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)

Using Participatory Three-Dimensional Modelling (P3DM) to facilitate community decision making: a case study from the Vanuatu Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change (PACC) project

This report focuses on the Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change (PACC) project in In Vanuatu, which focuses on coastal zone management, and specifically the coastal roads on the island of Epi, which are being damaged by flooding and coastal erosion. The project is working with local communities to develop appropriate solutions that contribute to more resilient infrastructure.

The PACC Vanuatu project team identified participatory three-dimensional modelling (P3DM) as a valuable tool to facilitate community participation and decision making in the project.
P3DM involves the building of three dimensional (3D) relief maps by communities, combining local knowledge of geography and land use with geo-referenced data. The map then forms the basis for discussion and decision making on project interventions.

Download report

Related Vlogpost: Participatory 3D Modelling (P3DM) for bottom-up decision-making in Vanuatu

Maptionnaire - Helsinki's brave idea to bring planning to the masses

Maptionnaire is an online platform that allows you to create map-based questionnaires for different types of cases when you need to ask "where". Respondents can for example pin locations, and draw routes or lines. It's up to the project manager to think what kind of issues he/she wants to ask and build an appropriate questionnaire with Maptionnaire's editor tool. The project manager can also include options for adding written and/or multiple choice or open ended questions. Traditional survey questions that are not linked to geo-specific entries may also be included. The project manager has the discretion to invite respondents and the results can be reviewed with Maptionnaire's built-in analytical tool. The results can be exported to all major GIS software if needed.

Indonesia - Dayaks and Drones- How technology can promote sustainable forests and communities

Even a well-managed, recognised forest faces constant challenges but innovative drone GPS technology, cooperative campaigning, local government support and eco-tourism are helping the Setulang people thrive. They have shown that community rights, the environment and development go hand in hand.

Setulang boasts clean water, sustainable fishing and hunting, building materials, fruit and traditional medicine, a ‘life bank’ for future generations. But by being in a heavily forested area they still face the growing threat of timber, oil palm and mining companies. The head of the village is looking to find new and innovative solutions to protect his land and a team of experts from West Kalimantan may have the answer. GPS based drones are being used for the first time to map community land and the results have been impressive.

http://ifnotusthenwho.me/story/malinau/

Drones for urban planning in Tanzania - An Introduction and Demonstration

Frederick Mbuya, an IT Consultant and drone enthusiast based in Tanzania, walks through some basics about drones and a demonstration in Tandale, a vast and unplanned urban community in Dar Es Salaam.

Participatory 3 Dimensional Modelling in Madagascar: A process to be replicated in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Participatory three-dimensional modelling (P3DM) has already shown considerable potential in a number of countries with regard to the mobilisation of communities in the context of bottom-up planning and management of natural resources.  In Madagascar, the very first P3DM exercise took place in February 2015, in the Avaratrambolo water catchment area.

The exercise was conducted in a rural farming area some 35 km from the Madagascan capital, Antananarivo. The population of this region, situated in the northern part of the island, makes a living almost exclusively from rice farming, with weak purchasing power and poor access to the markets. The rural landscape is dominated by paddy fields, small forest plantations and a small remnant of natural forest. The catchment represents the source of a number of important river courses.
The P3DM exercise took place within the framework of a project aimed at promoting agriculture and water management called "Let's move towards change", Ndao hivoatra in the Madagascan language. This project, which involves several local, national and international, has gained special significance for local communities.



As in many parts of Africa, property issues are very sensitive in Madagascar. This explains why, in recent years local communities have ben reluctant in participating in a number of rural development projects. The P3DM exercise in Avaratrambolo made a significant contribution to removing concerns related to potential land grabbing. As with earlier projects in the area, the Ndao hivoatra project was thought by rural communities to be a trick to take over ancestral land for the benefit of multinationals that pose as promoters of rural development in remote areas of Africa. In spite of the numerous awareness-raising meetings which preceded the P3DM exercise communities perceived the forthcoming mapping process as a means for identifying areas which could be taken away. This had to radically change during the P3DM process …

The first phase of the exercise involved the construction of the blank 3D model. This phase was preceded by a workshop involving local facilitators and international facilitators from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as well as representatives of the institutions involved in the Ndao hivoatra project, to plan the process, identify preliminary equipment, logistics and define how best to engage the communities in participating. It was during this workshop that all those involved gained an understanding of the overall scope of the forthcoming mapping exercise.

