Land-use decisions in challenging contexts: Simulating local realities of small-scale farmers in forest frontiers of the Peruvian Amazon

Interventions aimed at reducing environmental degradation and promoting sustainable development in tropical forest frontiers generally fail to match the realities that smallholder farmers in disadvantaged contexts face when making land-use decisions. To transform frontiers into resilient landscapes, the integration of all stakeholders and a common understanding of diverse perspectives is crucial. To bridge the knowledge and perspective gap between decision-makers, practitioners, and rural communities in tropical forest frontiers, we developed an innovative tool based on serious games. Our game is based on a case study of smallholder farmers in the Peruvian Amazon and simulates local socio-ecological dynamics allowing for reflection and collective learning among participants. By testing our tool in diverse settings, it has been observed that our game facilitates extensive reflections and dialogues, allowing participants to better understand and reflect on the difficulties of making sustainable land use decisions in challenging contexts. It also highlights the need to consider collective decision-making processes, in addition to the opportunities offered by adopting an agroecological transition approach. Future developments of our tool
include the systematization of game sessions through data collection and adaptation to different contexts and settings, while maintaining a balance between levels of playability and the simulation of complex realities.