Documenting illegal land occupancy using drones

Unmanned aerial vehicles have the potential to empower indigenous communities to become equal partners in the efforts to safeguard their territories and natural resources. 

Throughout the Americas, indigenous forest communities’ territories face intensifying threats, as global demand increases for land and forest resources. Non-indigenous settlers and loggers illegally enter indigenous territories to poach valuable timber or to burn and clear large swaths of forest.  Emerging technologies, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – also known as drones – offer an unprecedented opportunity to empower communities to defend their territories and natural resources. UAV technology allows them to monitor their land in real time, obtain visual evidence of any trespass, and make claims based on this evidence.

Some of Panama’s indigenous communities already make use of UAVs to protect the rainforest. Nearly 70% of Panama’s remaining intact rainforest is governed by indigenous peoples. Indigenous communities see the forest as part of their culture and heritage, respecting and understanding its value and safeguarding it for future generations. Newcomers to the area tend to see the rainforest as something to be exploited in the short-term, particularly for felling valuable old-growth hardwoods and clearing forested areas for cattle ranching.

Panama’s indigenous communities began using UAVs in 2015 with the support of the Rainforest Foundation US and Tushevs Aerials. Tushevs Aerials is a small organisation that designs and builds UAVs and processes data into maps or digital 3D models. It provides training in any aspect of UAV construction, operation, and data use. Since the beginning of this project UAVs have successfully been used to document illegitimate land occupancy and illegal land occupancy and illegal logging by non-indigenous groups.

Armed settlers

The rampant deforestation in the Darien region of Panama perfectly illustrates this dynamic. Islands of rainforest have managed to resist outside pressure from settlers, thanks to the indigenous communities that inhabit and protect them. With the use of a custom-built fixed wing UAV, the Emberá peoples – near the community of Puerto Indio – could spot and survey over 200 hectares of converted forest that has been illegally occupied by cattle ranchers. The communities’ leaders were stunned to witness the extent of the damage. Prior to seeing the aerial imagery, they had thought that there were only about 50 hectares destroyed by illegal ranching.

The occupation and conversion of forested areas occurred several kilometres away from where the indigenous community lives. But because of tensions with the settlers, who are often armed and confrontational, they had not been able to enter the area and document the illegal ranching practices. Using the UAV allowed them to quickly and safely gather data that evidenced the trespass of their territories.

Tino Quintana, the cacique or traditional chief of the 440,000 hectares’ traditional territory, took the lead on presenting the results of the UAV survey to members of several other Emberá communities. These communities are now working together by using aerial imagery documentation to register official complaints with the regional authorities. The government has promised to remove the settlers, and the Emberá communities plan to reforest the area.

Documenting evidence

Governments are often faced with resource shortages, and are frequently unable to respond to all requests for intervention.  Spatially explicit UAV documentation of illegal logging and land occupancy helps government agencies prioritise their efforts, ensuring that a week-long field inspection will collect enough evidence to justify government intervention.

This experience generated further interest in UAV technology among indigenous communities in eastern Panama, inspiring other leaders to ask for UAV support. The Emberá and Wounaan General Congress, which oversees thousands of hectares of rainforest across 27 distinct territories, was given a DJI Phantom 3 Professional quadcopter by the Rainforest Foundation in November 2015. Wounaan leaders flew this UAV within the district of Platanares on the Pacific coast of Panama. The geo-referenced images proved that 10 hectares had recently been burned for cattle grazing in the middle of their territory.


Diogracio Puchicama, a Wounaan indigenous leader, who has been threatened by illegal loggers and settlers for several years, because of his efforts to protect 20,000 hectares of rainforest along the Pacific coast, submitted the UAV-generated documentation to the environmental authorities. Impressed by the accurate geo-referencing of the images documenting forest destruction, the Ministry of Environment promised to be more present in the area and enforce the law.

In late January 2016, Diogracio reported that the authorities had been patrolling the district of Platanares constantly, and that most of the settlers had been at least temporarily removed. ‘I have been denouncing illegal loggers in Platanares for over five years, and the authorities have done nothing, not moved a finger,’ Diogracio Puchicama noted. ‘Now, after they have realised that we have the drone, they are doing their job and enforcing the law. It’s a good sign.’

Protection of indigenous rights

Emberá and Wounaan communities are planning in partnership with the Rainforest Foundation US and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations to fly UAVs in at least six more indigenous communities in Panama. They will use the imagery to raise awareness among local communities of the ongoing illegal and un-monitored forest destruction within their traditional territories and the need to document and denounce this destruction to the authorities. They will also use the aerial photographs to help Panamanians understand how important forests are, and the essential role that indigenous peoples have played in keeping them intact.

The experience from Panama illustrates that UAVs have the potential to alter the power balance in favour of indigenous communities’ own ability to protect, monitor, and report on their lands, territories, and natural resources. This technology empowers indigenous people to play an active role in safeguarding their lands and to become equal partners – rather than just beneficiaries – to government and civil society agencies, which are involved in conservation and rights’ protection.

Indigenous peoples’ communities, organisations, and their civil society partners in the region and beyond are now very interested in adopting UAVs for conservation or for the protection of indigenous rights and territories. There are further discussions with the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests regarding the use of UAVs in Central America and with an indigenous network in Bolivia. Indigenous communities in Guyana and Indonesia are already using UAVs for land mapping. Also in Africa the Shompole Maasai community in Kenya and a forester in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are interested in using the technology. This shows that the interest in UAVs is growing all around the globe for monitoring illegal land use in indigenous territory.

