Introduction

This paper investigates the potential of Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) to empower local communities, enhance global civil society, and contribute to public advocacy – especially in the Third World. It is based on lessons learned during an ongoing applied research project involving the role of information technologies in the globalization of resistance to industrial shrimp farming in tropical, coastal zones of Asia, Latin America, and Africa. The project is multidisciplinary and highly collaborative – including the efforts of academics/scientists, non-governmental organizations, grassroots groups, and private/public donors – and is aimed at integrating research and practice. The paper pays particular attention to the challenges, issues, feasibility, and potential of scaling-up: i.e., linking local/community level PPGIS into a global PPGIS in order to advance advocacy, affect global environmental governance. And further alternative development.

To date, project activities have focused on conducting ethnographic and survey research among members of the global resistance coalition with funding from the National Science Foundation, The University of California Pacific Rim Research Program, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. This preliminary research focused on: 1) evaluating contending social science explanations for the emergence of local grassroots resistance movements; 2) determining the processes by which local grassroots and national non-governmental organizations have been able to transcend their locality and diversity in terms of culture and nationality and become part of a global network; and 3) conducting a preliminary assessment of existing access and use of advanced information technologies by individual coalition members, the global resistance coalition, and the worldwide network of industry supporters (the backlash movement). Major project activities also included a series of meetings and workshops for project collaborators. Preliminary research results suggest the crucial role played by advanced information technologies (electronic mail, the Internet, and the World Wide Web) in the formation and maintenance of both the resistance and industry networks, in facilitating vital communication among members of each network, and in each network’s strategy for achieving short and long-term objectives. Preliminary work also reveals the virtually universal desire by the grassroots/non-governmental coalition members to increase access to, training in, and use of, spatial information technologies (maps, remotely sensed data, and GIS) to be used together with other information technologies (e.g., e-mail, the Internet, the World Wide Web) to achieve individual organizational and shared coalition objectives (Stonich 1998). More comprehensive discussion of the processes of formation of the global resistance and counter industry coalitions and the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in social change can be found in Stonich and Bailey (n.d.) and Stonich (1998a).

Funding recently was approved for a second NSF grant, a planning grant to assist in the preparation of a multidisciplinary proposal to be submitted to the National Science Foundation funding opportunity, Information Technology, Culture, and Social Institutions. The scholarly aim of this phase of the project is to determine the social context and impacts of communications and spatial information technologies on the formation, strategies, and effectiveness of the emerging global coalition of non-governmental and grassroots organizations that is resisting the expansion of the shrimp farming industry. This is being done in concert with a parallel examination of the globalization of industry efforts designed to counter the efficacy of the global resistance network. Equally important, are the applied objectives of the project - enhancing access to, and effective use of, these technologies by local people/communities/organizations and the global network. Current project activities include the creation of a pilot World Wide Web site that includes a GIS component. The initial objectives, structure, and content of this site are being negotiated during an ongoing process of discussion and consensus building among the many diverse collaborators that are members of the recently established global network, ISA Net. Spatial data are an integral part of this site. This activity involves a cooperative effort to collect, interpret, and communicate ecological information; to share information; to integrate scientific data with local knowledge; and to advance public/consumer campaigns. Simultaneously, field research has been, and will be, conducted in a well chosen sample of locales in Asia, Latin America, and Africa in order to identify information/data needs and assess how information technologies, including PPGIS, might meet those needs.

By using an empirical approach that takes advantage of a dynamic, global phenomenon, this stage of the project will aim to enhance understanding and general explanations of important aspects of information and spatial technologies: 1) the obstacles and incentives associated with the relevance, access, and use of these technologies by social actors with differential power; 2) the roles that these technologies play in building global coalitions - particularly those associated with social, economic, political, and environmental conflict in contexts of significant inequity in power relations among contending stakeholders/interest groups; 3) the relationships among local knowledge, information technologies, and development; and 4) the potential of these technologies for civil advocacy and to advance alternative development. Such understanding is crucial for the design of more appropriate, accessible, and democratic information technologies and systems.

