Projects

Project Profile: TRUEPATH

TRansforming UnsustainablE PATHways in agricultural frontiers: articulating microfinance plus with local institutional change for sustainability in Nicaragua

Who?

Principal Investigators: Johan Bastiaensen, University of Antwerp, Belgium
Partners: Selmira Flores, Universidad Centroamericana, Nicaragua
Nadège Garambois, AgroParisTech, Paris Institute of Technology for Life, Food and Environmental Sciences, France
Gent Van Hecken, University of Antwerp, Belgium
Frédéric Huybrechs, University of Antwerp, Belgium
Pierre Merlet, Universidad Centroamericana, Nicaragua
Milagros Romero, Universidad Centroamericana, Nicaragua
Pierre Merlet, Universidad Centroamericana, Nicaragua
Milagros Romero, Universidad Centroamericana, Nicaragua
Florent Leo, AgroParisTech, Paris Institute of Technology for Life, Food and Environmental Sciences, France
Hubert Cochet, AgroParisTech, Paris Institute of Technology for Life, Food and Environmental Sciences, France
Victor Campos, Centro Alexander von Humboldt, Nicaragua
Sponsors: Research Foundation - Flanders, Belgium
French National Research Agency, France
International Social Science Council

What?

Full Project Title: TRansforming UnsustainablE PATHways in agricultural frontiers: articulating microfinance plus with local institutional change for sustainability in Nicaragua
Full Call Title: T2S2016
Website: https://www.researchgate.net/project/TruePATH-Transforming-UnsustainablE-Pathways-in-agriculturalfrontiers articulating-microfinance-plus-with-local-institutional-change-for-sustainability-in-Nicaragua

Why?

Project Objective: The main objective of this research is to co-generate actionable knowledge for the transformation of unsustainable cattle-based development in agricultural frontiers (AF) in Latin America and elsewhere. It aims to promote institutional change towards social-ecological sustainability, by exploiting the potential of ‘Green Microfinance Plus’ (a combination of microfinance, technical assistance and instruments such as Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES)). Through an action-research study in Nicaragua, we want to identify ways to halt the cattle driven advancement of the AF with its destruction of forests and encroachment of indigenous territories, and find ways to achieve more sustainable, climate-smart cattle/agricultural development in deforested areas.

Our research focuses on two interrelated research questions:

1. What are the characteristics and historical dynamics of the current cattle-based development pathways?

2. Which alternative sustainable pathway scenarios can be identified and cogenerated through social learning and collective action?
Call Objective: T2S has two major objectives:

To develop understanding of and promote research on transformations to sustainability which are of significant social, economic and policy concern throughout the world and of great relevance to both academics and stakeholders;

To build capacity, overcome fragmentation and have a lasting impact on both society and the research landscape by cultivating durable research collaboration across multiple borders, disciplinary boundaries, and with practitioners and societal partners. This includes facilitating the development of new research collaborations with parts of the world which are not often involved in large-scale international research efforts, notably low- and middle-income countries.

Where?

Regions: Europe, Central America
Countries: Belize, France, Nicaragua

When?

Duration: 42 months
Call Date: July 6, 2017
Project Award Date: April 26, 2018