The Iwokrama International Centre recently released this video recording of the participatory three dimensional mapping (P3DM) exercises conducted by the village of Fair View in the Iwokrama Forest in Guyana. The three dimensional map of Fair View builds on inputs from the residents and Iwokrama, and was refined through the knowledge of the elders. The 3D model represents all the important features of Fair View which covers 22,000 sq km, including the residential, protection, harvesting, wells and other areas. Iwokrama is grateful to the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and Tropenbos International Suriname (TBI Suriname) for their technical advice and assistance, and to Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) for financial support.

She becomes more beautiful: Capturing the essence of Tobago Island for a better tomorrow

The Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI), the University of the West Indies (UWI), the Tobago House of Assembly, Division of Agriculture, Marine Affairs, Marketing and the Environment (DAME) and the Partners with Melanesians (PwM) facilitated the building of a Participatory 3D Model (P3DM) of Tobago Island from 28th September to 12th October 2012.

The model was used as a tool to incorporate and recognize local and traditional knowledge and values into decision making about climate change adaptation.

A training of trainers in facilitating participatory approaches, with participants drawn from the Caribbean Region, was executed concurrently with the building of the P3D model of Tobago. Participants in the Training of Trainers used participatory video to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of P3DM.

The project was funded by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and the United Nations Development Programme and the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme (UNDP GEF SGP).

Local voices in climate change adaptation - Union Island, Caribbean - Trailer

As a follow-up to the introduction of Participatory 3D Modelling (P3DM) in the Caribbean which took place in Tobago in October 2012, the NGO SusGren replicated the process in Union Island (St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Caribbean) in the context of the "At Waters Edge: Coastal Resilience in Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines (AWE)" project.

Project implementation has been supported by the Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA).

Here is a short trailer on the video production which will be launched at the Caribbean Week of Agriculture in October 2013.

Combining Traditional Knowledge and Technology for Community led Climate Change Adaptation

21 May 2012, HONIARA. Pacific Islanders will now have a greater voice in climate change decision making and a more direct input in adapting their communities to climate change using a combination of traditional knowledge and technology. This will be made possible through the week-long awareness raising and planning workshop on Participatory Mapping and Community Empowerment for Climate Change Policy Making that started in Honiara today.

Organised jointly by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Partners With Melanesians (PwM), the workshop aims to promote the adoption of innovative Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools and approaches to help address development challenges.

Around 80 participants, including community leaders, representatives from non government organisations (NGOs), community based organisations, regional, national and local bodies as well as researchers and technical experts will attend the workshop at the Kitano Mendana Hotel in Honiara.

Participatory three-dimensional modeling (P3DM) is a community based mapping method that used local knowledge with scientific data like the elevation of the land and depth of the sea to produce stand-alone, scaled and geo-referenced relief models.

This method, integrated with more sophisticated tools can enhance resilience to climate change by adding value to traditional knowledge and promoting its integration in adaptation planning and advocacy processes.

“The combination of traditional and scientific knowledge not only allows farmers and fishers in Small Island Developing States to have voice in climate change decision-making but can also ensure the implementation of more effective adaptation strategies,” said Giacomo Rambaldi, Senior Programme Coordinator of CTA.

During the workshop, expert presenters and facilitators working in the region will share case studies and lessons learned and discuss the benefits, challenges, and ethical considerations involved in the process. Representatives from Mboemboe village in Choiseul Province (who have already been through the process of manufacturing a coastal P3DM and used it for planning purposes),  will share their experience at the workshop.

Local community members from Honiara will be engaged in the construction of a mini-model. While students will take care of the physical construction, elders will populate the model with spatial data drawn from memory. Participants in the main session will be given the opportunity to interface with the parallel session and get a hands-on experience of P3DM.

The workshop concludes on 26th May.

More information on the event are available here.

An initiative supported by:

Participatory 3D Modelling of Manus Island, PNG

Participatory 3D modelling (P3DM) activity supported by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and partners in 2011 in PNG to help residents of Manus Island map out the terrestrial, coastal and marine resources and to  plan for adapting to potential impacts due to climate change.