About the authors:

Nina Kantcheva Tushev (nina.kant@gmail.com) is co-founder of Tushevs Aerials and indigenous peoples’ rights advisor at the UNDP. Tom Bewick (tombewick@rffny.org) is program manager at the Rainforest Foundation US. And Cameron Ellis (jamescameronellis@gmail.com) is principal at Groundtruth Geographics.

Related Links:

Video that demonstrates how Dayaks in Indonesia make use of UAVs.
https://goo.gl/u8Bv2v

Article and video outlining a training in the use of UAVs with indigenous communities in Peru.
https://goo.gl/jhoMFJ

Source: ICT Update # 82

#UAV4Good #landrightsnow #indigenousrights @ICT_Update on #Drones for #Agriculture https://t.co/gwItjPO5tg #UAV pic.twitter.com/wbUhwwlli4

— Drones 4 Agriculture (@UAV4Ag) April 30, 2016

Being on a map means to exist: the Saramaccan experience

Saramaccan communities in Suriname seek government’s recognition of their traditional knowledge

On 23 February 2016, 18 Saramaccan community representatives from the Brownsweg and Upper Suriname River areas met in the capital city, Paramaribo, with key stakeholders and policymakers. The meeting was organised by the Saramaccan Peoples to share the results of a two-year process which led to the visualisation and documentation of their traditional environmental knowledge over a vast area.

Maps generated using data extracted from the 1:15000 scale participatory 3D model of the Brownsweg area (manufactured in November 2015), combined with the digital elevation model obtained from the Foundation for Forest Management and Production Control, Suriname.

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words and maps may be even more effective in conveying messages when it comes to resource distribution and access. In fact the outcome of the process – which the Saramacca delegates proudly presented at the meeting – consisted of a series of community-generated physical and digital maps.

The maps and various data sets were produced in Saramaccan, English, and Dutch languages as a result of three Participatory 3D modelling (P3DM) exercises that took place in 2014 and 2015, involving 220 residents, including women, youth and the elderly. A film documentary about the process was released in 2015 in Saramaccan, English, and French.


Saramaccan leaders highlighted the uniqueness of the data the communities were able to collate, geo-reference and visualise using highly sophisticated technology, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Benefitting from external technical support, knowledge-holders were able to share their mental maps and memories which were used to populate blank 3D models.

The Saramaccan representatives drew attention to the relevance and accuracy of the data, and its accessibility to third parties, provided free prior informed consent for their use was given. "We made the map for it to be used. We want other people to make use of it. We only ask that the data is not used without involving us, the Saramaccan Peoples," concluded a community representative.

The Saramaccan delegates welcomed the use of the data for spatial planning purposes and called on the government and private investors to recognise them as key stakeholders and fully involve them when planning logging activities, protected area management and gold mining concessions within traditional Saramaccan lands.

They urged for the replication of P3DM processes in the rest of the Saramaccan territory so that a complete map of traditional Saramacca lands could be generated. To achieve this, they called on the government, development organisations, private sector, and NGOs present at the meeting to raise the necessary funds.

The event was hosted by Tropenbos International Suriname, WWF Guyanas and the Association of Saamaka Authorities.

In addition to Tropenbos International Suriname, project sponsors included the UNDP-GEF Small Grant Programme and CTA. Contributions by both organisations were duly acknowledged, with participants stating that their valuable contribution established a 'fertile ground' for community empowerment via P3DM which they considered to be a very innovative process. Participants also acknowledged that the P3DM process had inspired other communities who were now requesting support to deploy the P3DM process in their areas.

Related blogposts:

• Saramakan’s forests: watercourses at the core of a Participatory 3D Modelling exercise along the Upper Suriname River (10 September 2014)
• Les forêts des Saramaca : les cours d'eau au coeur d'un exercice de modélisation participative en trois dimensions le long du Haut Suriname (10 September 2014)
• Saamaka peoples upscale the use Participatory 3 Dimensional Modelling along the Upper Suriname River (08 August 2015)

Stay connected:
Follow on @PPGIS on Twitter and the hashtag #P3DM
Visit www.iapad.org.
Subscribe to the PPGIS online discussion list.

IWD2016 - Celebrating women: A champion for the rights of indigenous people

An encounter with an innovative technique known as participatory three-dimensional modelling was to prove a turning point in the life of a young tribeswoman from rural Chad. She now travels the globe to advocate for the rights of her own and other indigenous communities, and to press for their voice to be heard in negotiations about climate change, on which their futures depend.

Growing up as part of the M'bororo people – traditional semi-nomadic and nomadic herders living in Chad and neighbouring countries – nothing could have prepared Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim for the turn her life would take once she was introduced to participatory mapping. At the time, she was a young woman, working to gain recognition of her people's rights, and especially for access to the natural resources that are critical to their livelihoods.

Participatory three-dimensional modelling (P3DM), or participatory mapping, brings together traditional knowledge from local communities about their landscapes and ecosystems with data on physical features, such as land elevation and sea depth. The result is a scaled and geo-referenced three-dimensional (3D) model, which can be a powerful tool for knowledge building and communication, as well as for gaining recognition of local communities' rights to be involved in decision-making that affects their natural resources.

