| Abstract | Farmer decision-making involves the weighing up of many options, which may be available, including those off-farm and off-site, and including the possibility of migrating elsewhere. Of particular interest to natural resource management research is the balance between decisions for activities in the rural landscape that invest, plant, care and conserve, and those that exploit, harvest and market the resources. When exploitation and harvesting dominate, the resources are likely to degrade, but the returns to labor and short term profitability may be high. When conservation, planting and other types of investment dominate, the resources may recover from past exploitation, but may not meet current livelihood demands. Finding a balance between these aspects within the landscape, depends very much on the interactions between actors and stakeholders. Non-sustainability will only play a role in farmers’ decisions if they are (made) aware of the problems, and if they have other options. |
