ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the notion of conceptual modeling and makes a case for pluralistic modeling as a part of the adaptive collaborative management process. It describes the situation related to the conservation of forests adjacent to La Amistad International Park on the Pacific slope of Costa Rica from the perspective of ecological anthropology. The chapter presents a conceptual model of land-use change processes for use in adaptive management, and discusses the potential for implementing a more collaborative approach to adaptive management at this site. Conceptual modeling to specify important relationships can provide some propositions for adaptive management and policy making, and also identify important research questions that can help fill in critical gaps in the knowledge for long-term adaptive and collaborative management of regional human-occupied ecosystems. Although “adaptive management” is a well established concept in ecology, there has been considerably less attention paid to it within the social sciences.
