Participatory Mapping Exercise Research Articles

Decolonizing cartography and ontological conflict: Counter-mapping in Colombia and “cartographies otherwise”

Discussions in decolonial literature have recently drawn on the concept of “ontological conflict” to reflect on the conflictual entanglements of diverse cosmologies. In Latin America (as elsewhere) these conflicts are frequently of a territorial nature, with indigenous and black communities making claims to communal land rights as indispensable part of their respective ways of being-in-the-world, which the post-colonial state has increasingly begun to acknowledge, often in the form of new political constitutions. In this article I examine the role of cartography in the resolution of such ontological conflicts; in particular a participatory mapping exercise in Colombia known as “social cartography,” which aims to challenge dominant cartographic representations and empowering local communities vis-à-vis the state. At the same time, I reflect on the limits of such an emancipatory vision and on the ways in which Colombia's version of counter-mapping has been coopted by dominant power. Inspired by the Modernity/Coloniality/Decoloniality framework, I contextualize this experience within other radical mapping exercises, or “cartographies otherwise,” in places such as Australia, Palestine and the Straits of Gibraltar, to finally suggest that the art of decolonizing cartography may be seen as a tool of Hardt & Negri's project of a multitude in resistance.

A Tailored Method for Strategic Environmental Assessment in Maritime Spatial Planning

Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is used to identify the potential impacts of plans and policies such as maritime spatial planning (MSP). Studies have demonstrated ambiguity in SEA objectives and substantial knowledge gaps in existing and emerging SEA practices for MSP. The aim of this paper is to support a methodology for the development, implementation, and monitoring of SEA for MSP plans based on a stepwise, participatory mapping exercise by experts, using indicators to evaluate areas of conflicts/synergies in possible future scenarios. An overview of 16 proposed indicators identified a representative criterion. Participatory sector analyses were performed in three scenarios. Most conflicts focused on coastal areas, indicating that coastal planning should be a priority in all possible scenarios. The methodology developed in this paper uses GES indicators to perform the assessment of the three different scenarios and makes the development of a participatory mapping approach with experts in the very early stages of the process a more feasible alternative for a first assessment. This methodology was efficient in a collaborative SEA evaluation of MSPs to facilitate an ecosystem approach in an Azorean case study.

Narco-degradation: Cocaine trafficking’s environmental impacts in Central America’s protected areas

Central America exemplifies a dynamic unfolding around the world where transnational illicit economies are driving land use change. Despite an extensive network of protected areas, Central America has one of the highest deforestation rates in the world in the past 20 years. Some of this forest loss is due to the international cocaine trade, as drug trafficking organizations launder money into extractive economies and seek to control territories along their supply chain. While research documents land change from narcotrafficking in transit nodes, or narco-deforestation (e.g. Sesnie et al., 2017), less research exists examining other environmental impacts near cocaine transit nodes in protected areas and biodiversity hotspots, which we term “narco-degradation.” We conducted i) interviews and participatory mapping exercises with 65 actors working in protected areas in Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica and ii) 11 workshops with 76 protected areas managers to understand and document spatial concentration of different types of narco-degradation. Coded interviews and maps yield 500 narco-degradation activities occurring between 2000 and 2018. Our analysis reveals that narco-trafficking affects multiple ecosystems, not only forests, and that variations in narco-degradation types and intensities reflect differences in the three nodes’ transportation practices (air, land, maritime), their age and activity levels (emerging nodes, hotspots, and declining nodes), and their physical geography. In all three protected areas, narco-trafficking accelerates the conversion of natural resources into commodities (such as land, lumber, minerals, and fauna), their extraction, and entry into legal and illegal markets. We conclude by arguing that narco-degradation negatively and disproportionately impacts the livelihoods and governance structures of Indigenous and peasant communities living in and around Central America’s protected areas. These insights contribute an integrated socio-ecological analysis of the role of narco-capital and cocaine trafficking’s contribution to illicit global environmental change.

Participatory Mapping with High-resolution Satellite Imagery: A Mixed method Assessment of Land Degradation and Rehabilitation in Northern Burkina Faso.

