2503-2.doc

Course: Participatory Forestry (2503)
Semester: Autumn, 2020
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ASSIGNMENT No. 2
Q.1 Define the term participatory evaluation events and its benefits. Describe the major steps necessary
for a successful participatory evaluation event with your own words.
When most people think of evaluation, they think of something that happens at the end of a project - that looks
at the project after it's over and decides whether it was any good or not. Evaluation actually needs to be an
integral part of any project from the beginning. Participatory evaluation involves all the stakeholders in a
project - those directly affected by it or by carrying it out - in contributing to the understanding of it, and in
applying that understanding to the improvement of the work.
Participatory evaluation, as we shall see, isn't simply a matter of asking stakeholders to take part. Involving
everyone affected changes the whole nature of a project from something done for a group of people or a
community to a partnership between the beneficiaries and the project implementers. Rather than powerless
people who are acted on, beneficiaries become the copilots of a project, making sure that their real needs and
those of the community are recognized and addressed. Professional evaluators, project staff, project
beneficiaries or participants, and other community members all become colleagues in an effort to improve the
community's quality of life.
This approach to planning and evaluation isn't possible without mutual trust and respect. These have to develop
over time, but that development is made more probable by starting out with an understanding of the local
culture and customs - whether you're working in a developing country or in an American urban
neighborhood. Respecting individuals and the knowledge and skills they have will go a long way toward
promoting long-term trust and involvement.
The other necessary aspect of any participatory process is appropriate training for everyone involved. Some
stakeholders may not even be aware that project research takes place; others may have no idea how to work
alongside people from different backgrounds; and still others may not know what to do with evaluation results
once they have them. We'll discuss all of these issues - stakeholder involvement, establishing trust, and training
- as the section progresses.
The real purpose of an evaluation is not just to find out what happened, but to use the information to make the
project better.
IN O RDER TO ACCO MPLISH THIS, EVALUATIO N SHO ULD
IN CLUDE EXAMIN IN G AT LEAST TWO AREAS:
 Process. The process of a project includes the planning and logistical activities needed to set up and run
it. Did we do a proper assessment beforehand so we would know what the real needs were? Did we use
the results of the assessment to identify and respond to those needs in the design of the project? Did we
set up and run the project within the timelines and other structures that we intended? Did we involve the
people we intended to? Did we have or get the resources we expected? Were staff and others trained

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and prepared to do the work? Did we have the community support we expected? Did we record what
we did accurately and on time? Did we monitor and evaluate as we intended?
 Implementation. Project implementation is the actual work of running it. Did we do what we
intended? Did we serve or affect the number of people we proposed to? Did we use the methods we set
out to use? Was the level of our activity what we intended (e.g., did we provide the number of hours of
service we intended to)? Did we reach the population(s) we aimed at? What exactly did we provide or
do? Did we make intentional or unintentional changes, and why?
 Outcomes. The project's outcomes are its results - what actually happened as a consequence of the
project's existence. Did our work have the effects we hoped for? Did it have other, unforeseen
effects? Were they positive or negative (or neither)? Do we know why we got the results we did? What
can we change, and how, to make our work more effective?
In order for these areas to be covered properly, evaluation has to start at the very beginning of the project, with
assessment and planning.
IN A PARTICIPATO RY EVALUATIO N , STAK EHO LDERS
SHO ULD BE IN VO LVED IN :
 Naming and framing the problem or goal to be addressed
 Developing a theory of practice (process, logic model) for how to achieve success
 Identifying the questions to ask about the project and the best ways to ask them - these questions will
identify what the project means to do, and therefore what should be evaluated
 Collecting information about the project
 Making sense of that information
 Deciding what to celebrate, and what to adjust or change, based on information from the evaluation
SO ME O F THE MAJO R ADVAN TAGES O F PARTICIP ATO RY
EVALUATIO N :
 It gives you a better perspective on both the initial needs of the project's beneficiaries, and on its
ultimate effects. If stakeholders, including project beneficiaries, are involved from the beginning in
determining what needs to be evaluated and why - not to mention what the focus of the project needs to
be - you're much more likely to aim your work in the right direction, to correctly determine whether
your project is effective or not, and to understand how to change it to make it moreso.
 It can get you information you wouldn't get otherwise. When project direction and evaluation
depend, at least in part, on information from people in the community, that information will often be
more forthcoming if it's asked for by someone familiar. Community people interviewing their friends
and neighbors may get information that an outside person wouldn't be offered.

