Academic literature on the topic 'Participatory watershed management'

The paper discusses different approaches of watershed management programs implemented in South Asian countries, with special reference to Nepal based on existing literature and field experiences. Watershed degradation, particularly in mountainous areas, is critical problem in South Asian countries. A participatory approach has been adopted in watershed and natural resource management during the last decade in many developing countries. The participatory community-based watershed management approach in Nepal is viewed from two perspectives. The first, success of conservation of natural resources with formation and strengthening of the local level institutions in rural areas of the country; the second, its multiplier effects in social mobilization, women empowerment, community development and livelihood improvement as well as good governance at local level. In the present context, participatory watershed management must include not only environmental protection but also supporting poor and disadvantaged segments of society in improving their livelihoods. Key words: Bottom-up approach; Empowerment; Participatory approach; Resource management; Top-down approach and watershed degradationThe Journal of Agriculture and Environment Vol:.9, Jun.2008 Page: 72-89

Participatory water resources planning and management in an Agriculturally Intensive Watershed in Quebec, Canada using Stakeholder Built System Dynamics Models The participation of stakeholders is an important component in integrated and adaptive watershed planning and management. In Quebec, Canada watershed organizations are in the process of implementing participatory based watershed planning and management schemes. However, there is a lack of simple and readily implementable frameworks and methods to explicitly involve stakeholders, as well as integrate physical and social processes, in watershed planning and management in Quebec. This paper describes the application of the first three stages of a newly proposed five stage stepwise Participatory Model Building framework that was developed to help facilitate the participatory investigation of problems in watershed planning and management through the use of qualitative system dynamics models. In the agriculturally intensive Du Chene watershed in Quebec, eight individual stakeholder interviews were conducted in cooperation with the local watershed organization to develop qualitative system dynamics models that represent the main physical and social processes in the Du Chene watershed. The proposed Participatory Model Building framework was found to be accessible for all the interviewees, and was deemed to be very useful by the watershed organization to develop an overview of the different perspectives of the main stakeholders in the watershed, as well as to help develop watershed policies and strategies. The individual qualitative system dynamics models developed in this study can subsequently be converted into an overall group built system dynamics model (describing the socio-economic-political components of the watershed), which in turn can be quantified and coupled with a physically based model such as HEC-HMS or SWAT (describing the physical components of the watershed).

The Quebec Water Policy was launched in November 2002 in support of reform of the water governance. One of the government commitments is to gradually implement watershed-based management for 33 major watercourses located primarily in the St. Lawrence plain. At the local and regional levels, watershed organizations are responsible for implementing integrated management, from a sustainable-development perspective, by preparing a master plan for water (MPW), which will include watercourses, lakes, wetlands and aquifers. These watershed organizations rely on public consultation, as well as local and regional expertise, on the responsibilities for water of the municipalities and regional county municipalities of the territory, as well as those of the ministries and other government agencies. They are also required to observe national priorities regarding protection, restoration, and development of water resources and to comply with relevant guidelines, directives, standards, regulations, and legislation. The role of watershed organizations is to act as planning and consultation tables. Government representatives are present, on the initial process, as the facilitator and for scientific and technical support. They do not have, at this moment, any voting or decisional rights. After two years, integrated water management mobilized water stakeholders on watersheds and they are on their way to initiating their first MPW.

The integrated watershed management approach for the semi-arid regions of India is considered to be very important due to the inadequate availability of water resources. The drought experienced in recent years has brought on an environmental and socio-economic crisis in these regions. The role of the watershed management has been crucial and development of alternative water resources has been critically important. To overcome the isolated sectoral development planning and implementation, as was done in many of the previous land based programs in India, an integrated concept of watershed development through participatory planning and actions has been followed for combating drought in Jhabua watershed in Madhya Pradesh state, India. This research paper will look into the successful watershed management experience of our on-going research project, and appropriate watershed strategies for the Jhabua watershed.

The watershed development programmes have been hailed as an important agent for overall rural development in India by enhancing livelihoods through natural resource management. The tenure for these government-funded projects end after five years but the benefits of the project are expected to be taken forward beyond the project duration through the active participation of the community-based organisations. This study aims to address the relatively untouched area of post-project management of watershed programmes, and draws experience from a primary survey covering 201 watershed projects in four major states of India, 3 to 5 years after the completion of the project period. Through the lens of institutional survival after the withdrawal of government funding, this paper follows the debate around the community-based institutions created for the purpose of project ideally meant to promote development through a ‘neat’ bureaucratic design that seeks to remove ‘political’ interference referred widely to as ‘anti-politics machines’ in the academic discourse. In reality, they leave out large sections of the community in terms of their representation. This paper questions the institution-building process and its outcome, particularly with respect to survival of the core watershed institution, that is, the Watershed Committee.