Sahelian West Africa is a region that suffers from high population densities, frequent severe droughts, and enormous pressure on natural resources. Because of these challenges, it is the place where the term "desertification" was originally coined. Recently, however, experts have identified large zones of "greening" where the amount of vegetation exceeds what one would expect based on rainfall alone. This pattern is well documented, but its mechanisms remain poorly understood. This research employs participatory mapping linked with high-resolution satellite imagery to better understand the human role behind regional vegetation trends. Through a case study of three communities in northern Burkina Faso, this paper presents a pilot methodology for explicitly mapping perceived areas of both land degradation and rehabilitation. Combining participatory mapping exercises with standard image classification techniques allows areas of land degradation and rehabilitation to be precisely located and their extents measured for individual communities and their surrounding terroirs. Results of the spatial analysis show that the relative proportion of greening and browning varies among communities. In the case of Sakou, nearly 60 percent of its terroir is degraded. While in another, Kouka, this is 48 percent. This method also elicits perspectives of Burkinabè agro-pastoralists on the local land-use practices driving these twin environmental processes. Altogether, this case study demonstrates the analytical power of integrating ethnography and high-resolution satellite imagery to provide a bottom-up perspective on social-ecological dynamics.

Human movement influenced by perceived risk of wildlife encounters at fine scales: Evidence from central India

Most research applying the ‘landscape of fear’ concept to human-wildlife interactions explores wildlife responses to anthropogenic risks, such as altered movement patterns. Here, we explored people's landscapes of fear by investigating their perceptions of spatio-temporal variation in the risk of encountering wildlife, and how those perceptions influence their movement. We conducted a participatory risk mapping exercise with people living in the buffer zones of two protected areas in central India, which provide habitat to tigers, leopards, sloth bears, and numerous crop-raiding herbivores. We then tracked people's movement using GPS devices and explored how their movement related to their risk maps. Results of integrated step selection functions show that perceived risk influenced the speed and directedness with which people move, mixed evidence that perceived risk influenced where people went (habitat selection), and variation in how individuals responded to risks from different species. Future research on how humans and wildlife adapt to each other should investigate (1) human behavioral responses to wildlife over longer periods of time, (2) how movement affects the spatial patterns of human-wildlife conflict, and (3) the cultural and cognitive dimensions of how risk and emotions influence people's movement decisions.

Mapping the geography of disease: A comparison of epidemiologists' and field-level experts' disease maps

This paper examines differences between expert and field-level experts' assessments of the geography of animal disease. Mapping the geographical spread and prevalence of disease is central to attempt to reduce disease incidence and encourage preventive behaviour. Animal disease maps reflect the values and assumptions of epidemiologists who construct them. Where their spatial representations conflict with those held by farmers and local veterinarians, the usefulness of disease maps will be undermined. Whilst democratising epidemiological map making could broaden the expertise required to map animal disease maps, little is known about the extent to which the geographical imaginations of animal disease vary between epidemiological experts and field-level experts (farmers and veterinarians). To compare the extent to which these perspectives vary, data were drawn from eight expert opinion workshops involving farmers and veterinarians in areas vulnerable to the spread of animal disease. Participants were engaged in three participatory mapping exercises, to map the geography of disease vulnerability and endemicity of animal disease in their local area and compare their maps with official epidemiological assessments of disease. Results reveal variations in the geographical imaginations and mobilities of disease within and between experts and field-level experts, and in different locations depending on disease risks. However, in mapping these perceptions, differences become less pronounced. These findings therefore challenge previous binary categorisations of animal disease expertise, suggesting a more complex overlapping relationship between different styles of knowledge. The paper concludes by discussing the policy implications of these findings for animal disease mapping.

Climate change adaptation: the case of coastal communities in the Philippines

Climate change poses challenges and risks to coastal communities, and the adaptation of local residents is a critically relevant issue that needs to be addressed in the policymaking process. The main purpose of this paper is to determine the perceptions and experiences of climate change among coastal community residents in the Philippines. This study used a combination of methods, such as participatory mapping exercises, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and document analyses. The data, which were primarily collected from three coastal villages in the province of Bulacan, were subjected to a thematic network analysis. The findings revealed four dominant themes pertaining to climate change adaptation in a coastal community setting: vulnerability conditions, risk awareness, risk perceptions, and climate change awareness and perceptions. In particular, it was found out that the communities were exposed to the threats of natural hazards like flood and storm surge. Such exposure highlighted the residents' concerns over the risks of hazards on their livelihoods and properties. The residents also observed the unpredictability and the worsening effects of climate change. With their direct experiences of the natural hazards' impacts and awareness of the presence of risks, residents had undertaken actions to build their adaptive capacity. This study then highlights the value of integrating local knowledge into the mapping exercises, revealing crucial information regarding vulnerabilities, risks, and adaptation practices.

