Using Participatory Three-Dimensional Modelling (P3DM) to facilitate community decision making: a case study from the Vanuatu Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change (PACC) project

This report focuses on the Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change (PACC) project in In Vanuatu, which focuses on coastal zone management, and specifically the coastal roads on the island of Epi, which are being damaged by flooding and coastal erosion. The project is working with local communities to develop appropriate solutions that contribute to more resilient infrastructure.

The PACC Vanuatu project team identified participatory three-dimensional modelling (P3DM) as a valuable tool to facilitate community participation and decision making in the project.
P3DM involves the building of three dimensional (3D) relief maps by communities, combining local knowledge of geography and land use with geo-referenced data. The map then forms the basis for discussion and decision making on project interventions.

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Related Vlogpost: Participatory 3D Modelling (P3DM) for bottom-up decision-making in Vanuatu

Participatory 3 Dimensional Modelling in Madagascar: A process to be replicated in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Participatory three-dimensional modelling (P3DM) has already shown considerable potential in a number of countries with regard to the mobilisation of communities in the context of bottom-up planning and management of natural resources.  In Madagascar, the very first P3DM exercise took place in February 2015, in the Avaratrambolo water catchment area.

The exercise was conducted in a rural farming area some 35 km from the Madagascan capital, Antananarivo. The population of this region, situated in the northern part of the island, makes a living almost exclusively from rice farming, with weak purchasing power and poor access to the markets. The rural landscape is dominated by paddy fields, small forest plantations and a small remnant of natural forest. The catchment represents the source of a number of important river courses.
The P3DM exercise took place within the framework of a project aimed at promoting agriculture and water management called "Let's move towards change", Ndao hivoatra in the Madagascan language. This project, which involves several local, national and international, has gained special significance for local communities.



As in many parts of Africa, property issues are very sensitive in Madagascar. This explains why, in recent years local communities have ben reluctant in participating in a number of rural development projects. The P3DM exercise in Avaratrambolo made a significant contribution to removing concerns related to potential land grabbing. As with earlier projects in the area, the Ndao hivoatra project was thought by rural communities to be a trick to take over ancestral land for the benefit of multinationals that pose as promoters of rural development in remote areas of Africa. In spite of the numerous awareness-raising meetings which preceded the P3DM exercise communities perceived the forthcoming mapping process as a means for identifying areas which could be taken away. This had to radically change during the P3DM process …

The first phase of the exercise involved the construction of the blank 3D model. This phase was preceded by a workshop involving local facilitators and international facilitators from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as well as representatives of the institutions involved in the Ndao hivoatra project, to plan the process, identify preliminary equipment, logistics and define how best to engage the communities in participating. It was during this workshop that all those involved gained an understanding of the overall scope of the forthcoming mapping exercise.

The first visit by facilitators to the village of Ambohitrakely took place under a torrential downpour over a severely eroded and hardly accessible dirt road. This first activity was intended to guide schoolchildren trace and cut out cardboard layers for the construction of the 3D model. The children's work on the model sparked the curiosity of their parents. Gradually, adults including residents of nearby villages became involved in the construction of the model.

On 13 February 2015 the completed 3D model was officially displayed in the village of Ambohitrakely. In addition to representatives from the project implementing agencies, national ministries, researchers and other stakeholders, the event brought together a large and festive crowd including local, religious and traditional authorities and the local population which initially appeared reluctant to participate in the Ndao hivoatra project due to the sensitivity of the land tenure issue. The positive messages and the enthusiasm shown by the participants were a clear indicator of the behavioural change occurred. The model-making process proved to have plaid a reconciliatory role with regard to the project. Active participation of the local communities in the construction of the model and, in particular, in their driving role in defining the content of the map legend and populating the model with geo-referenced data, noticeably increased their confidence and feeling of ownership and control of the process. Residents now feel that the 3D model belongs to them as a tool to guide the implementation of the Ndao hivoatra project.