The joint “International Forests and Water Conference 2018” highlighted among its main conclusions the need to involve the viewpoint and participation of local communities in the management and monitoring of forest watersheds. This topic constitutes a strategic and transverse challenge for the sciences and public policies in the current context of global climate change. As a contribution to this challenge, the aim of this research was to qualitatively describe and analyze a territorial intervention model based on two case studies. Both involve stakeholders from the public sector, forest companies, and rural communities within the framework of implementing a participatory process at a local scale. The first case study was based on the collective creation of a set of indicators for local water monitoring. The second case, through the incorporation of the social and local dimension, culminated in the collective creation of a forest watershed management guide. The research hypothesis was that the inclusion of stakeholders and local knowledge in forest watershed management is essential to create and/or strengthen local abilities that ensure the involvement of communities in water governance, surpassing the current informative and consultative approaches. The research methodology was qualitative, and the data collection strategies were focused on the compilation of the process, the participatory work, and gathering diverse local knowledge. The data analysis included content tabulation, including both local indicators and ones extracted from the guide. In both cases, the systematization process and the main empirical findings were included. Among the findings, it was observed that both the pilot of local indicators and the design of the forest watershed management guide confirmed that the main challenge of local participation is the effective inclusion of local knowledge in water governance. This ethical and methodological challenge must be approached more rigorously and with more commitment.

In water resources management in South Africa, there is an emphasis on public participation. On a river catchment basis, one of the mechanisms for such participation is the establishment of catchment forums. However, members of catchment forums, particularly those coming from poor or rural communities, cannot be expected to engage in catchment management without having been enabled to do so. This thesis considers the use of GIS in the process of enabling the Kat River Valley Catchment Forum to better participate in catchment management. The research focus is on the use of GIS to facilitate an understanding of the Kat River Catchment and associated catchment concepts, and constructive communication and sharing, among the Catchment Forum. The GIS is used in the context of "GIS for Participatory Research", an outgrowth of Public Participation GIS (PPGIS), which focuses on GIS as a tool for empowerment within participatory processes. The study has used Action Research, situated in the Critical paradigm, as a methodology. The research has included seven Forum workshop processes and one series of in-village meetings. These engagements have involved map-based appraisals, issues and resource mapping, map-based planning, and the use of on-screen GIS for presentation and sharing. The use of GIS has facilitated the creation of customised maps, the integration of village-scale mapping into a catchment scale product, the presentation of synthesised data in digital and hardcopy format and, in so doing, has allowed catchment-scale appraisal. Outcomes enabling participation in catchment management have included developed mapping skills and an enhanced understanding of the catchment as a whole, and developed conceptual access to a decision-making language (or way of thinking), among participants. Furthermore, the Forum as a whole has identified common needs, and has developed a set of map-based action plans. The research process has yielded a number of lessons regarding "GIS for participation" and the participatory framework within which it takes place. Chief among these is that the GIS operator should take on the role of a participatory practitioner.

