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C1. Participatory Resource Mapping
Maps are very important tools for defining rights and responsibilities. For many generations during
colonial eras and still to this day, maps have been used to dispossess communities of their lands and
territories to make way for national parks, resource extraction, and large-scale development and
agriculture projects. Over the past 20 years, communities have begun to redress this power imbalance by
developing and testing participatory approaches to mapping in many different contexts, including:
Identifying customary territories and areas of resource use, including overlaps with national parks;
Resolving conflict over boundaries between communities;
Recording and safeguarding locations of cultural and sacred sites; and
Clarifying jurisdictions of local institutions over particular resources.
Participatory mapping enables communities to visualize spatial information about their territories and
areas, cultural heritage, and resource management systems. It also enables the combination of traditional
and local knowledge with geo-referenced and scaled data. Many communities find mapping an
empowering process that helps assert their identities and builds community cohesion, self-esteem, and
sharing of information.
See Part I: Section III/B5 for further guidance about managing sensitive information
Key Resources on Participatory Resource Mapping
Training Kit on Participatory Spatial Information Management and Communication (Technical Centre for
Rural Cooperation and Agriculture and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), 2011)
Participatory Mapping Toolbox (Integrated Approaches to Participatory Development, IAPAD)
Manual on Participatory 3-Dimensional Modeling for Natural Resource Management (Philippines
National Integrated Protected Areas Programme, 2000)
The IFAD Adaptive Approach to Participatory Mapping: Design and Delivery of Participatory Mapping
Projects (IFAD, 2010)
Participatory Mapping as a Tool for Empowerment: Experiences and Lessons Learned from the
International Land Coalition Network (International Land Coalition, 2008)
The I-Tracker Report: A Review of the I-Tracker Data Collection and Management Program Across North
Australia (North Australian Indigenous Land & Sea Management Alliance, 2009)
Guyana: Empowerment of Indigenous Peoples through Participatory Mapping (World Rainforest
Movement, 2002)
TOOL: Identifying Appropriate Forms of Resource Mapping
Purpose: This tool can be adapted and used as the basis for community discussions about different
forms of participatory resource mapping in order to identify which (if any) may be particularly useful in
your local context.
Resource: Adapted from Participatory Mapping Toolbox (IAPAD)
See Part II: Section II/D for a community experience with participatory mapping in Ethiopia
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Facilitate a discussion about what the community would like to achieve with maps and what
degree of specificity or technicality may be required. Discuss different perspectives and
motivations, expectations, and any concerns.
Facilitate discussions about how each tool in Table 9 could potentially be used in your local
context. Criteria for selection may include existing skills and capacities within the community and
long-standing support organizations, available and potentially available resources (finances, time,
equipment, and technical capacity), opportunities to involve youth, personal concerns such as lack
of confidence with new technology, basic utilities such as electricity and storage space, and so on.