P3DM proved to be a powerful process for land and forest planning, management and development. The success of this exercise in Madagascar points to the usefulness and the opportunity for replicating the process elsewhere in Africa. For example, the exercise could be run in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the process of governance and management of community forests continues to progress. The publication of Decree No. 14/018 dated 2 August 2014 sets the modalities for allocating forest concessions to local communities in the DRC. Concerned local communities and Indigenous Peoples would benefit from P3DM to identify their ancestral territories and effectively plan and implement both conservation and sustainable development projects. The creation and operationalisation of the community forests and the recognition of indigenous and community conserved areas (ICCAs) in the DRC is a process that requires not only the passing of pertinent legislation, but also, and in particular, a commitment on the part of a range of stakeholders. Without obtaining full support from technical, scientific and financial stakeholders, the good will of the DRC government may be in vain.

Written by Dominique Bikaba, Strong Roots Congo

Notes from the author: The success of this first P3DM process in Madagascar can be credited also to the qualities and skills of the lead facilitator Mr Barthélemy Boika, who demonstrated his talents as an educator and community motivator. My thanks also go to the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) for its technical inputs and for supporting my participation in the exercise.

The project « ndao hivoatra » has been launched by the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) with funding provided by the World Bank to promote sustainable rural development. Le projet is implemented by Artelia Madagascar with technical support provided by Farming and Technology for Africa (FTA) in partnership with FOFIFA (Centre National de la Recherche Appliquée au Développement Rural). The P3DM exercise which represents a punctual component of the overall project has been supported technically and financially by CTA.

Construction participative de maquettes en trois dimensions - Guide méthodologique

Produit à partir du projet "Soutien aux économies paysannes vulnérables du bassin versant de la rivière Fond Melon et de la vallée de Marbial" mis en place par AVSF et son partenaire CROSE de 2007 à 2010 dans le Sud-Est d’Haïti, ce guide méthodologique présente une expérience innovante de construction et utilisation de maquette en 3D pour créer une véritable dynamique de démocratie locale pour l'aménagement d'un territoire rural.

Dans une 1ère partie, le guide présente les conditions et outils pour la fabrication de maquettes en 3D, en rappelant quelques spécificités liées au contexte haïtien et les différentes adaptations pratiques développées.

Dans la 2ème partie, il expose les approches et méthodes de valorisation et d’animation autour de cet outil, pour créer de véritables dynamiques de démocratie locale.

Identities and mapping processes

Giacomo Rambaldi, CTA Senior Programme Coordinator, talks about the impact of participatory 3D mapping processes among rural communities. At CTA, Giacomo coordinates Web 2.0 and social media capacity building, and Participatory GIS (PGIS) initiatives.

Soure: Agritools project

Participatory Data

Participatory 3D modelling (P3DM) is a community-based tool that builds on local and indigenous knowledge for a variety of purposes, such as land use planning, watershed management, disaster prevention, communication and advocacy.  

Participatory 3D modelling (P3DM) is a community-based tool – better defined as a ‘process’ – that integrates local spatial knowledge with data on land elevation and sea depth to produce a physical model. Local communities participate in the model building of the territory that they rely on for their livelihoods and cultural practices. The kind of data that the P3DM process generates are extremely diverse, but essentially it are data that are relevant for local knowledge holders: from land cover and land use to infrastructure – all of which are intimately related to a given people’s culture, their sacred sites, and burial grounds.

Local knowledge holders may be interested in sharing data, but there may also be data that they may consider private and sensitive. However, they may like to locate and document this data solely for their internal use. They may wish to maintain strategic control over the information that is shared, how it is released and to whom.

P3DM has already been used in a variety of contexts: claim land ownership, transfer knowledge across generations, and manage conflicts. It has recently started to take off in the Pacific region, enabling people in small island countries – where rising sea levels are posing a serious risk to many people’s livelihoods – to take informed decisions about how best to manage risk and adapt to climate change.

Origins of P3DM  

P3DM was initially used in the late 1980s in Thailand, to demonstrate where the Royal Forestry Department was developing plantations for catchment rehabilitation. As such it was a conservation-based demonstration tool, not a participatory tool. Dr Uraivan Tan-Kim-Yong, an anthropologist at Chiang Mai University, was running a research programme involving hill tribe people. She invited her students to make small Styrofoam models and bring them to the villages to discuss soil conservation and soil erosion issues.

