Samoa’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment receives award for engaging civil society via participatory mapping

On 25 September 2015 the Forestry Division of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Samoa (MNRE) received a Public Service Innovation and Excellence Award in the Environmental Friendly/Sustainable Development Initiative team category for the successful implementation of the Integration of Climate Change Risk and resilience into Forestry management in Samoa (ICCRIFS) Project.

The ICCRIFS Project is a 4 year project funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The goal of the project is to integrate climate change risks into forestry management in Samoa. After being trained by the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development (CTA) in practising Participatory Three-Dimensional Modelling (P3DM) in 2012, staff of the ICCRIFS Project successfully facilitated a total of 18 P3DM exercises with communities in various sectors including water, forestry, tourism. The first P3D Model to be implemented (covering villages from Laulii to Falevao) became a very effective planning tool. It helped engaging the community by building capacity, knowledge and skills on environmental management, and ways to adapt and mitigate climate change.

The 2015 Public Service Innovation and Excellence Awards ceremony, took place on the 25th of September 2015 as part of the 4th annual Public Service Day. The Public Service Day is held to commemorate, celebrate and recognize the public sector’s contribution and service into achieving the national development of Samoa. Close to 50 Government Ministries and Public Bodies took part in this year’s celebrations.

These Awards are used to recognize the dedication of public servants in achieving their respective Ministry’s and Office’s objectives. Nominations of potential awardees were solicited from the general public in August and were thereafter assessed by an independent panel consisting of 3 members: the Chamber of Commerce President on behalf of the private sector, SUNGO Interim President Vaasilifiti Moelagi Jackson on behalf of the civil society, and the Chairman of the Commission.

The general public as well as schools were invited to take advantage of the opportunity to engage with Government agencies to gain an in-depth understanding of the functions and roles of each of the participating agencies and how these relate to their everyday life.

Related post: Top UN officials Helen Clark and Naoko Ishii praising outcome of P3DM activities in Samoa

More information on the P3DM process and case studies are found here and here.

Participatory 3D Modelling (P3DM) for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)

Participatory 3-Dimensional Mapping (P3DM) consists in building geo-referenced stand-alone large-scale relief models made of locally available and materials (e.g. carton, paper, cork) on which knowledge holders can locate and depict a range of topographic features out of memory. According to work done in the Philippines the method is useful for locating assets and vulnerabilities and plan - in a bottom up manner - for Disaster Risk Reduction (DDR). Features are depicted using push-pins (points), yarn (lines), and paint (polygons). For DDR scales range from 1:1000 to 1:2000 to enable mapping and planning at the household level.

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Read about Participatory 3D Modelling (P3DM) for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
Read about other applications of P3DM consult www.iapad.org

Thailand: Helping build more resilient communities

BANGKOK, 12 June, 2012 – A new United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) documentary demonstrates how a unique approach to community security and social cohesion led to more resilient communities in Northern Thailand.

The film documents the work of a UNDP project in Mae Hong Son, Thailand’s poorest province, with the country’s lowest score on UNDP's Human Development Index. It is home to diverse population, including a large number of displaced people from Myanmar. Economic opportunities can be scarce and access to natural resources and basic services are often inadequate.

Using participatory rural appraisal (PRA) and a Participatory 3D Modelling (P3DM) UNDP, the provincial government and villagers identified a number of issues together, including inadequate water for agriculture, the lack of skills for preserving natural resources, and the extinction of banana from the village forest areas.

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Related: Democratic Governance: Sustaining Thailand’s Democratic Practice through Improvement of Inclusive Electoral Process (UNDP)