Transdisciplinary Conceptual Modeling of Socio-Ecological System

Management of natural resources is a complex issue. Human history shows the need for sustainable management of natural resources and one of the premises for this is knowledge integration. Nevertheless the need to integrate different types of knowledge poses a challenge. This paper proposes Conceptual Modeling as a tool to improve deliberation processes and research. Praia da Vitoria Bay in Terceira Island, part of Azores archipelago is the case study for Conceptual Modeling in a transdisciplinary setting towards system definition. During a three hour workshop, 18 stakeholders worked together to produce Conceptual Models describing Praia da Vitória Bay socio-ecological system. Participants included scientist of Azores University, local government with management responsibilities, private institutions that explore the area and local non-governmental institutions. The process, models obtained and stakeholder feedback are discussed. The exercise reveals that conceptual modeling is a challenging task for non-scientists. Nevertheless participants agree that this was a profitable moment of discussion and sharing visions, while cooperating to finalize the task. Information derived from the workshop includes not only variables and processes but, also scenarios. The overall result shows that during the 3 hour workshop data identification and integration has been achieved. The conclusion of this application is that collective Conceptual Modeling will not serve all purposes but, can be an important step towards integrated management.