Hindou's introduction to P3DM came through the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Co-ordinating Committee (IPACC), a network of 150 indigenous peoples' organisations in 20 African countries. IPACC had been introduced to participatory mapping by CTA's P3DM expert, Giacomo Rambaldi, and supported in its use as a tool for gathering evidence for indigenous peoples' arguments in national and international negotiations.

A bitter conflict

Encouraged to learn about the practice through a P3DM exercise in Gabon, Hindou spent two weeks living with local pygmies and helping them to build a participatory 3D map of their jungle landscape. The pygmies had lost some of their hunting and fishing rights when a national park was created, and the mapping exercise succeeded in its goal of convincing the government that these indigenous people had a right to be consulted about decisions affecting their homeland.

Hindou was hooked.



"It was a long way away from my own community and very different, but I found the exercise exciting and interesting," said Hindou, who is Director of the Association des Femmes Peules Autochtones du Tchad (AFPAT) and IPACC's Executive Committee representative for the Congo Basin region. "It was the first time I had seen all the intergenerational people mobilised – women, youths, men and elders. I realised that if we did this in my own community, it could help resolve a great many issues."

That chance came in 2012, when, with CTA support, a mapping exercise involving Hindou's own M'bororo people was organised in the southern district of Baïbokoum, the scene of conflicts between nomadic herders and sedentary farmers. Increasing scarcity of natural resources, especially water reserves, was being exacerbated by climate change and population growth, and the bitter contention between the two groups was threatening to spiral out of control.

Hindou was closely involved in the P3DM event, organising the workshop that preceded it, which brought together herders, scientists, UNESCO and World Meteorological Organization representatives as well as government officials for the first time. Once again, participatory mapping proved to be a winning approach. The model-making process enabled all players to have an overview of the contested area, highlighting where the farmers had barred the routes used by herders to take their cattle to water and identifying a range of solutions that would be acceptable to all.

The mapping exercise showed that indigenous peoples could play an effective role in decision-making, from which they had always been excluded in the past. And it gave a new sense of self-confidence to all members of the community, especially women.

"We took the opportunity to increase the capacity of women to express themselves, showing men that the women had a voice and that their opinions were sometimes more valuable than those of men – and the men accepted this," said Hindou. "As a result, women had a greater say in community affairs."

Powerful traditional knowledge

At a personal level, the mapping exercise also proved an eye opener for Hindou herself.

"The impact on me was huge. This was my community, so I knew all the traditional knowledge, but it helped me to understand things that didn't belong to my own generation," she recalls. "It changed my life forever."

Hindou now uses P3DM in all her work, to illustrate the importance of conserving traditional knowledge, how to marry it with scientific knowledge and using both to combat climate change and protect the environment.

Although her roots are still firmly anchored in her community, Hindou has become used to travelling the world to make presentations and put the indigenous people's case to high-ranking officials in climate-change negotiations. For the past 10 years, she has been a regular participant at meetings of the UN Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. She is Co-Chair of the International Indigenous Peoples' Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC), which represents the interests of indigenous peoples throughout the world and presents these at COP negotiations.

"Climate change is a massive problem for indigenous people because we depend on the environment. For any indigenous people, from any corner of the world, livelihoods are linked to natural resources, for our food and medicine, for everything, so if there are floods or droughts the impact is greater for us," she said. "Of course, it is highly unusual for someone of my background to be travelling the world and speaking at conferences and negotiating. But for me, it is important to change the life of my community. I know my people are proud of what I am doing and I can never give up my work. I want to help my community to adapt to climate change, and you cannot talk about climate change without talking about the rights of indigenous people."

Reposted from Spore with permission.

Speaking of Home - The story of the Mount Elgon Ogiek

The Ogiek peoples live on the slopes of Mount Elgon in Kenya. This documentary shows the Ogiek's relationship to their homeland and to the world.

As indigenous peoples without official minority status in Kenya, the Ogiek have gone through evictions from their native land for decades. Time after another they have returned to their land to continue living in the forest.

The documentary is the Ogiek's story, in their own words, of their hopes before the 2013 Kenyan elections. It was filmed in Chepkitale, Mt. Elgon in 2012 during a 3D mapping workshop.

Through developing a 3D map of their land, the Ogiek not only strengthen their cultural identity, but can show that the land said to belong to someone else, is rightfully theirs.

Credits: The film has been produced by SHALIN Suomi Ry and has been featured at the Helsinki African Film Festival.

More on the case is found here.

Knowledge and cultural transmission in Kenyan participatory 3D mapping

This film interview of Dr. Nigel Crawhall, Director of Secretariat at the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Co-ordinating Committee (IPACC), is his explanation of the intergenerational ecological knowledge transmission in participatory 3-dimensional modelling (P3DM). Crawhall discusses his observations on intergenerational interaction when the Ogiek community of Nessuit, Kenya, built a geo-referenced 3D model of their mountain forest landscape in 2006.



The mapping exercise was attended by representatives from 21 Ogiek clans, and an area of 52,800 hectares (ha) was mapped at a scale of 1:10,000. Participants included close to 120 representatives from the different clans, both men and women. Elders populated the model with their memories dating back to 1925 and reconstructed the landscape as it was at that time. The model displays 64 data layers including different types of areas, points, and lines. In 2008, the Ogiek people expanded the coverage of the model to include further 40,000 ha.

