Abstract
Climate change challenges mountain communities to prepare themselves via Community-Based Adaptation (CBA) plans that reduce vulnerability. This paper outlines the evaluation of a developed web-based information system to support CBA, referred to as a Mountain Community Adaptive System (MCAS). The web-based user interface visualizes collated data from data providers, integrating it with near real-time climate and weather datasets. The interface provides more up-to-date information than was previously available on the environment, particularly on land and climate. MCAS, a cloud-based Land Information System (LIS), was developed using an Agile-inspired approach offering system creation based on bare minimum system requirements and iterative development. The system was tested against Fit-For-Purpose Land Administration (FFP LA) criteria to assess the effectiveness in a case from Nepal. The results illustrate that an MCAS-style system can provide useful information such as land use status, adaptation options, near real-time rainfall and temperature details, amongst others, to enable services that can enhance CBA activities. The information can facilitate improved CBA planning and implementation at the mountain community level. Despite the mentioned benefits of MCAS, ensuring system access was identified as a key limitation: smartphones and mobile technologies still remain prohibitively expensive for members of mountain communities, and underlying information communication technology (ICT) infrastructures remain under-developed in the assessed mountain communities. The results of the evaluation further suggest that the land-related aspects of climate change should be added to CBA initiatives. Similarly, existing LIS could have functionalities extended to include climate-related variables that impact on land use, tenure, and development.
Highlights
Community-Based Adaptations (CBAs) are policy driven interventions, focused on agricultural investment [1], via community-based activities [2]
Communities are scattered in small populations and may be skipped over in programs aimed at enabling technology update and dissemination
The results of the user test were coded based on the adapted elements of Fit-For-Purpose Land Administration (FFP LA), which involved comparing the results found with the adapted definition of each component
Summary
Community-Based Adaptations (CBAs) are policy driven interventions, focused on agricultural investment [1], via community-based activities [2]. Effective CBA demands that communities are equipped with the relevant information about land and climate This enables engagement and assists decision-making at the local level to realize the true benefits of CBA. Communities are scattered in small populations and may be skipped over in programs aimed at enabling technology update and dissemination In these areas installation, repair, and maintenance of any old and new information communication technology (ICT) infrastructure is more challenging than in other contexts. Repair, and maintenance of any old and new information communication technology (ICT) infrastructure is more challenging than in other contexts It is more complicated and time-consuming to transfer the required personnel and materials to such places as supportive infrastructure, for example, roads and transport infrastructure, are often weaker or damaged. Whilst geospatial data including satellite images, surveying and cartography facilitate information provision about mountainous areas, issues of excessive terrain relief [11], atmospheric errors, shadow effects in satellite images [12,13], human resource limitations (in surveying), lead to incomplete spatial information coverage of mountainous areas [14]
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