ABSTRACT

The expansion of Geographic Information System’s (GIS) applications into communities outside Western industrialized nations and to cover issues of interest to underprivileged groups in society present a number of challenges to GIS practitioners. There are issues regarding adaptations that need to be made in current GIS software to suit peculiar needs of the people, safeguards to ensure the attainment of goals demanded by Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) practice, and of ways to attract and sustain the interest of the communities. These challenges and other obstacles to PPGIS practice imposed by the culture and traditions of the people are explored in a GIS project implemented in three rural communities in Southern Ghana to support the creation of institutions for collaborative forest management.

Introduction

In parts of Sub-Saharan Africa where the impact of anti-conservation activities of local communities has been very severe on forests, inter-group mediation between public officials and local communities is becoming institutionalized as an alternative to official rules regulating the use of forests resources (Oakley, 1987; World Bank, 1989). The intention in many of such participatory programs has been to integrate traditional resource management practice into modern planning methods (Lawry, 1990; Oakley and Marsen, 1984; Peterson, 1991). An increased understanding of traditional African institutions and of the ways they operated to control resource exploitation in the past seem to have generated awareness about the potential contributions of such institutions to the preservation of local forests (Runge, 1992; Wade, 1987). In Ghana, the program involves a re-discovery of traditional resource management institutions through the formation of local collaborative forest management organizations among forestry officials and local community groups (CFMU, 1993; Norton, 1989). By the time the project began in mid-1990, the Forest Department and many state organizations in Ghana had begun incorporating GIS into major spheres of their operations.

As officials of the Forest Department contemplated the introduction of GIS into the collaborative forest management process, they faced problems regarding adaptations that needed to be made within official forest management practice to accommodate the changes in forest policy. Motivated by proposed changes in official forest management policy and the large-scale presence of GIS and Remote Sensing technologies within the country, I designed a Public Participatory GIS (PPGIS) method termed ESCMAP (Exploratory Strategy for Collaboration, Management, Allocation, and Planning). ESCMAP was developed around decision support procedures available in Idrisi for Windows GIS software (version 1). The method sought to integrate the concerns, experiences, and customs of local groups into official forest management practice. It involved the creation of a database of information on selected Forest Reserves upon which a discussion of their uses, protection, and rehabilitation were made and assessed. The PPGIS methodology provided a forum for foresters and representatives of local communities to discuss their differences and learn about each other’s preferences. The project was implemented in three rural communities in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The communities were; Kofiase in the Mampong Forest District, Kyekyewere in the Nkawie Forest District and Bebome in the Agogo Forest District. (See Figure 1 for location of study area).

This paper discusses the results of the PPGIS project. The paper begins with a brief introduction and a description of the methodology designed for the study. This is followed by an account of the implementation of the project within the communities. The findings of the study are then presented. The paper concludes with a discussion of the lessons drawn from the study.

Pre-Implementation Workshops

The establishment of local Collaborative Forest Management Committees (CFMCs') within the communities preceded the implementation of the project. The committees comprised professional foresters and representatives of local communities. The latter included retired and active teachers, civil servants, traders, and prominent citizens within the communities. Many of the representatives were literate and also familiar with forest-related problems in their respective communities. With the local CFMC's in place, I organized workshops to explain the project to members. I then introduced them to mapping and the interpretation of maps produced with GIS. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) techniques including several data collection and resource mapping strategies were adopted to guide participants make resource and land use maps. During the second phase of the pre-implementation workshops, the overlay capabilities the raster GIS was used to combine thematic maps of the Forest Reserves to help explain the interdependence that existed among resources in the forests. For example, a three-dimensional relief map of each of the Forest Reserves was produced from contour maps then streams, roads, and other important features within the Reserves were overlaid on them. Hard copies of the maps were later made and distributed to participants to facilitate the discussions. I used the maps to draw the attention of participants to relationships between hills and streams, hills and erosion, and sources of water supplies to villages within the community. Other discussions focused on the impact that deforestation has on erosion, local temperature, rainfall and flooding. Many of the discussions were accompanied by visits to features and places represented in the maps.

In the final phase of the project, decision support procedures available in Idrisi for Windows GIS software were used to facilitate discussions of specific problems identified with local Forest Reserves. For example, data was compiled and analyzed to produce fire hazard and forest accessibility maps for monitoring outbreaks of forest fires and the encroachment on forests by loggers and unauthorized forest users. The decision support procedures were also used to evaluate various propositions and the conflicting demands made by various interest groups on the committees.

