14. March 2024 : Data collection of DFG project on vision-building for collective action in the Colombian Andes concluded in 2023

Data collection for a research project funded by the German Research Council (i.e. DFG) and implemented by the Department of Environmental Economics concluded in Lake Tota (in Boyacá province, north-eastern Colombia) at the end of 2023.

The project, led by Stefanie Engel (FB9 and IUSF, UOS, Germany), Ann-Kathrin Koessler (Leibniz University Hannover and IUSF, UOS, Germany) and Juan Felipe Ortiz-Riomalo (FB9 and IUSF, UOS, Germany) researches the potential for collective action in natural resource management of participatory vision-building which aims at helping the relevant actors craft shared visions about desirable futures. The process entailed visiting, inviting and registering about 1460 farmers from the four municipalities and associated villages around the lake and conducting an economic game with 728 between the end of June and the beginning of November 2023. Preliminary informative and result dissemination activities with some of the project’s advisors and stakeholders ensued.

All these activities were part of an extended fieldwork comprising an exploratory phase followed by pre-tests and pilots of the proposed research design. The exploratory phase yielded rich contextual insights into the relevant social-ecological context of the potential study areas. In turn, the pre-test and pilot phase involved farmers close to those of the study population target trying to assess, refine, and adapt critical features of the research design. The final version of the experiment design builds upon these insights to accommodate the relevant features of Lake Tota’s context and the potential participants.

After completing the study registration, data preparation and analysis will unfold between March and May 2024. Additional onsite and online dissemination activities will occur in April after submitting the final project report to the DFG on June 1st, 2024. Updated information about the project activities and results will be available during the second semester here:

https://osf.io/a9tz2/ (The OSF project registration, which will be public from June 2024 onwards)

https://rb.gv/e4qqyy (The Department of Environmental Economics’ research websites).