This kind of physical 3D model creation can serve the community for the following:

• Generating spatial geo-referenced data based on a community perspective on land use, vegetation cover, resource distribution, tenure, etc;
• Storing and displaying such data at a community level;
• Supporting intra- and inter-generational knowledge exchange;
• Adding value and authority to local knowledge;
• Involving communities in developing resource use and management knowledge;
• Conducting preliminary collaborative research on distribution of species;
• Monitoring jointly with the concerned stakeholders' changes in land use, vegetation cover, human settlement, infrastructure development, and other features;
• Serving as a benchmark; and
• Supporting the learning of local geography and resource use.

The purpose of the model was to record traditional territory and land use patterns, as well as memory and history from a land use and environmental perspective. As reported here, through map building and coding, the clan experienced participatory community enthusiasm and cooperation between elders, young adults, and youth on intergenerational knowledge, language, and heritage transfer, tapping knowledge otherwise lost over time. The 3D style of the map encouraged explanation of the clan’s historical land use patterns and included creating a key or legend to increase understanding of the interrelationships of land, vegetation, altitude, and layers more of information, leading to more complex environmental knowledge that other methods, for example walking on the land, might not provide.

In addition, young people gave attention to the process and listened while elders debated historical use patterns from their memories. A linguistic dimension, which evolved due to the use of English, Kiswahili, and Ogiek, drew out more explicit meaning of vocabulary in Ogiek. Intergenerational knowledge transfer affirmed the elders' lived experience, and the process transferred to the younger members of the community the realisation of the complexity of their environment and the depth of knowledge available to them through their elders.

Source: The Communication Initiative

More information on the case is found here.

Drones and Aerial Observation : New Technologies for Property Rights, Human Rights, and Global Development

Gregor Maclennan from Digital Democracy talks about the use of UAVs used in the context of indigenous land rights in Guyana.

More information on New America

Mapping for Change: Practice, technologies and communication - 10 years have passed - publication still valid and available

This CD “Mapping for Change: Practice, technologies and communication” includes a selection of papers presented at the “Mapping for Change: International Conference of Spatial Information Management and Communication” held in Nairobi, Kenya, on 7th-10th September, 2005 and published in Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) 54 in April 2006. Guest editors of PLA 54 are Giacomo Rambaldi; Jon Corbett; Mike McCall; Rachel Olson; Julius Muchemi; Peter Kwaku Kyem; Daniel Wiener and Robert Chambers.

The CD contains PDF versions of the articles published in PLA 54 translated in the following languages: Arabic, Bangla, Chinese (traditional and simplified), French, Hindi, Persian-Dari, Portuguese, Spanish, Swahili and Tamil as well as the English versions. The CD includes additional resources (mainly in English), including a video of the Conference and key literature on the practice, including UNESCO Conventions on Cultural Mapping.

Available (for free) to residents in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries via CTA Publishing.

Credits for Translations, layout and typesetting 

• Arabic: Translation by Dr. El-Hussaini Yehia, Center for Development Services, Cairo, with thanks to Ali Mokhtar
• Bangla: Translation by Enamul Huda and Taifur Rahman, PRA Promoters’ Society, Bangladesh
• Chinese (Simplified): Translation by Liu Xiaoqian, Yang Fang , Li Fang, Li Xiaoyun, China Agricultural University, Beijing
• Chinese (Traditional): Translation by Wang Yaohui, National Linkou Senior High School, Linkou Township, Taiwan with special thanks to Hsiao Ya Wen, National Changhua University of Education, Changhua City, Taiwan (Chapters 1 and 2); Lin Mei Jhih, Shengang Junior High School, Shengang Township, Taichung County, Taiwan (Chapter 4); Chuang Yu Chun, National Yangmei Senior High School, Yangmei Township, Taoyuan County, Taiwan (Chapter 7); Shen Tsui Mei, National Linkou Senior High School, Linkou Township, Taipei County, Taiwan (Chapter 9); Jhang Yu Jing, National Sihu Senior High School, Sihu Township, Changhua County, Taiwan (Chapter 12); Lin Wen-Xin, Kaohsiung Municipal Chung-Cheng Industrial Vocational High School, Cianjhen District, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan (Chapter 15)
• French: Translation by Maryck Nicolas, with thanks to Marie Jaecky of IIED for proofreading
• Hindi: Translation by Meera Jayaswal, with thanks to Dr. Neela Mukherjee, Director, Development Tracks, Delhi, India, and to Mr.K.K.Singh, Ujjawal Kumar and Sanjay Das for page layout and typesetting
• Persian-Dari: Translation by Reza Nobacht, with thanks to CENESTA, Tehran for technical support, to Esmaeel Hamidi and Jeyran Farvar for copy editing and proof reading, to Pooya Ghoddousi for coordination and Jeyran Farvar for page layout and typesetting
• Portuguese: Translation by Francis Sahadeo, with thanks to Ines Fortes for copyediting
• Spanish: Translation by María Isabel Sanz Bonino, with thanks to Alejandra Larrazábal and Mike McCall for copyediting and Tanya Pascual for proofreading
• Swahili: Translation by Catherine Wanjiku Gichingi and Margaret Njeri Gichingiri (ERMIS Africa) with thanks to Julius Muchemi, Executive Director and Bancy Wanjiru, Programme Administrator
• Tamil: Translation by John Devavaram and his team at SPEECH, Madurai, India, including Arunodayam

African Court issues historic ruling protecting rights of Kenya's Ogiek Community

In a recent decision the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights has ruled that the Government of Kenya should "preserve the status quo ante" the orders of eviction of Ogiek community from their ancestral lands in Kenya's Mau Forest.