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 It tells you what worked and what didn't from the perspective of those most directly involved -
beneficiaries and staff. Those implementing the project and those who are directly affected by it are
most capable of sorting out the effective from the ineffective.
 It can tell you why something does or doesn't work.Beneficiaries are often able to explain exactly
why they didn't respond to a particular technique or approach, thus giving you a better chance to adjust it
properly.
 It results in a more effective project. For the reasons just described, you're much more apt to start out
in the right direction, and to know when you need to change direction if you haven't. The consequence is
a project that addresses the appropriate issues in the appropriate way, and accomplishes what it sets out
to do.
 It empowers stakeholders. Participatory evaluation gives those who are often not consulted - line staff
and beneficiaries particularly - the chance to be full partners in determining the direction and
effectiveness of a project.
 It can provide a voice for those who are often not heard.Project beneficiaries are often low-income
people with relatively low levels of education, who seldom have - and often don't think they have a right
to - the chance to speak for themselves. By involving them from the beginning in project evaluation, you
assure that their voices are heard, and they learn that they have the ability and the right to speak for
themselves.
 It teaches skills that can be used in employment and other areas of life. In addition to the
development of basic skills and specific research capabilities, participatory evaluation encourages
critical thinking, collaboration, problem-solving, independent action, meeting deadlines...all skills
valued by employers, and useful in family life, education, civic participation, and other areas.
 It bolsters self-confidence and self-esteem in those who may have little of either. This category can
include not only project beneficiaries, but also others who may, because of circumstance, have been
given little reason to believe in their own competence or value to society. The opportunity to engage in a
meaningful and challenging activity, and to be treated as a colleague by professionals, can make a huge
difference for folks who are seldom granted respect or given a chance to prove themselves.
 It demonstrates to people ways in which they can take more control of their lives. Working with
professionals and others to complete a complex task with real-world consequences can show people how
they can take action to influence people and events.
 It encourages stakeholder ownership of the project. If those involved feel the project is theirs, rather
than something imposed on them by others, they'll work hard both in implementing it, and in conducting
a thorough and informative evaluation in order to improve it.
 It can spark creativity in everyone involved. For those who've never been involved in anything
similar, a participatory evaluation can be a revelation, opening doors to a whole new way of thinking

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and looking at the world. To those who have taken part in evaluation before, the opportunity to
exchange ideas with people who may have new ways of looking at the familiar can lead to a fresh
perspective on what may have seemed to be a settled issue.
 It encourages working collaboratively. For participatory evaluation to work well, it has to be viewed
by everyone involved as a collaboration, where each participant brings specific tools and skills to the
effort, and everyone is valued for what she can contribute. Collaboration of this sort not only leads to
many of the advantages described above, but also fosters a more collaborative spirit for the future as
well, leading to other successful community projects.
 It fits into a larger participatory effort. When community assessment and the planning of a project
have been a collaboration among project beneficiaries, staff, and community members, it only makes
sense to include evaluation in the overall plan, and to approach it in the same way as the rest of the
project. In order to conduct a good evaluation, its planning should be part of the overall planning of the
project. Furthermore, participatory process generally matches well with the philosophy of community-
based or grass roots groups or organizations.
With all these positive aspects, participatory evaluation carries some negative ones as well. Whether its
disadvantages outweigh its advantages depend on your circumstances, but whether you decide to engage in it or
not, it's important to understand what kinds of drawbacks it might have.
THE SIGN IFICAN T DISADVAN TAGES O F PARTICIPATO RY
EVALUATIO N IN CLUDE:
 It takes more time than conventional process. Because there are so many people with different
perspectives involved, a number of whom have never taken part in planning or evaluation before,
everything takes longer than if a professional evaluator or a team familiar with evaluation simply set up
and conducted everything. Decision-making involves a great deal of discussion, gathering people
together may be difficult, evaluators need to be trained, etc.
 It takes the establishment of trust among all participants in the process. If you're starting something
new (or, all too often, even if the project is ongoing), there are likely to be issues of class distinction,
cultural differences, etc., dividing groups of stakeholders.These can lead to snags and slowdowns until
they're resolved, which won't happen overnight. It will take time and a good deal of conscious effort
before all stakeholders feel comfortable and confident that their needs and culture are being addressed.
 You have to make sure that everyone's involved, not just "leaders" of various groups. All too
often, "participatory" means the participation of an already-existing power structure. Most leaders are
actually that - people who are most concerned with the best interests of the group, and whom others trust
to represent them and steer them in the direction that best reflects those interests. Sometimes, however,
leaders are those who push their way to the front, and try to confirm their own importance by telling
others what to do.

