Publication

The underlying principle in the EcoAdapt Project is that all knowledge is valuable, and that both researchers and local actors benefit from adopting a knowledge culture based on joint learning. Researchers learn how to tailor their scientific problem framing, methods, analysis and presentation of results to the context of their counterparts.  The project aimed at action-research to enhance local communities' ownership and implementation of innovative solutions for adaptation of the landscape and people to climate change. Engaging with multi‐stakeholder platforms in three Model Forests (www.bosquesmodelo.net) in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, respectively, the project focuses on identification and implementation of measures that would enhance water security for long‐term local development under the influence of climate change. This type of action‐oriented research collaboration is being implemented in a challenging environment of competition between the urgency for improving livelihoods of local people and the need to generate new scientific knowledge.  

This IUFRO Occasional Working Paper provides insights into possible approaches that action‐research projects may follow to promote learning among involved stakeholders. It proposes a framework to analyze how learning has taken place during the collaborative work developed in the EcoAdapt Project by participating organizations in the phase preceding adaptation planning in three model forests. A critical factor is to build trust from the beginning of the action‐research process, to stimulate a fruitful dialogue and shared exploration and implementation of sustainable development pathways. Learning is also critical in the shaping of adaptive capacities, since multiple uncertainties are increasingly challenging the current state of our knowledge.