Local governance mechanisms and social network analysis: modeling to learn, participating to decide. Lessons from Misiones, Argentina.

ING. JONATHAN VON BELOW

Posadas

Conferencia; IUFRO Conference Posadas 2018 Adaptative Management for Forested Landscapes in transformatio; 2018

IUFRO

The loss of native forests imposes changes in the quality of the environment, in the way of life and in well-being of local populations, whose interactions affect the dynamics of the socio-ecological system (SES). These are multidimensional spaces where power relations are stratified and intertwined, and where social actors with similar or different interests may compete or collaborate to take control of natural capital and its ecosystem services (ES). This is due to the different types of social, political and economic capital that each actor possesses, and the different values they make of ecosystem benefits.Participatory modeling of SES is useful for decision making, since promoting social learning can help improve and democratize this process. Social actors with different levels of power and interest in natural capital use different governance mechanisms. Our aim for this work was to explore the capacity of participatory modeling of SES to promote social learning and governance mechanisms of vulnerable social actors. Ten focus groups were held in different municipalities from Misiones, Argentina (Puerto Piray, Colonia Delicia, Pozo Azul, Puerto Libertad) during 2016-2017. A categorical reconstruction was carried out based on the information from the focus groups. Statistical analysis of social actors networks was done with the igraph, sna and stats (R-studio). Synergistic and antagonistic governance mechanisms were characterized, and an actor-mechanism interaction matrix was constructed to show the relationship between the type of actor and its governance strategies.There is no clear correspondence between the type of actor and their respective perceived levels of power-affection and interest-dependency of natural capital. The structure of the network perceived changed after the participatory modeling. Different types of actors implement different governance mechanisms, which may depend on their positioning in the network. Social capital and power are associated with synergistic and antagonistic mechanisms, respectively.