These models proved useful and eventually drew the attention of other parties, who began to develop and deploy the P3DM process. The Thai-German Highland Development Programme (TG-HDP) (1981-1998) funded by the German Agency for Technical Cooperation was on the forefront in making use of the tool [1]. For the first time the 3D models began to be used on a village-to-village basis and in a participatory manner. 3D models started to shift from being a demonstration tool to an education tool, and finally a planning tool. In 1993, a workshop was held in Thailand attended by several NGOs from Southeast Asia. Organisations such as the Philippine Association for Intercultural Development (PAFID) and Green Forum Western Visayas began to embrace P3DM and started using it with indigenous people. It enabled them to address the demand coming from tribal minority groups to generate a great deal of data to prove their ancestral occupancy of land and waters in order to get their customary rights of tenure and use recognised by the government. Over the years, P3DM has benefited from the creativity of the many practitioners who have been engaged in the process.

Initial challenges  

All new technologies face implementation challenges. With P3DM, the initial one is posed by the availability of sufficiently detailed, up-to-date and accurate digital elevation models (DEMs). For example, some DEMs were produced decades ago. So if a blank model is constructed based on an obsolete elevation model, knowledge holders may point out landscape features that have changed, such as an eroded coastline, a mutated river’s course or slope that was altered by a landslide. Once the DEM issue is solved, the model is populated by local knowledge holders, where they share and visualise their spatial knowledge. People have a lot of fun doing this kind of exercise and get a great deal of gratification from it.

Another challenge is the difficulty of applying P3DM to map out large areas, such as an entire country. P3DM requires substantial preparation and logistics. As a result, the tool is often deployed in hotspots, or critical areas. In small island countries it is a useful tool used to map land and seascapes, and eventually large parts of an entire country.

In certain countries the use of P3DM has had a definite impact on policy. In the Philippines, the government has adopted the process in many different contexts, from conflict resolution to awarding indigenous tenure on land and water. In 2001 the minister of the environment and natural resources signed a memorandum circular that recommends the use of P3DM in “protected area planning and sustainable natural resource management” [2]. As of November 2014, in the Philippines 165 models were made that provided critical data for policy making. Samoa is a more recent case where the government has embraced the process in the context of climate change adaptation and community-based risk management.

At international levels, P3DM has been cited as a recommended process by CTA, UNDP, IFAD, GEF, UNESCO and more recently by IUCN in the context of the 2014 “Promise of Sydney”.

From physical to digital  

Custodianship of the 3D model is important to determine where the models are stored and who is responsible for their conservation, use and updating. A model is useless if it is locked up in a room where people cannot access it, or if it is stored under a glass cover and becomes a museum piece. The models have to be part of everyday life. They are used to educate children about local geography and history. This is true of physical models which are usually under the direct control of the knowledge holders. However, their digital representation follows a different path and has usually different custodians.

Once the data goes from physical to digital there is a risk that it will be misused or unwittingly shared. It is crucial that the intermediaries appointed as custodians of the data, are a trusted and reliable entity that will protect the data and respond to the community’s wishes in terms of data sharing. Trust and ethics play an important role in this. Research work may be extractive and could fail to consider that the mapping process should first and foremost benefit the knowledge holders. Unscrupulous individuals may entice people to share data to exploit resources. P3DM implies that a high level of ethics is applied and trust established between the actors involved: the knowledge holders and the technology intermediaries / facilitators.

In 2006 the community of practitioners focusing on Participatory GIS practice has developed a guideline [3] on practical ethics for PGIS practitioners, facilitators, technology intermediaries and researchers to stimulate the adoption of good practice. It has been published in 12 languages and governs the way people doing participatory mapping should behave in the process of generating, handling, storing and sharing data. The code recommends that knowledge holders remain in full control throughout the process and that data are gathered and eventually shared with their free prior informed consent (FPIC).

For the most part, P3DM data have been well protected. But there have been cases where data entered into a model were misused. In South-East Asia, there are accounts that graveyards located on a 3D model were plundered because such data were not removed and left accessible to the public. Therefore, it is important to make people aware of the implications of geo-locating sensitive data and making it public. They can then decide what to visualise, what to leave or remove from the model.

