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.