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By involving only leaders of a population or community, you run the risk of losing - or never gaining - the
confidence and perspective of the rest of the population, which may dislike and distrust a leader of the second
type, or may simply see themselves shut out of the process.. They may see the participatory evaluation as a
function of authority, and be uninterested in taking part in it. Working to recruit "regular" people as well as, or
instead of, leaders may be an important step for the credibility of the process. But it's a lot of work and may be
tough to sell.
 You have to train people to understand evaluation and how the participatory process works, as
well as teaching them basic research skills. There are really a number of potential disadvantages
here. The obvious one is that of time, which we've already raised - training takes time to prepare, time to
implement, and time to sink in. Another is the question of what kind of training participants will
respond to. Still another concerns recruitment - will people be willing to put in the time necessary to
prepare them for the process, let alone the time for the process itself?
 You have to get buy-in and commitment from participants. Given what evaluators will have to do,
they need to be committed to the process, and to feel ownership of it. You have to structure both the
training and the process itself to bring about this commitment.
 People's lives - illness, child care and relationship problems, getting the crops in, etc. - may cause
delays or get in the way of the evaluation. Poor people everywhere live on the edge, which means
they're engaged in a delicate balancing act. The least tilt to one side or the other - a sick child, too many
days of rain in a row - can cause a disruption that may result in an inability to participate on a given day,
or at all. If you're dealing with a rural village that's dependent on agriculture, for instance, an accident
of weather can derail the whole process, either temporarily or permanently.
 You may have to be creative about how you get, record, and report information. If some of the
participants in an evaluation are non- or semi-literate, or if participants speak a number of different
languages (English, Spanish, and Lao, for instance), a way to record information will have to be found
that everyone can understand, and that can, in turn, be understood by others outside the group.
 Funders and policy makers may not understand or believe in participatory evaluation. At worst,
this can lose you your funding, or the opportunity to apply for funding. At best, you'll have to spend a
good deal of time and effort convincing funders and policy makers that participatory evaluation is a
good idea, and obtaining their support for your effort.
Some of these disadvantages could also be seen as advantages: the training people receive blends in with their
development of new skills that can be transferred to other areas of life, for instance; coming up with creative
ways to express ideas benefits everyone; once funders and policy makers are persuaded of the benefits of
participatory process and participatory evaluation, they may encourage others to employ it as well. Nonetheless,
all of these potential negatives eat up time, which can be crucial. If it's absolutely necessary that things happen