One of the most important components of a P3DM process is to involve external agencies from the very beginning. This can raise awareness among “outsiders” about the depth, accuracy and relevance of local knowledge. This may induce a new sense of esteem for local knowledge holders.

References   

[1] P3DM for Participatory Land Use Planning (PLUP) in Thailand, Integrated Approaches to Participatory Development (IAPAD).
[2] Participatory 3-Dimensional Modelling as a Strategy in Protected Area Planning and Sustainable Natural Resources Management. Memorandum, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Republic of the Philippines, Integrated Approaches to Participatory Development (IAPAD).
[3] Rambaldi,G., Chambers, R., MCcall M. And Fox, J. (2006) Practical ethics for PGIS practitioners, facilitators, technology intermediaries and researchers, Participatory Learning and Action, 54, IIED (April) 106-113.

Related links  

• IAPAD.ORG: Main website for Participatory 3D Modelling (P3DM)  
• Largest online library on participatory mapping practice (gray literature)  
• Participatory 3-Dimensional Modelling: Guiding Principles and Applications; 2010 edition  
• Google Map showing the locations where P3DM has been implemented – non exhaustive list  
• www.facebook.com/PPGIS
• PGIS video collection in English
• PGIS video collection in French
• https://twitter.com/ppgis  
• https://twitter.com/PGISatCTA  
• LinkedIn group of professionals interested in PGIS /PPGIS
• Training Kit on participatory mapping practice
• www.ppgis.net Gateway to get in touch with the wider PGIS community. Here you may register on the PGIS discussion list. That's the best channel for being updated on PGIS-related matters and where to post questions and share opinions. The global (English) list has ~3000 members. There are also independent chapters exchanging in French, Spanish and Portuguese.

Participatory Data: Public or Private?

Participatory 3D modelling (P3DM) is a community-based process centred, which integrates local spatial knowledge with data on elevation of the land and depth of the sea to produce physical 3D models. Residents of a given area assemble a 3D model of the territory they rely on for their livelihoods and cultural practices. P3DM is used for a number of purposes and addresses a range of issues including spatial planning, land tenure, climate change adaptation, intergenerational knowledge exchange, building community identity, documenting local knowledge for advocacy purposes, and more.

P3DM has been used mostly in developing countries in rural areas. A P3DM exercise covering an area of 1000 km2 at a 1:10000-scale lasts approximately 10 days and involves 50-100 knowledge holders. The resulting 3D map stores a huge amount of geo-located data, matching a well-defined legend. The legend - developed by the local communities - includes point, line and polygon data; it reflects local and traditional knowledge of all sectors of society, including women and elders. Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) obtained, data displayed on the 3D model are imported into GIS environments and further analysed and compared with other data sets. Depending on the scale used, a P3DM exercise may generate up to 80 layers of information including land cover, resource use and tenure, social infrastructure, settlements, sites of cultural significance and more. Some data may be considered as sensitive by the knowledge holders and treated as confidential (i.e. removed from the model or stored as classified layers in a GIS). Custodians of data (usually NGOs operating on behalf of communities) should manage these according on ethical principles and agreed procedures.

P3DM works best at 1:5000 – 1:10000 scale or larger. The larger the scale (1:5000 is larger than 1:10,000), the more detailed and diversified the input of the knowledge holders will be. As a consequence, P3DM can be applied on moderately large areas (1000-4000 km2) at a time, although repeated exercises may result in the full coverage of small island nations. In countries covering large portion of the Earth, P3DM can and should be applied on selected “hot spots” to address specific issues.

As a follow-up to the 2006 “Mapping for Change” Conference which took place in Nairobi, the Community of Practice devoted to the improvement of Participatory GIS (PGIS) practice, developed guidelines on “Practical ethics for PGIS practitioners, facilitators, technology intermediaries and researchers” available 12 languages.