This is the first time the African Court, in operation since 2006, has intervened to protect the rights of an indigenous community.

‘The Government of Kenya must now fully respect the decision of the Court, which effectively bans land transactions in the Mau Forest Complex,' says Lucy Claridge, MRG's Head of Law.   ‘The court found that, if land transactions continue, there exists a situation of extreme gravity and urgency as well as a risk of irreparable harm to the Ogiek.'

The Mau Forest, one of the main water catchment areas in Kenya, is home to an estimated 15,000 Ogiek families who claim to be indigenous owners of the land. A minority group, the Ogiek have faced, since colonial times, consistent persecution and denial of their land rights, worsening over the last two decades.

Most recently, the Ogiek have been threatened with eviction from their homes in the Eastern Mau, without due consultation, under the guise of protecting the environment. The Ogiek maintain that the forest is most at risk from large-scale logging rather than their own sustainable and traditional practices.

In 2009, frustrated by the lack of progress through national policy and judicial processes, the Ogiek - through MRG, the Ogiek Peoples' Development Programme (OPDP) and Centre for Minority Rights (CEMIRIDE) - decided to file a case with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.

In 2012, the Commission referred the matter to the African Court, on the grounds that it evinced serious and mass human rights violations.

In its ruling, the court, based in Arusha, Tanzania, ordered the government of Kenya to halt parceling out land in the disputed forest area until the Court reaches a decision in the matter.

The African Court also ruled that the Kenyan government must refrain from taking any action which would harm the case, until it had reached a decision in the matter.  It reached this decision out of concern that the government's current actions violate the Ogiek's right to enjoyment of their cultural and traditional values, their right to property, as well as their right to economic, social and cultural development, all of which are enshrined in the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights. Kenya is a signatory to the Charter.

‘For many years, the Ogiek have suffered displacement or been threatened with eviction from their ancestral lands, and action is urgently needed to protect their livelihoods, and indeed their survival as an indigenous community. This ruling from the African Court is a positive step towards realization of justice for the Ogiek,' says Daniel Kobei, OPDP's Executive Director.

Adapted from: Minority Rights Group International (MRG)

Additional resources:

• The Voice of the Ogiek (video)
• OPAT Atlas (Ogiek Peoples Ancestral Territory Atlas), in Kenya” by Julius Muchemi (ERMIS Africa www.ermisafrica.org ) and Albrecht Ehrensperger (University of Bern, Switzerland www.cde.unibe.ch).
  The OPAT Atlas demonstrates the utilization and results of Participatory GIS (PGIS) (results from a mix of Aerial Photograph aided mapping, Participatory 3D Modelling (P3DM), Topographic Map sheets, GPS Survey, etc ) in recording the rights and interests of an Indigenous Peoples living in a highly degraded forest ecosystem and a highly politicized efforts to (i) accord an indigenous people their ancestral rights and interests within Mau Forest Complex, and (ii) restoring a degraded forest of local, national and international importance.
• Participatory Spatial Information Management and Communication Training Kit

Participatory mapping used to monitor illegal logging by the Baka in their ancestral forests

The Baka indigenous people in the forests of the Congo Basin have been using PDAs (personal digital assistants) with built-in global positioning systems (GPS) to collect data (such as sites of illegal logging and felled trees and forest sites of livelihood and cultural importance) in their ancestral forests. They then use this information to make interactive maps of their ancestral forests, to help lobby against illegal logging of the forest. These maps and the data collected can then be used by Cameroon's Ministry of Forests in the fight against illegal logging.

This video was produced by OKANI in April 2011.

Source: FPP

At global land rights conference, combining participatory mapping tools with traditional knowledge emerges as powerful weapon to fight massive land grabs

SAMOSIR, NORTH SUMATRA (30 August 2013) - With governments, loggers, miners and palm oil producers poaching their lands with impunity, indigenous leaders from 17 countries gathered on a remote island in Sumatra this week to launch a global fight for their rights that will take advantage of powerful participatory mapping tools combined with indigenous knowledge to mark traditional boundaries.

“It’s amazing to see indigenous groups from all over the world coming here armed with hundreds of detailed maps they have created with things like handheld GPS devices and Internet mapping apps,” said Vicky Tauli-Corpuz, head of the Philippines-based Tebtebba, one of the co-organizers of the Global Conference on Community Participatory Mapping on Indigenous Peoples’ Territories, which took place on the edge of the largest volcanic lake in the world. “It’s a new and vivid way to illustrate how they and their ancestors have inhabited and worked these lands for thousands of years and have every right to assert their ownership.”

Indigenous groups from countries including Malaysia, Nepal, Panama, Mexico and Brazil, explained how they have adopted affordable, high-tech mapping technology to retrace the history of their land ownership and catalog their natural resources. Their hope is that detailed maps can help them fight the destruction of vast tracks of forests, peatlands and waterways—brazen incursions by government and industry that not only deprive indigenous peoples of their lands but also greatly accelerate the global loss of biodiversity and accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

For example, participants at the conference believe maps of this sort could help bolster the fight in Indonesia to stop the steady loss of traditional lands to palm oil production, logging and other industrial needs. Participants issued a declaration calling on the government of Indonesia to pass legislation, currently under consideration by the nation’s Parliament, which would provide new protections for the country’s 50 million indigenous peoples.

