Mapping deep in the jungle: our experience among Saramaccan Peoples

In July 2015 local residents and leaders from 14 indigenous Saramaccan villages, located along the upper Suriname River, collaborated with local and international NGOs to create a physical 3D representation of their traditional land and waters using participatory three-dimensional modelling (P3DM). The mapped area is sparsely populated and characterised by externally-driven logging and mining activities. The mapping process, provided participants with a comprehensive and detailed understanding of the landscape, its interlocked ecosystems, and potential impacts of road development and related extractive activities. This enabled them to formulate informed opinions on how best to develop, preserve and manage the traditional territories.

The process has highlighted how effective P3DM is when it comes to bottom-up and inclusive landscape planning. Helping communities to build a 3D model of their territory is proving to be an effective way for knowledge held by different individuals to be collated, geo-referenced and visualised, thus generating a powerful pool of data mostly unknown to the outside world. If strategically used, this data could shift the balance of power in favour of those who would otherwise not be included in decision-making processes.

The blog below was written by Nicholas Fields (INTASAVE Caribbean/CARIBSAVE) and Gaitrie Satnarain (CARIBSAVE Associate at the Anton de Kom University of Suriname).

CARIBSAVE was invited by Tropenbos International Suriname (TBI) and CTA to participate in a Participatory three-dimensional modelling (P3DM) exercise, conducted on 21–31 July 2015, as part of the above-mentioned project. Our group included representatives from TBI (including persons of Saramaccan origin), students and staff from the Anton de Kom University of Suriname, and ourselves – representing CARIBSAVE. Sponsored by CTA, our participation in the exercise helped us to understand and appreciate the P3DM process and now enables us to replicate it within our own projects in the Caribbean region. It is our intention to share what we have learned with our colleagues and build capacity within our own organisation.

What is P3DM?

P3DM is an inclusive process of building a physical 3D model of a specific area that details how communities use the natural environment – has demonstrated its significance and practicality beyond rudimentary research and data collection purposes. P3DM has proved to be an effective tool for bringing a diverse group of stakeholders, including representatives from the villages, community-based and non-governmental organisations, technical people and policy-makers, to the table to exchange ideas, perspectives and information; strengthen and build new relationships; support decision-making related to land use; and re-invigorate a desire to protect the environment and to use our resources sustainably for the benefit of current and coming generations.

A long journey to a remote location

On the first day we travelled three hours by bus followed by two hours by canoe to the Saramaccan village of Pikin Slee (which means ‘small village’ – although it is, ironically, one of the most inhabited and visited villages in the Upper Suriname basin) and the neighbouring ecolodge, Pasensie. From the river, the village does look deceptively small, but on traversing inland you can see that the landscape is dotted with variously sized dwellings used for domestic and communal activities. Saramaccan way of life is modest, with irregular access to amenities that one would have in the city (with the exception of smartphone/mobile devices, which are abundant).

Mapping the environment

We were warmly welcomed by the villagers upon arrival. The next five days were extremely busy assembling the blank model – that is a plain, white, three-dimensional canvas prior to any painting, drawing or pinning. The blank canvas is comprised of stacked layers of foam board material, with each layer representing an altitude interval, and shaped according to the specific altitude contour. The result is a scaled and geo-referenced three-dimensional canvas of hills, valleys, plains and depressions of the real-life landscape. The actual size of the area modelled was approximately 2,232 km2 and, with a horizontal scale of 1:15,000, the model developed into a rather large construction, involving five tables of approximately 1.6 x 1.2 m each.

Model construction is exciting as well as intensive, and the teenagers from a village-based school who took part in this process would certainly agree on this! The facilitators helped the students to trace each contour onto the foam boards, cutting these accordingly and affixing each layer of board to the model. Once the foam boards were cut according to the contours and stacked, the model was covered with plaster to allow for painting, which is perhaps the most labour-intensive component of the process, requiring precision, accuracy and careful attention to detail. The team had some initial challenges with matching and/or aligning contour maps, foam board pieces and uneven table tops, as well as working with the foam board itself. Understanding the nature of the problems, considering possible corrections and subsequent improvement was an important part of the learning process.

Mapping the knowledge

The next phase of the exercise, which took another 4–4½ days, involved populating the blank model with data on land cover and use (e.g. forests, agricultural land), locations of villages and estimated populations, and types and locations of activities associated with the villages and their inhabitants. The map legend – outlining what features would be located and visualised on the model – was finalised beforehand by the facilitators and representatives from the different villages located within the modelled area.

This stage was the most crucial and sensitive. Local residents and leaders had full autonomy entering data on the model at this point. This helped building buy-in and ownership of the process by the villagers, and minimising interference or perception of bias by the facilitators. Local residents spearheaded the process of identifying and marking features, place names and locations of activities. The facilitators (mainly the TBI team members of Saramaccan origin) offered only moderate guidance, taking care not to influence the direction of discussion except in the interest of maintaining consistency in the use of legend items, scale, focus and time, or mediating diverging opinions when these arose. Only agreed data were placed on the model. Specific locations and activities of cultural, spiritual or – in some cases – economic significance were not visualised, in the locals’ interest of protecting their security and inviolability.