RESULTS OF THE STUDY

Table 1 shows a summary of responses from members of local CFMCs’ to a set of questions before and after the completion of the PPGIS project. It is clear from the results that many participants were initially skeptical of the role GIS would play in the collaborative forest management process.

About 85% of members of local CFMCs’ who responded to the questions before the project felt GIS would hinder their participation in discussions held within the forest committees. They were also not sure of how the technology could foster fruitful discussions between foresters and local forest user groups. In spite of these cynicism, majority of the participants (about 91% of those who responded after completing the project) became satisfied with the role GIS played to ensure successful collaboration amongst the groups. They were particularly impressed with data gathering, data analysis and decision support capabilities of the system.

The interviews revealed additional contributions that GIS made to the establishment of institutions for the collaborative forest management project. These disclosures from participants and the observations I made during the course of the project are explained below.

1. The use of GIS helped to curtail outbursts of emotionally charged statements that usually characterized discussions among foresters and local forest user groups in the area. The use of GIS promoted the search for factual information. This helped to reduce the reliance on subjective judgment and speculation. As a result, factual consideration formed the basis for reaching conclusions throughout many of the discussions held within the local CFMCs. Ultimately, it was ideas rather than proponents of those views that became the objects of discussion. The system thus helped participants to focus attention on issues and to rely on facts to prove cases.
2. The use of GIS maps for group discussions helped to merge ideas and thoughts of the various groups into a common vision that served as basis for deliberations. The perception of forest resources and problems associated with their exploitation obviously varied according to each member’s profession, education, and experience. The maps helped bridge these differences by transforming the independent and abstract thoughts of members into a concrete real world image of local forests to facilitate a common perception of events. The technology thus provided a medium for participants to understand issues and develop common goals and solutions to problems facing local forests. In doing so, the technology helped to place the discussions into real contexts that would never have been possible in discussions among people of such diverse backgrounds.
3. On some occasions during group discussions, initial exchanges between foresters and representatives of the local people were characterized by spirited debates over differences in perceptions. It was clear the open structure of the participatory GIS procedures created a heightened awareness of the differences between the groups. For example, for a brief moment during evaluation of a site for logging or nature preservation among members of the Kofiase local CFMC, disagreements between the parties intensified. However, due partly to the raising of the bar for evidential support for viewpoints introduced by the use of GIS, such initial squabbles usually gave way to critical analysis and evaluation of perspectives based upon available data. At the end of each group discussion session therefore, members of the committees usually understood each other better than before. They were thus often prepared to resolve their differences amicably and work together to solve the forest problems they identify during the course of their deliberations.
4. The thorough and relatively fair analysis of opposing viewpoints with GIS facilitated the identification of hidden conflicts among members of the local forest committees. For example, a crosstabulation of two suitability maps processed under the direction of conflicting interests in land use would reveal a zone where the conflicting interests overlap. Efforts to resolve the conflict of interests between the two groups would then be focused on the conflict zone to yield satisfactory results. Through such applications, the GIS procedures opened up paths for dealing with hidden conflicts occurring among the groups. As a result, participants usually understood the implications of policy decisions they reviewed before the final policy choices were made.
5. The use of GIS facilitated discussions and also helped to reduce face to face interpersonal communication between the former adversaries. The expression of dissenting views in particular was directed more toward the search for evidence (sometimes contained in maps produced for discussions), than it was to persons whom the dissention was intended. This helped to reduce direct confrontation.
6. The adoption of the PPGIS method resulted in a democratic decision making process, with relatively equal participation occurring among participants. This was possible in part because the methodology provided a framework within which participants were encouraged and challenged to participate in discussions. At the beginning of each decision-making process, interest groups were encouraged to state their viewpoints. They were then challenged throughout the ensuing process to speak out in support of their views. Such challenges that occurred at several stages during group discussions encouraged participants to speak up and fully participate in decision-making processes.
7. The PPGIS method provided a mechanism for harmonizing multiple viewpoints. The joint data gathering and procession sessions created a bond between the groups. This and further uses of the technology helped participants develop a common sense of mission for the protection of local forests. The PPGIS method thus helped participants to developed trust for each other and thereby lay foundation for building blocks upon which future collaboration between the parties would be based.
8. The methodology provided a formal meeting structure for group discussions through the provision of a menu of directives. Specific procedures were outlined and applied to group decision-making sessions. Discussions usually began with a search for problems and the generation of several propositions for their solution. After this, data were identified and all propositions were then subjected to evaluation within the GIS before a final choice was made. This approach allowed for systematic discussions to be invoked and applied to the decision-making processes. Adherence to lay down procedures helped participants to stay focused on issues before them thereby reducing the time spent for making decisions.