“We need to take advantage of new mapping tools to accelerate the process of mapping the more than 30 million hectares we have left to document—before they are swallowed up by plantations,” said Abdon Nababan, secretary general of Indonesia’s Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN), which has helped communities across the country to map their customary forests as part of their efforts to defend their lands against development by palm oil and other industrial plantations and mining.

A recent report stated that the Indonesian government’s continued practice of granting national and international companies permission to convert millions of hectares of forests to palm oil and other plantations on lands that overlap with or abut indigenous territories often leads to the displacement of indigenous peoples—and a rash of sometimes-violent land disputes. The report on the state of large-scale agribusiness expansion in Southeast Asia by the Forest Peoples Programme (FPP), also noted that the country faced more than 280 land conflicts across the country in 2012.

“Lines on a map have always been a source of conflict, but they are becoming more and more contentious around the world today,” said Tauli-Corpuz. “In many cases, government and military maps don’t acknowledge the presence of indigenous territories, leaving these communities vulnerable to land rights violations and conflicts, as well as the loss of their sustainable livelihoods, the onset of poverty, environmental degradation, and the loss of cultural heritage. Indigenous peoples are creating maps to protect their customary lands.”

Sleek computer-generated Indonesian maps presented at the conference documented cases in which the government had handed over indigenous territories to developers. In the case of the Lusan community in Borneo, three different government agencies had handed a community’s land over to three different companies—a logging group, a mining operation and a palm oil plantation.

“Without maps, it is difficult for indigenous peoples to prove that they have occupied their ancestral lands for centuries,” said Giacomo Rambaldi, a senior program coordinator at the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), who has helped indigenous peoples to develop maps for more than 15 years. “If you are able to document and map your use of the resources since time immemorial, you have a chance of asserting your rights over land and water.”

It Takes a Village

Unlike satellite images or traditional political maps, the maps presented at the conference document key cultural and social sites, such as burial grounds, caches of medicinal plants, hunting trails or groves of specific species of trees. Based on pre-existing maps, satellite images or coordinates generated by hand-held GPS devices, these computer-generated documents or models record knowledge passed down through generations and integrate input from the entire community—including women and youth.

Conference participants heard that indigenous communities have successfully used these maps to protect their lands from land grabs and to monitor the impact of external forces on their lands.

In Brazil, South America’s largest democracy, an Afro-Brazilian community used a map to stop Cyclone-4, a space company jointly owned by Brazil and Ukraine, from expanding into their lands to build rocket launchers. These maps refuted claims by the company that only 10 communities would be impacted by the development by showing that more than 100 communities would be displaced. Cyclone-4’s expansion was blocked—though the government continues its efforts to build the rocket launchers on indigenous territories.

In Panama, which loses one percent of its tropical forests each year, members of the Guna community created a map—in the Guna language—to determine if the expansion of croplands had damaged sacred sites located in the rainforest surrounding their community. The map also served to show younger generations where these sites are located.

In Indonesia, the village of Pandumaan produced hand-drawn maps to scale, based on GPS data, to show that a pulp and paper company encroaching on their lands had razed the forests they rely on for myrrh—a fragrant resin that they sell for a living and use in spiritual rituals.

In Malaysia, which, along with Indonesia, is a leader in palm oil production, communities have used maps to win 25 of the 250 land disputes brought in front of the courts since 2001. The government continues to appeal the 25 cases that it lost in an attempt to regain the lands from indigenous peoples.

40 Million Hectares by 2020

Indonesia’s 2,200 indigenous communities, spread out across the country’s 18,307 islands, are the most prolific indigenous map-makers, the conference revealed. These mapping efforts have added urgency, since the country’s Constitutional Court decided in May that a line in the country’s 1999 Forestry Law, which states that customary forests are state forests, is not constitutional. To take advantage of this decision, which would first have to be implemented in national and local law, experts from the conference said it’s crucial for indigenous peoples to put these forests on paper.

AMAN’s Abdon Nababan said that he hopes to help map all 40 million hectares of land by 2020, and he called on the national Parliament to speed up the adoption of the Law on the Recognition and Protection of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The body is currently reviewing a draft of the law.

“Without Indigenous Peoples, There Would Be No Forests”

“Mapping not only empowers indigenous communities with evidence that they can use to assert their land rights, it also provides communities with the ability to catalog the natural resources sheltered in their territories,” said Tauli-Corpuz, the head of Tebtebba. “These maps successfully demonstrate what we already know: that indigenous peoples are the best custodians of their forests and lands.”

A study by The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) finds that biodiversity thrives in indigenous territories where communities are free to engage in hunting and other sustainable uses of natural resources—as opposed to state-held protected areas that ban such activities.

The National Coalition of Indigenous Peoples (KASAPI) in the Philippines arrived at the same conclusion. The project, which inventoried the resources in indigenous communities across the country, concluded from evidence gathered on the ground and from village elders—who recalled which species of plants have disappeared since their youth—that forests and lands owned and managed by indigenous peoples have stronger biodiversity than those that are under government control.

