An innovation from the Philippines: Light-Based Participatory 3D Mapping for Disaster Risk Reduction

In 2004, four consecutive typhoons brought disruption to coastal provinces in the Philippines, including Aurora. Havoc suffered by the province caused massive displacement of indigenous groups residing in the mountainside, such as the Dumagats. In the face of such vulnerability, the need for participatory disaster risk management and improvement of spatial awareness through community-centred innovations is direr now than ever before.

The Prod.Jx, a collective of professionals and artists coming from multiple disciplines – social sciences, environmental sciences, design and the arts; and the Dumagats of Dinggalan, Aurora developed the LIGTASPAD – a Light-Based Participatory 3D (P3D) Mapping Project.



While P3D Mapping is an existing methodology practised by geographers, Prod.Jx employed a rather unique take to further innovate their product – integrating the community’s language for learning, leveraging on its team members’ technical capacities and life experiences, as well as consistently improving their design for local adaptability.

This is from the experience of TUKLAS Innovation Labs which is implemented by Plan International, Action Against Hunger, CARE Philippines, and the Citizens’ Disaster Response Center. TUKLAS is part of the Disasters and Emergencies Preparedness Programme Innovation Labs managed collaboratively by Start Network and CDAC Network, and funded by UK Aid.

The TUKLAS Central and Southern Luzon Lab is led by CARE Philippines.

Source: https://tinyurl.com/y4mw2m5z  

Suriname / Guyana Participatory Coastal Resource Management Project embraces P3DM practice

The four-year EU-funded “Promoting Integrated and Participatory Ocean Governance in Guyana and Suriname: the Eastern Gate to the Caribbean” project commenced in early 2017 and was officially launched in July 2017.

This project covers the coastal and marine areas of Suriname and Guyana.

The project is implemented through a partnership between WWF Guianas, Green Heritage Fund Suriname (GHFS), Guyana’s Protected Areas Commission (PAC) and the Nature Conservation Division (NCD) of the Suriname Forest Service (‘s Lands Bosbeheer).

The project aims to significantly enhance the governance and protection of marine and coastal resources of Guyana and Suriname through collaborative processes with all ocean stakeholders, improved knowledge of the coastal and marine environment, enhanced capacity of key stakeholders and informed marine spatial management. It will contribute to substantial progress towards achieving Aichi targets 4, 6, 10, 11 and 14 under the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD).

 This project will use a participatory approach to develop comprehensive and visually appealing spatial data that will fill critical information gaps, and facilitate informed decision-making regarding marine management and protection. This participatory approach to marine decision-making will increase the knowledge of the marine environment and related human uses of the marine environment amongst all participating stakeholders by allowing information to be available to everyone.

An Equivalence-Gap Analysis for indigenous peoples (IP) and gender will ensure equity and participation of these marginalized groups, and that their needs are explicitly addressed in the decision-making process of this project. The participatory approach in its entirety builds stakeholder capacity and highlights the important role stakeholders can and should play in marine governance.

Increased marine protection and strengthened governance through participatory spatial planning, targeted capacity building, and compelling data, will demonstrate that MSP can produce “win-win” outcomes that conserve biodiversity and enhance food security, protect livelihoods and support socio-economic development compatible with ocean health.


A major component of the project is the implementation of a coastal and marine Participatory Three Dimensional Modelling (P3DM). P3DM is a community-based and stakeholder based process, which integrates local spatial knowledge with topographic data to produce a physical 3-D model assembled by mapping participants.

 The value of a marine P3D Modelling process is grounded in the engagement of stakeholders from the beginning of the planning process, which may result in more effective, transparent and durable interventions and can foster a collective decision-making process that may engender ownership of spatial planning processes. A marine P3D Model may constitute a powerful communication and negotiation tool for an actor-led marine spatial planning. This approach will enable information that is only available with certain stakeholders to become available with everyone, greatly increasing the knowledge of all participating stakeholders, but also with the government and general public.

To learn more about P3DM consult www.iapad.org