Companion Modelling

Deciding how land should be used in the future, and who gets a say in that decision, is pressing for people who live and work on it. Yet the words "development" and "sustainable" carry so many competing and disputed meanings that a precise method is needed before participatory approaches to managing renewable natural resources can work. Companion modelling is one such method. It keeps stakeholders involved from start to finish, uses models to draw out how stakeholders see the problems at hand, and puts the shared interpretation of model results first.

The book presents the outlook behind companion modelling, along with the methods and tools used with stakeholders and the particular part models play in the process. It considers how to handle decision-making at different levels and the uneven power relations among participants. It also sets out a methodology for measuring the approach's effect on those who take part. Twenty-seven case studies and seven teaching tools show how the approach has been applied in a range of settings and in classroom teaching.

The book is written for researchers in rural development and renewable resource management, and for students and teachers in these fields.