Elsevier

CATENA

Volume 54, Issues 1–2, 30 November 2003, Pages 255-269
CATENA

A participatory approach for integrated conservation planning in a small catchment in Loess Plateau, China: Part I. Approach and Methods

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0341-8162(03)00068-7Get rights and content

Abstract

The participatory approach is recognised world-wide as a desirable approach for the success of research and development projects in the field of land management and conservation. A participatory approach (PA) for soil and water conservation is presented in this paper. The approach was one important part of Integrated Participatory Conservation Planning (IPCP) and aimed at involving farmers as our research partners in the whole conservation planning process in order to define relevant alternatives for sustainable land use. The work was carried out in the small catchment of Danangou, situated in the heart of the Loess plateau of China, by a multidisciplinary and multinational team, during the period 1998–2000 as part of the EROChina project.

Several participatory methods, including group and team dynamics methods, sampling methods, interviewing and dialogue methods and visualisation and diagramming methods, were used for different purposes through a three-step process of the PA. The PA process can be described as researchers learning about local conditions (Step 1), followed by analyses of land use carried out by local farmers (Step 2), and finishing with farmer–researcher two-way feedback on the different land use scenarios (LUS) and their potential effects on erosion and household economy (Step 3). A Participatory Household Economy Analysis (PHEA) was developed and shown to be a suitable method for analysing the current and the potential changes in the household economy due to different land use scenarios (Step 3). The three steps of PA integrated closely with the modelling and land evaluation tools of the IPCP.

The PA developed involved interactive learning between professionals and farmers, seek multiple perspectives and make use of systematic and structured learning processes and give a highly effective participation. The approach is promising in improving farmers' awareness of environmental problems and solutions, as well as in linking local and scientific knowledge. The conditions for the successful use of the participatory methods in local conditions as well as of the teamwork are also discussed.

Introduction

In most public sector agricultural research organisations in developing countries, systematic involvement of farmers, especially poor farmers, in research has been weak (Merrill-Sands and Collion, 1994). Participation is said to be desirable, but often limited to asking farmers what their problems are. There is a growing awareness that successful research will have to take into account the farmers' objectives and constraints, and that it can benefit from their knowledge of local conditions. A degree of farmer participation has long been incorporated into the management of on-farm trials (Tripp, 1982), but the innovative approaches Harwood, 1979, Tripp, 1982, Rhoades and Booth, 1982, Chambers and Ghildyar, 1985, Chambers and Jiggins, 1987 go much further, involving the farmer in definition of the research agenda, in evaluation of the results of research and in the dissemination of findings (Farrington and Martin, 1988). The participatory approach strengthens the feedback from farmers to scientists and creates a way for farmers to affect research directly (Francis et al., 1990).

Rapid expansion of participatory approaches, which involve interactive learning between professionals and farmers, is regarded by Stocking (1996) as one of the most fundamental changes in agricultural development in recent years. There are now about 30 different terms for the systems entitled Participatory Learning and Action—PLA (Pretty, 1995). Despite the different contexts in which these approaches are used, there are six important common principles uniting most of them. These are (1) a defined methodology and systematic learning process, with the focus on cumulative learning by all the participants and the emphasis on visualisation, (2) multiple perspectives with the objective of seeking diversity, (3) group learning process with the recognition that the complexity of the world will be revealed through group enquiry and interaction, (4) context specific, (5) facilitating experts and stakeholders, and (6) learning to sustained action (Pretty, 1995).

Thorough understanding by the stakeholders of the factors that lead farmers to adopt conservation practices can be gained by using PLA. The factors found to be significant for farmers' attitudes towards the environment were farmers' age, farm income, off-farm income, farm size, the erosion potential on the farm and farming experience (Traoré et al., 1998).