Data generation is part of the P3DM process, but not its end. Evidence has proved that as a result of the process, knowledge holders gain a deeper understanding of their bio-physical and social environments, heightened awareness on the importance of sound and climate-smart resource management and more. Data are usually generated to serve the process as the communities (all generations) learn by doing and to empower knowledge holders in interfacing with higher authorities.
Sharing of data is strategic and meant to serve purposes set by the knowledge holders. On the other hand the process allows for traditional and scientific knowledge systems to come together and make use of or build on the best of the two “worlds”.

Iligan City Participatory 3D Modelling

A participatory 3D mapping (P3DM) skillshare in Iligan City, Philippines. This is a component of the Greenpeace Climate Crisis Response Project.

Aljazeera reports on P3DM made and used in Samoa to adapt to climate change and mitigate disasters

Participatory 3D Model (P3DM) done by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) in Samoa in the framework of the GEF-Funded "Integration of climate change risk and resilience into forestry management in Samoa (ICCRIFS)" Project now in on Aljazeera news.

Forthcoming P3DM-related activities at the 6th World Park Congress, Sydney 12-19 November 2014

Click to download the flyer

This is to update you about a series of events which will focus on Participatory GIS practice during the forthcoming IUCN World Park Congress. The events we are organising have a common denominator: Participatory 3D modelling (P3DM).

Below is a short description of the 3 events / activities:

Rolling activity (13-17 November),  at the WIN & Pacific Community Dialogue Pavilion (Pavilion #2)

Title: Participatory 3D modelling of the traditional country of the Mandingalbay Yidinji People, Queensland, Australia

Organisers: Wet Tropics Management Authority with support provided by IUCN, CTA and UNDP Equator Initiative with financial support provided by UNDP GEF-SGP

Starting on 13 November and for the duration of the conference, representatives from the aboriginal Mandingalbay Yidinji People will work on a 3D Model reproducing their ancestral territory within the Wet Tropics World Heritage site. The model will be at a 1:10,000 scale and include terrestrial and coastal components. It will be a replica of a larger model completed by a wider representation of the community in Queensland with support provided by the Wet Tropics Management Authority, IUCN and UNDP GEF-SGP. The population of the 3D model with data will occur during the conference within the WIN Communities Dialogue Pavilion. Support in the process will be offered by Partners with Melanesians. The completed model will be presented by Mandingalbay Yidinji People during the Side event “: The risks and values of geo-referencing traditional and local knowledge” which will take in the same pavilion on Monday 17 (see below).

Pavilion event; 17 November 8:30 – 12:00, WIN & Pacific Community Dialogue Pavilion (Pavilion #2)

Title: Voices and Choices: The risks and values of geo-referencing traditional and local knowledge

Organisers: CTA and IUCN

Note: Coffee, tea and cakes will be served to participants by mid-morning

This event focuses on Participatory 3 Dimensional Modelling (P3DM) a method within the Participatory GIS family which enables communities to geo-reference and spatially document their complex systems of traditional land/seascape knowledge. The method benefits from its integration with GIS, multimedia production, Web2.0 and social media and serves multiple purposes, including landscape planning, rights advocacy, inter-generational knowledge transmission, influencing policy-making and enhancing communities’ socio-environmental resilience.

At the onset of Participatory GIS (PGIS) practice, concerns were expressed that the nature of and access to GIS would simultaneously marginalize or empower different groups in society. The practice evolved along different lines and among diverse interest groups. Currently it embraces a blend of applications ranging from Internet-based spatial multimedia to field-based participatory methods with a modest GIS component. In this fast-evolving context, there is a seemingly unstoppable excitement about georeferencing human physical, biological and socio-cultural worlds and making the information publicly available. This embodies both potentials and risks, aspects which need to be taken into consideration by knowledge holders, technology intermediaries/facilitators and researchers.

A physical 1:10,000 scale 3D model completed by the Mandingalbay Yidinji People representing a portion of their ancestral territory within the Wet Tropics World Heritage site in Queensland, Australia will be showcased at the event. Representatives from the community will share their experience in going through the various phases of the process, how they dealt with sensitive data, and their plans on how best to make use of acquired skills, knowledge and completed products (the model and derived maps) in their future endeavours.

