Collaboration
Given that natural resource conflicts are often related to increased scarcity of resources, unequal access and off-site effects, they cannot be solved by strict control (Buckles & Rusnak, 1999). Collaboration is therefore crucial in addressing natural resource management issues, particularly also in relation to climate change. However, collaboration requires sound processes of governance (Agarwal, 1997), long-term associations and an atmosphere of trust (Palis, 2006), as well as social conditions that enable actors to share information and learn from each other (Schneider, Fry, Ledermann, & Rist, 2009). Collaboration therefore refers to joint activities and the exchange of knowledge as part of strengthening social relations and networks. Bonding social capital (between people with similar objectives) and binding social capital (the capacity to link with others) are crucial aspects of collaboration, and beneficial for joint investments in natural resource management (Pretty, 2003).
Because of being so fundamental to the PIP approach, collaboration is stimulated in all activities at all levels: in workshops with the Farmer Innovators, in each family designing a PIP, in the farmer-to-farmer group trainings, etc. Similar to the previous two guiding principles, seeking collaboration with other people and organisations should be a life attitude of staff working with the PIP approach. Particularly important is to establish trust and to continuously exchange information, which are both reciprocal actions built on equal and mutual connections (Borg, Toikka, & Primmer, 2015). This again emphasizes the role of PIP staff as facilitators of a process in which they build a coalition of actors of change, particularly farmers, to foster PIP and mobilize people at a large-scale.