Social–ecological experiments to foster agroecological transition
Résumé
1. A paradigm shift is needed to make agriculture sustainable, and various substitutes
for intensive agriculture have been proposed. However, moving from theory to
practice, in the context of climate change, natural resource depletion and worldwide
economic and social disorder requires a novel approach that goes beyond
the confines of ‘normal’ scientific practice, to (a) consider ecological and socioeconomic
processes within the agricultural socio-ecosystem and (b) involving stakeholders
in the research process.
2. We propose an innovative experimental approach for identifying management
practices that optimize multiple objectives, deliver a portfolio of ecosystem services
and satisfy the social demands of key stakeholders while improving the socio-
economic welfare of farmers. Social–ecological experiments are undertaken in
real-field conditions, involving stakeholders explicitly, all along the experimental
pathway, to help untangle the drivers of social–ecological dynamics under various
practices of land management and farming. As an example, we describe a social–
ecological experiment to reduce the intensity of weed control.
3. These ‘social–ecological experiments’ go further, to participatory action research by
not only involving stakeholders in the research process but also by manipulating simultaneously
socioeconomic and ecological processes under real-field conditions to
foster agroecological transition. Such experiments are distinct from adaptive management,
participatory agricultural research and scenario-planning approaches as they
highlight the interactions between ecological and social processes, manipulate the
processes shaping the system and show causal links between patterns and processes.
4. Social–ecological experiments offer great opportunities for increasing stakeholders'
acceptance of environmental policies or sustainable agriculture programmes
implemented through adaptive management. These experiments may help to
identify management practices that deliver a portfolio of ecosystem services and
satisfy key stakeholders.