Coordinator: Giacomo Rambaldi (rambaldi[at]cta.int)

Session within Stream 7; Tuesday 18 November 2014, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Title: Knowledge management and technologies: Participatory 3D modelling in Protected Areas, landscapes and seascapes

Organisers: IPACC and CTA, in cooperation with Association des Femmes Peules Autochtones du Tchad, Minorités Pygmées du Gabon, and Yiaku People’s Association of Kenya, Melca Ethiopia and other indigenous peoples and local communities.

Background and summary: IPACC, African Biodiversity Network and other organisations have used Participatory 3 Dimensional Modelling (P3DM) to represent complex systems of indigenous landscape knowledge to themselves and decision-makers. P3DM, a geo-referenced and yet participatory system of knowledge representation serves multiple usages, including landscape planning, rights advocacy, inter-generational knowledge transmission and improving conservation.

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) promotes skills transfer in P3DM for indigenous peoples and local communities in Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific regions.
Oral knowledge of biological systems emerges through the methodology, associated with resource governance, rights and indigenous values. The tool provides a multi-use medium for negotiating land use, understanding customary use systems, education for sustainability, and empowering indigenous peoples as holders of expert knowledge in conservation and planning.
P3DM case studies describe a broad range of ecosystems and contexts. P3DM provides a valuable tool for intercultural understanding of diverse knowledge and land use systems relevant for Protected Areas.

Coordinators: Nigel Crawhall (nigel.tilcepa[at]gmail.com) and Giacomo Rambaldi (rambaldi[at]cta.int)

The film “The enabling power of participatory 3D mapping among the Saramaccan People of Suriname” launched at CWA2014

Fifty years ago, some 5000 Saramaccan people of Suriname had to leave their traditional lands along the Suriname River due to the construction of a major dam. The wounds of this transmigration are still felt today. Meanwhile, the Saramaccans who live in the Upper Suriname River area face new challenges since their territorial rights are not yet officially recognized and road infrastructure to access the area is improving. Creating a 3D model of the area that tells the inside story of their traditions and land use can help them to overcome their sense of being misunderstood by decision-makers and rediscover their voice.
The 15 min video production “The enabling power of participatory 3D mapping among the Saramaccan People of Suriname” has been launched on October 9 at the 13th Caribbean Week of Agriculture in Paramaribo, Suriname. The launch occurred during the session “Maps as media in policy processes: Bringing the 3rd dimension to the negotiating table” in the presence of representatives from the Saramaccan community.

The launch was followed by reflections done by Saramaccan representatives Mr Godfried Adjako, one of the captains of the village of Kaajapati, and Ms Debora Linga who spent her infancy with her grandparents on their farm on the shores of the Brokopondo Reservoir and later on kept visiting them in Ginginston village along the banks of the Upper Suriname River.

Mr Godfried Adjako recalled that in the process of populating the 3D model the community, especially the youth, learned a lot from the elders. “The map now shows our life, the Earth we live on, the Earth we walk on, the Earth without which we cannot live.” “We can use the map to take decisions on where to locate future developments”, he added. Both men and women contributed to the map. “Women know a lot about the surrounding of the villages, while men who use to go hunting, know the most about far away areas.”

Mr Adjako stated that when developing the legend ahead of the mapping exercise, the community decided to omit sensitive and confidential information. Therefore the data contained in the model and currently being digitised by Tropenbos International Suriname (TBI) should be considered as publicly available.

The P3DM process has been a discovery journey for young Debora. “In the 60’s my grandparents had to resettle because their village had been submerged by the rising waters of the Brokopondo Reservoir. They resettled along the Upper Suriname River in a village called Ginginston where I grew up. I could not understand the reason why my grandfather kept on navigating a long way along the river to reach the shores of the lake where he was growing watermelon” she said. “I discovered the reason while chatting with an elder who explained to me that transmigrating families were welcome by Saramaccan villages uphill the lake, but were granted limited access to resources. In fact they were sort of borrowing the land from people who occupied it for generations. Thus they only had access to small farming areas. In Saramaccan this is how you feel: they were living on somebody else’s land.”

