Companion modelling approach for participatory land management: the case of erosive runoff in Upper Normandy

Véronique Souchère (1) , Laurent Millair (1) , Javier Echeverria (1) , François Bousquet (2) , Christophe Le Page (2, 3) , Michel Etienne (4)

1 SADAPT - Sciences pour l'Action et le Développement : Activités, Produits, Territoires
2 UPR GREEN - Gestion des ressources renouvelables et environnement
3 Dpt. of Biology
4 ECODEVELOPPEMENT - Unité de recherche d'Écodéveloppement

Erosive runoff is a recuring problem, and a source of sometimes lethal muddy floods in the Pays de Caux. This risk results from the combination of natural and human fact ors. Efficient action againts the runoff in agricultural watersheds are well known. However their implementation is still difficult. The objective of this study using the Companion Modelling approach was to create a Role Playing Game (RPG) designe to facilitate collective learning and thinking. This RPG named "CauxOperation" and created by a scientific team working closely with the local stakeholders gathers farmers, a municipality mayor and a watershed advisor. During a game session, the players weere confronted with a disastrous runoff in a fictive agricultural waterssshed. they are supposed to meet and to negotiate in order to find solutions to reduce runoff and damage. The RPG was used twice times. The results throw lignt on the collective learning process and the emergence of collective thinking using the ideas and the mental-representation of each player.

Mots clés: COMPANION MODELLING; ROLE PLAYING GAME; EROSIVE RUNOFF; WATERSHED SCALE; UPPER NORMANDY

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Véronique Souchère, Laurent Millair, Javier Echeverria, François Bousquet, Christophe Le Page, et al.. Companion modelling approach for participatory land management: the case of erosive runoff in Upper Normandy. 8. European International Farming Systems Association (IFSA) Symposium, Jul 2008, Clermont Ferrand, France. ⟨hal-01197765⟩