The Role of Traditional Knowledge in Coastal Adaptation Priorities: The Pamunkey Indian Reservation

Coastal reservations are increasingly vulnerable to hazards exacerbated by climate change. Resources for restoration projects are limited. Storm surge, storms, tidal flooding, and erosion endanger artifacts and limit livelihoods of tribes in coastal Virginia. GIS offers a platform to increase communication between scientists, planners, and indigenous groups. The Pamunkey Indian Tribe engaged in a participatory mapping exercise to assess the role of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in coastal management decision-making and its capacity to address flooding. Priorities and strategies were spatially referenced using maps of potential sea level rise for 2040, 2060, and 2080, input into a resilience matrix to identify benchmarks for each phase of disaster resilience building, and contextualized with oral histories. Results highlight increased immediacy to protect housing and heritage sites along the shoreline as well as maintain access to the Reservation. Preferences toward structural solutions guided by and facilitating TEK options were expressed. Additional community capacities, tribal council support, federal assistance, impact assessments, and coordination would facilitate risk reduction project implementation. The screening process integrates TEK with planning and is transferable to neighboring tribes.

Community participation in assessment of fisheries related ecosystem services towards the establishment of marine protected area in the Greater Cape Three Points area in Ghana

Effective conservation management combines information obtained from formal scientific research with traditional knowledge derived from communities living within the ecosystem, in an integrated and comprehensive ecosystem assessment. To complement national efforts to establish Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in critical coastal ecosystems to protect nursery areas and spawning grounds in Ghana, two communities in the Greater Cape Three Points area in the Western Region of Ghana were involved in a participatory mapping and assessment exercise as part of an ecosystem-based approach to the establishment of MPAs in the area. The paper presents the processes by which the communities were engaged in identifying and mapping out top five priority ecosystem services (ES) vital for fisheries—an important livelihood source in the area—valuing the prioritized ecosystem services, and identifying and assessing four main anthropogenic pressures threatening the continual provisioning of ecosystem services. The relevance of such community participatory assessment in policy formulation is also discussed in the paper. The paper demonstrates that the livelihoods of rural coastal communities are linked to broader ecosystem functioning. It also shows that when participatory mapping is complemented with perspectives from direct beneficiaries of ES, managers are afforded a holistic insight into the array of issues that feed into a comprehensive management approach which addresses social, economic and ecological concerns.

Drawing on knowledge: Visual narrative analysis for critical environment and development research

Counter-narratives to dominant development discourses are made possible using research methods designed to elicit marginalized voices. In this article, we propose a new analytical framework called the interpretive schema for drawings for analyzing visual narratives. The interpretive schema for drawings consists of five themes or interpretive lenses ( scale, centrality, inclusion, connections, and relationality) that were generated from maps of fuelwood collection in rural India. We suggest that the interpretive schema reflects and animates a range of spatialities that are central to geographic studies of human–environment dynamics. Using the interpretive schema for drawings in this way enables us to emphasize emic socio-spatial perspectives, and offers a critical research avenue through which everyday realities can be represented, understood, and validated. While other image-based research approaches, critical cartographies and participatory mapping exercises may encourage the expression of alternative knowledges, our proposed interpretive schema for drawing presents a specific set of guidelines for interpreting and making sense of visual narratives through explicit socio-spatial analysis.