Additional references:

• Saramakan’s forests: watercourses at the core of a Participatory 3D Modelling exercise along the Upper Suriname River
• CTA-funded 3D map helping tribe document and articulate their traditional knowledge
• Multi-scale modeling of ecosystem services and land-use scenarios in the upper Suriname River basin

Saramakan’s forests: watercourses at the core of a Participatory 3D Modelling exercise along the Upper Suriname River

JAW JAW, SURINAME, 6 September 2014. From Atjoni, Suriname, it takes 40 minutes by motorised longboat to reach Jaw Jaw, a village sprinkled along the shores of the mighty upper Suriname River. This area is home to approximately 17,000 Afro-Surinamese people belonging to the Saramakan tribe. These people survive on shifting cultivation, fishing, hunting, harvesting of timber and non-timber forests products, boat transport services, government employment and remittances from outside the area.

Saramaka Peoples populating the 3D model
with recollections from memory

Over a 10-day period some 100 representatives from 14 villages (representing a population of approximately 5,000 people) bordering the Suriname River downstream of the village of Lespansi worked together to assemble a stunning 1:15,000 scale three-dimensional (3D) physical map of an area covering approximately 2,160 km2. Youngsters (mainly girls) from Jaw Jaw village assembled the blank model under the guidance of representatives from Tropenbos International Suriname and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation (CTA). Saramakan adults (men and women), including elders, populated the model with 38 types of feature they consider relevant for their orientation, livelihoods and culture.

The village representatives populated the map with features they consider as relevant for their orientation, livelihoods and culture. The final map legend account for a total of 38 features depicted as points (21), lines (9) and polygons (8). With free prior and informed consent obtained from community representatives, the datasets were captured using high-resolution digital photography and will be digitised and imported into a GIS environment held in trust by Tropenbos.

In the process of populating the 3D model with information, it appeared that – in the absence of outstanding landmarks like hills or mountains  (the mapped area is relatively flat) – the Saramaka used water courses to orient themselves on the map. Hence, they first had to discuss and reach general consensus on the location and names of all watercourses in the areas they were concerned with. This led them to identify five types of watercourses, differentiated according to width, navigability and seasonal accessibility by boat.

Participants in the closing ceremony

On Saturday, 6 September 2014, representatives of the local communities presented their work to representatives of government agencies (the Ministry of Regional Development, the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, the Commission on Ordering of the Gold Mining Sector in Suriname [OGS] and the Foundation for Forest Management and Production Control [SBB]), CTA, the Foundation for Development of the Hinterlands (FOB) and non-governmental organisations (WWF-Guianas, Tropenbos International Suriname, Amazon Conservation Team [ACT], the Association of Indigenous Village Chiefs in Suriname [VIDS]), community-based organisations (Wan Mama Pikin and The Association of Saramaka Authorities [VSG]), the private sector (Lodgeholders upper Suriname River [LBS]) and the national media (DWT and Surinaamse Televisie Stichting [STVS]).

The local community representatives presented the 3D map and explained the process that led to the formulation of the map legend and its fine-tuning and updating and described the animated discussions that led to the population of the blank model. Proudly, they stated that the model will be hosted within one of their villages that is easily accessible to outsiders to facilitate negotiations and planning processes. The villagers now consider the 3D model as a tool for planning their own development and interacting with developers, investors and policy makers.

The head of Jaw Jaw village, Mr Erwin Fonkel, made a key point in his interview with STVS TV: “I find this mapping exercise very important, because in the past we did some mapping but failed to include a lot of information. Now we have elaborated the map ourselves and we had a stronger voice on defining its content. In maps produced in the past several important locations, creeks and places where you can find resources and generate income, were not included.”

The Productive Landscape Programme of Tropenbos International Suriname and the Capacity Building Strategy for Land Use Planning in Suriname of WWF Guianas will use the 3D model to involve stakeholders in elaborating land-use scenarios and conducting participatory assessments of ecosystem services. As anticipated by several local captains, the 3D model, now under the custodianship of the Saramaka people, will be used to elaborate proposals for investments in local infrastructure and sustainable development such as electrification and ecotourism.

