Two years ago the family Phang borrowed money to buy cattle. Then came a harsh winter and only one cow survived.

With the advent of increasingly intense weather events, adapting to climate change in Southeast Asia is more important than ever. But policymakers and scientists depend on farmers’ knowledge to guide them when it comes to adaptation. After all, farmers have been adapting to changing weather for generations. The question is how can we fuse local and scientific knowledge so that farmers have the best options available to them to adapt to a changing climate?

A key factor in answering this question is making local knowledge more visible. And this is where unique participatory exercises can play a big part in guiding discussions with farmers, brainstorming, and letting them have their say.

By these exercises, we mean outlines for structured discussions which help farmers and scientists jointly brainstorm problems and solutions. We call the exercises ”tools”, hence the Toolkit.

Mix and match

When brainstorming what trees to plant where, the most appreciated exercise by farmers and local planners) is the tree-climate-ranking tool. Farmers first listed the extreme weather events they thought were most problematic. Cold spells killing rice seedlings and livestock. Storms damaging trees and houses. Droughts and floodings reducing harvests and bringing more pests. Then they discussed and ranked the suitability of each tree and crop they grow against each weather events. The resulting table gave a clear picture and explanations for how sensitive their crops and trees are.

Doing this exercise helped farmers mix plants and trees that are not all sensitive to the same type of weather. For example, farmers knew very well that planting trees with different heights reduces wind speeds and prevents grain crops from falling down (lodging). They knew that planting bamboo on slopes cushions against landslides and that intercropping legumes with maize or cassava improves soil fertility and soil moisture. This is what agroforesters call “the interaction effects” of trees. Agricultural technicians who recommend new climate-smart land uses can therefore easily use the same principles pointed out by farmers, making it easier for farmers to work out what they want to try and plant. Scientists and policymakers can combine the village matrices to suggest adaption strategies for larger areas.

Who knows best

Returning to the village map, we sat down and looked where weather-related risks were high. The table was used as a guide to find new combinations of trees and crops that could reduce the impacts of a landslide or strong winds, not only in one field but also in neighboring fields. Designing these “climate-smart” agroforestry systems, the women quickly transferred the ideas of multiple canopy layers, inspired by their home gardens with tall fruit trees, some crops or bushes and shade-tolerant crops near ground.

This simple method, the tree-ranking table therefore became a bridge to show where there were disagreements – between local and scientific knowledges or between farmers and planners. Do women and men rate the suitability of trees differently? Do people who live at the bottom of the valley consider the same trees sensitive as those who live at the top? Why so? Do local leaders rank the same way as the farmers? We did the same tree-ranking exercise with the local land-use planners. Interestingly, they did not always have the same idea as farmers about how sensitive certain trees and crops were. Sometimes they thought that the drought risks were lower compared to farmers.  So, just as the exercise can highlight differences between different groups it provides an opportunity for knowledge exchange.

Best bet

Often we (scientists, practitioners) enter the villages and don’t know where to start or how much farmers already know to start at the appropriate level. A few hours with a few of these exercises can give a quick picture of the existing challenges and the responses. Group discussions where all participants are able to talk freely can also help clear potential misunderstandings.

However, just running a series of group discussions is not a magic bullet. In our case they helped formulating more appropriate household questionnaires and running a dialogue about land use planning between villagers and local leaders. This is one way to find the right trees for the right place.  Had Phang’s family known that planting strips with fodder grasses beside the trees could have prevented malnourishment, they might have still have had all their cows and paid back the loan.

Photos:
1: Farmers and extension workers discussing the suitability of trees during problematic weather situations.
2: A table showing the suitability of trees (green is good and red is bad) averaged for nine villages in a district.

The Toolkit was developed for a land-use planning project funded by CGIARs Research Programs on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and Forests,Trees and Agroforestry (FTA).

Blogpost and photos by: Elisabeth Simelton, Climate Change Consultant, World Agroforestry Centre Viet Nam – e.simelton (at) cgiar.org.
Edited by: Georgina Smith, CIAT Viet Nam