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quickly (which is true not nearly as often as most of us think it is), participatory evaluation is probably not the
way to go.
Q.2 Discuss different approaches involved in Participatory Watershed Management.
This approach to planning and evaluation isn't possible without mutual trust and respect. These have to develop
over time, but that development is made more probable by starting out with an understanding of the local
culture and customs - whether you're working in a developing country or in an American urban
neighborhood. Respecting individuals and the knowledge and skills they have will go a long way toward
promoting long-term trust and involvement.
The other necessary aspect of any participatory process is appropriate training for everyone involved. Some
stakeholders may not even be aware that project research takes place; others may have no idea how to work
alongside people from different backgrounds; and still others may not know what to do with evaluation results
once they have them. We'll discuss all of these issues - stakeholder involvement, establishing trust, and training
- as the section progresses.
There are many ways to accomplish this. In some situations, it makes the most sense to put out a general call
for volunteers; in others, to approach specific individuals who are likely - because of their commitment to the
project or to the population - to be willing. Alternatively, you might approach community leaders or
stakeholders to suggest possible evaluators.
Some basic guidelines for recruitment include:
 Use communication channels and styles that reach the people you're aiming at
 Make your message as clear as possible
 Use plain English and/or whatever other language(s) the population uses
 Put your message where the audience is
 Approach potential participants individually where possible - if you can find people they know to recruit
them, all the better
 Explain what people may gain from participation
 Be clear that they're being asked because they already have the qualities that are necessary for
participation
 Encourage people, but also be honest about the amount and extent of what needs to be done
 Work out with participants what they're willing and able to do
 Try to arrange support - child care, for example - to make participation easier
 Ask people you've recruited to recommend - or recruit - others
In general, it's important for potential participant evaluators - particularly those whose connection to the project
isn't related to their employment - to understand the commitment involved. An evaluation is likely to last a year,
unless the project is considerably shorter than that, and while you might expect and plan for some dropouts,
most of the team needs to be available for that long.

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In order to make that commitment easier, discuss with participants what kinds of support they'll need in order to
fulfill their commitment - child care and transportation, for instance - and try to find ways to provide it. Arrange
meetings at times and places that are easiest for them (and keep the number of meetings to a minimum). For
participants who are paid project staff, the evaluation should be considered part of their regular work, so that it
isn't an extra, unpaid, burden that they feel they can't refuse.
Be careful to try to put together a team that's a cross-section of the stakeholder population. As we've already
discussed, if you recruit only "leaders" from among the beneficiary population, for instance, you may create
resentment in the rest of the group, not get a true perspective of the thinking or perceptions of that group, and
defeat the purpose of the participatory nature of the evaluation as well. Even if the leaders are good
representatives of the group, you may want to broaden your recruitment in the hopes of developing more
community leadership, and empowering those who may not always be willing to speak out.
While accountability is important - if the project has no effect at all, for example, it's just wasted effort - the
real thrust of a good evaluation is formative. That means it's meant to provide information that can help to
continue to form the project, reshape it to make it better. As a result, the overall questions when looking at
process, implementation, and outcomes are: What worked well? What didn't? What changes would improve
the project?
Answering these questions requires further analysis, but should allow you to improve the project
considerably. In addition to dropping or changing and adjusting those elements of the project that didn't work
well, don't neglect those that were successful. Nothing's perfect; even effective approaches can be made better.
Don't forget to celebrate your successes. Celebration recognizes the hard work of everyone involved, and the
value of your effort. It creates community support, and strengthens the commitment of those involved. Perhaps
most important, it makes clear that people working together can improve the quality of life in the community.
There's a final element to participatory research and evaluation that can't be ignored. Once you've started
a project and made it successful, you have to maintain it. The participatory research and evaluation has to
continue - perhaps not with the same team(s), but with teams representative of all stakeholders. Conditions
change, and projects have to adapt. Research into those conditions and continued evaluation of your work will
keep that work fresh and effective.
If your project is successful, you may think your work is done.Think again - community problems are only
solved as long as the solutions are actively practiced. The moment you turn your back, the conditions you
worked so hard to change can start to return to what existed before The work - supported by participatory
research and evaluation - has to go on indefinitely to maintain and increase the gains you've made.
Q.3 Describe the objectives and purpose of designing group meetings. Also explain the merits and
precautions required in careful planning?

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For the purposes of this page, a meeting is the coming together of three or more people who share
common aims and objectives, and who through the use of verbal and written communication contribute
to the objectives being achieved.
The Purpose of Meetings
Meetings are an important organizational tool as they can be used to:
 Pool and develop ideas
 Plan
 Solve problems
 Make decisions
 Create and develop understanding
 Encourage enthusiasm and initiative
 Provide a sense of direction
 Create a common purpose
Components of Meetings
A meeting can be divided into the following three main components:
 Content is the knowledge, information, experience, expertise, opinions, ideas, attitudes and expectations
that each individual brings to a meeting.
 Interaction is the way in which the participants work together to deal with the content of a meeting. This
includes the feelings, attitudes and expectations of the participants which have a direct bearing on co-
operation, listening, participation and trust.
 Structure is the way in which both the information and the participants are organised to achieve the
purpose/objectives of the meeting.
There are many different types of meetings; here we focus on those used to:
 Inform
 Consult
 Solve problems
 Make decisions
Informing Meetings
These are the most straightforward meetings where one member, usually the chairperson, has factual
information or a decision which affects all those present, which he/she wishes to communicate. Such meetings
tend to be formal as their aims are to give the members a real understanding and to discuss any implications or
how to put such information to best use.