nÃo hÃ<br>Essential to life on the planet, water has fundamental importance as social and economic development factor, being the focus of several conflicts and interests. The gap between water needs and availability worldwide is undoubtedly one of the main problems of today. This situation requires a very effective management of water resources. Cearà state adopted the model that proposes an integrated, decentralized and participatory water management and that has the River Basin as planning unit. In general, the following main levels of participation can be mentioned: the State council of Water Resources - CONERH, River Basin Committees, Commissions of PerennializedValleys WaterUsers and Managing Commissions of Water Systems. The objective of this work is to formulate and to apply indicators to assess the participation of the Managing Commissions in managing Metropolitan Basinsâ waters, taking as case study the Managing Commissions of the following water systems: Castro, Acarape do Meio and ChorÃ. To accomplish this, documental and bibliographic research were used, as well as application of questionnaires. The methodology followed a sequence composed of four phases: definition of the evaluation indicators system, application of the Delphi method, application of the hierarchic analysis of processes (AHP) and construction of the evaluation index for the water systems management commissions. The application of the Delphi method was attended by 14 (fourteen) technical specialists in water resources and the evaluation of the researched committees was attended by 24 (twenty four) members. The research has defined the relevant aspects or dimensions to be considered for assessment of this management sphere, which are: the existence of financial resources, planning, commitment of the members of the Managing Commissions, qualification of the members of the Managing Commissions, infrastructure for the functioning of the Managing Commissions, interaction with other spheres of management, transparency of management bodies, performance of the Managing Commissions, representativeness and credibility. The seventy-five indicators identified from these dimensions supported the evaluation of the Managing Commissions under study, allowing to identify in the interpretation of the results that these commissions are active in the management of metropolitan basins and contribute to the negotiated allocation of water from the referred basin. However, some limitations must be passed to become fully effective.<br>Essencial à vida no planeta, a Ãgua tem fundamental importÃncia como fator de desenvolvimento social e econÃmico, sendo foco de interesses e conflitos diversos. O descompasso entre as necessidades e as disponibilidades hÃdricas em todo o mundo Ã, sem dÃvida, um dos principais problemas da atualidade. Essa situaÃÃo requer um gerenciamento dos recursos hÃdricos de forma muito eficaz. O Estado do Cearà adotou o modelo que propÃe uma gestÃo integrada, descentralizada e participativa da Ãgua e tem como unidade de planejamento a bacia hidrogrÃfica. Em termos gerais, podem-se citar os principais nÃveis de participaÃÃo: o Conselho Estadual de Recursos HÃdricos - CONERH, os ComitÃs de Bacias HidrogrÃficas, as ComissÃes de UsuÃrios de Ãguas dos Vales Perenizados e as ComissÃes Gestoras dos Sistemas hÃdricos. O objetivo deste trabalho à formular e aplicar indicadores para avaliar a participaÃÃo das ComissÃes Gestoras na gestÃo das Ãguas das Bacias Metropolitanas, tendo como estudo de caso as ComissÃes Gestoras dos sistemas hÃdricos: Castro, Acarape do Meio e ChorÃ. Para alcanÃar este objetivo, utilizou-se pesquisa documental e bibliogrÃfica, assim como aplicaÃÃo de questionÃrios. A metodologia seguiu uma sequÃncia composta de quatro fases: definiÃÃo do sistema de indicadores de avaliaÃÃo, aplicaÃÃo do mÃtodo Delphi, aplicaÃÃo da anÃlise hierÃrquica de processos (AHP) e construÃÃo do Ãndice de avaliaÃÃo das comissÃes gestoras de sistemas hÃdricos. Na aplicaÃÃo do mÃtodo Delphi ocorreu a participaÃÃo de 14 (quatorze) tÃcnicos especialistas em Recursos HÃdricos e na avaliaÃÃo das ComissÃes pesquisadas, a participaÃÃo de 24 (vinte e quatro) membros. A pesquisa definiu os aspectos ou dimensÃes relevantes a serem consideradas para avaliaÃÃo dessa instÃncia de gestÃo, quais sejam: existÃncia de recursos financeiros, planejamento, comprometimento dos membros que compÃem a ComissÃo Gestora, qualificaÃÃo dos membros que compÃem a ComissÃo Gestora, infraestrutura para o funcionamento da ComissÃo Gestora, interaÃÃo com as demais instÃncias de gestÃo, transparÃncia dos ÃrgÃos gestores, atuaÃÃo da ComissÃo Gestora, representatividade e credibilidade. Os setenta e cinco indicadores identificados a partir dessas dimensÃes, subsidiaram a avaliaÃÃo das ComissÃes Gestoras em estudo, permitindo identificar na interpretaÃÃo dos resultados, que essas comissÃes sÃo atuantes na gestÃo das bacias metropolitanas e contribuem na alocaÃÃo negociada de Ãgua da referida bacia. Entretanto, muitas limitaÃÃes precisam ser transpostas para se tornarem plenamente eficientes.

