摘要：Sustainability assessment oriented to improve current systems and practices is urgently needed, particularly inthe context of small farmer natural resource management systems (NRMS). Unfortunately, social-ecological systems (SES)theory, sustainability evaluation frameworks, and assessment methods are still foreign not only to farmers but to many researchers,students, NGOs, policy makers/operators, and other interested groups. In this paper we examine the main achievements andchallenges of the MESMIS Program (Spanish acronym for Indicator-based Sustainability Assessment Framework), a 15-yearongoing effort with impact in 60 case studies and 20 undergraduate and graduate programs mainly in Ibero-America that isattempting to cope with the stated challenges. The MESMIS experience shows that it is possible to conduct sustainabilityassessments in the context of small farmers through a long-term, participatory, interdisciplinary, and multi-institutional approachthat integrates a solid theoretical background, a field-tested operational framework, learning tools specifically devised to facilitatethe understanding of sustainability as a multidimensional and dynamic concept, and a growing set of case studies to apply toand get feedback from users. Specifically, through the dissemination of the MESMIS assessment framework in a large set ofcase studies in a contrasting set of social-ecological contexts, we have been able to: (a) characterize the NRMS, their subsystems,and their main interactions; (b) link attributes, i.e., general systemic properties, with sustainability indicators to assess criticalsocioeconomic and environmental aspects of the NRMS; (c) integrate indicators through multicriteria tools and to expose themultidimensional aspects of sustainability; (d) propose an initial multiscale assessment to articulate processes and actors atdifferent spatial scales; (e) develop multimedia learning tools, i.e., Interactive-MESMIS, to help users understand dynamicconcepts, trade-offs, and counter-intuitive behavior; and (f) promote participatory processes through role-playing games andagent-based simulation models. Key challenges are related to the need to conduct long-term longitudinal studies that fully capturesystem dynamic properties while at the same time actively involving relevant stakeholders through creative and lastingparticipative processes. We outline an improved assessment framework that should help move the program in this direction
关键词：complex systems; Latin America; natural resource management; small farmers; social-ecological systems;sustainability assessments