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Consulting Meetings
These are meetings used to discuss a specific policy or innovation and can be used to get participants' views of
such a policy or idea. An example could be:
 Review a current policy
 State its deficiencies
 Suggest change
 Stress the advantages of such change
 Admit any weaknesses
 Invite comments
Problem Solving Meetings
These meetings are dependent upon the chairperson describing the problem as clearly as possible. Members
should be selected according to their experience, expertise or interest and then given as much information as
possible to enable them to generate ideas, offer advice and reach conclusions.
Decision Making Meetings
These types of meetings tend to follow an established method of procedure:
 Description of the problem
 Analysis of the problem
 Draw out ideas
 Decide which is best
 Reach conclusions
Many organizations, clubs and societies hold regular meetings to enable members to report and discuss progress
and work in hand, to deliberate current and future planning. Such meetings can contain elements of each of the
four above examples.
Most of us have experienced frustration with meetings that were poorly planned, attended, or executed. They
can seem like a waste of time. Conversely, meetings have the potential to be highly productive and help a group
develop unity and creativity. This section will explore best practices to plan and execute high quality meetings
for small groups, starting with pre-meeting preparation.[1] We’ll use an example of six students assigned to a
semester-long group project in a research methods class.
Careful Planning: Before the meeting even begins, group leaders and members need to take time to clarify the
purpose and goal of the meeting and how and when it will happen. In some cases, group members or leaders
might determine that a meeting doesn’t need to happen at all. Perhaps a quick phone call, a shared document, a
group email, or a meeting of only certain group members would be more effective than scheduling an entire
group meeting. Using the example of the group project in the research methods class, a group text or email

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could be used to set up a schedule or for group members to sign up for different parts of the project, rather than
scheduling a meeting for that purpose.
Clarify Roles: To use everyone’s time efficiently, a group leader or the meeting planner should communicate
each person’s roles in advance. For example, Carl has agreed to schedule and plan meetings for the group
project. Before the meeting, he asks Mehta to present the findings from the group text; Sonny to take notes; and
Darla, who has graphic design skills, to mockup some graphics for their project.
Create an Agenda: An agenda should be sent to all meeting participants in advance and include the date, time,
location (or virtual link), and length of meeting. It typically includes a detailed schedule or checklist of what the
meeting plans to address and a list of any materials that need to be reviewed in advance. Prior to the research
group’s second meeting, Carl emails the time and location of the meeting along with a list of the topics and
tasks they will address.
Q.4 How would you describe the method used for participatory evaluation event?
Participatory evaluation is an approach that involves the stakeholders of a programme or policy in the
evaluation process. This involvement can occur at any stage of the evaluation process, from the evaluation
design to the data collection and analysis and the reporting of the study. A participatory approach can be taken
with any impact evaluation design, and with quantitative and qualitative data. However, the type and level of
stakeholder involvement will necessarily vary between different types, for example between a local level impact
evaluation and an evaluation of policy changes (Gujit 2014, p.1). It is important to consider the purpose of
involving stakeholders, and which stakeholders should be involved how, in order to maximise the effectiveness
of the approach.
Campilan (2000) indicates that participatory evaluation is distinguished from the conventional approach in five
key ways:
 Why the evaluation is being done
 How evaluation is done
 Who is doing the evaluating
 What is being evaluated
 For whom evaluation is being done.
It is often practiced in various ways, such as: self-assessment, stakeholder evaluation, internal evaluation and
joint evaluation. In addtion, it can include individual story-telling, participatory social mapping, causal-linkage
and trend and change diagramming, scoring, and brainstorming on program strengths and weaknesses.
Advantages of doing participatory evaluation
 Identify locally relevant evaluation questions
 Improve accuracy and relevance of reports
 Establish and explain causality

