Engaging village communities in designing ‘climate smart’ landscapes

(1)

Regional Forum on Climate Change (RFCC) LOW CARBON AND CLIMATE RESILIENT SOCIETIES: BRIDGING SCIENCE, PRACTICE AND POLICY 01‐03 July, 2015 – A.I.T, Bangkok

TS13: PARTICIPATORY APPROACHES FOR

CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION

Engaging village communities in

designing ‘climate smart’ landscapes

• Sisavath PHIMMASONE

• Department of Agricultural Land Management

(DALaM) MAF Lao PDR

Engaging village communities in

designing ‘climate smart’ landscapes

(2)

Outline

• Participatory Land Use Planning for low carbon

emission landscapes,

• Empowering village communities in implementing the

Community‐based Agricultural Development Plan,

• Creating an enabling environment for a landscape

approach to agroecology

EU‐GCCA Eficas NUDP/CA (AFD)

Location of the project

districts and villages

(3)

Participatory Land Use Planning

for low carbon emission landscapes

Bourgoin J., Castella J.C., Hett C., Lestrelin G., Heinimann A. (2013) Engaging local communities in low emissions land use planning: a case study in Laos. Ecology and Society 18 (2): 9.

Land Use Planned activities Permanent crop Want to fence permanent crop area with barbed wires. Rotational crop Want to plant new crops to feed animals or improve the soil. Are not interested in improved fallows Plantation Wish to plant coffee and castor beans and increase teak plantations. Improve pasture Want to create an improved pasture area. Paddy Improved irrigation for the existing paddy area; Build new paddy areas up to 9.6 ha.

Community‐based Agricultural

Development Planning (CADP)

• Action plan that engages the whole village over several years, • Negotiated and implemented by the village community and district extension agents together, • Support of multiple partners is sought for implementation, • Clear indicators for implementation and monitoring

(4)

Land Use Planned activities Area ‐ location Who is involved Inputs: labour, knowledge(training) assistance Milestones &Indicators(date of work completion, etc.) Budget resources share Permanent crop Want to fence permanent crop area with barbwires. Rotational crop Want to plant new crops to feed animals or improve the soil. Are not interested in improved fallows because. Plantation Wish to plant coffee and castor beans and increase teak plantations. Improve pasture Want to create an improved pasture area. Paddy Improved irrigation for the existing paddy area; Build new paddy areas up to 9.6 ha. Garden Would like to increase and improve home gardening. village

communities Project_DAFO

Village Action Plan

CADP Implementation steps (4‐day process)

• Opening village meeting

• Socio‐economic data collection

• Focus group discussions

– Problem census (men / women) – Wood, wildlife and NTFP – Village population trends – Land use systems (crop – livestock): input‐output parameters

• Land management and regulations (3D model, maps)

• Activity planning

– Discussion on innovative practices – Land management rules, indicators – Field visits, site selection, volunteer households

• Closing village meeting

(5)

Day 1. Opening village meeting

• Introduction of the project team

• Presentation of the members of the Village Land

Management Committee (VLMC)

• Objectives of the meeting and activities that will

take place in the village

Team 1

Team 2

Day 1. Data collection

Household survey

Focus group discussions

•Problem census

(6)

Day 1‐2. Data collection

Team 1

Participatory mapping

Up‐dating 3D model

Team 2

•Cropping and livestock systems analysis •Input – output parameters

Focus group discussions

Team 1&2

Data compilation and

analysis

Team 2

Day 3. Data collection and field visit

Field visit ‐ activity planning

Focus group: landscape managt

Focus group: practices

Field visit ‐ activity planning

(7)

Land management and regulations

(8)

Day 4. Action plan – village meeting

• Reviewing development options

• Refining village action plan

• Village meeting led by village committee

Conclusion:

towards a landscape approach to agroecology



Engaging the whole village community in landscape

level management of agricultural innovations

Visualization Learning Improved negotiation participatory landscape design Diagnosis

(9)



Engaging the whole village community in landscape

level management of agricultural innovations



Anticipate problems and negotiate solutions

 Free roaming livestock prevent large adoption of agroecological practices (damage of succession crops during the dry season, forage overgrazing, limited manure collection etc.)  Productivity gains from conservation agriculture reinvested in expansion of agricultural land (forest encroachment)  Mechanized tillage service and use of chemical herbicides constrain the development of alternative cropping systems