Accélérer l'adoption de solutions EbA en utilisant une conception centrée sur le comportement : le cas du vétiver pour le contrôle de l'érosion des berges des rivières aux Fidji

Informations sur le projet

« Planter pour la résilience » est un projet réunissant des experts en adaptation climatique de la Institut international du développement durable (IIDD), des scientifiques du changement de comportement de Centre Rare pour le comportement et l'environnementet des représentants du gouvernement du ministère fidjien de l’Environnement et du Changement climatique.

The goal was to leverage insights from behavioural science to accelerate the uptake of ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) solutions among vulnerable communities in Fiji.  To this end, we developed a case study examining the extent to which a specific EbA solution promoted by the Fijian government – the use of vetiver grass for riverbank rehabilitation against flooding – was adopted in four communities in Tailevu province and the factors that influenced adoption among targeted communities.

Dans les quatre villages ruraux, une série d'entretiens semi-structurés avec les ménages a été menée en février 2023, couplée à des promenades transectes dans les villages et à des cartes participatives, à des discussions de groupe avec des femmes, des hommes et des jeunes, et à des entretiens semi-structurés avec des experts aux niveaux national et provincial pour comprendre les interventions passées.

Data was analysed using the behavioural driver model (BDM) developed by UNICEF in 2019. We found that there was very limited uptake of the vetiver in the selected communities.

Based on the data collected, the research team identified six core variables that seemed to influence farmers’ behaviour in relation to using vetiver against riverbank erosion:

salience of loss: whether villagers feel strongly about the negative impacts that erosion and flooding have on their lives
choice uncertainty: whether villagers are certain about the options available to them to reduce erosion
outcome efficacy: whether villagers feel vetiver grass will successfully reduce erosion
collective efficacy: whether villagers feel their community can plant and maintain vetiver to reduce erosion
self-efficacy: whether villagers feel they personally can successfully plant and maintain vetiver grass to reduce erosion
material access: whether villagers feel they can easily access and afford vetiver

These factors seem to currently matter the most in the selected communities and they should be prioritized in future interventions. Importantly, while each of the six drivers is important to support vetiver grass adoption, addressing each variable in a siloed manner will likely not be sufficient to bring sustained change.