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 Improve program performance
 Empower participants
 Build capacity
 Develop leaders and build teams
 Sustain organizational learning and growth
Challenges in implementing and using participatory evaluation
 Time and commitment
 Resources
 Conflicts between approaches
 Unclear purpose of participation, or a purpose that is not aligned with evaluation design
 Lack of facilitation skills
 Only focusing on participation in one aspect of the evaluation process, e.g. data collection
 Lack of cultural and contextual understanding, and the implications of these for the evalution design
A participatory approach to evaluation analyzes contextualized data that answer questions about the successes,
contextualizing realities, and failures of a program or policy and examines ways to make the program or policy
work better through the active involvement of representative and relevant local stakeholder groups. In
participatory evaluation, multiple stakeholders actively coconstruct and participate in the research and
evaluation process through its various stages—from research question formation and research design through to
data collection, data analysis, and the sharing and dissemination of findings.
Participatory evaluation is developed through locally constructed approaches to democratic and collaborative
decision making and engagement, with a diverse range of stakeholders contributing to shared processes,
learnings, and outcomes.
Q.5 Discuss the followings:
i. Deforestation
Deforestation is the permanent removal of trees to make room for something besides forest. This can include
clearing the land for agriculture or grazing, or using the timber for fuel, construction or manufacturing.
Forests cover more than 30% of the Earth's land surface, according to the World Wildlife Fund. These forested
areas can provide food, medicine and fuel for more than a billion people. Worldwide, forests provide 13.4
million people with jobs in the forest sector, and another 41 million people have jobs related to forests.
Forests are a resource, but they are also large, undeveloped swaths of land that can be converted for purposes
such as agriculture and grazing. In North America, about half the forests in the eastern part of the continent
were cut down for timber and farming between the 1600s and late 1800s, according to National Geographic.
Today, most deforestation is happening in the tropics. Areas that were inaccessible in the past are now within
reach as new roads are constructed through the dense forests. A 2017 report by scientists at the University of

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Maryland showed that the tropics lost about 61,000 square miles (158,000 square kilometers) of forest in 2017
— an area the size of Bangladesh.
Reasons forests are destroyed
The World Bank estimates that about 3.9 million square miles (10 million square km) of forest have been lost
since the beginning of the 20th century. In the past 25 years, forests shrank by 502,000 square miles (1.3 million
square km) — an area bigger than the size of South Africa. In 2018, The Guardian reported that every second, a
chunk of forest equivalent to the size of a soccer field is lost.
Often, deforestation occurs when forested area is cut and cleared to make way for agriculture or grazing.
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) reports that just four commodities are responsible for tropical
deforestation: beef, soy, palm oil and wood products. UCS estimates that an area the size of Switzerland
(14,800 square miles, or 38,300 square km) is lost to deforestation every year.
Natural fires in tropical forests tend to be rare but intense. Human-lit fires are commonly used to clear land for
agricultural use. First, valuable timber is harvested, then the remaining vegetation is burned to make way for
crops like soy or cattle grazing. In 2019, the number of human-lit fires in Brazil skyrocketed. As of August
2019, more than 80,000 fires burned in the Amazon, an increase of almost 80% from 2018, National
Geographic reported.
Many forests are cleared to make way for palm oil plantations. Palm oil is the most commonly produced
vegetable oil and is found in half of all supermarket products. It's cheap, versatile and can be added to both food
and personal products like lipsticks and shampoo. Its popularity has spurred people to clear tropical forests to
grow more palm trees. Growing the trees that produce the oil requires the leveling of native forest and the
destruction of local peatlands — which doubles the harmful effect on the ecosystem. According to a report
published by Zion Market Research, the global palm oil market was valued at $65.73 billion in 2015 and is
expected to reach $92.84 billion in 2021.
Effects of deforestation
Forests can be found from the tropics to high-latitude areas. They are home to 80% of terrestrial biodiversity,
containing a wide array of trees, plants, animals and microbes, according to the World Bank, an international
financial institution. Some places are especially diverse — the tropical forests of New Guinea, for example,
contain more than 6% of the world's species of plants and animals.
Forests provide more than a home for a diverse collection of living things; they are also an important resource
for many around the world. In countries like Uganda, people rely on trees for firewood, timber and charcoal.
Over the past 25 years, Uganda has lost 63% of its forest cover, Reuters reported. Families send children —
primarily girls — to collect firewood, and kids have to trek farther and farther to get to the trees. Collecting
enough wood often takes all day, so the children miss school.
According to a 2018 FAO report, three-quarters of the Earth’s freshwater comes from forested watersheds, and
the loss of trees can affect water quality. The UN's 2018 State of the World's Forests report found that over half

