Participatory modelling for sustainable development: Connecting coastal and rural social-ecological systems

Integrated planning and informed decision-making require an understanding of the interactions between coastal and rural social-ecological systems and quantification of the impacts of adaptive management across sectors. The Mar Menor lagoon (SE-Spain) provides an example of how a lack of integrated planning can lead to environmental and socio-economic crises. Here we present a systems approach using participatory modelling to identify optimal solutions for the sustainable development of this social-ecological system. Through a participatory process, we co-developed causal loop diagrams that formed the starting point of a System Dynamics model. Model development and its application helped facilitating knowledge exchange between stakeholders, identify challenges and opportunities for sustainable development, and evaluate the socio-economic and environmental impacts of different management and policy solutions. Model results were evaluated using multi-criteria analysis demonstrating its potential application as a decision support system to identify an optimal set of solutions.