Conclusions for Yasuni

According to the objectives of this study, two closely related conclusions can be made. The first one is about my personal experience using a new method towards social problems. The second one concerns the communication of results in this experience and its relationship to the academic purposes of knowledge mediation.

During this experience, the Integraal framework has permitted the organisation and structure of the information about the Yasuní ITT social choice problem, useful for understanding situations that are not always obvious when looking at complex social problems.

Depending on personal aptitudes to identify relevant issues representing social problems, resulting structured information can vary and be more or less significant in understanding multiple components and values of the social choice problem. I think that the first Integraal phase, identification of the social choice problem, must be exhaustively done, to facilitate complete problem representation in the next phases and to encourage confidence in the procedure.

In a multi-criteria, multi-stakeholder evaluation, deep research is necessary to consider varied information about social problem issues and stakeholders. For example, it would be important to consider technical information about oil projects that can help understand how oil activities work in specific places, information about operations procedures, life cycles of materials and operations, technology, etc., as well as scientific information about oil composition, classification, properties, etc.

The communication of results should also have an extended view. It should continue to transmit short objectives during the process as well as the final results, and it also needs to be efficient in finding the best communication channels according to particular study cases.

For example, in the Yasuní study case communication with local people could be done through public meetings, workshops, videos, etc.; communication with institutions could be done through meetings, online resources like blogs, websites (KerDST, Newsreels Forest of Brocéliande (REEDS), EJOLT), etc.; communication with the worldwide public interested in the social problem case could be done through international campaigns, articles in magazines and websites, and other online networks like social media, videos, etc, and so on.

The knowledge mobilised in this study is the methodological and practical knowledge of the Yasuní ITT case study through the Integraal framework for sustainable assessment.