Fig 2: Members of Kofiase local CFMC reviewing alternative landuse options from suitability maps produced with Idrisi for Windows GIS.

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

I came to realize at the completion of the project that successful adoption of participatory GIS procedures in the collaborative forest management project depended upon several factors. Some of these factors and recommendations for handling them are discussed below.

Power, Equal Participation and PPGIS Practice

Defining some basis of power for local community groups was necessary to create the conditions conducive for local community representatives’ involvement in the PPGIS project. However, it is important to note that such a power may not necessarily have to emanate from legislation or a decree by the state government. In the Ghanaian case for example, pressure from the World Bank and International Donor Agencies played a major role in the reversal of government’s policy on forest management (Ghana, 1979). It is also true that persistent disregard of state forest regulations by local farmers had an impact on the government’s decision to abandon strict forest regulations and to rather incorporate the communities into plans to protect the Forest Reserves (Boateng, 1994; England, 1993). The problem is that official support or lack thereof for local community groups might not guarantee equal participation in the PPGIS project. For example, since the collaborative forest management project proposed in Ghana is to be implemented and directed by officials of the Forestry Department, foresters on the local CFMCs’ will have an advantage over their counterparts in the village communities. Even with the deliberate use of open and participatory GIS procedures for discussions, the well-organized foresters are likely to be more familiar with forestry issues discussed at their meetings. This leads to the unsurprising conclusion that for PPGIS projects to succeed, power must be shared among all the parties.

Gender and PPGIS Practice

On the question of women's participation in the participatory GIS project, I observed that among the Akans in the study area who practice matrilineal system of inheritance, women voluntarily enrolled in local forest committees. Many of the Akan women who participated in the project displayed independent thought and did not appear intimidated by their male counterparts. It seemed that the traditional role of the Akan women as heads of the kinship groups in the area had established elaborate public roles for them in the traditional system of governance. On the contrary, women from patriarchal societies in Northern Ghana and parts of Eastern Region of the country who had moved to settle in the study area were reluctant to join the local CFMC's. Several attempts to recruit women from the latter group failed and the few who expressed some willingness to enroll in the CFMCs' required the consent of their husbands. The difference in attitudes of the two groups of women in the study area may be attributed to differences in religion and customary practice. For example, the reluctance of women from the settler groups to enroll without prior approval of their husbands could be attributed to the system of marriage arrangements that pertains among the patriarchal societies in the country. In such societies, custom requires men to provide very expensive gifts, including cows to the family of the women as dowry. In return for such relatively expensive gifts, the women are expected to be submissive to their husbands throughout the marriage. Added to this are the settlers’ Islamic beliefs that teach women to remain silent in public. We note from this experience that even though some women and other marginalized groups might be permitted to participate in a PPGIS project, they may not be able to take advantage of such opportunities because of customary practice and religious beliefs. This means that unless conscious efforts are made to attract and sustain such underprivileged groups into PPGIS projects, they might be left out or might be under-represented.

Trust for GIS Specialists and the Commitment to Public Participation

An important finding of the study relates to the local peoples' commitment to innovation. While commitment of the people was important for the successful implementation of the PPGIS project, winning that commitment depended upon the trust that the people had for me, or later developed for the project. Unfortunately, people in the study area were skeptical of innovation and particularly suspicious of public officials and experts who came into their community with an agenda. This is because, as one member of the Kyekyewere local CFMC put it, "we have heard many promises from big men who visit us occasionally but their promises are never fulfilled". Consequently, to draft the people into organizations where they might adopt participatory GIS procedures to empower them, the people would have to trust the messenger to fully accept the message he/she presents. For this reason, the distrust of foresters and state officials by people in the study area (as revealed in interviews I conducted during the study) casts a gloomy picture over future implementation of PPGIS projects in the area.

