Introduction

Abstract

In 1996, an interdisciplinary group of researchers working the field of renewable resources management set out the first components, of an approach named ‘companion modelling’ (Bousquet et al. 1996; Barreteau et al. 1997). For many years these researchers had been involved in environmental research, such as the environment programme of the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) or the Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) research programme ‘Dynamics and Use of Renewable Resources’ (Gillon et al. 2000), which was based on research carried out in the 1980s, such as the CNRS action ‘Ecosystems and Social Systems’ (Jollivet 1992). Among the numerous conclusions produced by this research, was the recommendation to go beyond the multi-disciplinary juxtaposition and to commit to a cross-disciplinary approach in addressing environmental issues, and the proposal to rely, whenever possible, on the modelling method as a catalyst for the interaction process between researchers from different disciplines.