Abstract
ContextLocal scale assessments of ecosystem/landscape services in Africa are insufficient and lack relevance in landscape management. Also, few studies have explored the potential benefits of PGIS/PPGIS approaches for landscape management and stewardship among the participating stakeholders.ObjectivesOur aim is (1) to establish an understanding of the realization of landscape services at the local scale across three multifunctional rural landscapes in Tanzania through PGIS/PPGIS approaches and (2) to create an understanding of these approaches’ potential to support participatory spatial planning.MethodsSemi-structured surveys (n = 313) including participatory mapping of provisioning and cultural landscape services were organised to characterise their spatial patterns. The survey results were shared with the communities (n = 97) in workshops where services were ranked and the participants interviewed about their map-reading capacity, personal learning experiences, and their ability to use maps to express opinions.ResultsThe most abundant landscape services are sites for social gatherings and cultivation. The spatial patterns of provisioning services are realizations of human benefits from the patterns of the biophysical landscape. Overall, cultural landscape services show clustering and small spatial extent (except aesthetics). The PGIS/PPGIS approach allows for local-level, spatially specific discussions between stakeholders. The visual power of maps and satellite images is particularly emphasised.ConclusionIn the data-scarce context common in the Global South, the participatory mapping of landscape services has the potential to advance understanding of the benefits that the landscape has for the local communities and how this information, when mapped spatially, can be integrated with local-level planning practices.
Highlights
The ecosystem service framework has gained ground as an integrated framework with which to study the relations between ecosystems and people and to guide decision making towards sustainability (Millennium Ecosystem Assestment 2005)
The Participatory GIS (PGIS)/PPGIS approach allows for local-level, spatially specific discussions between stakeholders
In the data-scarce context common in the Global South, the participatory mapping of landscape services has the potential to advance understanding of the benefits that the landscape has for the local communities and how this information, when mapped spatially, can be integrated with locallevel planning practices
Summary
The ecosystem service framework has gained ground as an integrated framework with which to study the relations between ecosystems and people and to guide decision making towards sustainability (Millennium Ecosystem Assestment 2005). The ecosystem service framework aims to address the complex dynamics, interactions, resilience, and adaption of landscape structure–function-benefit chains in socio-ecological systems and the decoupling of the natural and human dimensions of land use (Opdam 2013; Schroter et al 2014) To address this challenge, landscape services has been suggested as a specification to the concept of ecosystem services to be used in the analysis of these flows from the landscape into provisioning and cultural benefits and to be applied in communitybased transdisciplinary, collaborative spatial planning and decision making (Termorshuizen and Opdam 2009)
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