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the global population relies on forested watersheds for their drinking water as well as water used for agriculture
and industry.
Deforestation in tropical regions can also affect the way water vapor is produced over the canopy, which
causes reduced rainfall. A 2019 study published in the journal Ecohydrology showed that parts of the
Amazon rainforest that were converted to agricultural land had higher soil and air temperatures, which can
exacerbate drought conditions. In comparison, forested land had rates of evapotranspiration that were about
three times higher, adding more water vapor to the air.
Trees also absorb carbon dioxide, mitigating greenhouse gas emissions produced by human activity. As climate
change continues, trees play an important role in carbon sequestration, or the capture and storage of excess
carbon dioxide. Tropical trees alone are estimated to provide about 23% of the climate mitigation that's needed
to offset climate change, according to the World Resources Institute, a nonprofit global research institute.
Deforestation not only removes vegetation that is important for removing carbon dioxide from the air, but the
act of clearing the forests also produces greenhouse gas emissions. The Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations says that deforestation is the second-leading cause of climate change. (The first is the
burning of fossil fuels.) In fact, deforestation accounts for nearly 20% of greenhouse gas emissions.
Deforestation solutions
Developing alternatives to deforestation can help decrease the need for tree clearing. For example, the desire to
expand the amount of land used for agriculture is an attractive reason to deforest an area. But if people adopted
sustainable farming practices or employed new farming technologies and crops, the need for more land might
be diminished, according to the UN's Sustainable Forest Management Toolbox.
Forests can also be restored, through replanting trees in cleared areas or simply allowing the forest ecosystem to
regenerate over time. The goal of restoration is to return the forest to its original state, before it was cleared,
according to the U.S. Forest Service. The sooner a cleared area is reforested, the quicker the ecosystem can start
to repair itself. Afterward, wildlife will return, water systems will reestablish, carbon will be sequestered and
soils will be replenished.
Everyone can do their part to curb deforestation. We can buy certified wood products, go paperless whenever
possible, limit our consumption of products that use palm oil and plant a tree when possible.
ii. Participatory approach
A participatory approach means that the person in charge of solving a problem or designing an
innovation involves people who are directly concerned by the result of his or her work. Participatory
approaches are necessary in agroecology as they facilitate the development of local resources, whether
natural, economic or social ones. Joining local actors to the effort does not guarantee an optimal
solution, but rather improvements which are acceptable and appropriate for their context of
implementation. Problem solving and innovation are thus conducted directly with regards to the

14
situation to be transformed. It therefore becomes possible to learn from the implementation of the
found solutions in order to revise them.
Opting for a participatory approach is justified from a pragmatic point of view and by the pursuit of a
democratic ideal. The pragmatic objective consists in enhancing the experience, intelligence and
creativity of the actors within a context of irreducible uncertainty even with science. The democratic
ideal considers the participatory approach as a mean to give citizens the possibility of choosing which
innovations to develop. The ends and means are in this case collectively debated within the
participative project.
Different tools can be used to implement a participatory approach. They all share the same philosophy
which is to facilitate the expression and the participation of different and diverse actors. This includes
covering a wide range of forms of expression: oral communication, written communication and
schematic representation (participatory modelling/mapping, mind map, rich pictures, cognitive maps
…). These different modes of expression facilitate the transition from a passive attitude of learning to
an active and creative attitude. Engaging actors in such a process of co-construction promotes the
ownership of results and the involvement of participants in their implementation.

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