Integration
In relation to rural livelihoods, integration refers to an
interdisciplinary system-wide approach in which components of human and
agro-ecological systems are taken into account(Horton et al., 2017).
When used for natural resource management, integration also has a
spatial connotation, by considering the watershed or farm as a system
where ‘integrated management’ is required to optimize synergies and make
the system more robust and resilient. This is crucial also for land
degradation processes, particularly for soil erosion, where bad land
management upstream affects land users downstream. Furthermore,
integration fosters the ability to cope with fluctuations in
environmental or economic circumstances (Gautam & Andersen, 2016).
Diversification is therefore a crucial element of any integrated
strategy, given that diversified livelihood systems appear more
resilient than undiversified ones (Bosma, Udo, Verreth, Visser, & Nam,
2005).
Integration is a guiding principle throughout the PIP approach and
particularly during PIP creation, with integration and diversification
of activities and practices in the household and on the farm being
essential. However, integration also works in the social dimension of
the approach, in which people value multi-ethnicity, foster personal
diversity and build social cohesion, while becoming eager to learn from
others. The PIP approach stimulates to continuously seek for diversity,
opportunities and innovations; hence, similarly to empowerment, PIP
staff should have integration present during all their work, and
stimulate farmers and other actors to always learn more, do better, and
experiment with new activities and practices.