Commitment of the GIS Specialist to Grassroots Empowerment

It is no secret that external donors including the World Bank and International Development Agencies sponsor many of current GIS projects in Ghana and elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa (AFTEN, 1991). The unfortunate aspect of this external sponsorship is that GIS implementation in the country is dictated by a constellation of international agreements, funding concerns and international trade policies (Falloux, 1987; Hanna and Boyson, 1993). The top-down approach pursued in the implementation of GIS projects in the country could result in applications that promote elitist agenda but do little in support of grassroots participation. The successful implementation and applications of PPGIS projects would therefore depend upon the commitment of GIS specialists to use the technology to empower underprivileged groups. This aside, one of the most reliable safeguard to empowering people of the area through PPGIS applications would be local capacity building aimed at producing experts in GIS development and application.

Cultural and Institutional Obstacles to PPGIS Practice

A formidable obstacle to the realization of the potential that GIS offers for resource management in Ghana is the lack of effective administrative mechanisms for managing land-based resources. A disconnection exists between formal and traditional Ghanaian institutions of land resource administration. For example, the official forest management institution (the Forest Department) is a relic of British Colonial Administration. The department therefore faces a crisis of legitimacy and hence fails to command the loyalty of local people. On the contrary, traditional institutions are rooted in customary practice, values, and beliefs and can count on legitimacy and self-enforcement. This was particularly evident in communities where the study took place. However, many years of neglect and continued usurpation of the power of traditional institutions by various Ghanaian governments have caused the demise of many of such institutions. It would therefore require an institutional reconciliation to be established between formal and traditional resource management institutions before an effective adoption and application of PPGIS methodologies can be accomplished in the country.

Another impact of the reliance on foreign-based institutions for the management of local forests is that no state organization exists in Ghana today to cater for resources that were of little interest to European colonial administrators. Formal resource management institutions that can facilitate the adoption and applications of PPGIS strategies are therefore available only for forests that attracted European interest and protection. Political structures through which policies and decisions reached through participatory GIS applications could be executed and monitored are lacking. This lack of properly constituted mechanisms for general land resource administration in the country creates a vacuum in the enforcement of laws regulating the use of forest resources. The situation presents a serious obstacle to future adoption and applications of PPGIS methodologies in the country.

There were times during the study when unique local conditions created circumstances that enhanced and/or impeded progress in the implementation of the project. For example, during the creation of the Kofiase local CFMC, Ashanti clans came in handy as the rallying point for involving the community. On the other hand, at Bebome where many of the local people were migrant farmers, I had to rely upon volunteers to establish the local CFMC. It is important to point out that working through ethnic groups or clans raised concerns about the resuscitation of buried claims to land currently occupied by Forest Reserves. This is serious considering the fact that the history of forest reservation in Ghana is replete with claims to land ownership and struggles over land among kinship groups in southern part of the country. Additionally, since clans exist for a wide variety of reasons, it is doubtful if the Kofiase experiment can be relied upon to implement PPGIS in other parts of the country.

Again, while the clans in study area exist as entities that collectively own rural land and could therefore be relied upon to take active interest in the management of local forest reserves, the situation at Bebome depended upon sustained motivation of volunteers. The belief of many local observers was that the commitment of the people to the Collaborative Forest Management Project would not extend beyond short-term benefits they would receive from community farms they were allocated as part of the project. This raises the issue of how the interest of underprivileged groups in the area would be generated and sustained for the adoption of PPGIS projects. Do local community groups have to be paid to become members of organizations adopting PPGIS programs? If not, then how can their interests in such institutions be generated and sustained? How will the incentives be determined and distributed? These are all questions that require further investigation.

An important reason for the implementation of the PPGIS project in rural Ghana was the need to promote local community participation in forest management through the application of GIS. There was also the need for a demonstration of alternative, less elitist applications of GIS in the country. Unfortunately, the absence of issue-oriented organizations in rural Ghana, and the difficulty of organizing people for such projects made it difficult to fully attain all stated objectives. Individual family units in the rural communities were relatively independent and self-sufficient, producing what they needed for themselves and some cash crops (mainly cocoa) for income. The major part of their subsistence was therefore produced through farming rather than manifold social relations. The subsistence system of production (that was common throughout the communities) isolated the people from each other and prevented them from actively participating in public debates over issues that affected them. As long as there are only local interconnections among the people and their common interests did not give rise to a regional bond that would overcome their isolation, it would be difficult to empower them through PPGIS programs. The mainly farming communities in the study area could however be organized around pressing local issues such as the need for fertile land for making new farms. The problem with such a strategy is that when the farms cease to produce enough crops and are abandoned as is done in traditional farming, the implementation of the PPGIS would come to a halt if new land were not offered. Under current conditions, representatives of the people would find it difficult to present a unified front within the statewide collaborative forest management committees. The adoption of participatory GIS procedures would therefore have limited impact on the empowerment of local people.