Despite the fact that locals were given autonomy at this stage, some of them were distrustful of the process, fearing possible coercion, exploitation and vested interests by outsiders. The presence and interaction of the Saramaccan facilitators in the TBI team helped to alleviate most of these fears. Still, it was intriguing to observe the sometimes animated dialogue between locals as they detailed various parts of the model – indicating primary and secondary forest areas, tracks and paths, and places of work, domestic and recreational use.

We learned a lot there by observing and implementing the P3DM activity. And the strong multi-cultural element added another dimension. The indigenous Maroon groups were working with their own set of norms, practices and structures, which were very different to those that the external facilitators were used to. Including the participants and facilitators, the 10-day exercise brought together people of at least five nationalities and ethnic groups. At any given time during the activities, there were at least three languages at play: chief of these being Saramaccan, Dutch and English, with intercessions in Spanish and Arkans. While there were some slight communication barriers, none was too difficult to overcome – in fact, this made the experience much more amusing, and there were several side-lessons in foreign language vocabulary. There is no doubt that the group of facilitators also learned much over the two weeks, and established new personal and working relationships to build on in the future.

This P3DM exercise took dedication and was a large undertaking. Significant time and resources were required to co-ordinate and complete the model, particularly when the diversity of players and relative remoteness of the beneficiary groups are taken into consideration. However, the benefits of the exercise – first-hand participation in P3DM, learning and exchanging new information, connecting with people and building new rapports – were outstanding and will be long-lasting. The students’ participation also played an important educational role. We hope that they were able to appreciate the purpose of the model and will take forward what they learned from this process as they become leaders in the future.

Further impact: applying the knowledge gained

Since taking part in the exercise, CARIBSAVE has incorporated the P3DM methodology into one of its project proposals. It is planning to use the P3DM methodology for a participatory flooding hazard mapping and zoning exercise, as part of a larger comprehensive disaster management initiative. Through this exercise, community residents would produce a model that details flooding risk areas, vulnerable persons, infrastructure and emergency facilities as the basis for developing a community response plan.

Gaitrie Satnarain from Anton de Kom University intends to further what she has gained from the exercise by incorporating P3DM as a research tool within her upcoming doctoral study proposal. At the Anton de Kom University of Suriname, the Infrastructure Department in the Faculty of Science and Technology will also discuss potential opportunities with TBI to incorporate and promote P3DM for landscape planning research. CARIBSAVE will continue to explore and incorporate the P3DM methodology into its future projects to support building knowledge and capacity in climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and sustainable ecosystem protection and management – especially to benefit vulnerable and otherwise-marginalised groups it works with.

Who is involved?

P3DM in Suriname is led by TBI, as part of a joint multi-scale initiative to model ecosystem services and land-use scenarios in the Upper Suriname River basin (see here), in conjunction with WWF Guianas, the University of Utrecht, and the Association of Saramacca Authorities (Vereniging van Saramakaanse Gezagsdragers [VSG]). The initiative is supported by CTA and the UNDP GEF-Small Grant Programme. Through this initiative, TBI aims “to contribute to improved understanding of the impacts of modern-day human interventions on forests, landscapes and people”. One of the project's results was the construction of a number of physical 3D models to visualise and assess human-environment interactions, particularly in the Upper Suriname River basin, which is inhabited by several indigenous Maroon villages and is also the focus of local and external logging and mining extractive activities.


The enabling power of participatory 3D mapping among the Saramaccan Peoples of Suriname (part 1 & 2) from CTA on Vimeo.

Online resources on Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PGIS), including Participatory 3D Modelling (P3DM)

• View an interactive map of the world with locations and details of known P3DM exercises
• Visit the website on Integrated Approaches to Participatory Development (IAPAD).

Stay connected

• Join the e-discussion around PGIS in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese
• Are you interested in promoting the use of PGIS for adding value to traditional knowledge, empowering grassroots and conducting participatory land use planning in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries? Join us on Twitter @PGISatCTA and like our Facebook page.

Participatory 3D Modelling in Mapanas, Northern Samar, Philippines

Barangays Barangays Sta. Potenciana and Burgos in Northern Samar, Philippines constructed their Participatory 3D Models (P3DMs) with the help of friends from Citizen Disaster Response Centre (CDRC) Bobon, the Philippine Geographical Society and UNICEF Philippines.

Participatory 3D Modelling in Bobon, Northern Samar, Philippines

Barangays Dancalan, Sta. Clara and Arellano in Northern Samar, Philippines constructed their Participatory 3D Models (P3DMs) with the help of friends from Citizen Disaster Response Centre (CDRC) Bobon, the Philippine Geographical Society and UNICEF Philippines.

Participatory 3D Mapping for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Philippines

For two weeks in rural Camarines Norte, two teams of geography majors from UP Diliman facilitated in the making of several Participatory 3D Maps.

Four towns including Labnig and Dalnac in the municipality of Paracale and San Felipe and Taba-taba in the municipality of Basud all had the chance to collectively construct their own 3D Maps that highlight the disaster histories, vulnerabilities and capacities of each town.