Source: TNC

The Manus MOSAIC - Participatory 3D modeling for climate change adaptation across Manus Province, Papua New Guinea

At the Manus Province Climate Change Seminar ‘Manus Way Forward’, October 2010, over 70 participants presented and shared experiences, expertise and ideas on how to adapt to climate change impacts. As part of the recommendations, representatives from the Provincial Government suggested using Participatory 3D modeling (P3DM) as a tool to help convene stakeholders and discuss province-wide responses to climate change impacts that would support and build on local efforts and scale-up impacts and opportunities.

In particular, the tool was proposed as a way to initiate discussion on a protected area network for Manus, the Manus ‘MOSAIC’. The exercise would be an initial step in outlining the spatial coverage of key ecosystem services, such as watersheds, reefs and mangroves, and representing and discussing opportunities for strengthened management of these areas under a future of climate change, and in the context of social and economic development for the province. The opportunity to involve local stakeholders from all LLG jurisdictions in this process will help develop a roadmap for the development of a Manus ‘MOSAIC’ protected area network.

Participatory 3D modelling

Participatory 3D modelling (P3DM) is a fully collaborative exercise that combines community mapping with open discussions on land-use and land-use planning scenarios.  It combines geographic precision with local, individual spatial knowledge and ‘mind-maps’ of locality and familiar settings.  During a P3DM exercise, all participants contribute to make a physical, hands-on wood-and paper model, to scale, of their community, island or area. This is typically made on a large table in the centre of a meeting hall, school or other public place. Once the model is made, then people become ‘resource persons’ and informants, and everyone will contribute to placing features and places onto the model. Key informants, such as elders and experienced fishermen or foresters, will offer their view of past events, of boundaries, of key localities and times for certain activities, and these can be discussed, and learned, by all participants.

Below is the video produced during the Solomon Islands event in February 2011.



In this way, the model is more than just a map, it is a representation of spatial knowledge of the participants, and a source of discussion and interpretation around key issues.

Proposed area of Manus to be represented by the P3DM exercise (Map by Nate Peterson, TNC)

Although one key objective of this exercise is to plan for protection and restoration of key natural features, and to plan for possible climatic changes, other issues that are important to the province and the participating communities can be discussed in the same context. Furthermore, the model and the information can be used again, and again, for collaborative discussions and planning on key development issues. Digital GIS can be extracted from the model, and vice-versa, to aid and inform future discussions.  In this way, scientific information can be easily communicated and integrated with local knowledge and understanding.

Activity overview

The P3DM exercise will take place over a two-week period, from Monday 29th August to Friday 9th September. The first week will be dedicated to constructing the blank relief model, working closely with the local high-schools schools in Lorengau to allow students the opportunity to have a hands-on lesson in geography. It will also allow those participants interested in training / learning how to carry out a P3DM the opportunity to get involved.

The second week will concentrate on making the blank model come alive. Participants from all areas of Manus, and with all technical and local backgrounds, will discuss and add information to the model, including point data (features such as houses, schools, waterfalls, caves etc), line data (roads, streams, rivers, tracks, paths, boundaries, fences, cables, runways etc) and area data (polygons, such as mangroves, forest concession areas, reef flats, beaches, airports etc). Local knowledge on boundaries and features from participants from each part of Manus will contribute to an overall local picture of the province. Official and technical data can also be cross-referenced with local understanding, and represented on the model.

Towards the end of the second week, a facilitated discussion will focus on key issues, including ecosystem services and existing and proposed protected areas; current and proposed development activities (mining, forest concessions, urban and commercial expansion); and information related to predicted climate change impacts.

Future discussions on the proposed Manus MOSAIC protected area network can build on this initial analysis and use the 3D model for further participatory mapping.

