Alejandra Jimenez (INRAE Ille-de-France - Versailles-Saclay, UMR Lisis) - 2024-2027

Agroecology differs from other approaches to sustainable development in that it is based on territorial and local processes. In order to understand and encourage these transitions, it is crucial to develop approaches that allow local actors to understand current agricultural systems and to collectively define the desired transformations, in addition to monitoring ongoing changes and carrying out assessments that take the specificities of different contexts and traditional knowledge into account. Various frameworks and tools have been developed^1,2,3 to evaluate this transition process, but they do not yet allow for the monitoring of the transitions underway, nor do they make it possible to:

• Anticipate the desired transformations;
• Build transition pathways;
• Define criteria for understanding the progress of the transition process (are we on the right track?) and its performance (what transformation have we achieved?).

That is the focus of this thesis. Rooted in economics with a significant social component, this thesis draws upon two case studies, one in Argentina and one in France, to co-design a method that will enable actors in transitioning territories to develop indicators and metrics that are relevant to their context. This method is participatory, iterative (reviewing transition paths, analyzing decision criteria), pro-active (developing collective visions of the targeted and desired transformations of systems), and formative (enabling collective learning).

Supervisors

Mireille Matt (UMR LISIS)

Allison Loconto (UMR LISIS)