According to conference participants, maps that document a territory’s biodiversity provide indigenous communities and national governments alike with “baseline” knowledge about the health of their natural resources, enabling them to monitor changes to natural resources, such as the restoration—or degradation—of forests over time. Participants added that maps like these can show the impacts of climate change—and aid in the tracking of global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Vu Thi Hien of the Centre of Research and Development in Upland Areas (CERDA), taught members of the Thai Nguyen community in Vietnam how to map in order to support an international climate change effort to reduce climate change through the protection and preservation of forests, known as REDD+. She said that local authorities were so impressed with the professionalism and accuracy of the maps that they adopted the maps for their own use.

“If the community is not empowered to assert their rights, they can only go so far, even with strong laws supporting land rights,” Tauli-Corpuz said.

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About Tebtebba
Tebtebba (Indigenous Peoples’ International Centre for Policy Research and Education) is an indigenous peoples’ organization born out of the need for heightened advocacy to have the rights of indigenous peoples respected, protected and fulfilled worldwide. It also advocates and works on the elaboration and operationalization of indigenous peoples’ sustainable, self-determined development. www.tebtebba.org.

About AMAN
AMAN’s mission is to pursue sovereignty, prosperity and dignity of indigenous peoples.  Established on 17 March 1999, its members consist of 2,240 indigenous communities in Indonesia. www.aman.or.id.

Indonesian Government Accepts Ancestral Domain Maps: Making Indigenous Peoples visible within the Nation State

Jakarta, 14 November 2012 – The Indigenous Peoples' Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN) and Network for Participatory Mapping (JKPP) have officially handed over ancestral domain maps registered with the Ancestral Domain Registration Agency (BRWA) to the Indonesia's Geospatial Information Agency (BIG) and Presidential Delivery Unit for Supervision and Control of Development (UKP4). This is the initial handover done by AMAN and JKPP. As a start, being submitted are 265 maps of ancestral domains covering a total area of 2,402,222 ha.

Ancestral domain maps available in BRWA, of which process facilitated directly by AMAN and JKPP as well as NGOs advocating the archipelago’s indigenous peoples, are prominent information to support One Map Indonesia carried out by the government through UKP4 and BIG. It is a collective movement of all including indigenous peoples, for managerial improvement of Indonesia in order to be a better Country.

“Making Indigenous Peoples visible within the State will help the government in managing a Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity), peaceful and equitable State based on the conditions and characteristics of indigenous peoples from across the Archipelago” said National Coordinator of JKPP Mr. Kasmita Widodo.

According the Secretary-General of AMAN Abdon Nababan, the handover aims as representation of indigenous peoples as well as their rights to lands, territories and natural resources in the Republic of Indonesia.

Indonesia has a constitution recognizing indigenous peoples but lacks of administrative law acknowledging the existence of indigenous peoples and their collective rights. Thus, this handover is part of welcoming the legalization of Recognition and Protection the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (PPHMA) Bill currently discussed by House of Representatives. Once legalized, the Act will provide recognition, protection, and service to indigenous peoples of the archipelago as citizens of Indonesia.

“AMAN and JKPP want to encourage all development sectors in Indonesia currently managed by Ministries and other Government Institutions to work together under the leadership of the President to ensure national development that significantly able to alleviate land, territories and natural resources disputes that may thwart the development objectives” said Nababan and Widodo.

Further information:
Mr. Mahir Takaka
Deputy III of Secretary General
Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara/AMAN
mtakaka@aman.or.id

Non-edited press release received from JKPP

Community Mapping of Cultural Heritage in the Solomon Islands

In the Solomon Islands, a place of rich cultural heritage, there are many threats to historical cultural sites including logging, climate change and sea-level rise. Solomon Island local community members joined a training workshop in 2011 run by Professor Richard Walter of The University of Otago (New Zealand), and learned the skills required to recognise, identify and map out and document their cultural heritage to preserve these special places for the future.

Palawan - our struggle for nature and culture

The struggle to save Palawan (known as the Philippines’ Last Frontier) is not only about saving trees and rare species. It is also about nourishing the Filipino cultural heritage, so powerfully represented by those indigenous communities that - after escaping Spanish and American colonization (while resisting the new ‘mining imperialism’ now) - continue to represent the 'living roots' from which all Filipinos originate. Therefore, environmental plundering by mining companies is not only a crime against nature but it is also a crime against culture, a sort of genocide that annihilates the most profound roots of the Filipino's history and ultimately plunders the cultural heritage of the whole nation! In this movie, Kawali, the mythical ancestor depicted by Batak narrators emphasises humility and trust towards the supernal beings in charge of animals and plants. On the contrary, the attitude of Kawali’s brother-in-law comes to represent the epitome of inappropriate behaviour, such as the lack of respect towards the mystical keepers of animals and - here specifically - towards the “father of bees”: a relationship that contemporary Batak continues to restore though the lambay ceremony. The sudden switch between the narration of the Batak myth and the threats posed by mining companies serves to introduce the work of ALDAW, a local network of indigenous peoples struggling for the protection of their ancestral land against large-scale corporations.

Mapping is Power

Set in the Altai Republic of Russia in southern Siberia, Mapping is Power follows cultural specialist Maya Erlenbaeva and shaman Maria Amanchina as they visit sacred sites near Kosh Agach. Indigenous people are mapping their sacred sites to protect them. This scene is a preview of Standing on Sacred Ground, a 4-part series produced by the Sacred Land Film Project, which will profile sacred land struggles around the world. www.sacredland.org

Mapping Indigenous Lands, Ep 1 - Dave De Vera, Philippines

Dave De Vera, executive director of PAFID is an advocate in rights based approaches and expert in participatory mapping (in particular participatory three dimensional modelling or P3DM). In this short interview Dave discusses the ethical considerations during the "Participatory Mapping and Community Empowerment for Climate Change Adaptation, Planning and Advocacy workshop" held in Solomon Islands on 21-26 May 2012.

