Design and Implementation of an Adaptive, Integrated Approach to Health and Sustainability in a Smallholder-Dominated Agroecosystem - Integrated Assessment of Health and Sustainability of Agroecosystems - page 29

table 2.1 (continued)
chronology of activities carried out in a Process to assess the Health
of a tropical agroecosystem in the central Highlands of Kenya

timescale action outputs actors

January-March
1999

Research-based
indicator measurement
(land use)

Land-use unit-level
indicator data

Researchers

April-June 1999 Research-based

indicator measurement
(study site)

Village-level research-based
indicator data

Researchers, resource
persons,
communities

May 1999 Multidisciplinary team

meeting

Approaches to analysis of
research-based indicators

Researchers,
multidisciplinary
team

August 1999-
February 2000

Research-based
indicator analyses

Refinement of research-
based indictors

Researchers

March-
November 2000

Village workshops Monitoring and evaluation

using both suites of
indicators

Researchers,
communities

August 2000 Community leaders,

resource persons,
multidisciplinary
team
AESH, agroecosystem health; ISS, intensive study site; PAR, participatory action research.

Wrap-up workshop Overall assessment of the

AESH process by the
communities

phase of the research process was concluded with a wrap-up workshop in which
community leaders, resource persons, and some members of the multidisciplinary
team discussed the problems, advantages, and disadvantages of the AESH approach.
A conceptual framework of the research strategy is summarized in Figure 2.1.

2.2.1 s e C o n D A r y D A t A A n D h o l A r C h i C A l s C A l e s
The purpose of secondary data was to construct a conceptual hierarchical structure
of the Kiambu agroecosystem and to identify the scales (in these hierarchies) at
which health and sustainability management would best be carried out. Secondary
data were used to provide information on the biophysical, economic, and sociopoliti-
cal characteristics of the Kiambu agroecosystem. Administrative and topographical
maps of the district (Survey of Kenya topology maps 134/3, 134/4, 148/2, 149/1, 148/3,
148/4) provided background data on administrative boundaries, topography, infra-
structure, and natural resource endowment. Data on climatic and ecological zonation
were derived from the Farm Management Handbook (Jaetzold and Schmidt, 1983).
Kiambu District Development Plans and reports from various government ministries
were used to provide information on existing projects and development plans.
Holarchies were defined from two perspectives: the biophysical and the human
activity perspectives. The human activity holarchy followed social, cultural, and