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Rapid stakeholder and conflict assessment for natural resource management using cognitive mapping: The case of Damdoi Forest Enterprise, Vietnam

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Abstract

Understanding stakeholders’ perceptions and motivations is of significant importance in relation to conservation and protected area projects. The importance of stakeholder analysis is widely recognized as a necessary means for gaining insight into the complex systemic interactions between natural processes, management policies, and local people depending on the resource. Today, community and group-based participatory inquiry approaches are widely used for this purpose. Recently, participatory approaches have been critiqued for not considering power relations and conflict internal to the community. In this article, we suggest that the five-step Rapid Stakeholder and Conflict Assessment (RSCA) methodology addresses this critique. The objective of the methodology is to provide a facilitator with a comprehensive foundation on which to plan and conduct subsequent participatory project development. The RSCA integrates elements of soft systems and critical systems thinking. Qualitative research interviews and cognitive mapping of stakeholders’ mental models are used for collection of empirical material and analysis. The RSCA methodology is demonstrated in a case study concerning buffer zone management in the coastal wetlands of southern Vietnam. The case study shows that the RSCA methodology can provide an efficient way of obtaining a holistic and critical understanding of a complex resource management situation, thus potentially enhancing project performance in an instrumental as well as an ethical sense.

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Abbreviations

DARD:

Department of Agriculture and Rural Development

DFE:

Damdoi Forest Enterprise

FPZ:

Full-protection zone

GIS:

Geographic information system

NTFP:

Non-timber forest products

PRA:

Participatory Rural Appraisal

RRA:

Rapid Rural Appraisal

RSCA:

Rapid Stakeholder and Conflict Assessment

SODA:

Strategic Option Development and Analysis

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics and Natural Resources, Centre for Forest, Landscape and Planning, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Rolighedsvej 23, 1958, Frederiksberg C, Denmark

    Carsten Nico Hjortsø, Stig Møller Christensen & Peter Tarp

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  1. Carsten Nico Hjortsø
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  2. Stig Møller Christensen
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  3. Peter Tarp
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Correspondence to Carsten Nico Hjortsø.

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Carsten Nico Hjortsø, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Danish Centre for Forest, Landscape and Planning, at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Copenhagen. He specializes in soft operational research, public participation, stakeholder analysis, and conflict management methodologies.

Stig Møller Christensen, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Danish Centre for Forest, Landscape and Planning at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Copenhagen. He specializes in aquaculture and mangrove management in developing countries.

Peter Tarp, PhD, is an associate professor in the Danish Centre for Forest, Landscape and Planning at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Copenhagen. He specializes in traditional operational research and forest management planning.

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Hjortsø, C.N., Christensen, S.M. & Tarp, P. Rapid stakeholder and conflict assessment for natural resource management using cognitive mapping: The case of Damdoi Forest Enterprise, Vietnam. Agric Hum Values 22, 149–167 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-004-8275-z

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