Participatory GIS

Issue 27 of ICT Update focuses on the use of participatory geographic information systems (Participatory GIS or PGIS) in agriculture and natural resource management. The issue includes PGIS project overviews from India, Kenya, Namibia, Senegal and Tanzania, as well as a series of links, relevant documents and lessons learned in working with PGIS.

The opportunities offered by a PGIS approach are explained by Giacomo Rambaldi in the issue's editorial:

"Resource distribution, tenure and access are crucial factors in natural resources management. What they have in common is that they are spatially defined within broader social, economic and environmental contexts, so that quantitative and qualitative descriptions alone are not sufficient to support their objective interpretation and use in social learning, negotiation and communication processes. Data on resource use, access and tenure lose their full meaning if not considered within their complete social and geographic context."

These PGIS efforts are an attempt to harness local knowledge with the help of modern spatial (or geographic) information technologies and systems, and to integrate that knowledge in the broader planning process. Additionally, the process offers a communication opportunity, encouraging a multi-directional flow of information, impacting not only the GIS data store, but benefiting social learning and the negotiation process.

In this issue:

• Editorial - from Giacomo Rambaldi, Regional Programme Coordinatior for Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation. Here, Rambalidi provides an overview of PGIS as a practice.
• Case studies and project in PGIS and P3DM (participatory 3D modelling)
  • P3DM: Mapping for sustainable agriculture in Sasatgre, India
  • ICTs in Namibia’s communal area conservancies
  • Mobile GIS and local knowledge in monitoring carbon stocks
  • Kenya: Introducing GIS to a rural community
  • Kenya: Mapping Gums and Resins in the Greater Horn of Africa (GHA)
• Links to PGIS related sites, including software vendors, data sources and examples of PGIS projects
• Lessons learned while implementing PGIS in community forestry planning in Cameroon
• Q&A: GIT&S and PGIS for developing countries including questions and answers on the use of PGIS and geographic information technologies and systems (GIT&S) in natural resource planning and management in developing countries. In this section the author discusses benefits and drawbacks and argues that "sophisticated technology can empower marginalized groups by providing them with some leverage in their dealings with government agencies and private companies that are making plans for exploiting natural resources in their environs."
• Additional documents including papers on PGIS in natural resource management.