Designing and modelling a shared
representation to support changes in
agricultural practices in Guadeloupe
A school of stakeholders of the territory
Jean-Pierre CHERY
TETIS, AgroParisTech, CIRAD, CNRS, IRSTEA, Univ. Montpellier, Montpellier,
France
Vincent BONNAL
CIRAD, TETIS, Capesterre-Belle-Eau, Guadeloupe, France.
TETIS, Univ. Montpellier, AgroParisTech, CIRAD, CNRS, IRSTEA, Montpellier, France
Jean-Philippe TONNEAU
CIRAD, TETIS, Montpellier, France. TETIS, AgroParisTech, CIRAD, CNRS, IRSTEA, Univ. Montpellier, Montpellier,
Introduction: a health issue
• Diffuse agricultural pollution
in the watersheds of
Guadeloupe and Martinique
– A crisis: Chlordecone (kepone) insecticide, used in the 1970s to 1990s
• What is at stake?
– Reducing the negative impact of agriculture on the environment and human health
• Questions :
– How to develop sustainable and less polluting agricultural systems? – How to continue agricultural
production with polluted soil and water?
Guadeloupe
Martinique
A research context: the RIVAGE project
• RIVAGE (french acronym) for “Remediation and
Agroecological Innovation to Manage and Preserve the
Environmental Quality of the Territory”
– 2015-2017 with a possible extension (2018-2020)
• Objectives of the project:
– Create a participatory mechanism involving civil society actors
• to discuss the environmental issue
• to identify priority actions to be undertaken
– Produce knowledge on environmental contamination processes and the link with agricultural practices
– Propose targeted and adapted management methods such as crop innovations and support their adoption
The RIVAGE project
• Expected result: An integrated approach of the territory...
... by integrating points of view to built a shared diagnosis of territorial
issues
... by integrating knowledge to effectively represent the impacts of
agricultural practices on people and the environment.
... to assist in the development of integrated public policies
• Method:
– A “school of stakeholders”
• The territory: watersheds of
“Pérou-Les Pères” ; SW Guadeloupe
• DPSIR framework: shared representation model
A school of stakeholders : what are the
fundamentals? (1)
• Decentralization of public policies
– Territorialisation
• Example: Water governance with the emergence of the concept of "hydro-territory" (R. Barbier et al., 2016)
– Participation
• The search for compromises for the management strategy (of a resource, a risk, etc.) : consultation and negotiation stages in the governance
– Co-building process
• Need for a common reference system between stakeholders (H. Rey-Valette et al., 2006)
• Concepts related to collective action theory: cognitive, normative and symbolic dimensions.
• Importance of collective representations: their methods of construction, their methods of sharing
• To act collectively: recognize at least the different representations and define a common working method
A school of stakeholders : what are the
fundamentals? (2)
• How can representations be shared collectively?
– Instances or forums
• Technical-scientist ones: diagnosis of problems, possible solutions • Political ones: modalities of action
• Forums are places where ideas and representations are generated
– Linking actors who are usually compartmentalized according to a
sectoral way
– Difficulties :
• Mobilization over time (Reed, 2008 ; Barbier et al., 2011)
• Low capacity of influence of the technical-scientific forums (difficulty to leave the diagnosis)
• Diversion of participatory mechanisms by elected officials for personal or partisan strategies
The hypotheses for the school of stakeholders
• Among the constraints :
– "Choice" of stakeholdres (invited, registered, co-present)
– Overcoming "traditional" identities within a territory ("types" of actors) and their relational routines (Feldman and Pentland, 2003; Rerup and Feldman, 2011)
– Risks of strengthening and justifying pre-established positions (see work of the sociology of organized action)
– Power games and lack of reflexivity (Crozier and Friedberg, 1977) – Unshared heritages of data, knowledge, expertise, experience
• Hypotheses to inaugurate the school of stakeholders
– A collective learning process, based on a reflexivity free of institutional contingencies, makes it possible to modify the "rules of the game" to encourage technical innovation and political innovation.
– The support of the stakeholders is necessary to create the conditions for learning processes and reflexivity
Practical approach of the school of stakeholders
• Invitation to stakeholders considered a priori as
stakeholders
– decision-makers, actual actors or groups affected by
agricultural activities and their impacts on the environment – About 80 contacts, personal invitations
• Joint reflection process around different shared questions on the issue
• Every quarter since the end of 2016: a main theme
• Using the DPSIR model to animate and debate
DPSIR : Example of application to a general
environmental case
Driving forces Pressures
state
(of the environment)
Impacts Responses
Contextual conditions that determine human activities and increase or decrease pressures on the environment
Stress that human activities place on the environment
(e.g. waste water)
Qualitative and quantitative characterization
resources
(e.g. air or water quality assessment).
Effects of environmental degradation (e.g. loss of biodiversity, economic damage)
Sources:
Global international water assessment (GIWA), 2001 European Environment Agency (EEA), Copenhaguen
Society's responses to the environmental situation (e.g. cleaner production, regulations)
Pesticide use: the answer of a time (70s-90s)
Impacts
• Yield drop (from ~18t/ha to 13t/ha)
• Weakened economy • Worry about professional
streams and state services
Generate Produce Pressures • High parasitic pressure Determine Responses • Authorization to use molecules • Regular and massive treatments • Innovation: pesticide use Driving forces
• Tropical island (climate, soils, etc.)
• Agriculture Modernization Model (Green Revolution)
Modify
State of the productive system • Poor performance • Crop Extension • Structuring of the sectors Manage • Reduces parasitic pressure • Improves the productive state of banana trees Contribute to change
• Water and soil quality over the long term
Pesticide impacts assessed (since 90s)
Produce
Driving forces
• Tropical island with polluted waters and soils • Export economic model
Determine
Impacts
• Toxic to living organisms
• Contamination of country vegetables • Contamination of animals (crustaceans,
fish, etc.) • Gene mutations
• Neurological and reproductive diseases • 90% of the population with traces of
chlordecone molecule in the blood
Manage Contribute
to change
Responses
•Diagnostic studies on soil and water pollution •Health studies •Regulations: prohibition of chlordecone (1993) Generate
State of the productive system
• No or few weeds and pests • Polluted soil, water and air
Modify
Pressures
• Maintaining the productive system and improving yields
Innovations as Responses
Reducing the impact of pesticides by adapting agriculture to deep pollution
State of the productive system
Produce Modify Generate Determine Pressures Impacts Driving forces
• Tropical island with polluted waters and soils
Responses
• Cleaning on
collectors for water recovery and treatment
• Plant cover under banana plantation
• … Manage
Contribute to modify
The different sessions of the school of stakeholders
1. RIVAGE Project Presentation (November 2016 ; 13 people)
2. Innovations and innovation devices (March 2017 ; 28 people)
– Sugarcane mulching on yam cultivation
– Research and implementation of innovations on the theme of
post-harvest banana fungicides
– The weeder
– Supporting producers in the agro-ecological transition
3. Raise awareness without guilt (June 2017 ; 21 people)
– Soil pollution by chlordecone : Develop an acceptable cartographic
representation
4. Support for change of practice: from commitment to obligation
(November 2017 ; 37 people)
– Creole gardens: new behaviors
Conclusion
• Group reflexivity exercise
– Placed in a systemic vision that the DPSIR model carries
– Project logic: diagnostics, proposals, observations
• Great ambition of the school of stakeholders :
– Success in influencing public policy by modifying policy makers' frames
of reference
– A “place” of free speech, in the tension between the regularity of the
sessions (creation of confidence) and the risk of routine and new
The RIVAGE project is financed by European Regional Development Fund and the Region Guadeloupe in partnership with :
