Building innovation systems for managing complex landscapes

This chapter provides tools for development practitioners to successfully facilitate social learning situations that can lead to innovation in landscape management. These innovation systems will help stakeholders deal with complex issues, conflicts, and opportunities that arise when managing natural resources in the agricultural landscape. Social learning techniques, community development, and community empowerment strategies are important for watershed management because of the nested landscape and how interrelated the components are in a landscape. This chapter also explains forms of social organization and how communication can be facilitated successfully. Communication and adaptive collaborative management are essential for the sustainability of complex landscapes, so it is important to outline the key roles and effective tools for facilitators in participatory and community activities.