Abstract
Based on the criterion of governance quality, this study aimed to use the case of community-based monitoring in Taiwanese Wu-Wei-Kang Wildlife Refuge to evaluate the impact of public participation geographic information system (PPGIS) on its governance quality regarding inclusiveness, respect, competence, visions and scopes, accountability, and equity. Our research included 31 informants and 75 records (25 by in-depth interview and 50 from participant observation) collected in the field from 2009 to 2015. The results show that there are several effects attributable to the application of PPGIS in substratum elevation monitoring, including generating high quality data; strengthening monitoring processes and extending attributes of its outputs by lay knowledge; promoting stakeholders’ understanding of wetlands and their involvement in negotiations; increasing their capacity and degree to participate in refuge management; amending visions and scopes of this refuge; rearranging stakeholder divisions of labor; and assisting local communities as partners of this refuge. This study demonstrates that governance quality could provide a useful concept for evaluating PPGIS effectiveness on stakeholders’ participation, knowledge interpretation, capacity and consensus building, decision-making, and distribution of rights. Being a sole case with a qualitative approach, further case studies need to be undertaken to better understand the relationships between protected area governance quality and PPGIS.
Highlights
The present study seeks to examine institutional arrangements and distribution of rights and duties, etc. for governance of protected areas (PA) [1,2,3]
Apart from introducing participation geographic information system (PPGIS) and analyzing related data in the beginning, Wei River Cultural and Education Association (WRCEA) participated in the planning and implementation of substratum elevation monitoring and they held a workshop to invite stakeholders to jointly interpret the monitoring results
In the course of the present study, assisted by PPGIS, community members worked with the academic team in developing and implementing community-based monitoring of substratum elevation measurement, through which high-quality data was produced
Summary
The present study seeks to examine institutional arrangements and distribution of rights and duties, etc. for governance of protected areas (PA) [1,2,3]. The present case study concerns the Wu-Wei-Kang Wildlife Refuge in Ilan County, northeastern Taiwan where we introduced PPGIS and worked with a local conservation organization, Wu-Wei River Cultural and Education Association (WRCEA), on refuge planning and management and community monitoring from 2007. Since 2007, sponsored by the Ilan County Government, WRCEA started to host platform meetings to communicate and discuss issues concerning the wildlife refuge The participants in this platform meeting are primarily stakeholders who are relevant to the management of this refuge. The topics discussed in the platform meeting are mainly those of refuge management including habitat restoration, community communication, infrastructure maintenance, research and survey, and environmental education These platform meetings offered an opportunity for the stakeholders to learn to use PPGIS proficiently and for local communities to apply PPGIS-related knowledge and software to the decision-making process regarding the main governance issues [62]
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