Video by TNC, Kat Gawlik

Chorotegas: Dignidad Indígena

El Pueblo Indígena Chorotega del norte de Nicaragua, reclama sus derechos a las tierras ancestrales y reivindican su cultura

Landscape, Process and Power: Re-evaluating Traditional Environmental Knowledge

Landscape, Process and Power (now available in paperback edition)“…presents an excellent overview of the study of traditional environmental knowledge (TEK)and the directions in which it has evolved in recent years…Individually but especially together, the contributors of this volume do a fine job at providing a contextualized and fluid understanding of TEK…I have no hesitation in recommending this volume not only to anyone wishing to catch up on recent developments in TEK research, but also as a useful teaching resource in a range of anthropology courses.”  JRAI

“This volume succeeds in its purpose to dislodge enduring western notions of TEK [traditional environmental knowledge] as static and to firmly center it within an analytical framework of landscape, process, and power…The critical perspectives of the authors of this book would prompt lively discussion in the classroom, and the books grounding in ethnographic detail and applications are of interest to both research academics and practitioners.”  Ethnobiology Letters

In recent years, the field of study variously called local, indigenous or traditional environmental knowledge (TEK) has experienced a crisis brought about by the questioning of some of its basic assumptions. This has included reassessing notions that scientific methods can accurately elicit and describe TEK or that incorporating it into development projects will improve the physical, social or economic well-being of marginalized peoples. The contributors to this volume argue that to accurately and appropriately describe TEK, the historical and political forces that have shaped it, as well as people’s day-to-day engagement with the landscape around them must be taken into account. TEK thus emerges, not as an easily translatable tool for development experts, but as a rich and complex element of contemporary lives that should be defined and managed by indigenous and local peoples themselves.

Serena Heckler received her Ph.D. in ethnobotany, environmental anthropology and sustainable development from Cornell University and is a research fellow at Durham University. She has lived and worked with the Wõthihã of the Venezuelan Amazon, studying the ways in which the market economy and demographic change have affected their environmental knowledge. She is currently undertaking participatory research on similar themes with the Shuar of Ecuador, in collaboration with the Intercultural University of Indigenous Peoples and Nations-Amawtay Wasi based in Quito, Ecuador.

Participatory 3D Modelling - Bwindi Impenetrable and Mgahinga Gorilla National Parks, Uganda

In 2009 a group of Batwa representatives from Uganda travelled to Ogiek communities in Kenya to learn about their situation and the different advocacy strategies they were using. One of these strategies was the use of Participatory 3-Dimensional Modelling (P3DM), which helped the Ogiek engage Kenyan agencies on their rights to their ancestral territory, the Mau Forest. The Batwa walked away from this visit impressed by the simplicity of the P3DM technique and hopeful of replicating it in their own context.

Two years later in June 2011, the Batwa, with support from the ARCUS Foundation, began their own three-dimensional modelling of their ancestral territory, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.  More than 100 representatives from the Batwa communities surrounding Bwindi, including youth, elders, women and men attended the exercise over a three-week period.

Uganda's first Participatory Three-Dimensional Modelling Project was organised in 2011 in Kisoro by the Batwa, former hunter-gatherers who were evicted from two national parks 20 years ago.

More information:

1. http://goo.gl/2II2K
2. http://goo.gl/SlcKO
3. http://goo.gl/mMDjs
4. http://goo.gl/ZLExK
5. http://goo.gl/J0w7F

The Voice of the Ogiek (video)

In 2006 a little known ethnic group – called the Ogiek - created a three-dimensional map of their ancestral land in Kenya. In the past members of this indigenous community were regarded as second class citizen. Today, their story has gained international recognition. The Kenyan government is increasingly listening to their voice and including them in a dialogue over the future of their community and of the Mau Forest.

This is the story of how the Ogiek found their voice …

For more information on the case visit: http://goo.gl/H5drF

Mapping for Rights aims to provide easy access to accurate geographical information about the presence, land use and rights of indigenous peoples and other forest dependent communities in the Congo Basin. It is intended to enable forest communities themselves to demonstrate their presence in the forest; decision-makers and the private sector to take account of and recognise this presence; and to assist the international community in designing programmes to secure those rights and ensure that forest communities are equitable beneficiaries of future developments. The key features of the website include:

Interactive Maps. Built on a database of participatory maps (many of which the Rainforest Foundation itself has been involved in producing, this function enables forest communities to demonstrate their presence in the landscape, along with their customary uses and rights over the land. The maps enable all site users to see forest community occupation and forest usage in the context of other claims on the forest, such as logging activities and strictly protected areas. Multimedia content embedded in the maps allows for insights into the culture, livelihoods and concerns of the relevant communities;

Online Interactive Database. Authorized users can access an interactive online community map database. The database serves as a repository for participatory mapping work that has been carried out by various organisations in the region. It enables the maps shown in the Interactive Maps section to be scrutinised in more detail, and used to inform planning and policy processes, decision making and to promote effective collaboration.

Resource Portal.  Providing communities, NGOs, government agencies and others with the tools to facilitate participatory mapping.  Also search for related legal, policy, technical and other resources by theme or by country.