Video by Erwin Tolentino

Être sur une carte veut dire exister : l'expérience des Saramaca

Les communautés Saramaca du Suriname cherchent la reconnaissance de leur savoir traditionnel par le gouvernement

Le 23 février 2016, 18 représentants de la communauté Saramaca issus des régions de Brownsweg et du cours supérieur du fleuve Suriname ont rencontré des décideurs politiques et des acteurs concernés à Paramaribo, la capitale du Suriname. La rencontre a été organisée par les peuples Saramaka afin de partager les résultats d’un processus de deux ans qui a mené à la visualisation et la documentation de leurs connaissances traditionnelles d’une vaste région.

Cartes générées en utilisant des données extraites d’un modèle 3D participatif à échelle 1:15 000 de la zone de Brownsweg (produites en novembre 2015), combinées à un modèle numérique d’élévation obtenu de la Fondation pour la gestion des forêts et le contrôle de la production, au Suriname.

Ont dit qu'une image vaut mille mots. Dans ce sens, les peuvent en effet être un moyen très efficace de transmettre des messages inhérents à la distribution ou accès aux ressources. En fait, le résultat tangible du processus consistait en une série de cartes physiques et numériques générées par la communauté – des cartes dont les délégués Saramaca se montrèrent très fiers.

Les cartes ainsi que les séries de données connexes furent produites en langue Saramaca, en anglais et en néerlandais lors de trois exercices de modélisation participative en trois dimensions (MP3D) organisés en 2014 et 2015. Les exercices impliquèrent 220 habitants, y compris des femmes, des jeunes et des personnes âgées. Un film documentaire sur le processus fut publié en 2015 en langue Saramaca, en anglais et en français.


Lors de la réunion, les leaders Saramaca ont souligné l'unicité des données que les communautés impliquées sont parvenues à rassembler, à géo-référencer et à visualiser en utilisant des technologies sophistiquées comme les systèmes d'information géographique (SIG). En bénéficiant du soutien de l'extérieur, les détenteurs de savoir ont été à même de partager leurs cartes mentales et leurs souvenirs, des apports fondamentaux pour peupler les modèles en 3D vierges.

Les représentants Saramaca ont attiré l'attention sur la pertinence et la précision des données, ainsi que leur accessibilité à de tierces parties à condition d'obtenir le consentement préalable à leur utilisation. « Nous avons créé cette carte pour qu'elle soit utilisée. Nous voulons que d'autres personnes l'utilisent. La seule chose que nous demandons c'est que les données ne soient pas utilisées sans nous impliquer », soulignait l'un des représentants de la communauté.

Les délégués Saramaca ont encouragé l'utilisation des données à des fins de planification spatiale et ont lancé un appel au gouvernement et aux investisseurs du secteur privé pour que ces derniers reconnaissent les Saramaca en tant que parties prenantes principales et, par conséquent, pour qu'ils les impliquent au maximum dans la planification des exploitations forestières et dans la gestion des zones protégées et des concessions aurifères situées dans le territoire Saramaca traditionnel.

Ils ont également préconisé la reproduction de processus de MP3D dans le reste du territoire Saramaca de façon à générer une carte complète des terres Saramaca traditionnelles. Pour ce faire, ils ont exhorté le gouvernement, les organisations de développement, le secteur privé et les ONG présentes à la réunion à lever les fonds nécessaires.

L'événement était organisé par Tropenbos International Suriname, WWF Guyanas et l'Association des autorités Saramaca. Outre Tropenbos International Suriname, les sponsors du projet comprenaient le Programme de microfinancements du Fonds pour l'environnement mondial (UNDP GEF-SGP) et le CTA. Les contributions de ces organisations ont été dûment reconnues. Les participants ont notamment décrit ces contributions comme du terreau fertile pour l'autonomisation de la communauté à travers la MP3D, un processus très novateur selon eux. Les participants ont également signalé que le processus de MP3D a inspiré d'autres communautés qui sont à présent en train de demander le soutien nécessaire à la mise en œuvre de processus de MP3D dans leurs territoires.

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Suivez @PPGIS sur Twitter ou avec le hashtag #P3DM
Visitez le site web du CTA sur les Systèmes d'information géographique participatifs (SIGP).
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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.

River partners: Managing environment and disaster risk in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

River partners: Managing environment and disaster risk in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a video report on the disaster risk reduction project being implemented by the United Nations Environment Program, the Government of DRC and local communities, with the support of the European Union.

Flooding and soil erosion are major hazards that threaten the Lukaya River basin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Located in the outskirts of Kinshasa, this basin is an important source of water supply for the capital. This pilot project will demonstrate how ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction (eco-DRR) can be integrated into c devel
opment planning. Upstream and downstream river users are brought together to tackle disaster risk and development planning in a more integrated manner. Participatory 3D Modelling (P3DM) is used in the process.

Partenaires de la Rivière: Gestion de l'environnement et des risques de catastrophes en République Démocratique du Congo est une vidéo sur le projet de réduction de risques de catastrophes mis en oeuvre par le Programme de Nations Unies pour l'Environnement, le Gouvernement de la RDC et les communautés locales, avec le soutien de l'Union Européenne.

