An experiment on the role of participatory GIS in the adjudication process of customary lands

Abstract

This study presents the results from an experiment conducted in two peri-urban areas of Northern Ghana using Participatory GIS (PGIS) to identify land tenure and use rights on customary and statutory lands. P-Mapping was used to uncover indigenous knowledge on the changes in land ownership, land use rights and land-use types over ten years. The paper finds that properly trained local people can reliably delineate and indicate land rights and land uses in their environment on photomaps with little support from professionals. The experiment results show that PGIS can accelerate land adjudication processes on customary lands.