<p>Attention to participatory watershed management is increasing across the developing world<em> </em>as<em> </em>soil erosion continues to degrade agricultural land; reservoirs and irrigation infrastructure are clogged with sediment. The realization of the importance of watersheds is crucial for sustainable utilization especially in developing countries where rural livelihoods and economies are highly dependant on the exploitation of natural resources. The Lake Victoria basin is characterized by high population pressures, low productive subsistence agriculture, poor farming methods, loss of soil fertility and deforestation due to demand of fuel wood and charcoal, timber and building materials that are posing serious threat to watersheds. High population density in the basin also means new needs emerge too fast to which rural societies cannot respond in time leading to more area expansion for agricultural land. In spite of positive efforts under the Lake Victoria Basin Commission, there remains a huge gap between policy and institutional framework development at the top level and the actual implementation of actions on the ground to prevent land degradation, soil erosion and decrease sediment load. The study focused on Kagera and Nyando catchments of Lake Victoria Basin and aiming to establish if there exist and the extent to which participatory watershed management has been implemented on the ground to decrease land degradation and sediment load. It therefore provides an insight into watershed management in the Kagera and Nyando catchments by illustrating the link between policy formulation and actual implementation and enforcement.</p>

O crescimento urbano à uma realidade brasileira e tem contribuÃdo para falta de preservaÃÃo ambiental e dos corpos hÃdricos no estado do CearÃ. O caso do aÃude Pirabibu, pertencente à Sub-Bacia HidrogrÃfica do Rio Banabuiu, distante a 26 Km do centro de Quixeramobim, o processo de degradaÃÃo ambiental surgiu atravÃs de aÃÃes antrÃpicas. Desmatamentos, queimadas e a degradaÃÃo da mata nativa iniciaram com uma tentativa de uma ocupaÃÃo da Ãrea de preservaÃÃo permanente, sobretudo para o uso nas Ãreas Ãmidas do reservatÃrio. Com essas ocupaÃÃes costumavam-se, fazer desmatamento, criar animais na bacia hidrÃulica alÃm do trato da pesca, por muitas vezes feito Ãs margens do aÃude. Nessa sub-bacia existem treze municÃpios e o aÃude Pirabibu localiza-se no Distrito de DamiÃo Carneiro, pertencente ao municÃpio de Quixeramobim. As agressÃes ambientais nessa regiÃo do aÃude Pirabibu, dentre outros problemas, podem comprometer a qualidade da Ãgua que tem como uso prioritÃrio, o abastecimento humano. Esse trabalho consiste na sistematizaÃÃo de informaÃÃes sobre a ocupaÃÃo da Ãrea de proteÃÃo permanente, o uso de vazantes e as principais intervenÃÃes realizadas pelo comità da bacia e a gestÃo feita pelo ÃrgÃo gestor, sob a luz da legislaÃÃo estadual existente, visando contribuir para uma gestÃo integrada e participativa dos diversos usos de forma sustentÃvel a ser implantada. Para a viabilizaÃÃo do trabalho foi realizada uma revisÃo bibliogrÃfica e coleta de informaÃÃes com o ÃrgÃo gestor, com atores envolvidos no sistema hÃdrico Pirabibu e com os membros do respectivo comitÃ. Sugere-se para minimizar os impactos causados, uma busca por polÃticas pÃblicas e projetos que viabilizem a um uso sustentÃvel, respeitando e valorizando o conhecimento empÃrico existente e os aspectos naturais, evitando a ocupaÃÃo das APPâs, recompondo a mata ciliar e preservando a vegetaÃÃo existente à montante do aÃude. Faz-se imprescindÃvel, pelos interesses governamentais, o melhor emprego de recursos financeiros, alÃm de um plano de gerenciamento para o aÃude com uma efetiva participaÃÃo dos atores sociais envolvidos.<br>Urban growth is a Brazilian reality and has contributed to a lack of environmental preservation and water bodies in the state of CearÃ. The case of the weir Pirabibu belonging to Sub-River Basin BanabuiÃ, distant 26 Km from the center of Quixeramobim, the process of environmental degradation emerged through human actions. Deforestation, fires and degradation of native forests began with an attempt at an occupancy of permanent preservation area, especially for use in moist areas of the reservoir. With these occupations used up, making deforestation, raise animals in hydraulic basin beyond the tract on fishing, often done on the banks of the dam. In this sub-basin are thirteen municipalities and Pirabibu weir located in the District of Damian Carneiro, belonging to the municipality of Quixeramobim. The environmental damage in the region of the dam Pirabibu, among other problems, may impair the quality of water that has the priority use, human supply. This work is the systematization of information on the occupation of the area of permanent protection, the use of ebb and major interventions by the committee and the management of the basin taken by the managing agency, in light of existing state law, to contribute to an integrated and participation of the various uses sustainably to be deployed. For the feasibility of the study was a literature review and information gathering with the governing body, with actors involved in water system Pirabibu and members of the respective committee. It is suggested to minimize the impacts, a search for policies and projects that enable the sustainable use, respecting and valuing empirical knowledge existing natural aspects, avoiding the occupation of APP, recovering riparian vegetation and preserving existing vegetation upstream of the weir. It is essential, in the interests of government, the best use of financial resources, as well as a management plan for the reservoir with an effective participation of the social actors involved.