View of the Upper Suriname River at Jaw Jaw

Jaw Jaw village around the community meeting point where the
3D model was manufactured

Note: This activity took place in the context of the project “Modelling trade-offs between land-use scenarios and ecosystem services in the upper Suriname River area”. The CTA-funded participatory mapping component  was conceived to empower local communities to have a voice and play an active role in managing their land and natural resources and decision-making processes that affect these.

Saramakan’s forests: watercourses at the core of a participatory 3D modelling exercise along the upper Suriname River

JAW JAW, SURINAME, 6 September 2014. From Atjoni, Suriname, it takes 40 minutes by motorised longboat to reach Jaw Jaw, a village sprinkled along the shores of the mighty upper Suriname River. This area is home to approximately 17,000 Afro-Surinamese people belonging to the Saramakan tribe. These people survive on shifting cultivation, fishing, hunting, harvesting of timber and non-timber forests products, boat transport services, government employment and remittances from outside the area.

Over a 10-day period some 100 representatives from 14 villages (representing a population of approximately 5,000 people) bordering the Suriname River downstream of the village of Lespansi worked together to assemble a stunning 1:15,000 scale three-dimensional (3D) physical map of an area covering approximately 2,160 km2. Youngsters (mainly girls) from Jaw Jaw village assembled the blank model under the guidance of representatives from Tropenbos International Suriname and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation (CTA). Saramakan adults (men and women), including elders, populated the model with 38 types of feature they consider relevant for their orientation, livelihoods and culture. 

With free prior and informed consent obtained from community representatives, the datasets were captured using high-resolution digital photography and will be digitised and imported into a GIS environment held in trust by Tropenbos. 

In the process of populating the 3D model with information, it appeared that – in the absence of outstanding landmarks like hills or mountains  (the mapped area is relatively flat) – the Saramaka used water courses to orient themselves on the map. Hence, they first had to discuss and reach general consensus on the location and names of all watercourses in the areas they were concerned with. This led them to identify five types of watercourses, differentiated according to width, navigability and seasonal accessibility by boat. 

On Saturday, 6 September 2014, representatives of the local communities presented their work to representatives of government agencies (the Ministry of Regional Development, the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, the Commission on Ordering of the Gold Mining Sector in Suriname (OGS) and the Foundation for Forest Management and Production Control (SBB),CTA, the Foundation for Development of the Hinterlands (FOB) and non-governmental organisations (WWF-Guianas, Tropenbos International Suriname, Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), the Association of Indigenous Village Chiefs in Suriname (VIDS), community-based organisations (Wan Mama Pikin and The Association of Saramaka Authorities (VSG), the private sector (Lodgeholders upper Suriname River [LBS]) and the national media (DWT and Surinaamse Televisie Stichting (STVS). 

The local community representatives presented the 3D map and explained the process that led to the formulation of the map legend and its fine-tuning and updating and described the animated discussions that led to the population of the blank model. Proudly, they stated that the model will be hosted within one of their villages that is easily accessible to outsiders to facilitate negotiations and planning processes. The villagers now consider the 3D model as a tool for planning their own development and interacting with developers, investors and policy makers. 

The head of Jaw Jaw village, Mr Erwin Fonkel, made a key point in his interview with STVS TV: “I find this mapping exercise very important, because in the past we did some mapping but failed to include a lot of information. Now we have elaborated the map ourselves and we had a stronger voice on defining its content. In maps produced in the past several important locations, creeks and places where you can find resources and generate income, were not included.” 

The Productive Landscape Programme of Tropenbos International Suriname and the Capacity Building Strategy for Land Use Planning in Suriname of WWF Guianas will use the 3D model to involve stakeholders in elaborating land-use scenarios and conducting participatory assessments of ecosystem services. As anticipated by several local captains, the 3D model, now under the custodianship of the Saramaka people, will be used to elaborate proposals for investments in local infrastructure and sustainable development such as electrification and ecotourism.

This activity took place in the context of the project "Modelling trade-offs between land-use scenarios and ecosystem services in the upper Suriname River area". The participatory mapping component was conceived to empower local communities to have a voice and play an active role in managing their land and natural resources and decision-making processes that affect these.