Les inondations et l'érosion du sol sont des aléas majeurs qui menacent le bassin de la rivière Lukaya en République Démocratique du Congo. Situé en périphérie de Kinshasa, le bassin est une source importante d'approvisionnement en eau pour la capitale. Ce projet pilote démontrera comment la réduction de risque de catastrophes à base d'écosystèmes (RRC-éco) peut être intégrée à la planification du développement de bassins-versants. Les usagers de la rivière en amont et en aval sont réunis pour aborder ensemble les problèmes de risque de catastrophes et de planification du développement, d'une manière plus intégrée. La cartographie participative en trois dimensions (MP3D) a été utilisée dans le processus.

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.

Hands on Culture - Participatory 3D Modelling with Mandingalbay Yidinji People in Australia

This video is about the 3D mapping project of the Mandingalbay people near Yarrabah North Queensland. This project was supported by the Wet Tropics Management Authority, IUCN and CTA to producing a short film based on the amazing project the community took on to bring their 3D mapping project to life.

Di mbei di dee Saamaka sëmbë mbei di ageesi kaita de seei u de sa seeka sondi u de (video voiced in Saamaka)

Feifi teni jaa pasa kaa, di wan feifi dusu Saamaka sёmbё so bi abi u voloisi di de mbei di dan. De bi abi u kumutu disi di kamian te ka dee gaan sёmbё u de bi ta libi a di Saamaka lio. Te ku di daka u tide di voloisi aki dё a de pakisei eti. Dee Saamaka sёmbё dee ta de a moo libasё u di Saamaka lio ta abi umёni boöko hedi, we bika de an feni leti u di matu jeti. So seei pasi ta mbei ta ko a di kamian te ka de ta libi. Di mbei u di ageesi kaita u di tan kamian u de, ta konda fa de seei ta si di libi u de, fa de ta woko ku di matu, so sei di kaita sa heepi de u gaan lanti sa fusutan de moo bunu u de ta sa a wan taki a dee sondi di ta pasa a di konde.

Version française: http://goo.gl/ggXyw5
English version: http://goo.gl/hS5nKb

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.

The Right to be Different: Struggle for Water and Identity in the Andes

In the parish of Licto, near Riobamba, in Ecuador, the indigenous population fought for its water. Indian peasants participated in the design, construction and organisation of the irrigation system. After more than 20 years the water finally reached the community. The story is told by Inés Chapi, an Indian woman, who came a long way from being oppressed and discriminated against to become a most respected irrigation organiser in the system.  In the Andes they call it blood of the earth, the source of life from which other life grows. Water, feeding the land as well as the imagination. Giving rise to rituals and myths, fueling tradition and culture. Ancient and modern conquerors of these highlands denied the indigenous people access to springs and rivers. Water became a source of conflict. And usually the Indians got a raw deal.

Based on: The Rules of the Game and the Game of the Rules’ by Rutgerd Boelens; Executive producer and scenario: Barend Hazeleger; Photography: Thom Deelstra; Sound recordist: Juio Gorck; Editing: Jan Pieter Tuinstra & Barend Hazeleger; Scientific research and Interviews: Rutgerd Boelens; Produced by Agrapen and Wageningen University (2003)

More on the case: http://bit.ly/1OAlBsX

Le pouvoir de la cartographie participative en 3D chez les Saramacas du Suriname (video)

Il y a cinquante ans, quelque 5000 individus du peuple Saramaccan du Suriname ont dû quitter leurs terres traditionnelles, le long de la Rivière Suriname en raison de la construction d'un grand barrage. Les blessures de cette transmigration se font encore sentir aujourd'hui. Pendant ce temps, les Saramaccans qui vivent dans cette région font face à de nouveaux défis, car leurs droits territoriaux ne sont pas encore officiellement reconnus et les infrastructures routières pour accéder à la zone sont en voie d'amélioration. La création d'une maquette participative de la zone qui visualise et documente leurs traditions et l'utilisation traditionnelle des ressources contribue à surmonter leur frustration et leur redonner espoir.

English version: http://goo.gl/hS5nKb
Saamaka version: http://goo.gl/9XC2Jb

The enabling power of participatory 3D mapping among the Saramaccan Peoples of Suriname (Video)

Fifty years ago, some 5000 Saramaccan Peoples 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.

Language versions:
Version française: http://goo.gl/ggXyw5
Saramaccan version: http://goo.gl/9XC2Jb

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. 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 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."

Socially engaging, user-friendly, and user-useful approaches in ecosystem service research

Participatory 3D modelling was presented as a ground breaking approach to use in participatory ecosystem service research during the 8th Ecosystem Service Partnership Conference, held in Stellenbosch, South Africa from the 9th to the 13th of November 2015. The Conference saw the participation of around 380 scientists from around the globe.

Socially engaging, user-friendly, and user-useful approaches in ecosystem service research from CTA

The presentation by Sara Ramirez A socially engaging, user friendly and user-inspired approach in ecosystem research took place within the workshop “Indigenous peoples in their ecosystems’’. An ecosystem service research project was designed and implemented in Suriname, which used Participatory 3D Modelling (P3DM) to engage local communities in a process of co-producing knowledge about ecosystem services and competing land uses.

P3DM is an effective tool to involve scientist and local knowledge holders in an equally and transparent co-production of salient and legitimate knowledge about ecosystem services. Parallel to research outputs (of main interest to the researcher), a P3DM approach yields directly tangible outputs for the local communities which makes research inclusive and legitimate. Attendees during the session participated actively through questions and feedback.