Globalization of Resistance to Industrial Shrimp Farming

Aquaculture often is promoted as "The Blue Revolution" analogous to the earlier Green Revolution in agriculture and essential to feed growing human populations in light of stagnating or declining yields of marine stocks. Recently, however, increased attention has been paid to aquaculture’s social, economic, and environmental costs (e.g., Bailey et al. 1996). Particularly controversial is the explosive expansion of capital-intensive industrial shrimp farming in coastal brackish water ponds in Asia, Latin America, and Africa which critics maintain has begun to induce processes of social dislocation, ecological change, and environmental destruction comparable to those that stemmed from many Green Revolution technologies. Globalization of the industry, market forces, government policies, and the nature of scientific research all propel shrimp aquaculture development in a direction that is in conflict with efforts to meet human needs for food, viable social and economic systems, and healthy ecosystems (Bailey 1997).

Globalization of industrial shrimp farming has created new institutional linkages among international agencies, multinational corporations, governments, and national elites. Several forces have advanced globalization: 1. Financially pressed national governments that have promoted export-oriented production with the assistance of international donor agencies in order to increase foreign exchange earnings; 2. Increased vertical and horizontal integration involving powerful transnational enterprises in the agro-food sector that link hatcheries, feed mills, producers, packers, exporters, and importers; 3. An increasing number of joint ventures involving Asian, Latin American, U.S., and European corporations and developing country governments; and 4. The emergence of a complex network of organizations and corporations that provide services and products.

Globalization also has provoked considerable violence and the emergence of grassroots resistance movements (principally NGOs) among the poor in coastal areas of Asia, Latin America, and Africa (Stonich and Bailey n.d.; Stonich 1998b). Resistance activities have ranged from violent conflict, confrontation, and passive resistance, to negotiated conflict resolution. Aware of the powerful political and economic forces allied against them, these groups have sought regular contact with their counterparts in other countries as well as support from organizations and individuals in industrial nations. Major environmental groups including Greenpeace, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, as well as private foundations such as the MacArthur Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund have become involved in the network that is resisting industrial shrimp farming. These and other organizations and individuals have found common ground with less well-known non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like the Mangrove Action Project (MAP) and several hundred community based NGOs around the world. Culminating a series of international meetings beginning at the United Nations in April 1996, these groups formed the Industrial Shrimp Action Network (ISA Net) on World Food Day, in October 1997 during a week long meeting in Santa Barbara, California. The overall goal of this international network is to oppose the continued worldwide expansion of destructive industrial shrimp farming. Echoing the Choluteca Declaration issued by the group at the conclusion of a pivotal meeting in Honduras in October 1996, among the first actions of this network was to call for a moratorium on the further expansion of shrimp farming pending adequate social and environmental assessments. The aims of ISA Net include drawing international attention to the environmental and social costs of shrimp farming and supporting the efforts of coastal communities to maintain viable communities, economies, and environments (Stonich and Bailey n.d.).

Assessment of Use of Communications and Spatial Technologies by Global Coalition Members

An evaluation of access to and use of telecommunications and spatial technologies by members of the growing global coalition in resistance to the shrimp industry was attempted in the following manner:

1. In-depth, semi-structured interviews with NGO and GRO leaders were conducted during the World Aquacultural Society meetings in Seattle in February 1997. These interviews focused on determining access and use of these technologies as well as on perceived obstacles to their use. Leaders were also asked their opinions about the usefulness of these technologies to advancing the goals/objectives of their organization.
2. Records from the Mangrove Action Project (MAP), mailing lists, etc. were compiled, a master database was constructed (using ACCESS), and a sampling frame of 811 "MAP Members" was constructed.
3. Semi-structured questionnaires were sent to a subset (64/811) of key MAP members. This group was determined by their attendance at least one of the three international NGO strategy sessions held in 1996 and 1997 and included NGOs, GROs, academic advisors, and donors. Questions were based on the results of the preliminary interviews conducted in Seattle and included sections on access, use, and obstacles in using these technologies; perceived value/use of these technologies, and suggestions for enhancing access and use. The survey also included questions regarding contact with other members for analysis using network analysis. Questionnaires were sent via e-mail where possible (approximately 40/64 members had provided e-mail addresses. These were followed up a week later by a postal mailing to the entire sample (64).
4. On the basis of various stakeholders identified earlier in the project (e.g., NGOs/GROs, the Industry, Academics, Governments), an extensive search of World Wide Web sites was done in order to evaluate/compare the use of the web by each group of stakeholders.
5. Information technologies workshops conducted during the October 1997 meetings in Santa Barbara provided a means to evaluate access and use of associated technologies. One workshop was focused on the use of email/Internet/WWW technologies and the other on the use and potential of Geographic Information Systems and remotely sensed data.
6. Discussions regarding the feasibility, content and structure of a proposed ICT/PPGIS system was discussed during a meeting of social scientists engaged in research on the human and environmental repercussions of shrimp farming and the ISA Net secretariat during a subsequent meeting in Santa Barbara in June 1998. During this meeting a general consensus was reached among attendees to participate in the creation of such a system.

