No abstract

In the irrigated scheme of West Mitidja, access to land and water is ensured through countless local informal arrangements. The assignees of small collective farms have subdivided the land informally, and rent out part of it to lessees, thereby circumventing current legislation. The surface irrigation system provides only a small proportion of irrigation water to farmers, who rely mainly on groundwater for irrigation. The results of our analyses show that the agricultural dynamics of this perimeter are to a large extent ensured by ''invisible'' farmers cultivating land obtained through informal land markets and using groundwater via ''illicit'' tubewells. These farmers are also important vectors for innovation (new irrigated cropping systems, drip irrigation). We organized a series of workshops with farmers (assignees and lessees) and government agencies to explore agricultural development and water management perspectives in the area. Our work showed that it is land and water markets that should be formalized rather than land or water property so that lessees will be considered as actors for water management and agricultural development in the area.

There is an increasing call for local measures to adapt to climate change, based on foresight analyses in collaboration with actors. However, such analyses involve many challenges, particularly because the actors concerned may not consider climate change to be an urgent concern. This paper examines the methodological choices made by three research teams in the design and implementation of participatory foresight analyses to explore agricultural and water management options for adaptation to climate change. Case studies were conducted in coastal areas of France, Morocco and Portugal where the groundwater is intensively used for irrigation, the aquifers are at risk or are currently overexploited, and a serious agricultural crisis is underway. When designing the participatory processes, the researchers had to address four main issues: whether to avoid or prepare dialogue between actors whose relations may be limited or tense; how to select participants and get them involved; how to facilitate discussion of issues that the actors may not initially consider to be of great concern; and finally, how to design and use scenarios. In each case, most of the invited actors responded and met to discuss and evaluate a series of scenarios. Strategies were discussed at different levels, from farming practices to aquifer management. It was shown that such participatory analyses can be implemented in situations which may initially appear to be unfavourable. This was made possible by the flexibility in the methodological choices, in particular the possibility of framing the climate change issue in a broader agenda for discussion with the actors.

Moroccan agriculture is currently undergoing major political, socioeconomic, and environmental transitions. Smallholder farmers involved in large-scale irrigation schemes need to modernize their systems to face these challenges. In this study, a participatory process incorporating different simulation and gaming tools was designed and applied to accompany farmer groups in designing joint irrigation projects, generally drip irrigation systems. A role-playing game was used in the first phase of the process to raise awareness among farmers about the scope and contents of a joint irrigation project and list the different knowledge gaps. During the second phase, a policy simulation exercise based on the actual field situation enabled farmer groups to design their own joint drip irrigation project. As a result, several farmer groups produced a feasibility study for their joint drip irrigation system. Our experience highlighted the complementarity of these tools in a process of change. The abstract role-playing game provided valid learning experience while the realistic simulation supported concrete decision making.

ABSTRACT. Stakeholder and public participation in natural resources management (NRM) is now widely accepted as necessary to achieve sustainable development outcomes. Yet, effective implementation of participatory processes necessitates wellcalibrated methods and tools, as well as carefully honed facilitation skills that are difficult to gain without practice. Practitioners and academics leading these processes are thus encouraged to better reflect on, prepare, and justify their interventions, before starting to work in the field with stakeholders. Our paper shows how a Simulation Community of Practice (SCoP) was set up to support improved participatory practice. The specificity of this community is that its members not only discuss planned participatory interventions, but also simulate these processes by adopting roles of future participants, and by working through the different steps of the workshop that will be later implemented in the field. The evaluation of our approach shows that individual and social learning of participants in the SCoP is developed, leading mainly to improved facilitator skills and to calibration of the participatory methods and tools being tested. A space is also provided for deepening reflection on the purposes of the participatory process and the values that guide these interventions. Our experience could provide a model for others around the world to set up their own SCoP to support participatory NRM practice. Further improvements to our SCoP and new ones could be made by enhancing the feedback mechanisms between the field sites and the community, in order to encourage more cumulative learning and to reinforce the members' interest, maintaining their involvement in the community over time.