Facilitating climate smart adaptation through the use of Participatory 3D Modelling by Neila Bobb-Prescott at the Caribbean-Pacific Agri-Food Forum in Barbados

#CPAF15 - Facilitating climate smart adaptation through the use of Participatory 3D Mapping from CTA

Participatory 3D Modelling or P3DM in short, is a community-based mapping method which is spreading in the Caribbean Region. It facilitates planning and action-taking on climate change related issues. Considering the potentials of the process, efforts are needed to promote the success stories of its use to date. This presentation at the Caribbean Pacific Agri-Food Forum in Barbados (206 November 2015) is an important step in promoting the practice in the region.

Neila Bobb-Prescott's participation in the 2nd Agribusiness Forum has been supported by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA)

Participatory mapping processes for data generation and exchange in SIDS by Aly DeGraff at the Caribbean-Pacific Agri-Food Forum in Barbados

Participatory mapping processes for data generation and exchange in SIDS from CTA

Participatory mapping is the solicitation and incorporation of geospatially focused local knowledge in bottom-up decision-making processes. It provides a wide decision-making base, taking into consideration the collaborative collection and validation of data while building ownership in the generated data. Participatory mapping can be used as a powerful tool to strengthen public participation in governance and social change in agribusiness communities.

Aly DeGraff delivered her talk at the Caribbean-Pacific Agri-Food Forum in Barbados organised by CTA and partners.

L’équipe samoane de cartographie participative a reçu un prix de développement durable

Le 25 septembre 2015, le département forestier du Ministère des ressources naturelles et de l’environnement des Samoa (MNRE) a reçu le prix de l’innovation et de l’excellence dans la fonction  publique dans la catégorie initiative en faveur d’un développement durable et respectueux de l’environnement pour la mise en œuvre du projet sur l’intégration des risques et de la résilience au changement  climatique dans la gestion des forêts  (ICCRIFS).

Le projet ICCRIFS Project s’étale sur une durée de quatre ans et est financé par  le Fonds pour l’environnement mondial (FEM, GEF en anglais) via le le programme des Nations Unies pour le développement  (PNUD). L’objectif du projet est d’intégrer les risques liés au changement climatique dans la gestion des forêts aux Samoa. Après une formation organisée en 2012 par le  Centre technique de coopération agricole et rurale (CTA) portant sur l’utilisation de la modélisation participative en trois dimensions (MP3D), les équipes du projet ICCRIFS ont mis sur pied 18 exercices de MP3D à l’intention des communautés locales dans des domaines comme la gestion de l’eau, des forêts et le tourisme. Le premier modèle participatif en trois dimensions qui a été mis en œuvre  (il couvrait les villages s’étendant de Laulii à Falevao) est devenu un outil de plannification très efficace. Il a permis d’impliquer les gens en leur apportant des connaissances et des compétences en matière de gestion de l’environnement et en leur fournissant des outils pour s’adapter au changement climatique et en réduire les effets.

La remise des prix de l’innovation et de l’excellence dans la fonction publique a eu lieu le 25 septembre dans le cadre de la quatrième journée de la fonction publique. Cette journée est organisée pour commémorer, célébrer et reconnaître la contribution et le rôle de la fonction publique en vue du développement national des Samoa. Près de 50 ministères gouvernementaux et d’organismes publics ont pris part aux célébrations cette année.

Ces prix visent à saluer le dévouement que les fonctionnaires mettent à remplir la mission des ministères et départements pour lesquels ils travaillent. La désignation des lauréats potentiels a été demandée au grand public au mois d’août et ces choix ont ensuite été évalués par un panel indépendant de trois membres : le Président de la Chambre de commerce au nom du secteur privé, Vaasilifiti Moelagi Jackson (Président ad intermim de SUNGO) au nom de la société civile et le Président de la Commission.

Le grand public ainsi que les établissements scolaires étaient invités à cette occasion à communiquer avec les agences gouvernementales afin d’avoir une meilleure compréhension de leur rôle et de leurs fonctions, ainsi que de la manière dont ces agences ont une influence sur la vie de tous les jours.

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.

Community-based Disaster Risk Reduction in the Philippines

With the support of UNICEF and the University of the Philippines, children in Camarines Norte help their communities in locating the hazard risks in their areas and plan disaster preparedness measures using a Participatory 3D Model (P3DM).

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

We have wings to fly - Join the uav4ag community

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones for management of crops, livestock, fisheries, forests and other natural resource-based activities represents a new technological frontier and opens up a range of exciting opportunities. UAVs offer also opportunities for grassroots’ involvement in monitoring use of and access to the resources their livelihoods depend on.

A community has been established on www.uav4ag.org to cater for practitioners, researchers, farmers, entrepreneurs, service providers operating in developing countries and who are interested in the topic.  Members of the community share their experiences in developing UAV technologies and related software applications and more importantly in making use of small UAVs to improve the assessment and management of crops, fishing grounds and other resource-based activities. Relevant events, capacity building opportunities and other resources are signalled as soon as these are known by members of the community.

Being the use of UAVs for agricultural purposes a recent phenomenon, national aviation authorities and potential users are facing new challenges linked to the use of UAVs within their skies. Hence this Community focuses also on existing and forthcoming policies, laws and regulations governing their use.