Despite significant ideological, political, and strategic differences between and within coalitions, most member groups share a belief that ICTs are significant tools with which to achieve their divergent goals. Members of the resistance coalition are becoming increasingly aware of the potential of information technologies to facilitate communication among members and to advance political action. While relying somewhat upon direct networking in the field, the group largely is maintained electronically (i.e., based on communication among member groups via electronic mail and the Internet) and loosely coordinated by MAP which maintains a member list-server and World Wide Web site. Of the 64 organizations identified as key members of the coalition, 50 (80%) reported that electronic mail was their most frequent means of communication with MAP and other members. In the words of the co-director of MAP, "I cannot emphasize enough that my own work via the Internet has been extremely important in setting in motion the rapid and steady growth of the now extensive global network which the Mangrove Action Project administers…Those NGOs I recently visited in East Africa [the site of significant current expansion of the shrimp industry] were quite concerned about finding help in setting up their own Internet capabilities. For instance, the Journalists Environmental Association of Tanzania (JET) related that their public outreach work, especially their international outreach efforts, would be bolstered significantly with Internet access. They expressed frustration with just how slow and/or expensive their other means of communication were…Because their efforts are quite intense and the situation in Tanzania rather dangerous for grassroots opposition groups, the more open communications available, the more effective and secure these local NGOs will be (Alfredo Quarto personal communication February 10, 1998)."

Similarly Ted Kombo, from the recently formed NGO in Kenya, the Tsunza Conservation and Development Program, stated quite emphatically that his "small and remotely located NGO would be greatly helped by having e-mail capabilities. Our small fishing village of Tsunza is trying to organize its own mangrove community forest project. With e-mail capability we could access available council from other NGOs such as Yadfon in Thailand or PREPARE in India as well as MAP. This would offer near instant advice on important points at critical times (Ted Kombo personal communication February 15, 1998)."

Although the majority (70%) of NGOs surveyed used paper maps extensively they reported little use of GIS and other advanced spatial technologies. However their responses indicated a relatively sophisticated awareness of the potential of digital technologies to bolstering their efforts. In addition, there is growing cognizance of how these technologies are used by governments and the industry to justify the siting of shrimp ponds and other coastal development (e.g., Saghal 1996). According to Dr. Bittu Saghal, an Indian NGO leader, in a letter written to Dr. Anjali Bahugauna at the India Space Applications Center on September 9, 1996: "I am on the Ministry of Environment's Coastal Task Force and am deeply distressed at the way in which technical experts are helping the government to interpret images to suit development projects. Mangrove and fragile coastal zones are easily being categorized as having "no ecological value" so as to facilitate their destruction by roads, jetties, and other kinds of development... I believe that our Coastal Regulation Zone Rules are vital to the survival of fishing grounds and therefore fisher folk..."

According to Jorge Varela, Executive Director of the Committee for the Defense and Development of the Gulf of Fonseca (CODDEFFAGOLF) in Honduras:

In spite of general recognition of the potential of ICTs by NGO leaders several significant constraints regarding access and implementation were also identified. In order to importance these included:

