Co-constructing with stakeholders a role-playing game to initiate collective management of erosive runoff risks at the watershed scale

Erosive runoff is a recurring problem and is a source of sometimes deadly muddy floods in the Pays de Caux (France). The risk results from a conjunction of natural factors and human activity. Efficient actions against runoff in agricultural watersheds are well known. However they are still difficult to implement as they require co-operation between stakeholders. Local actors thus need tools to help them understand the collective consequences of their individual decisions and help to initiate a process of negotiation between them. We decided to use a participatory approach called companion modelling (ComMod), and, in close collaboration with one of the first group of local stakeholders, to create a role-playing game (RPG) to facilitate negotiations on the future management of erosive runoff. This paper describes and discusses the development of the RPG and its use with other groups of local stakeholders within the framework of two game sessions organized by two different watershed management committees. During the joint construction step, stakeholders shared their viewpoints about the environment, agents, rules, and how to model runoff in preparation for the creation of the RPG. During the RPG sessions, two groups of eight players, including farmers, mayors and watershed advisors, were confronted with disastrous runoff in a fictive agricultural watershed. Results showed that they managed to reduce runoff by 20-50% by engaging a dialogue about grass strips, storage ponds and management of the intercrop period. However, further progress is still needed to better control runoff through the implementation of better agricultural practices because, during the RPG sessions, the watershed advisors did not encourage farmers to do so. Because of the complexity of management problems, results of jointly constructing the game and the RPG sessions showed that modelling and simulation can be a very useful way of accompanying the collective learning process. This new way of working was welcomed by the participants who expressed their interest in organizing further RPG sessions.

[1]  Y. Le Bissonnais,et al.  Process-based analysis of aggregate stability effects on sealing, infiltration, and interrill erosion , 1998 .

[2]  Christophe Le Page,et al.  Cormas: Common-Pool Resources and Multi-agent Systems , 1998, IEA/AIE.

[3]  C. Mullon,et al.  An environmental modelling approach : the use of multi-agent simulations , 1988 .

[4]  Y. Le Bissonnais,et al.  Crusting, runoff and sheet erosion on silty loamy soils at various scales and upscaling from m2 to small catchments , 1998 .

[5]  V. Souchère,et al.  Effects of tillage on runoff directions: consequences on runoff contributing area within agricultural catchments , 1998 .

[6]  Veronique Souchere,et al.  Incorporating soil surface crusting processes in an expert-based runoff model: Sealing and Transfer by Runoff and Erosion related to Agricultural Management , 2002 .

[7]  Alexandre Joannon,et al.  Reducing runoff by managing crop location at the catchment level, considering agronomic constraints at farm level , 2006 .

[8]  Shin-Cheng Yeh,et al.  Simulation of soil erosion and nutrient impact using an integrated system dynamics model in a watershed in Taiwan , 2006, Environ. Model. Softw..

[9]  Guillermo A. Baigorria,et al.  Assessment of erosion hotspots in a watershed: Integrating the WEPP model and GIS in a case study in the Peruvian Andes , 2007, Environ. Model. Softw..

[10]  Veronique Souchere,et al.  Planning work constraints within farms to reduce runoff at catchment level , 2005 .

[11]  Frédéric Amblard,et al.  Modélisation et simulation multi-agents , 2006 .

[12]  Katharina Helming,et al.  Soil roughness and overland flow , 2000 .

[13]  Olivier Barreteau,et al.  Contribution of simulation and gaming to natural resource management issues: An introduction , 2007 .

[14]  N. Röling Towards an interactive agricultural science , 1996 .

[15]  M. Ramón Llamas,et al.  Vulnerability assessment of groundwater resources: A modelling-based approach to the Mancha Occidental aquifer, Spain , 2008, Environ. Model. Softw..

[16]  A. Steegen,et al.  The effect of tillage-induced roughness on runoff and erosion patterns , 2001 .

[17]  François Papy,et al.  Influence des systèmes de culture sur les risques d'érosion par ruissellement concentré. I. — Analyse des conditions de déclenchement de l'érosion , 1988 .

[18]  Nicolas Becu,et al.  Participatory computer simulation to support collective decision-making: Potential and limits of stakeholder involvement , 2008 .

[19]  D. D. Toit,et al.  ARDI: a co-construction method for participatory modelling in natural resources management , 2011 .

[20]  J Zucchetto Advances in environmental modelling: A Marani (Editor). Developments in environmental modelling, 13. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1988. 692 pp., hardcover, 692 pp., Dfl. 275.00/US$ 144.75. ISBN 0-444-98894-7 , 1990 .

[21]  Veronique Souchere,et al.  Variability of soil surface characteristics influencing runoff and interrill erosion , 2005 .

[22]  Olivier Cerdan,et al.  Modelling interrill erosion in small cultivated catchments , 2002 .

[23]  Chansheng He,et al.  Integration of geographic information systems and simulation model for watershed management , 2003, Environ. Model. Softw..

[24]  Veronique Souchere,et al.  Grassland and crop trends: role of the European Union Common Agricultural Policy and consequences for runoff and soil erosion , 2003 .

[25]  François Bousquet,et al.  Using Multi-Agent Systems in a Companion Modelling Approach for Agroecosystem Management in South-East Asia , 2007 .

[26]  Christophe Le Page,et al.  A Step-by-step Approach to Building Land Management Scenarios Based on Multiple Viewpoints on Multi-agent System Simulations , 2003, J. Artif. Soc. Soc. Simul..

[27]  Harald Kunstmann,et al.  Coupled hydrological-economic modelling for optimised irrigated cultivation in a semi-arid catchment of West Africa , 2008, Environ. Model. Softw..

[28]  Brigitte Poulin,et al.  BUTORSTAR: A role-playing game for collective awareness of wise reedbed use , 2007 .

[29]  Cecilia Ferreyra,et al.  Participatory evaluation of collaborative and integrated water management: Insights from the field , 2007 .

[30]  B. Ludwig,et al.  Concentrated flow erosion in cultivated catchments: Influence of soil surface state , 1995 .

[31]  Yuqiong Liu,et al.  Linking science with environmental decision making: Experiences from an integrated modeling approach to supporting sustainable water resources management , 2008, Environ. Model. Softw..

[32]  Stuart Hamilton,et al.  Multi-model integration in a decision support system: a technical user interface approach for watershed and lake management scenarios , 2004, Environ. Model. Softw..