General objectives of the Manus MOSAIC P3DM:

The P3DM exercise will enable all participants:

• To learn and understand Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in an open, hands-on and accessible way
• To participate in spatial planning for their own area as well as for the whole province
• To identify planned developments and trends in land-use change, and assessing the impacts of these changes on key ecosystem services
• To open a discussion on climate change impacts and how to integrate adaptation into spatial planning at local and provincial scales
• To discuss management and protection measures for key ecosystem services in the context of scaling-up beyond local efforts to ensure the best network of connectivity in conservation and adaptation efforts for the whole province

Author: James Hardcastle, The Nature Conservancy

Source: Eldis Communities | blog

Participatory 3D Modelling for developing climate change adaptation plans in Boe Boe, Solomon Islands

I’d like to thank all the team who made the ten-day ‘Participatory 3D modelling (P3DM) for climate change’ engagement with Boe Boe community, Solomon Islands, such a successful event.

It is the first time that such innovative, yet simple, mapping and communication tools have been used in the context of climate change adaptation.

The team, led by Kenn Mondiai of Partners With Melanesians, and the Solomon Islands’ TNC staff and local partners, were able to hand over a vibrant, illustrated, ‘living’ and accurately-scaled model of the community customary lands and waters, at a ceremony involving Boe Boe village and neighboring communities.

The model took teams of students and volunteers 3 days to build, and then community members added the detail – from their own houses, their gardens, their route through the mangroves, forest paths, conservation areas, and anything else they reckoned important to note.

At the same time, climate vulnerability and adaptive capacity surveys with households, led by Esther Ririmae and Gideon Solo, and follow-up work by the team with community members on a range of key issues, allowed the modeling exercise to focus on community perspectives of climate change impacts, and the villagers’ collective ability to respond to these and other development pressures.

Of real interest, digital and ‘scientific’ modeling provided by TNC GIS folks (Nate Peterson, Seno Mauli) and Javier Leon of University of Wollongong, was seamlessly integrated into the mapping exercise and gave the community additional perspectives on their local knowledge, to aid decision-making.

The exercise has given all those involved, and all the partners in the Australian Government / AusAID supported project ‘Building the Resilience of Communities and their Ecosystems to the Impacts of Climate Change’, a chance to explore how local communities can assess potential climate impacts, be aware of their own capacities and vulnerabilities, and make decisions going forward.

Please find the attached initial write-up of the activity in the 'files' section at this link http://community.eld...  , along with some resources on conducting P3DM. More detailed reports will follow from Partners With Melanesians and other papers on the lessons learned from the exercise.

The guru of P3DM, Giacomo Rambaldi, based at the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation (CTA) in the Netherlands, has worked with both Kenn and myself before on the tool, and has an online resource kit available at http://pgis-tk-en.cta.int

Next up is 3D modeling at the provincial scale in Manus!

The initiative has been implemented in the framework of the Australian Government / AusAID-funded project ‘Building the Resilience of Communities and their Ecosystems to the Impacts of Climate Change in the Pacific”.

James Hardcastle

Source: EldisCommunity, 17 May 2011

Read more: Nature Conservancy's adaptation project in Choiseul, Solomon Islands

Holographic Architectural Imaging

Michael Klug of Zebra Imaging demonstrates their holographic architectural representation system.

Our forest, our dignity. Forest-dependent indigenous peoples voice their rights for existence and call for recognition of their cultural heritage and indigenous knowledge

"We had the opportunity to prove that we are not animals, but human beings” uttered Anicet Kombe smilingly, a Babongo man originating from the village of Tranquille once his peers concluded the presentation of their 3D map to local government authorities.

Babongo and Mitsogho peoples depicted their spatial knowledge on a locally made 3D model encompassing the northern fringes of the Waka National Park in the commune of Ikobey in Ngounié province in south-central Gabon.  The mapped area includes a total of 13 villages populated by Babongo (people derogatorily termed “pygmies”) and their close relatives, the Mitsogho. After a preparation lasting several months, the participatory mapping exercise unfolded over a period of 10 days and resulted in a valuable self-confidence building and empowerment process whereby the participants were able to prove and communicate to outsiders the profound knowledge of the environment they live in.