The Loess plateau—a highland area in north–central China—is the world's largest loess plateau. The whole loess region covers 8° of latitude (35–41°N) and 13° of longitude (102°–114°E) with an area of more than 530,000 km2 and a population of more than 60,000,000 (Zhu, 1986). The loess is highly subject to erosion owing to sparse vegetation, heavy concentrations of rainfall in summer and improper land use, particularly using sloping loess land for the cultivation of food crops, to meet the need of the increasing population (Liu,1999). Integrating various soil conservation practices such as engineering structures, re-vegetation and conservation tillage in a small watershed (with an area of less than 30 km2) started at the beginning of the 1980s. A “five-step” process, including problem identification, planning, designing, field work implementation and final evaluation, is being used by the extension service for soil conservation management (Wang, 2000). According to this procedure, the planning and design work was carried out by professionals and based on the baseline data available at the local government offices, as well as existing government policies. Participation of the local people in this process was lacking.

The participatory approach (PA) has been developed since 1997 by a multidisciplinary team in Danangou catchment in the Loess plateau area in northern China and as a part of the EROChina project. The PA was one important part of the Integrated Participatory Conservation Planning process (Fig. 1). The approach was designed based on three assumptions: (1) sustainability of the land use scenarios planned can be achieved if farmers' objectives and constraints, as well as farmers' perspectives of local conditions are taken into account, (2) suitability of different land use strategies should be judged in relation to the factors that can influence farmers' attitudes towards the environment, (3) several methods from existing PLA systems can be chosen for development of the PA suitable for the study area. The participatory approach and methods, which enabled us to involve farmers as our research partners in the whole conservation planning process in order to define relevant alternatives for sustainable land use, are presented in this paper. The findings of this approach are given in Part II of Hoang Fagerström et al. (2003).

Section snippets

General description of the study site

The Danangou catchment is located at 36°56′N, 109°17′E, elevation 1085–1370 m a.s.l, and in the heart of the Loess plateau. The catchment covers an area of about 3.5 km2, where the two villages Leipingta and Danangou, Ansai county, Shaanxi province, are situated. The area is characterised by a semi-arid continental climate with cold dry winters and warm moist summers and high pH loessial soils (Messing et al., 2003).

In 1998, the total population in the catchment was 206 individuals belonging to

Participatory approach

The participatory approach (PA) for land use analysis and conservation planning was carried out through three steps, starting with researchers learning about local conditions (Step 1), followed by the analyses of land use by local farmers (Step 2) and finishing with farmer–researcher two way feedback on the different land use scenarios and their potential effects on erosion and household economy (Step 3; Table 2). The following concepts were defined as the basis for the PA:

  • Village as a study

The approach

Compared to the definitions in Pretty (1995), adapted from Pretty (1994), Satterthwaite et al. (1995), Adnan et al. (1992), Hart (1992) and Stocking (1996), the participatory approach (PA) presented in this paper involves interactive learning between professionals and farmers. The process sought multiple perspectives and made use of systemic and structured learning processes and gave a highly effective participation. Since the fruitful interaction between researchers and farmers was considered

Conclusions

The participatory approach presented in this paper was suitable for involving farmers as our research partners in the whole conservation planning process in order to define relevant alternatives for sustainable land use. The approach and its methods could involve interactive learning between professionals and farmers, seek multiple perspectives and make use of systemic and structured learning processes and give a highly effective participation. The approach is promising in improving farmers'

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to EU (Contract Number: IC18-CT97-0158) for funding. A valuable part of the fieldwork was undertaken by several colleagues, especially Kim Trouwborst, Patricia van Eijndthoven, Magnus Carlsson, Xu Mingxang, Zhang Xiaoping, Christina Olsson, Christopher Andersson, Ma Xiao Wai, Meng Quinghua, Liu Xinhua, Zhang Shurong, Bo Chun Fen, Rudi Hessel, and Chen Liding to whom the authors are indebted. Special thanks to Dr. Stig Ledin, Dr. Liu Guobin and Dr. Li Rui for their

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