This paper considers participatory modelling to integrate biodiversity conservation into land use planning and to facilitate the incorporation of ecological knowledge into public decision making for spatial planning. Réunion Island has experienced rapid urban and agricultural expansion, which threaten its unique biodiversity. In this context, we designed three participatory modelling sequences, involving overall 24 multidisciplinary researchers and stakeholders. The sequences aimed 1) to map land-use and biodiversity, 2) to develop a conservation plan following systematic conservation planning principles using a spatial optimization tool (MARXAN) and 3) to simulate coupled landuse/conservation scenarios using a multi-agent system (MAS). The conservation plan confirms that priority areas for biodiversity protection are located on the coast where rapid land-use changes occur. Nevertheless, stakeholders from the urban and agricultural sector didn't participate to this sequence. Indeed, conservation planning tools are useful to locate conservation priorities but they have to be designed with stakeholders to be accepted as negotiation tool. Besides, the researchers engaged in this second sequence were perceived as conservation stakeholders rather than holders of scientific knowledge. In the third sequence, the researchers involved adopted the stance of facilitating the elicitation of each stake and gathered trust from stakeholders. Overall, we conclude that the participatory development of land-use simulation models should be promoted to explore alternative scenarios for biodiversity conservation with stakeholders. In a situation of land-use conflict, a gradual and sequential participatory modelling approach should be implemented to fit into public decisionmaking processes.

Decentralization and people's participation have been key features of government environmental policy since the 1990s. In Madagascar, the policy of Secured Local Management of Natural Resources, known as the GELOSE act, has created a framework for the transfer of rights from central government to local communities. This article analyses the practical implementation of this policy by focusing on the nature of the rights transferred and on the nature of the contracts and incentives developed. The Aghion and Tirole model for allocation of formal and real authority in an organization is used to shed light on the contractual definition process and on the trade-offs between giving responsibilities to local communities and losing control over natural resources management. It is shown that a congruence of interests between the parties is crucial for effective delegation of authority to local communities and that this congruence may emerge in relation to the transfer of exclusion rights.

This paper aims to clarify two distinct but complementary questions on economic and legal additionality in the payments for environmental services (PES) debate based on examples from the literature and direct observations made in Madagascar and Mexico. For the economic dimension of additionality, we explain two ‘regimes of justification’, efficiency on the one hand and social equity on the other, and discuss how analysts position themselves with regard to both regimes. For the legal dimension, we review and analyse specific cases in which PES are implemented in addition to existing environmental regulations. We propose a renewed framework of analysis to distinguish ‘compensation’ and ‘reward’ in PES by crossing the opportunity cost dimension and the legal constraint vis‐à‐vis the environment. We show how difficult it is to fully maintain the objective of efficiency when PES are implemented simultaneously across different combinations of opportunity costs and regulation constraints. We propose policy options to address the contradiction between incentive and coercive instruments. These options are land sparing, social targeting and chronological combinations. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

RÉSUMÉLes auteurs dressent une rétrospective de la mise en oeuvre

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La biodiversité aménage-t-elle le territoire ? L'insécurité foncière dans et autour des Aires Protégées de Madagascar : un obstacle à surmonter pour la conservation de la biodiversité et le développement rural Land-tenure insecurity within and around Madagascar's Protected Areas: an obstacle to overcome for biodiversity conservation and rural development

's darÉ, raPhaèle ducrot, natalie Jones, JÉrôMe queste, guy trÉBuil and anneMarie van Paassen Justifications and assumptionsWhy is an assessment of ComMod needed?The assessment of the effects of companion modelling is currently still a theoretical and methodological field under investigation. However, neighbouring fields of research provide relevant elements of reflection. For example, research on integrated assessments aims to provide public policy decision-makers with relevant information for decisionmaking. This information generally arises out of an interdisciplinary process for consolidating, interpreting and communicating knowledge from various sources (Hisschemöller et al., 2001). In this context, Siebenhüner and Barth (2005) tried to determine under what circumstances the use of a model would be consistent with the objectives of a participatory approach. It should be stressed, however, that there is a marked difference between an integrated assessment using certain forms of modelling and the ComMod approach itself. Hisschemöller et al. (2001) considered that the aim of integrated assessment is to inform the parties involved without seeking to promote convergence of opinion. As discussed in Chapter 1 and in more detail in Chapter 5, the ComMod approach, by contrast, seeks to support the sharing of views, the consensual exploration of scenarios and, where appropriate, group decision-making. From an approach assessment standpoint, it thus seems necessary to go beyond analysing knowledge creation and learning processes and also focus on interaction and mobilization processes, or even legitimacy and accountability principles to provide an understanding of 'what happens' during a ComMod approach and what are its consequences. E x e m p l a i r e a u t e u r Companion modelling 142Trying to establish an assessment protocol, which is both scaled to the implementation contexts of the ComMod approach and sufficiently robust to cover all the aforementioned analytical dimensions, is quite a challenge. Expecting to create a perfect protocol at the first attempt is just wishful thinking. The protocol created for, and used during, the ADD-ComMod project corresponds to a first draft of a more advanced assessment methodology, the initial stages of which are presented at the end of this chapter. Within this project, the objective of the assessment process is initially twofold: -to estimate the impact of the approach in terms of mobilization and involvement of local stakeholders in group learning and decision-making -to improve the ComMod approach's underlying methodology and theory.The second goal probably influenced the structure and content of the assessment protocol presented later in this chapter. As each structure has its own constraints, it is likely that the proposed format limited the assessors' ability to answer the questions raised by the first goal as much as they would have liked. However, the comparative nature of the ADD-ComMod project (27 case studies) imposed a methodological rigour called for by the di...

ABSTRACT. We explore the impact of forest policy reforms implemented in the early 1990s in Niger in the wake of the severe droughts that affected the Sahel in the 1970s and 1980s. We focus on Sahelian multiple-use forest ecosystems and set out to analyze policy-induced changes in the patterns of interactions between various uses, users, and dry-forest ecosystems, interactions that influence the effective management of rural forests. We put forward the hypothesis that the new forest policy reforms were designed according to a vulnerability diagnosis, highlighting two stressors: droughts and increased demand for firewood. This led to a single-issue policy focused on firewood provision and was implemented through the Household Energy Strategy (HES). The HES established new local management schemes for "rural forests" through "rural firewood markets" (RMs) to regulate firewood harvesting and trade. We studied one of the first rural forests to become an RM in Niger in 1993. We used the concept of social-ecological functions as processes emerging from the interactions between social and ecological systems (SES). We identified sixteen SES functions and specifically analyzed the changes in three of them, whether they were targeted by the policy reform (firewood provision) or not (gum provision and livestock production). The changes generated by the creation of the RM have had different impacts on SES functions, as well as on the social and ecological components that contribute to these functions, because of their interaction with firewood provision. Mutual benefits and competitions between SES functions have been identified. The analysis of mutual benefits and competitions reflects the ambiguous role of the policy reform on rural forest ecosystems in Niger. Our results show that the patterns of interactions between key SES functions have played a more important role in the SES trajectory than any single resource such as timber or firewood. This provides insight into strengthening potential feedback between rural forest functions for improved resilience and livelihoods.