although the attributes that underpin adaptive capacity are widely agreed upon in literature, (i) empirical evidence on how rural communities can construct trajectories of change based on adaptation, and (ii) tools that can facilitate the development of adaptive capacity are still lacking. This PhD thesis addressed both these issues. This research was based on extensive fieldwork in a usufruct community in the buffer zone of a Biosphere Reserve in Chiapas, Mexico, where  objectives to conserve nature and produce food make completing claims on land and on a series of gaming and simulation workshops including a variety of stakeholders. Data showed that communities can strengthen their resilience to the sometimes strong negative effects of changes in legislation and markets. Improved local organization, diversification of land use and cooperation among farmers proved essential in this process. Four gaming and simulation tools were developed and applied with various stakeholders within this thesis. Results showed that the understanding of difficult concepts and processes among participants improved as a result of the gaming and simulation tools and that the workshops provided an opportunity to share ideas.

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