Integrating climate in Ugandan health and subsistence food systems: where diverse knowledges meet

BackgroundThe effects of food insecurity linked to climate change will be exacerbated in subsistence communities that are dependent upon food systems for their livelihoods and sustenance. Place-and community-based forms of surveillance are important for growing an equitable evidence base that integrates climate, food, and health information as well as informs our understanding of how climate change impacts health through local and Indigenous subsistence food systems.MethodsWe present a case-study from southwestern Uganda with Batwa and Bakiga subsistence communities in Kanungu District. We conducted 22 key informant interviews to map what forms of monitoring and knowledge exist about health and subsistence food systems as they relate to seasonal variability. A participatory mapping exercise accompanied key informant interviews to identify who holds knowledge about health and subsistence food systems. Social network theory and analysis methods were used to explore how information flows between knowledge holders as well as the power and agency that is involved in knowledge production and exchange processes.ResultsThis research maps existing networks of trusted relationships that are already used for integrating diverse knowledges, information, and administrative action. Narratives reveal inventories of ongoing and repeated cycles of observations, interpretations, evaluations, and adjustments that make up existing health and subsistence food monitoring and response. These networks of local health and subsistence food systems were not supported by distinct systems of climate and meteorological information. Our findings demonstrate how integrating surveillance systems is not just about what types of information we monitor, but also who and how knowledges are connected through existing networks of monitoring and response.ConclusionApplying conventional approaches to surveillance, without deliberate consideration of the broader contextual and relational processes, can lead to the re-marginalization of peoples and the reproduction of inequalities in power between groups of people. We anticipate that our findings can be used to inform the initiation of a place-based integrated climate-food-health surveillance system in Kanungu District as well as other contexts with a rich diversity of knowledges and existing forms of monitoring and response.

Identifying recreational ecosystem service areas of concern in Grand Canyon National Park: A participatory mapping approach

Increased visitor use and overuse are well-documented in popular national parks in the Western United States. Previous research has documented how this high level of visitor use negatively impacts park resources and inhibits the provisioning of recreational ecosystem services to park visitors. This research informs the management of recreational ecosystem services in wildland protected areas by identifying important provisioning areas, degraded provisioning areas, and at-risk provisioning areas through a participatory mapping exercise conducted with park managers and other key residential stakeholders (e.g., tourism operators, NGOs, and local community leaders) in Grand Canyon National Park. Following a mixed methods design, responses were analyzed via overlap, hotspot, and qualitative metadata analyses. Findings indicate that unique bundles of recreational ecosystem services are provisioned in specific areas across the study area. However, many of these service provisioning areas were also found to be either degraded or at-risk of degradation due to visitor use trends. Based on perceived service provisioning and degradation, areas of concern for recreational ecosystem service management were subsequently classified. Finally, sources and impacts of degradation for areas of concern were identified through a paired qualitative analysis of the spatial participatory mapping data. As a result, this manuscript outlines a new method of prioritizing areas for recreational ecosystem service management through an areas of concern analysis that examines the overlap of service provisioning areas and ecological and experiential degradation.

Effects of Droughts on Vegetation Condition and Ecosystem Service Delivery in Data-Poor Areas: A Case of Bobirwa Sub-District, Limpopo Basin and Botswana

Understanding the effects of droughts on vegetation and ecosystem services (ES) is important for climate change adaptation. However, drought occurrence varies across space and time. We examined drought dynamics and impacts on vegetation and ES in the semi-arid Limpopo Basin of Botswana. Weather station precipitation, remotely sensed normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and participatory mapping exercises provided data for the analyses. Results show that between 1980 and 2015, rainfall anomaly indices of potential drought years ranged between −4.38 and −0.12. The longest spell of below-average rainfall occurred between 1992 and 1996. On average, drought events lasted for 1.9 years and recurred every 2.3 years. Although the overall drought frequency was 3.7 times in every 5 years, drought prevalence increased to 50%, 60% and 70% between 1981–1990, 1991–2000, and 2001–2010, respectively. The wet season average vegetation condition index between 2000 and 2015 revealed the occurrence of severe-to-extreme droughts in 2002–2003, 2005, 2008–2009 and 2012–2013 and light-to-moderate droughts in 2004, 2006–2007 and 2011, giving a drought prevalence of 73.3%. The increased frequency and severity of droughts is diminishing natural vegetation, crop productivity and several provisioning ES through moisture stress and drought-induced agricultural expansions. There exists an urgent need for smallholder irrigation development in Bobirwa sub-district to improve crop productivity and reduce the drought-induced conversion of woodlands to agriculture.