1. Lack of finances/economic resources to purchase equipment (reported by 75% of respondents). "We think these technologies are important but we have very limited finances to cover all kinds of communication. We have only one machine to access email which serves the entire office (Gina Chavez, President of the Ecuadorian NGO, Accion Ecologica)."
2. The lack of training not only to use the equipment wisely but also how to maintain it properly (reported by 63% of respondents). "There is an Internet provider in Surabaya (25km away)… we have no money for this equipment, however… My child is studying computers and he can use it and train the other farmers in how to use the equipment and keep it running (Kosim, FKMT (Communication Forum for Shrimp Farmers), Indonesia)."
3. The lack of language skills (reported by 56% of respondents especially by, but not exclusively, those in Latin America). Refer to the earlier statement by Jorge Varela of CODDEFFAGOLF. In part, the insistence of the Latin American leaders on improved English skills is based on their evaluation that information provided only in English - limits transmission to more affluent members of Latin American society.
4. The lack of infrastructure in rural areas (reported by 56% of respondents). In the words of J. G. Kairo of the Mangrove Rehabilitation Project in Kenya: "We need a telephone line to our project base …(we are) currently operating 65km from the institute of affiliation…I need a modem and computer - at the rural sites - I do have access to email and a computer but only if I walk or take a bus 65 km. to the central office."

Although most core members of the coalition reported having at least irregular access to electronic mail (83%), a smaller percentage noted access to the Internet (75%) and to the World Wide Web (WWW) (44%). Of those groups with access to the WWW, most (64%) had only text based access. Not surprisingly, all NGOs with WWW sites are Northern NGOs. None of the Southern NGOs maintain their own WWW site although CODDEFFAGOLF in Honduras does have its own homepage that is administered externally by the Latin American Network. Although coalition members contribute information, NGO sponsored sites function primarily to communicate information to the public in industrial countries rather than to facilitate communication, provide critical information, or to coordinate action among members. The most important NGO sponsored site is the Shrimp Sentinel, formerly named the Shrimp Tribunal, (HYPERLINK http://www.earthsummitwatch.org/shrimp) administered by the Natural Resources Defense Council with the assistance of law students from New York University. This site is an electronic extension of the first session of the Shrimp Tribunal convened by NGOs at the United Nations in April 1996. It includes up-to-date news, conference information, fact sheets, and the most comprehensive list of links to related sites. In contrast the MAP site (HYPERLINK http://earthisland.org/ei/map/map.html) is terribly outdated – updated last in 1995. Each major core member of the NGO network in the North maintains a WWW site that includes information on issues related to shrimp farming. These include the Natural Resources Defense Council, Greenpeace, the World Wide Fund for Nature, the Sierra Club of Canada, and CUSO.

Pilot World Wide Web Site

Efforts currently are underway to design a pilot ISA Net WWW site with a GIS component. The overall objectives of the site include providing a forum for discussion and decision making among members as well as a venue for providing information to the public and implementing consumer campaigns. A preliminary proposed structure for the site, named ISA Net, is included below. Components of the proposed site that potentially include spatial and/or GIS are indicated with a "*".

1. Bulletin Board
• Post a Message (Name, e-mail, subject, message, optional URL link, etc.)
2. New!
• New stuff on the site *
3. Consumer campaigns
4. Upcoming Events
5. Members and Organizations
• Links to ISA net members' home pages and other organizations
6. Education
• Information for consumers *
• Curricula development *
• Remotely senses images *
• Models *
7. Reports
• Web based and printed reports
8. Databases
• Database of information sources (annotated listing of sets of ecological information such as reports, databases, map series) *
• Sources of documented traditional knowledge and use of coastal wetlands (annotated bibliography including reports, videos, and transcripts as well as contact information) *
• A bibliography of environmental/ecological studies related to tropical coastal wetlands and shrimp farming
9. Monthly Column
• Timely, monthly column written by ISA net members and other invited individuals
10. Human Rights *
• Documentation of violence and human rights abuses related to shrimp farming
11. Ecological knowledge (ecosystems and issues)
• Indicators (to be determined) *
• Ecosystems (mangroves, salt flats, coastal, estuaries, terrestrial)
• Issues (shrimp farm expansion and other developments, contaminants)
• Current status
• Synthesis *
• Reports and Databases *
• Databases
• Indicator assessments
• Meetings and projects
• Research notes
• Current research
• ISA Net contacts for researchers
• Research ideas (with contact information)
12. Wetlands (maps, satellite images, photos, etc.) *
• Land use/cover
• Shrimp farming and land use/cover change
• Monitoring environmental/ecological change
13. Sustainable Communities, Environments, and Ecologies ********
• Includes interactive GIS that integrates environmental, ecological, social, cultural, and other data.
14. ISA Net business (protected)
• Upcoming events
• Current status of activities
• Bulletin board for discussion and decision making

The many problems of designing, implementing, monitoring, evaluating, and revising effective PPGIS at the local level are magnified when the "community" of users is comprised of a heterogeneous coalition of individuals and institutions dispersed throughout the world. In addition to the formidable financial, technical, and data constraints, a number of significant social, cultural, and political obstacles also exist.

