A participatory approach in GIS data collection for flood risk management, Muzarabani district, Zimbabwe

Abstract

Recent attempts to integrate geographic information systems (GIS) and participatory techniques have given rise to terminologies such as participatory GIS and community-integrated GIS. Little has been published about the usefulness of participatory GIS, especially for purposes of flood risk assessment in Zimbabwe. This paper attempts to address this research gap and demonstrates that when combined with participatory methodologies, GIS can provide a mechanism for assessing flood extend in flood-prone communities of Chadereka in Muzarabani communal lands. Flood risk is increasing in the flood-prone areas in Zimbabwe, especially in remote areas where gauging stations are non-existent because of lack of hydrometeorological and climate data for these areas, historical and projected flood events cannot be assessed through modelling. The spatial extent of the flood zone of the December 2007 flash flood event that took place in Chadereka area was mapped using participatory geographic information systems (PGIS), as well as the data collected through interviews that were held with key informants and focus group discussions. Using this approach, a flood extend assessment map was drawn by triangulating the resultant 12 PGIS maps produced by the local community. The results of the study suggest that if conventional GIS and flood modelling is cross checked with PGIS and fieldwork results, the spatial characteristics of floods in ungauged flood-prone areas can be improved and enable the profiling of floods in Chadereka ward.