O Estado do Cearà foi um dos pioneiros no cenÃrio nacional a estabelecer sua legislaÃÃo estadual, a Lei n 11.996/1992, atualizada pela Lei n 14.844/2010, que teve como base legal e institucional, a SRH e a COGERH, componentes do SIGERH, que implantou a gestÃo de Ãgua por bacias hidrogrÃficas, bem como, o modelo de gestÃo compartilhada, com foco na parceria entre Estado e Sociedade. Foi com o recorte na Bacia HidrogrÃfica do Rio Jaguaribe, mais pontualmente, nos ComitÃs das Sub-Bacias HidrogrÃficas do Baixo e do MÃdio Jaguaribe, que se pretende realizar uma anÃlise de forma comparativa das semelhanÃas e diferenÃas desses dois comitÃs. ConstituÃdos no mesmo perÃodo, porÃm apresentam diferenÃas perceptÃveis na forma de funcionamento, no nÃvel de participaÃÃo dos seus membros, nos encaminhamentos das reuniÃes e nas deliberaÃÃes, dentre outros. Tendo em vista essas diferenÃas que sÃo relevantes, este trabalho tem por objetivo realizar uma anÃlise da dinÃmica social destes comitÃs, investigando os seguintes aspectos: gerenciamento dos recursos hÃdricos nas bacias hidrogrÃficas; cobranÃa pelo uso da Ãgua; conflito pelo uso da Ãgua; participaÃÃo social e redes sociais. A metodologia utilizada trata de uma abordagem quanti/qualitativa, tendo como foco os colegiados, universo da pesquisa. Na conclusÃo do trabalho foi observado com relaÃÃo aos comitÃs, que apesar das diferenÃas que sempre existiram entre os mesmos, no olhar da pesquisadora, a dimensÃo dessas diferenÃas se apresentava de forma bem maior, uma impressÃo cristalizada. ApÃs a tabulaÃÃo dos dados, essas diferenÃas passaram a serem vistas de outra forma. Cada comità faz o seu prÃprio caminho, em alguns aspectos se encontram, em outros se divergem. Portanto, os comitÃs se encontraram quando apresentaram os seguintes pontos em comum: falta de apoio financeiro para a implantaÃÃo de projetos, que implica em uma maior autonomia; dificuldade das organizaÃÃes da sociedade civil para participar das reuniÃes dos comitÃs por falta de transporte (hoje està equilibrado); e divergiram em outros pontos como a distÃncia espacial entre os municÃpios da bacia, contrapondo as realidades do vale e da âÃrea secaâ, que tem interesses diferentes e a falta da cultura de participaÃÃo.<br>The state of Cearà was one of the pioneers on the national scene to establishits state legislation through the Law No. 11.996/1992, updated by Law No.14.844/2010, which had the legal and institutional basis, SRH and COGERH, SIGERH components, which implemented the water management by watershed, as well as the shared management model, focusing on the partnership between State and Society. The research had focused on the Jaguaribe Watershed, punctually, on the Committees of the Sub-Watershed of the Lower and Middle Jaguaribe, which aims to conduct a comparative analysis of the similarities and differences of these two Committees. They were made in the same period, but they have noticeable differences in operation, in the level of participation of its members in referrals and the deliberations of meetings, among others. Because of these differences that are relevant, this work aims to conduct an analysis of the social dynamics of these committees, investigating the following aspects: management of water resources in the watersheds; charging for water use; conflict over water use; social participation and social networks. The methodology is a quantitative / qualitative approach , focusing on the collegiate , the research universe . At the conclusion of the study it was observed, with regard to the Committees, that despite the differences that have always existed between them , in the eyes of the researcher , the magnitude of these differences is presented in a much larger form , a crystallized impression. After tabulating the data , these differences were regarded in another way . Each committee makes its own way: in some respects they are similar, in others they diverge . Therefore the Committees met when presented the following points in common : lack of financial support for the implementation of projects , which implies greater autonomy ; difficulty of civil society organizations to participate in committee meetings for lack of transport ( today is balanced) and differed on other points as the spatial distance between the municipalities of the watershed , contrasting the realities of the valley and the ' dry area' which has different interests , and the lack of a culture of participation.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Antioch University, 2010.<br>Title from PDF t.p. (viewed July 22, 2010). Advisor: Richard Couto, Ph.D. "A dissertation submitted to the Ph.D. in Leadership and Change program of Antioch University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, March 2010."--from the title page. Includes bibliographical references (p. 155-165).

