Managing tree diversity for social-ecological resilience: cacao and coffee agroforestry patterns, processes and games

Summary

Managing tree diversity for resilient cacao and coffee agroforestry requires interdisciplinary approaches to studying social-ecological systems through understanding the feedback between patterns, processes, and farmers’ choices. This thesis focuses on comprehending the rationale of farmers’ decision-making, including its ecological and economic consequences in two study areas in Indonesia. Active, adaptive, and diverse decision-making observed among farmers in cacao- and coffee-based agroforestry contributes to the preservation of multiple ecological functions, enhancing the social-ecological resilience of the system and facilitating income diversification. The simplified representation of key patterns and processes as understood by a researcher in a game format can enhance the two-way communication between farmers and researchers, leading to additional insights and deserves to get a permanent place in the toolbox for agroecological research within and beyond agroforestry.