Using Data on Social Influence and Collective Action for Parameterizing a Geographically-Explicit Agent-Based Model for the Diffusion of Soil Conservation Efforts
Authored by Oel P R Van, D W Mulatu, V O Odongo, D K Willy, der Veen A Van
Date Published: 2019
DOI: 10.1007/s10666-018-9638-y
Sponsors:
Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO)
Platforms:
NetLogo
Model Documentation:
ODD
Model Code URLs:
https://www.comses.net/codebases/4597/releases/1.0.0/
Abstract
Social influence affects individual decision-making on soil
conservation. Understanding the emergent diffusion of collective
conservation effort is relevant to natural resource management at the
river basin level. This study focuses on the effect of subjective norms
and collective action on the diffusion of Soil Conservation Effort (SCE)
in the Lake Naivasha basin (Kenya) for the period 1965-2010. A
geographically-explicit Agent-Based Model (ABM) version of the CONSUMAT
model was developed: the CONSERVAT model. In our model, we have
represented heterogeneity in the physical environment and in the social
network using empirical data. To parameterize the model, physical data,
and social data from a household survey (n=307) were used. Model
simulation results show that it is possible to reproduce empirical
spatiotemporal diffusion patterns of SCE levels which are quite
sensitive to the way in which social survey data are used to initialize
the model. Overall, this study demonstrates (i) that social survey data
can effectively be used for parameterization of a
geographically-explicit ABM, and (ii) that empirical knowledge on
natural environment characteristics and social phenomena can be used to
build an agent-based model at the river basin level. This study is an
important first step towards including subjective norms for evaluating
the effectiveness of alternative policy strategies for natural resource
management.
Tags
Agriculture
Simulation
Agent-based modeling
Technology diffusion
networks
spatial diffusion
Catchment
Innovations
Climate-change
Sensitivity-analysis
Kenya
Deposition
Subjective norms
Soil
conservation
Sedimentation
Lake naivasha basin
Lake naivasha