Stakeholder participation has become a valuable tool for agencies in the field of environmental planning. The potential benefits, for both agencies and individuals, of involving stakeholders in the planning process have been widely recognized and well documented. However, the success of participatory initiatives depends on the extent to which local stakeholders are interested in, and capable of, becoming involved in the process. Thus, the outcomes for each process vary as planning issues are dependent on their local context. This study aimed to evaluative the characteristics of successful stakeholder in planning. Specifically, it strived to obtain an understanding of successful stakeholder engagement through developing and integrating an evaluative framework based on the literature with the motivations and perceptions of agencies representatives and local stakeholders. In order to achieve these goals, the evaluative framework was applied to a case study of the Tiffany Creek subwatershed in Hamilton, Ontario. The case study revealed that determining and incorporating the opinions of agencies and stakeholders toward a participatory process can shed light on the characteristics of successful stakeholder participation in a given region. The characteristics of successful stakeholder participation and the integration of agency and stakeholders viewpoints into the planning process are discussed and recommendations to improve participatory processes in environmental planning are provided.

Adopting a participatory planning approach to community development has increasingly been placed on the agenda of governments, international development agencies and various non-governmental organisations. The interactive participation component of participatory planning processes can provide a pedagogical forum of informal education and knowledge sharing amongst local citizens and planners. The mutual social learning that is produced creates new meaning that contains both planner and citizen perspectives and knowledge. The presence and participation of citizens in participatory project activities can strengthen and/or establish notions of citizenship that can subsequently stimulate future community activism and mobilisation. This thesis will illustrate how culture, as both a creative practice and a way of life, provides a valuable instrument for community participation. The role of culture as a participatory tool is analysed for its potential in the construction of active citizenship, and as a method that facilitates the expression of local knowledge. Since putting the ideals of participation into practice is difficult, the specific purpose of this thesis is to identify and document some of the opportunities and constraints to providing creative channels of participation. This study is situated in the Municipality of Santo Andre, Brazil, where a Community Based Watershed Management (CBWM) project is currently unfolding. A series of key informant interviews and participant observation provided insight on the Brazilians' perspective of the objectives of participation, the role that culture plays in participatory planning and the several opportunities and constraints to adopting innovative forms of participation. The resulting analysis reveals issues found at the community, community/municipal and municipal (institutional) levels where a combination of distinct perceptions of participation, approaches to culture, democratisation of planning information, influences of historical and contemporary socio-political structures, technocratic practices, multi-disciplinarity, and attitudes regarding active citizenship and municipal co-management, both facilitate and complicate conditions for innovative participatory planning.