The landscape embedding the string of Babongo and Mitsogo villages is characterised by dense tropical rainforest intersected by large river courses, rugged terrain and by hot and humid climate.  Access to the villages requires the crossing of the broad Ngounié River by pirogue or embarking on the local ferry which is occasionally out of order. Once on the other side, when transport is available one follows logging road, crossing numerous precarious wooden bridges. The access road has been carved through the forest canopy by an Asian logging company operating in the area and is maintained only where passage of logging trucks is needed.  At the river crossing the watercourse represents the physical divide between forest-dependent, hunter-gatherer communities and the cash economy led “modern” world. After crossing the river communication is cut back to the minimum - phone, radio and TV signals get weaker the deeper one ventures into the jungle. Soon, the only “connection” rest with the sounds and smells of the forest occasionally fended by roaring logging engines. Babongo people have been occupying these areas for centuries, although migrations occurred during colonial times.

Like in most of Central Africa, indigenous peoples, the so-called ‘Pygmies’ are often treated as second-class citizens. Few have birth certificates or identity cards; they lack access to education or healthcare and are frequently subject to exploitation and mishandling when exposed to the “outside world”. Like other indigenous peoples scattered across the Congo Basin, the Babongo have a unique and rich knowledge of the natural resources on which they depend. The practice of Bwiti rituals and the use of Ibogha, a powerful hallucinogenic rootbark, lie at the heart of Babongo culture, and make members of the tribe renowned for their spiritual and healing powers. The Babongo are surrounded by Bantu people, some of whom regard the first peoples as little better than animals. Babongo people are generally independent of formal authority and they keep their own traditions and decision-making structures. The Babongo have a powerful reputation as sorcerers, and inspire awe in the Bantu neighbours for their knowledge of the forest and of the Ibogha - the sacred plant central to their beliefs and rituals.

Exposed to outside forces and authorities, the Babongo are struggling to retain their identity and traditional institutions. When living in the jungle, their hunting skills and knowledge of fauna and flora are unmatched. When exposed to the cash economy or drawn outside the forest, the Babongo risk losing not only their most valuable skills but also their own sense of history, culture and identity (BBC, 2008).

The Babongo are hunter-gatherers and live substantially off wild resources in the forest. They usually hunt using wire traps, nets, bows and arrows or guns, often loaned from Bantu neighbours in return for a portion of the valuable bush meat they catch. Man also fish and gather honey from wild bees. Since some years, because of the unsuccessful policy to settle them engaged by mostly all the states in the region, Babongo Womenpeople sometimes grow banana, maize, manioc, peanuts and sweet potatoes on small slash and burn patches. Children catch crabs and freshwater prawns. 

Likewise for other national parks established in Gabon in 2002, the outlining of the Waka National Park occurred without consulting local populations. Village voices complain about limitation of access, use and control over resources. “We cannot harvest the fruits of the African pear (Dacryodes edulis) trees which our forefathers planted around our old, now abandoned villages, because these are located inside the park” stated a Babongo participant when locating the village site on the 3D model using of a yellow-headed pushpin.  Other villagers whose settlements are close to the park boundary complain about imposed restrictions on hunting and gathering resulting in shortage of food supply.

Cultural identity issues were tabled as well. “There is no river in this our area called Waka", commented a Banbongo Elder from the village of Ndugu. "We want the authorities to change the name of the park and give it a name which is more significant for us." 

As part of a region-wide effort aimed at involving local communities in the sustainable management of natural resources in the Congo Basin and at adding value and authority to local and indigenous knowledge and values and at ensuring equitable benefit sharing resulting from co-managed protected areas, the Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux (ANPN), Brainforest, CTA, IPACC, MINAPYGA, Rainforest Foundation UK, and the Wildlife Conservation Society-Gabon (WCS) supported a series of initiatives in the area including the participatory 3D modelling exercise described in this article. While responding to needs expressed by local communities and by the park administration, the exercise offered the opportunity for training delegates from national and regional organisations based in Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic (CAR), Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Twenty 10-12 year old students from the primary public school of Fougamou, facilitators and trainees contributed to the construction of two blank models covering a total area of 625 km2 at 1:12 500 scale; eight millimetres on the map correspond to 100 metres on the ground.  Babongo and Mitsogo peoples started drafting the map legend in the village and completed it at the mapping venue.