Rainforest Airforce: Indigenous Peoples Fly Drones to Protect their Land

In August 2014, Tushevs Aerials (tushevs.com) traveled deep in the Peruvan Amazon to train indigenous leaders in the use of remote-control airplanes for the protection and monitoring of their rainforest. The workshop was hosted by AIDESEP, the country's largest indigenous peoples' network, with participants from the Loreto and Madre de Dios Amazon provinces, as well as from the Panama's Embera peoples. This technology enables communities to monitor and defend their territories against legal and illegal pressures.

These are some images from the weeklong workshop, as well as raw footage that the drone captured while flying over the Pacaya-Samiria National Park in the Loreto Province of Peru.

The music is a regional song called El LLanto del Ayaymama and speaks of a local legend of two abandoned children who the forest spirits save by giving them wings. 

Source: YouTube 

The Transformative Power of Social Media in Agriculture: Inspiring Stories

The advent of social media has revolutionised the way people communicate worldwide. But in a growing number of developing countries, these tools are being put to increasingly good effect to drive agricultural and rural development, often with dramatic results. A new publication from the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) documents the transformative power of these innovative technologies. Based on 18 case studies drawn from across African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries , Embracing Web 2.0 and Social Media: A life-changing pathway for agricultural development actors provides testimonies on how Web 2.0 and social media are contributing to better engagement of stakeholders in policy dialogue and advocacy, marketing and the provision of information services.

The booklet documents a wide range of practical applications for Web 2.0 and social media in ACP settings. Some farmers have found that Facebook can be an excellent marketing channel to promote their products. Extension agents are discovering that social media is a highly effective way of communicating with the people they serve. Agricultural organisations are using a range of social media tools to mount advocacy campaigns aimed at influencing policy-makers. Researchers are using online collaboration tools to work on joint publications, while more and more young people are using new ICT skills to blog about important rural development issues. Others are seizing opportunities to develop innovative online services and launch their own companies as agripreneurs.

“Social media has become part of everyday life for most people in the developed world. But it has created a life-changing experience for many people in rural areas who have come to use it,” said CTA Director Michael Hailu.

All the stories featured in the booklet revolve around people who have benefited from a CTA-led campaign to make Web 2.0 and social media tools more accessible to agriculture and rural development actors in ACP countries.

The figures speak volumes: more than 4,000 individuals trained, 176 face-to-face training events – known as Web 2.0 and social media learning opportunities (LOs) – held in 44 ACP countries. In 2013, the Web 2.0 and social media LOs carried off the prestigious World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Project Prize in the e-Agriculture category.

Impact assessment studies conducted by CTA have revealed that its Web 2.0 and social media capacity-building activities have led to greater inclusion and empowerment for participants, often with far-reaching repercussions for themselves and the people with whom they interact. Adoption rates are high, with young women emerging as the most likely players to adopt social media, following a training course.

In Uganda, local NGOs are using ICTs to support producers, processors and other actors in agricultural value chains. Agronomists from Madagascar are using Web 2.0 and social media to develop knowledge about apiculture. In Central Africa, a farmers’ network institutionalised social media and improved its operational effectiveness. In Samoa, a Facebook and Twitter marketing campaign is producing impressive results for women weavers of ceremonial mats. And in the Caribbean, bloggers and social media reporters are helping other young people to plan a future in farming.

“Many people have told us that the training sessions have not only changed their working behaviour, but their whole lives,” said Giacomo Rambaldi, Senior Programme Coordinator at CTA.

The official launch of the CTA publication will be held on 26 November 2015 during the International Day of Vrije University (VU) in Amsterdam.

The booklet is available for order in print form or for free download from the CTA publications catalogue

The power of media: Did the documentary film "Virunga" trigger a plunge in the share price of the oil exploration firm SOCO International?

Virunga is a extraordinary documentary film which focuses on the conservation work of rangers within the Virunga National Park in the  Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the activity of a British company, Soco International, which began exploring for oil within the UNESCO World Heritage site in April 2014. SOCO is an international oil and gas exploration and production company, headquartered in London. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 17, 2014. Since airing on Netflix it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

The allegations brought against Soco International by the documentary, and supported by local NGOs and civil society organizations working in and around Virunga National park, put increased pressure on the company to put an end to its exploration for oil within the protected World Heritage Site.

On June 11, 2014, Soco International and the WWF announced a joint statement in which the oil company committed "not to undertake or commission any exploratory or other drilling within Virunga National Park unless UNESCO and the DRC government agree that such activities are not incompatible with its World Heritage status". This was widely cited as a victory for WWF, which had long been campaigning for Soco to leave the region, and credit was also given to the filmmakers. However, strong concerns about the credibility of this agreement were raised by the filmmakers, alongside other NGOs such as Global Witness and Human Rights Watch, and local civil society organisations.

World Wildlife Fund executives now acknowledge that the battle over Virunga is hardly over. SOCO has yet to relinquish its operating permits or commit to an unconditional withdrawal…”They’re leaving the door open,” said Zach Abraham, director of the World Wildlife Fund’s global campaigns. (Source: adapted from Wikipedia)

On March 13, 2015, BBC reported that the Democratic Republic of Congo says it wants to redraw the boundaries of Virunga National Park, to allow for oil exploration.

