Home

SD Toolbox
Participatory Mapping
Participatory mapping is a general term used to define a growing toolbox of visualization techniques that empower local communities and indigenous peoples to become more involved in natural resource management and environmental protection. It emerged from participatory rural appraisal (PRA) (see our previous issue for details of the PRA tool) methodologies, which spread widely throughout the development community in the 1980s. PRA emphasizes transparency and inclusiveness of all community members in an event, most often related to a development initiative or some form of community-based decision-making process.

These participatory maps go beyond the physical features portrayed in traditional maps; nearly everything valued by the community can be expressed in spatial terms and represented on a participatory map, including social features such as geographic spread, demography, village layout, available natural resources and their use or potential dangers and threats concerning the use, access to infrastructure, ethno-linguistic groups, health patterns, wealth and the dynamics of inclusion/exclusion from development and decision-making; cultural features such as areas of cultural and spiritual importance; economic features such as different sources of livelihoods, land use, cropping patterns, vegetation (including forests); and ecological features such as salient features, natural and man-made, of the territory being mapped (rivers, creeks, swamps, hills; villages, roads, trails). The process used to create the maps is as valuable (or possibly more valuable) as the maps themselves, since participants often find themselves more fully engaged in the mapping process than they would have otherwise.

Why is it important?
Participatory mapping, like many other visualization tools, is a powerful tool that can elicit information from stakeholders in a format that is easily understood and shared. It increases stakeholder involvement and helps to gain an insight how the involved people think about issues of importance to them and how they set their priorities. On the other hand, it can sometimes also be useful to do locality mapping at the desk, as a first planning step to avoid long discussions and potential conflicts in the field. This basic map can then be completed together with other stakeholders. A participatory map serves as the basis for fruitful discussions and decision-making. It also develops imaginative thinking and knowledge fusions maximizing the creative potential of a community.

How Participatory Mapping is Used
Participatory mapping is commonly used in the following ways:
•  To create maps that represent resources, hazards, community values, usage (e.g., for recreation or other visitor use), perceptions, or alternative scenarios;
•  To gather traditional knowledge and practices and to collect information (hazards, environmental, socioeconomic, visitor use, etc.) for assessments or monitoring;
•  To identify critical data gaps;
•  To inform other data collection methods (e.g., formal surveys, interviews, etc.);
•  To evaluate existing programs, plans, and activities;
•  To facilitate the decision-making process;
•  To assist with data gathering for research;
•  To empower stakeholders;
•  To conduct trends analysis; and
•  To educate stakeholders about issues and interrelationships of resources outside
their immediate areas of concern.

Sources: UNEP. Participatory Mapping and Indigenous Communities , IFAD. The IFAD adaptive approach to participatory mapping , IFAD. Good practices in participatory mapping