ABSTRACT
From 2005 to 2009, an EU-funded international project, ForLive, invested in the identification and promotion of options for Amazonian families to effectively use their natural resources for local development. The project followed the idea of adaptive collaborative management (ACM), applying participatory and collaborative action research and learning, in 17 in-depth case studies with communities in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru. Households participated in negotiating a code of conduct, the definition of the working agendas, academic as well as participatory action research and learning processes, exchange of findings, and actions for implementation and diffusion of findings. At the projects’ end, the community participants in the 17 in-depth case studies were asked about their experiences. This chapter summarizes the ambivalent statements of the communities in the form of a virtual journal written by the composite farmer, Pedro Martinez, a resident in a fictitious community in northern Bolivia. The journal condenses the manifold specific observations and diverse experiences and perceptions from the case studies into a single, readable story. The document accompanies the process from first contact with the project’s field assistant to subsequent cycles of planning, implementation, and reflection. The chapter describes the challenge of a participatory approach to research in contexts determined by paternalistic structures and a classic funding regime. It highlights the importance of carefully considering the capacities of academic researchers and technicians, and especially of local research partners when demanding participation (see also Chapters 6 and 7).