Villagers representing the communities of Nioye 1, Osimba, Tchibanga, Tranquille and Ndughu, worked on one unit of the model for four days to accurately depict different types of vegetation cover and land use, outline watercourses, trace roads and pathways, locate villages and households, culturally important sites, areas of wildlife / humans conflict, hunting and fishing grounds, and other features. Mountain ranges, watercourses and selected locations were named.

The process was duly documented by film crews mobilised by IPACC, CTA, and MINAPYGA. Dedicated reportages were featured by the national TV chain Radiodiffusion-Television Gabonaise (RTVG), Africa No1," a radio station based in Gabon broadcasting across Africa and by the Agence Gabonaise de Presse. The mediatisation of the process put disempowerment / empowerment issues in the public domain and contributed to drawing attention to the precarious situation of the Babongo and Mitsogo communities and their potential role as resource persons in the development of eco-tourism activities in the Waka National Park and its buffer zones.

Local government authorities attended the closing ceremony where a village representative described in detail the various features of the mapped area providing evidence of deep-rooted knowledge of the environment and related territorial issues and capacity of navigating space at ease.

In his closing remarks, the mayor of Fougamou expressed his appreciation for the work done, and acknowledged that while the protected area was established in 2002, communities residing within or at the periphery of the park were not consulted. Nonetheless he stated that their role as beneficiaries of the intervention is enshrined in the provision of the law. He further called for a process which would lead to the active participation of the populations living at the periphery of the park in the sustainable management of its resources and invited the communities to organize themselves as representative bodies in the position to negotiate and mediate their rights, needs and aspirations with the other stakeholders including government authorities.

Community organizing has already started under the auspices of the Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) currently implemented by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) – Gabon. The initiative is underpinned by MINAPYGA, the movement of indigenous minorities and pygmies in Gabon (Mouvement des Minorités autochtones et pygmées au Gabon) and by complementary initiatives carries out by Brainforest, a national NGO, under their participatory mapping program supported by the Rainforest Foundation UK.

The second unit of the 3D model has still to be completed. This offers the opportunity to move the activity “across the river” in the heart of the land where forest spirits coexist with their Babongo masters and where appropriation of the mapmaking process, and its outcomes including self-confidence and cohesion building would be fully at play.

Once the models will be completed, the supporting agencies will assist the community-based organisations in entertaining negotiations with the protected areas management authority on their role in the management of the buffer zones and in defining - among others - benefit sharing mechanisms. If successful, the process is likely to be upscaled and replicated in other protected areas in the country. Accompanied by effective advocacy it may also impact positively local policies and legislation.

Authors: Giacomo Rambaldi, Nigel Crawhall and Georges Thierry Handja

Related posts:
Close to our Ancestors: Gabon forest peoples map their land (video)
Read also: Redessiner sa forêt en 3D

More information on Participatory 3D Modelling is found at http://www.iapad.org/

What 3-D mapmakers should know about expanded EVA / PE closed-cell foam or sponge

Expanded EVA / PE closed-cell foam or sponge is usually made out of a blend of Ethylene Vinyl Acetate copolymer (also known as EVA) and polyethylene. The product is a lightweight foam material which has a smooth surface and does not absorb water. Generally EVA sheeting is priced competitively, compared with other blown materials and is available in different densities, thicknesses and colours.
It is one of the materials most popularly known as expanded rubber or foam rubber sheeting.
EVA foam is used to produce - among others - mouse pads, flip flops and sports mats. Sheets of the material can be used for manufacturing Participatory 3D Models.
Models made out of this material are well suited for humid tropical environments where carton board may deteriorate rapidly.
Manufacturing a 3D model using 'expanded EVA / PE closed-cell foam' compared to carton board implies a slightly higher cost and non biodegradable debris, but ensures a more durable output and a consistent vertical scale/exaggeration of the 3D model. Insertion of map and push pins is easy.

More information on the topic is found here.