Page 96 - A bird’s-eye view of recreation - Rogier Pouwels

A bird's-eye view of recreation
Figure 5. Schematic representation of types of uncertainties (Brugnach et al. 2008, Opdam et al. 2009) and the degree to which they are addressed in boundary management and adaptive management.
5.4.2 Complexity of the model
In conflict situations, tools may be rejected for various reasons because participants do not want to cooperate in finding a solution. Simple tools can be rejected because they are less precise and do not exactly describe the local situation; this makes an easy argument to a local stakeholder to reject the tool for lack of credibility. Complex tools may be rejected because they are not transparent and therefore not recognized as legitimate. Therefore, the creation of trust during boundary management is crucial for having models accepted as reliable sources of information, most importantly if complex tools are used (Voinov and Bousquet 2010). If the tools are flexible and adjustable to the local situation (Voinov and Bousquet 2010), their information is more credible to local users. Legitimacy and credibility are gained when models are selected because they have been used in comparable areas for comparable conflicts (Ritzema et al. 2010). In some situations complex tools might be rejected but the final results accepted (Lagabrielle et al. 2010), and developing and using the tools will be a means and not an end (Farolfi et al. 2010).
In boundary management it is relevant that the risk of rejecting information because it is considered untrustworthy is lower when the stakeholders are involved in the development of the scientific tools from the start. However when means are scarce it is difficult to develop a complete new tool. It's better to use existing tools and adjust them. Which tools will be used is again preferably a decision for the stakeholders, but in most situations the choice is made by the scientists (Voinov and Bousquet 2010). In the PROGRESS project the choice was made by the scientists and the managers because
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