Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

Science Rendezvous > 2009 Posters
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Linking knowledge with action in Indonesian agroforestry research and policy: Lessons for sustainable development

Elizabeth McNie¹

One of the biggest challenges in natural resource management for sustainable development concerns how to link multiple forms of knowledge with action to produce outcomes that meet the needs of humans without compromising the ability of natural systems to provide important services. Bringing indigenous, political and scientific knowledge to bear in decisions about sustainable development, including policy implementation and changes in stakeholder behavior, is difficult for many reasons. This poster reports on research undertaken in Indonesia to identify effective practices to link multiple knowledges with action for sustainable agroforesty research and policy in Indonesia. Specifically, the research explored the practices and evaluated the outcomes in the World Agroforestry Centre’s (ICRAF) program to Reward Upland Poor for Environmental Services (RUPES). The goal of this program is to reduce poverty while simultaneously improve conservation for sustainable development in agroforestry landscapes. Identifying and implementing potential rewards for environmental services is a knowledge intensive activity, involving multiple actors and decisions across many scales, and thus offers a fertile ground on which to examine RUPES efforts to linking knowledge with action.

This poster identifies three key criteria for RUPES’s success in linking knowledge with action. First, RUPES actively engaged stakeholders in order to increase both the bonding and bridging social capital among and between various stakeholder groups. RUPES did so largely through the actions of individuals who were able to span the knowledge, political and spatial boundaries that tend to separate stakeholders. These ‘embedded boundary-spanning agents’ created and sustained relationships based on mutual trust and respect, important qualities necessary for identifying stakeholders’ information needs and for creating and implementing new policies. Second, RUPES actively managed the boundaries between stakeholders by either blurring them, and thus enabling more robust flow of information and resources between stakeholders, or strengthening them, thus providing important separation of the scientific enterprise from the political process. Third, RUPES provided negotiation support for stakeholders by creating ‘safe spaces’ in which to interact, share information and develop policies. These spaces were based primarily on personal relationships, existing largely independent of the physical organization. If necessary, however, the RUPES and ICRAF ‘brands’ were invoked in order to enhance credibility and legitimacy of the information in the negotiation process. By integrating these practices, RUPES was also able to mitigate many of the power asymmetries inherent in the social and political context in Indonesia.

1. Ph.D. Candidate, ENVS
Center for Science and Technology Policy Research