The first visit by facilitators to the village of Ambohitrakely took place under a torrential downpour over a severely eroded and hardly accessible dirt road. This first activity was intended to guide schoolchildren trace and cut out cardboard layers for the construction of the 3D model. The children's work on the model sparked the curiosity of their parents. Gradually, adults including residents of nearby villages became involved in the construction of the model.

On 13 February 2015 the completed 3D model was officially displayed in the village of Ambohitrakely. In addition to representatives from the project implementing agencies, national ministries, researchers and other stakeholders, the event brought together a large and festive crowd including local, religious and traditional authorities and the local population which initially appeared reluctant to participate in the Ndao hivoatra project due to the sensitivity of the land tenure issue. The positive messages and the enthusiasm shown by the participants were a clear indicator of the behavioural change occurred. The model-making process proved to have plaid a reconciliatory role with regard to the project. Active participation of the local communities in the construction of the model and, in particular, in their driving role in defining the content of the map legend and populating the model with geo-referenced data, noticeably increased their confidence and feeling of ownership and control of the process. Residents now feel that the 3D model belongs to them as a tool to guide the implementation of the Ndao hivoatra project.

P3DM proved to be a powerful process for land and forest planning, management and development. The success of this exercise in Madagascar points to the usefulness and the opportunity for replicating the process elsewhere in Africa. For example, the exercise could be run in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the process of governance and management of community forests continues to progress. The publication of Decree No. 14/018 dated 2 August 2014 sets the modalities for allocating forest concessions to local communities in the DRC. Concerned local communities and Indigenous Peoples would benefit from P3DM to identify their ancestral territories and effectively plan and implement both conservation and sustainable development projects. The creation and operationalisation of the community forests and the recognition of indigenous and community conserved areas (ICCAs) in the DRC is a process that requires not only the passing of pertinent legislation, but also, and in particular, a commitment on the part of a range of stakeholders. Without obtaining full support from technical, scientific and financial stakeholders, the good will of the DRC government may be in vain.

Written by Dominique Bikaba, Strong Roots Congo

Notes from the author: The success of this first P3DM process in Madagascar can be credited also to the qualities and skills of the lead facilitator Mr Barthélemy Boika, who demonstrated his talents as an educator and community motivator. My thanks also go to the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) for its technical inputs and for supporting my participation in the exercise.

The project « ndao hivoatra » has been launched by the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) with funding provided by the World Bank to promote sustainable rural development. Le projet is implemented by Artelia Madagascar with technical support provided by Farming and Technology for Africa (FTA) in partnership with FOFIFA (Centre National de la Recherche Appliquée au Développement Rural). The P3DM exercise which represents a punctual component of the overall project has been supported technically and financially by CTA.

Drones, Open Data and urban transport

This video reveals the role that UAVs and drones can play in helping city planners and citizens democratize data and imagery about transportation in cities.

Construction participative de maquettes en trois dimensions - Guide méthodologique

Produit à partir du projet "Soutien aux économies paysannes vulnérables du bassin versant de la rivière Fond Melon et de la vallée de Marbial" mis en place par AVSF et son partenaire CROSE de 2007 à 2010 dans le Sud-Est d’Haïti, ce guide méthodologique présente une expérience innovante de construction et utilisation de maquette en 3D pour créer une véritable dynamique de démocratie locale pour l'aménagement d'un territoire rural.

Dans une 1ère partie, le guide présente les conditions et outils pour la fabrication de maquettes en 3D, en rappelant quelques spécificités liées au contexte haïtien et les différentes adaptations pratiques développées.

Dans la 2ème partie, il expose les approches et méthodes de valorisation et d’animation autour de cet outil, pour créer de véritables dynamiques de démocratie locale.