Broaching the brook: Daylighting, community and the ‘stickiness’ of water

Over the last century, under the modern hydraulic model, waterways across the world have been heavily canalized and culverted, driven into underground pipes, drains and sewers. This hydraulic approach has hardwired an isolated water network into the urban fabric, fragmenting erstwhile patterns and dynamics of life, both human and nonhuman. Ecologically, it has been hugely damaging, reducing water quality and biotic diversity, but also socially, disconnecting citizens from the waterways that service and characterize the city. Consequently, since the 1990s, waterway restoration has become widespread as a design solution to degraded rivers and streams, reinstating compromised hydrological, geomorphological and ecological processes. Deculverting or ‘daylighting’, the focus of this paper, is a radical form of restoration, opening up subterranean, culverted waterways often forgotten by communities above ground. Yet, as this paper emphasizes, waterway restoration has tended to privilege ecological over social objectives, while public engagement in project conceptualization has been limited, conducted ‘downstream’ subsequent to planning and design stages. Restoration schemes have therefore tended to reflect the concerns of professionals rather than communities, overlooking their potential for social renewal and change. Drawing on workshop data collected through participatory mapping exercises, this paper explores the case for daylighting a culverted brook in Urmston, Greater Manchester, focusing in particular on the preferences, concerns and knowledge of local residents. The paper compares professional and community perspectives on the preferred scheme design and potential benefits of daylighting, drawing out differences and tensions between them, temporarily ‘unblackboxing’ the brook. It is ventured that daylighting can unleash the social ‘stickiness’ of water, its proclivity to draw and bind together, to revitalize the park, enhancing connection to wildness, attachment to place and sense of community. This is particularly crucial in the face of decreased local authority funding and related crises in park management.

The specter of the “art-less city”: Locating artists in Philadelphia’s creative economy

ABSTRACT Artists and creativity are on the urban agenda. Scholars and policymakers have embraced the role of artists as key drivers of economic growth and urban vitality. Yet, accounts of artists’ agency often reduce artists to members of a creative class, rendering the arts an instrument for economic growth and erasing important class and racial differences in the field. This paper centers artists’ perspectives through four focus group discussions with artists in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Participatory mapping exercises produced narratives about artists’ experiences with two kinds of displacement: physical displacement from neighborhoods and places where artists live and work; and displacement from the creative cities narrative. Displacement raises the specter of what we call the “art-less” city, where a broad swath of art-making is evacuated from the city. We contrast this with the “artful” city, where artists are supported as workers with the means to produce their work and flourish in life.

Social-ecological assessment of Lake Manyara basin, Tanzania: A mixed method approach

The social-ecological system of the Lake Manyara basin (Northern Tanzania), a UNESCO Biosphere reserve (BR) suffers from social-economic and environmental problems due to decreasing water levels, erosion and land and water use conflicts. We propose an integrated assessment of the social-ecological interactions of the area to support future sustainable management. Within the Drivers-Pressures-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework an integrated literature review and several methods of knowledge collection were combined to identify future management priorities and challenges. During focus groups with farmers and pastoralists, stakeholders confirmed the role played by land use changes as driver and pressure in the landscape, e.g. through increased erosion rates and siltation of the lake. Moreover, economic and social issues were identified as prominent factors being influenced by, or influencing these processes. These statements match the scientific literature. During participatory mapping exercises different spatial and resource allocation perceptions appeared amongst pastoralists and farmers. The multidisciplinary approach proved to be useful to acquire an integrated and comprehensive understanding of the state, challenges and opportunities of Lake Manyara BR, to feed into a decision support system in service of an integrated management plan. Our assessment suggests that improved water governance in a multi-actor approach (with a focus on distribution of benefits, rights, and a specific role of the water authorities) should be a priority for future integrated management strategies. Also, awareness raising amongst decision makers, scientists and local communities is needed to demonstrate the advantages of an integrated approach. And finally, visible and fair mechanisms to share conservation revenues should be designed in a way that local benefits can be obtained together with incentive mechanisms for co-management and conservation.