One of the main environmental policy challenges is convincing individuals and organisations to engage in socially desirable courses of action; that is, to have them internalise the consequences of their decisions. As contributions from institutional and behavioural economics have indicated, policies aimed at fostering pro-social action can be ineffective and even counterproductive if the interests and concerns of the relevant actors are not properly considered throughout the policy process. In fact, international conventions and national legislation around the world generally recommend stakeholder involvement in order to properly address pressing environmental challenges. The evidence that underpins and informs this recommendation, however, is still insufficient and scattered across different strands of literature. On the one hand, research on participatory governance has indeed systematically documented the potential for policymakers and resource managers to obtain high-quality, context-specific and legitimate input for environmental policymaking from participatory processes. On the other, the available research has also cast doubt on the potential of participatory processes to produce concrete change in (pro-social) action on the ground. In general, the success of these processes ultimately depends on their design, implementation and context. However, most of these conclusions stem from rich qualitative accounts of participatory processes, structured comparisons of cases and systematic reviews of case studies and the available literature. With this type of evidence, it is difficult to neatly identify the impact of participatory interventions on pro-social and cooperative behaviour and systematically assess the underlying mechanisms. This thesis addresses these knowledge gaps. The thesis investigates the extent to which and the mechanisms by which participatory interventions could foster (or hinder) pro-social and collective action for natural resource management and environmental protection. It comprises four chapters, each constituting a stand-alone, self-contained academic paper. Throughout the different chapters, the thesis reviews and integrates insights from the literature on participatory governance and from the institutional and behavioural analyses of pro-social and collective action. Furthermore, using two laboratory economic experiments (Chapters 3 and 4) and one framed lab-in-the-field experiment (Chapter 5), the thesis systematically assesses specific hypotheses concerning the potential impacts of participatory interventions on cooperative and pro-social behaviour and the underlying mechanisms of these impacts. The introductory chapter of the dissertation gathers, presents and discusses the insights gathered from each chapter. It expands on the motivations for the thesis, presents the general and specific research gaps and questions the thesis tackles and clarifies the conceptual, theoretical and methodological foundations upon which the thesis is grounded. Chapter 2 (entitled Participatory interventions for collective action in environmental and natural resource management) reviews the literature on participatory governance together with the literature on collective action in natural resource and environmental management. The main goal of this review is to contribute to integrating the main insights from both strands of literature regarding (a) the potential of participatory interventions to foster collective action and (b) the channels through which they might foment (or hinder) collective action. It therefore seeks to help integrate the insights from these different strands of literature, which, although related, have generally been disconnected until now. The chapter draws on the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework to organise these insights within a coherent conceptual framework. As the results of this literature review indicate, participatory interventions have the potential to foster collective action through two channels. Firstly, by helping resource users to change (and enhance) the rules, norms and strategies that constrain and guide their behaviour (the indirect channel) and, secondly, by directly influencing the specific behavioural factors (e.g. knowledge, trust, preferences, perceptions and beliefs) that collective action hinges upon (the direct channel). However, to sustain collective action, the relevant literature has consistently emphasised that trust needs to be continually cultivated and ensured. Therefore, in line with insights from earlier studies on participatory governance, the results of this literature review also indicate that practitioners and policymakers must not only design participatory interventions carefully to effectively build the trust needed to heighten and sustain collective action, but participatory interventions must also be adequately embedded within the broader (social-ecological and governance) context, providing for follow-up, enforcement, monitoring and conflict-resolution mechanisms. From Chapter 3 through Chapter 5, the thesis focuses on the direct channel, studying the potential of participatory interventions to directly influence behaviour within relevant economic action situations such as social dilemma and distributive action situations. Within a given environment and institutional context, the studies recreate processes commonly facilitated within participatory interventions. Chapter 3 assesses the effects of externally structured and facilitated processes of information exchange, and Chapters 4 and 5 examine the impact of inducing perspective-taking via role-switching techniques (Chapter 4) and instructions (Chapter 5). Thanks to this experimental approach, it is possible to systematically assess the behavioural impacts of these types of processes as well as the underlying mechanisms. Chapter 3 (entitled Structuring communication effectively for environmental cooperation) starts by reviewing previous experimental studies on the effects of two-way communication in social dilemmas to identify the elements that are commonly involved in effective communication processes. This review notes four cooperation-enhancing components of communication: (i) problem awareness, (ii) exploration of strategies to tackle the problem at hand, (iii) agreement on desirable joint strategies and (iv) ratification of agreed-upon strategies. A total of 560 students at Osnabrück University participated in a laboratory implementation of a voluntary contribution mechanism; a public goods game. The experiment implemented a series of interventions that represented these components of communication and contrasted the resulting levels of cooperation with the average outcomes of control groups interacting under either free (unstructured) communication or no communication whatsoever. The intervention that facilitated agreement on a common strategy (i.e. the combination of (ii) and (iii)) was particularly effective at boosting cooperation. Furthermore, combined with interventions promoting problem awareness and ratification, this intervention produced levels of cooperation similar to the average levels of cooperation observed in groups with free-form communication. The results of this experiment expand the understanding in the literature of the role of communication in social dilemmas