Processing Indigenous Knowledge for PPGIS Applications

In rural Ghana where urbanization, formal education, and contact with popular culture are greatly reduced, tradition and custom shape the life of the people. Preferences for the use or nonuse of natural resource are often based on customary interpretations and rituals. For example, many land-based resources are believed to possess spirits that must be appeased before such resources might be harvested. Perhaps most important of all is that such beliefs are often attached to land-based resources (e.g., rivers, trees, hills) that are objects for mapping and hence important in GIS applications. The implication of such belief systems on the implementation of PPGIS projects in the area is that GIS procedures must necessarily incorporate representations of both facts and subjective judgments. The Western origins of GIS present additional problems regarding interpretation of concepts and technical terms often difficult to comprehend. Experts attempting to introduce GIS into non-Western societies or use it to empower marginalized people in rural communities have to contend with the representation of value judgements in a technology that draws its strengths from the depiction of empirical facts. Additionally, while many traditional concepts can be represented and/or modeled in GIS, many of current GIS software carry procedures that do not easily accommodate value-loaded measures and are hence not suitable for PPGIS practice.

PPGIS and Democracy

Contrary to the negative portrayal of democracy by African dictators and military rulers, we found the traditional arbitration method adopted for public deliberation in communities in the study area to be fair and just. Many features of customary practice were based on sound democratic principles. For example, there were provisions in the traditional system of governance for affected individuals to state their views and argue their case out in public and closed up meetings with elders. It was evident that, given the right training in the use of GIS, local experts could adopt PPGIS strategies to facilitate public debates within the communities. Notwithstanding this potential, it is possible that majority of the rich and powerful people in the area would object to some of the participatory uses of GIS. For example, some loggers who participated in the Kofiase project felt the PPGIS procedures were too open and democratic. They argued that the methodology gave too much power to the community representatives by allowing them to decide whether or not logging should be halted in sections of the local Forest Reserve. It is true this perception could have been caused by the fact that the local CFMCs’ were not autonomous bodies at the time of the project. Nevertheless, the resentment and hostility expressed towards the community representatives’ participation could have a negative influence on the adoption of PPGIS projects in the area. Such a perception is likely to cause a decline in the support of people in the community (the elite) who have the power to make final decisions on the adoption of PPGIS projects. The loggers’ attitude towards open and participatory uses of GIS partly confirms the potential for elitist applications of GIS in the country.

Conclusion

The issues discussed above illuminate some of the problems facing PPGIS practice in the area. The study revealed that the expansion in GIS applications to incorporate issues of interest to non-Western societies and some of the most powerless and underprivileged groups within the international community present a number of challenges. Some of these challenges to PPGIS practice that were revealed in the study are enumerated below:

1. What adaptations must be made in current GIS software and methodology to facilitate the integration of local knowledge and customary practices of underprivileged groups we target in PPGIS practice?
2. What safeguards must be built into PPGIS methodologies and practices to ensure effective participation of all interested parties? What provisions are there to ensure that PPGIS practice does not further reduce the strengths and capacities of the communities such programs are intended to empower?
3. What limitations if any, should be placed on the "openness" of PPGIS practice? How democratic should PPGIS practice be?
4. How can we generate, attract, and sustain the interests of the marginalized communities we target in PPGIS practice?

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank the Rockefeller Foundation, New York, USA, for the financial assistance that made possible the study upon which this paper is based.

Peter A. Kwaku Kyem is an Assistant Professor of Geography at Central Connecticut State University. He has a Ph.D. in Geography (1997) from Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, an MA in Geography (1991) from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, and a Post-graduate Diploma in Applied Geomorphology from International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences, ITC (1987) Enschede, the Netherlands. He obtained his BA degree in Geography from University of Cape Coast, (1982) Cape Coast, Ghana. His research interest focuses on Participatory GIS, Tropical Deforestation, Multi-criteria Evaluation, and GIS applications in resource and environmental management.

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