On June 10, 2015 BBC reported that 'Soco paid Congo major' accused of Virunga oil intimidation.

Since the launch of the film on April 17, 2014, SOCO's share price has plunged by 63.33%. This slump can be attributed only partially to the drop in oil prices as shares from BP and Shell dropped by 14.3% and 25.9% respectively over the same period.

Call for action:
You can view the documentary film on Netflix.
You can interact with the producers via http://virungamovie.com/ and take action.
Save Virunga: http://savevirunga.com/
Watch trailer:


Heads up to Orlando von Einsiede, the film director, the French investigative journalist, Mélanie Gouby and to the team behind this great production!

Mapping Our Land: A Guide to Making Your Own Maps of Communities and Traditional Lands

Communities all over the world are discovering that maps provide a valuable tool for recording local knowledge and discussing land-use issues. In a participatory approach to mapping, community members design the mapping project and make maps according to their own needs.

Mapping Our Land describes all stages of the community mapping process from setting the goals of the project to completion of the maps.

Alix Flavelle has taught mapping to aboriginal peoples around the world. She outlines the range of themes that communities choose to address and offers examples of how they have presented their local knowledge on maps. A variety of map-making techniques are explored, as well as guidelines for choosing which techniques best suit the purpose of the mapping project.

Clear step-by-step instructions are provided for:

• Basic principles of map-making
• Exploring cultural elements of maps
• How to organize the community
• Making sketch maps on paper or mylar
• Using topographic maps
• Making three-dimensional models
• How to do a compass survey
• Using a Global Positioning System (GPS)
• Interpreting aerial, radar and satellite images
• Drawing the final map
• Land rights, resource management and protecting local knowledge.

Accessible and full of practical information and ideas, this book is a toolbox intended to help communities design and complete a mapping project that fits their unique culture, landscape and situation, and their purpose for making maps.

Available from Amazon: Mapping Our Land

Handbook on Participatory Land Use Planning: Methods and tools developed and tested in Viengkham District, Luang Prabang Province, Lao PDR

“This approach puts the keys of development in the hands of local communities and avoids engaging them into endless assistance programs” District Governor Viengkham - 2011

Securing land tenure rights for village communities through participatory land use planning is a hot topic for policy makers, researchers and development practitioners. In Lao PDR, the government policy aimed at turning land into capital may well turn to land grabbing wherever local communities are not informed about their rights and are not involved in land use planning.

Participatory Land Use Planning  (PLUP) is an empowerment process for villagers who get trained as land use negotiators. They learn the real value of their land and labour.

The proposed PLUP method helps them to visualize land related issues, to assess the potential impact of alternative scenarios before they make decision. While local people know well their own situation they often do not know how to collectively design a better future for the whole village through land use planning. ‘PLUP fiction’ is a learning device for land zoning and local development planning. Based on a virtual village territory visualized on a board, members of the village land management committee learn how to make informed decisions about land zoning according to the needs of different stakeholders.

Using the method learned during the landscape simulation game, they negotiate their own land use zoning on the 3D model representing their village landscape. They first design their current land use by using coloured pins and string on the 3D model. Then, land zones are digitized, analyzed and compared to the needs expressed by the villagers in their village action plan, i.e. village economic development, labour force availability, rice sufficiency, livestock carrying capacity, preservation of ecosystems services.

New land use plans are designed successively until all the committee members are satisfied. The iterative zoning process is facilitated by the use of a GIS software (QGIS) and an Excel based tool. On completion of the PLUP exercise, the 3D model painted with the new land use plan remains with the community.

The purpose of this PLUP Handbook is to provide practical tools and methods for PLUP implementation based on experiments conducted in Viengkham District, Luang Prabang Province. Lessons drawn from this experience have been gradually incorporated into the tools and procedures described in this Handbook and Toolbox as a reference guide for PLUP practitioners.

Download: Handbook on Participatory Land Use Planning: Methods and tools developed and tested in Viengkham District, Luang Prabang Province, Lao PDR

Authors: Jean-Christophe Castella, Jeremy Bourgoin, Lionel Cottet, Maëlle Drouillat, Khamla Nanthavong, Sangthong Phatsalin, Guillaume Lestrelin, Bounthanom Bouahom and Manithaithip Thepphavanh

Publisher: National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (NAFRI), Institute of Research for Development (IRD) and Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), May 2012

Participatory Methods in Community-based Coastal Resource Management

This 3 volumes sourcebook is a documentation of various tools and methods developed in the course of doing Community-based Coastal Resource Management (CBCRM) as effectively and efficiently employed by field practitioners in the Philippines, Indonesia, India and other Asian countries. The main section of the sourcebook is the step by step description of various participatory methods field tested by the authors and their organizations. A simple outline was devised for most of the topics to include the definition, purpose, materials, suggested approach, outputs, strengths, weaknesses and variations. The sourcebook is designed for use by people working directly with coastal communities to help strengthen their capability to manage, protect and develop their local resources.

Download the chapter on Resource Mapping
ISBN: 0-942717-90-2
Publisher: International Institute for Rural reconstruction (IIRR), 1998

The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Royal Netherlands Embassy, Small Islands Agricultural Support Services Programme (SMISLE) and the Western Samar Agricultural Resources Development Programme were the funding partners for this publication. Collaborating organizations were IDRC, International Center for Living Aquatic Resources and Management (ICLARM), Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), SEAMEO Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), SMISLE and Coastal Resource Management Project (CRMP).