and provide insights into the potential of structured and facilitated processes of information exchange and social interaction to foster collective action for environmental management. Chapter 4 (The effects of inducing perspective-taking through role reversal in a give-and-take a dictator game on pro-social behaviour) and Chapter 5 (Perspective-taking for pro-social behaviour in watershed management) deal with the effects of inducing perspective-taking on unilateral pro-social behaviour. The results outlined in Chapter 4 indicate that perspective-taking, induced through role reversal, can be associated with significant average changes in the participants’ self-reported state of emotions (in terms of both empathic and positive as well as in distressing and negative emotions). The emotional reactions that the role reversal seems to influence, however, do not appear to result in significantly more (or less) pro-social behaviour. The chapter explores and discusses two plausible explanations for these results, namely the transient effects of emotional reactions and the opposing effects of diverging emotional reactions on pro-social behaviour. These results come from the analysis of data from 144 students at Osnabrück University who participated as dictators in a laboratory implementation of a give-and-take dictator game. The design of the experiment allows the identification of the effect of inducing decision-makers to experience the other person’s position through unilateral role reversal on pro-social behaviour. During the simulation round, dictators in treatment groups experienced how it would feel to be in the role of the recipient. Dictators in the control groups only learned about the distributional consequences of their allocation decisions on recipients. Hence, through a treatment comparison, it was possible to single out the effects resulting from temporarily taking on the position of the other participant. To understand the underlying drivers of a potential behavioural change, the study elicited participants’ emotional states both before and after the simulation round. The results in Chapter 5 indicate that inducing perspective-taking can be associated with relatively greater pro-social behaviour based on an experimental study of downstream farmers’ behaviour in a watershed management context. Moreover, the provision of information on the social-ecological context during the perspective-taking exercise cannot account for the different behavioural patterns in the treatment and control groups. These results come from a lab-in-the-field experiment carried out with 177 downstream farmers in a Peruvian watershed. In the experiment, farmers in the treatment groups were motivated to imagine the upstream farmers’ perspective (i.e. to think about their thoughts and feelings) before deciding on whether or not to contribute to an initiative in the upper watershed. The initiative intends to help upstream farmers improve their well-being without compromising the water supply downstream. The behaviour of farmers in the treatment groups was compared against the behaviour of farmers in the control groups wherein perspective-taking was not induced. Taken together, the results of Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 illustrate the potential of inducing perspective-taking—commonly promoted in participatory processes—to trigger pro-social behaviour in economic situations. It can indeed alter relevant behavioural variables and trigger pro-social behaviour in distributive and social-dilemma situations. Nevertheless, as the literature on perspective-taking has previously indicated, the final effects depend on the specific procedures by which and the situations and contexts wherein perspective-taking is induced. Based on these findings, it is possible to sustain that participatory interventions do have the potential to effect changes in pro-social and cooperative behaviour at both the collective and individual level. Whether this impact is realised or hindered hinges on the procedures and contexts of participatory interventions. It would also depend on the mechanisms provided to follow up on the initiated processes and sustain and build upon the early outcomes. The contributions of this thesis are threefold. Firstly, it integrates insights from the literature on the institutional and behavioural analysis of pro-social and collective action and the literature on participatory governance for natural resource management. Secondly, it generates new evidence, based on experimental methods, in terms of the potential for participatory interventions to foster pro-social and collective action, and in terms of the mechanisms by which participatory methods and processes could effectively impact (or hinder) pro-social and cooperative behaviour. In this way, the thesis helps to bridge the gap of knowledge in terms of how participatory interventions can effectively change behaviour and, subsequently, encourage socially desirable social-ecological outcomes. In doing so, it also adds to the understanding of pro-social and cooperative human behaviour and the way that the processes of information-exchange and perspective-taking, which are often facilitated by participatory processes, may (or may not) advance it. Research on participation is, however, still ongoing and, in terms of the way forward, the thesis makes a third, methodological contribution. It demonstrates how experimental research in both the laboratory and in the field, conducted under a coherent conceptual and methodological framework, can complement one another and shed light on the extent to which and the means by which participatory interventions can produce changes in behaviour. The experimental method, in terms of both laboratory and field experiments, can therefore complement the set of methods traditionally employed to analyse participatory processes. The results of the studies comprising the thesis underscore the importance of carefully analysing the policy process. As contributions from the behavioural literature have repeatedly indicated, human behaviour is driven by a combination of self-regarding, social and procedural preferences. Hence, addressing pressing environmental challenges involving externalities and social dilemmas not only entails getting the policy design right to synergistically coordinate and orchestrate these different types of preferences. It also requires careful design, analysis and implementation of the activities and methods that structure and facilitate stakeholder interactions throughout the policy process.

The management of natural resources is becoming increasingly relevant due to its direct implication in society's life. Thus, individuals must make decisions based on environmental and social aspects. This work uses a chatbot to support users' decisions through an RPG scenario based on the participatory management of resources in the Lagoa Mirim Watershed and Canal São Gonçalo Basin. In this context, in addition to the chatbot, this study presents a pollution predictor to support decision-making, with a determination coefficient of 0.99, constructed using random forest. Also, we present five Word Embeddings models to expand the natural language understanding, based on a corpus of about 700 thousand sentences, capable of identifying relations between words.