Reproducing spatial inequality? The sustainability fix and barriers to urban mobility in Portland, Oregon

ABSTRACT We explore how the language of “just sustainability” may become subsumed into a sustainability fix strategy, depoliticizing the utility of concepts such as justice and/or equity. Building from critical GIS insights, we combine digitized spatial data from participatory mapping exercises and community-organization-based focus group in Portland, Oregon, regarding a proposed six-mile biking and walking path around downtown. We find that 80 percent of participants’ typical travel destinations are outside of downtown Portland and that participants experience planning and sustainability in a highly localized manner, challenging the equity rationale of downtown investment. We argue the top-down planning model, which presumes that the spatial diffusion of benefits is equitable, is inherently ahistorical and fails to benefit those in historically marginalized neighborhoods. Finally, we argue for the value of community-oriented research, which, in this case, inspired a coalition of community organizations to formally oppose a city-led project based on the inequitable distribution of infrastructure benefits.

Building blue infrastructure: Assessing the key environmental issues and priority areas for ecological engineering initiatives in Australia's metropolitan embayments

Ecological engineering principles are increasingly being applied to develop multifunctional artificial structures or rehabilitated habitats in coastal areas. Ecological engineering initiatives are primarily driven by marine scientists and coastal managers, but often the views of key user groups, which can strongly influence the success of projects, are not considered. We used an online survey and participatory mapping exercise to investigate differences in priority goals, sites and attitudes towards ecological engineering between marine scientists and coastal managers as compared to other stakeholders. The surveys were conducted across three Australian cities that varied in their level of urbanisation and environmental pressures. We tested the hypotheses that, relative to other stakeholders, marine scientists and coastal managers will: 1) be more supportive of ecological engineering; 2) be more likely to agree that enhancement of biodiversity and remediation of pollution are key priorities for ecological engineering; and 3) identify different priority areas and infrastructure or degraded habitats for ecological engineering. We also tested the hypothesis that 4) perceptions of ecological engineering would vary among locations, due to environmental and socio-economic differences. In all three harbours, marine scientists and coastal managers were more supportive of ecological engineering than other users. There was also greater support for ecological engineering in Sydney and Melbourne than Hobart. Most people identified transport infrastructure, in busy transport hubs (i.e. Circular Quay in Sydney, the Port in Melbourne and the Waterfront in Hobart) as priorities for ecological engineering, irrespective of their stakeholder group or location. There were, however, significant differences among locations in what people perceive as the key priorities for ecological engineering (i.e. biodiversity in Sydney and Melbourne vs. pollution in Hobart). Greater consideration of these location-specific differences is essential for effective management of artificial structures and rehabilitated habitats in urban embayments.

Using body mapping as part of the risk assessment process – a case study

This paper reports on a study undertaken to identify levels of MSD in relation to methods of waste collection. The need to quantify and eliminate ill health arising out of work is vital to reduce workplace absence leading to debate on associated relationships between the methods of waste collection and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Body mapping is a participatory research tool that has been successfully used to investigate workplace ill health problems. Participatory body mapping exercises were carried out using staff at a UK District Council 2 years before and after the move from boxes and baskets to a wheeled bin recycling service. The study introduces the concept of Average Pain Count (APC). The data, supports previous studies showing wheeled bin based services (APC 2.07 & 2.80) are associated with less MSD outcomes than services including boxes, baskets and sacks (APC 4.02).The surveys provided compelling evidence to suggest that there are associations between age and self-reported pain although there appeared to be no patterns with regards length of service. These findings should help Local Authorities better understand critical factors regarding waste collection strategies and self-reported pain. There are recommendations regarding the use of body mapping and for industry practice.

Comparing multi-criteria evaluation and participatory mapping to projecting land use

Projections pertaining to future land use and land use change may have diverse backgrounds. Often, both local and scientific knowledge encompass important pieces of information for such a projection. Acknowledging the diversity across the two types of knowledge, we investigated their differences and similarities in a twofold case study, conducting a participatory mapping (PM) exercise with local wine growers, as well as a Multi Criteria Evaluation (MCE) with non-local experts from science, government and industry. Hence, we not only utilised two different knowledge elicitation methods, but also two types of ‘knowledges’.Within a region dominated by vineyards, and with expected land use change, we compared the two results quantitatively, in a participatory evaluation workshop, and with annotations gained through the participatory mapping exercise. Both methods have their merits, with the results from the participatory mapping perceived as being more plausible, and the MCE scoring higher in terms of spatial resolution. Whilst the participatory mapping yields more and better contextualised information, the results from the MCE can be better compared across study areas.