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

Saamaka peoples upscale the use Participatory 3 Dimensional Modelling along the Upper Suriname River

In partnership with Tropenbos International Suriname (TBI), WWF, and the Association of Saamaka Authorities (VSG), CTA introduced the Participatory 3D Modelling (P3DM) process in Suriname in 2014. Due to the successful outcome of the 1st exercise, VSG – supported by TBI – applied for support from UNDP GEF Small Grants Programme (GEF-SGP) for extending the mapped area and upscale the community based planning exercise along the Upper Suriname River, towards the interior of the country.

Once GEF-SGP released the funds, a second P3DM exercise took place in June and July 2015. Areas that are important for the community’s way of life, particularly areas with high cultural and historical value were at the core of the process. Over an 11-day period, a total of ~65 representatives from 10 villages traveled to the village of Pikin Slee, to collectively determine a representative portion of Saamaka traditional land as a 3D physical map (built at a 1:15,000 scale).

The map was conceived with the specific objective of empowering local communities to play an active role in sound land-use and sustainable development. Saamaka participants populated the 3D model with locations of ecosystem services and cultural and historical landscape of value. With this, P3DM is demonstrating its utility in both socio-ecological production landscape based research, as well as in collaborative historical, cultural and ethno-archaeology studies in Suriname.

In this context, Tropenbos International Suriname is collaborating with the History Department of the Anton de Kom University of Suriname, Faculty of Humanity so that historical and contemporary cultural landscape use and services are better portrayed.

Notes: The project is granted to the Association of Saamaka Authorities (VSG), executed by Tropenbos International Suriname and financially supported by the UNDP GEF Small Grants Programme. CTA supported the participation of 2 delegates from CARIBSAVE in the exercise to ensure wider replication of the process in the Caribbean region.

More on 2014 P3DM activities in Suriname:

• Suriname - 15 July, 2015. Mapping the livelihoods of the Saamaka people.
• Saramakan’s forests: watercourses at the core of a Participatory 3D Modelling exercise along the Upper Suriname River
• The film “The enabling power of participatory 3D mapping among the Saramaccan People of Suriname” launched at CWA2014

Release announcement: Langscape: Vol. 4:1, Summer 2015, The People's Issue - Part One: Flows and Bridges

Terralingua's magazine Langscape is a unique voice for biocultural diversity—the interlinked diversity of life in nature and culture. It aims to bring biocultural diversity to the general public through thought pieces, reports from the field, personal accounts, stories, photo essays, and artwork.

This issue focuses on a theme of “Flows and Bridges”. Flows: the flow of life in nature and culture, in space and time; the flow of water; the flow of memory; the flow of communication and understanding across cultures; the flow of art, dance, and beauty. And Bridges: bridges across often troubled waters, linking traditional and scientific knowledge, traditional solutions and contemporary innovations, traditional informal education and western formal education, local situations and global awareness and action; bridges of solidarity among individuals and communities; bridges over our gaps in knowledge and understanding, opening new paths and new hopes for sustaining the biocultural diversity of life.

You can view the Editorial and the Table of Contents  on the Langscape website, where you can also find out how to receive the magazine as well as access web-only content.

‘Participatory data’ and the formulation of Tourism Development Area Management Plans in Samoa

Developing agriculture to better serve tourism markets in the Pacific is knowledge intensive. The first step is to determine the tourism market’s demands for agricultural produce and then to match this with what is available from local production. But much of this information is not currently readily available.

Bridging this information gap was a key objective of the recent Agribusiness Forum: Linking the agrifood sector to the tourism-related markets coordinated by CTA and the Pacific Islands Private Sector Organisation (PIPSO) with support from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), the Pacific Agriculture Policy Programme (PAPP) and the intra-ACP Agricultural Policy Programme (Intra-ACP APP). This event, held in Fiji from 1 to 3 July 2015, brought together experts from government agencies, farmers’ organisations, community-based organisations, remote sensing and research bodies to identify the data gaps and discuss how to go forward.

Giving a community perspective, Amia Luatua from the Samoa Tourism Authority, shared Samoa’s work on tourism planning, showing how communities have used participatory 3D modelling (P3DM) to collect data that have been used to inform tourism developments.

Weaponizing Maps: Indigenous Peoples and Counterinsurgency in the Americas

Maps play an indispensable role in indigenous peoples’ efforts to secure land rights in the Americas and beyond. Yet indigenous peoples did not invent participatory mapping techniques on their own; they appropriated them from techniques developed for colonial rule and counterinsurgency campaigns, and refined by anthropologists and geographers.

Through a series of historical and contemporary examples from Nicaragua, Canada, and Mexico, this book explores the tension between military applications of participatory mapping and its use for political mobilization and advocacy.

The authors analyze the emergence of indigenous territories as spaces defined by a collective way of life--and as a particular kind of battleground.

Weaponizing Maps: Indigenous Peoples and Counterinsurgency in the Americas
Paperback – March 5, 2015
by Joe Bryan PhD (Author), Denis Wood PhD (Author)