Lack of consensus among ISA Net members.

Among the most prevalent and well documented reasons for the failure of public participation in conservation and development efforts in general is the failure to take into account and to directly confront the diversity, the contending perspectives and points of view, and the unequal power relations among members of the "community." While overcoming these obstacles is very difficult at the local level it becomes even more insurmountable when the "community" is constituted by a global coalition of diverse actors (Stonich and Bailey n.d.). On the basis of our experience, this is the primary obstacle to advancing a successful ICT system and PPGIS for ISA Net, more important than either financial and/or technological constraints. To some extent, ISA Net is an experiment - to establish a global coalition of the poor with power in the arena of global environmental governance.

To date no comprehensive information and/or communications network exists among ISA Net members despite efforts over the last year to establish such a network. To a great extent, this deficiency is due to failure to reach consensus about such a network among contending coalition members and is tied to dynamic power relations among members. Currently, communication among members takes place primarily via email and occasional conference calls. During the Internet and GIS workshops and the subsequent focus groups conducted during the NGO planning meetings at the University of California in October 1997 discussions did take place regarding a number of alternative potential designs for such a system. However, no consensus was reached due in part to continuing tension among participants based on contending perspectives about the structure and organization of the global network itself. In part, these tensions stem from where particular organization fall on the continuum from radical to mainstream environmental organizations. On the one hand, some participants (generally members from the South who could be characterized as more politically and environmentally "radical") favor an extremely non-hierarchical structure and an associated information / communication system perhaps one that linked a number of newsgroups located in various countries in the South and the North. On the other hand, other participants (especially those from the North who represent more mainstream environmental organizations) prefer a more hierarchical structure and related information / communication system administered from a central location. These kinds of disagreements have persisted to the present. Indeed, currently there is a heated conflict between many members of the coalition over the role, strategies, and actions of the World Wildlife Fund in the network. There has been much more agreement among members as to the kinds of information (especially information and data acquired through the use of GIS and other spatial technologies) that should be covered in such a system. These included the identification of community management areas and the use of local resources by artisanal fishers and farmers; the integration of information pertaining to the distribution of shrimp farms, processing and packing facilities, and employment generation; a longitudinal study using historical aerial photos together with satellite imagery to demonstrate the decline in mangrove forests and possibly in fish stocks; the creation of a spatial database on the distribution and types of human rights violations, the kinds and distribution of legal protections, and the areas of successful versus unsuccessful legal protections. Non-governmental representatives suggested that the above types of information could be used together or singly to justify their programs with regard to community based development and conservation. Participants in the workshops also agreed that under the appropriate conditions, ACCESS to ICTs, TRAINING in ICTs, and FUNDING for specific, high-potential projects (e.g., projects focused on very specific development, policy, or legal goals), could significantly increase the probability that they could successfully achieve their goals.

Heterogeneity and diversity among members, environments, and ecologies

Local communities affected by the expansion of industrial shrimp industry inhabit locales that are somewhat similar environmentally (they are coastal, tropical, mangrove, etc.) but also differ environmentally in important ways. Local communities and the NGOs that are members of ISA Net also share similar relationships to the shrimp industry. However, they also are extremely diverse in terms of nationality, culture, language, technological capacity, wealth, and power. These differences (and related diversity of interests) among ISA Net members are apparent in ongoing debates about the network's goals and objectives, strategies for action, and appropriate ICTs. Gender divisions also have emerged as an important factor in debates among ISA Net members. Thus the challenge of designing and implementing a successful global ICT and PPGIS for ISA Net go beyond the considerable frustrations usually associated with attempts to link data from different scales and time periods into a more comprehensive understanding of how people regulate and manage resources. It is generally accepted that spatial information technologies must do better at linking different data sources. However, even with better methods, the challenge of identifying particular social, economic, political, environmental, and ecological factors for analysis remains formidable when attempting to demonstrate local to global linkages among diverse human and environmental factors and contexts. A critical requirement in this regard is to create a system that at once is sensitive to local diversity (in people, perceptions, knowledge, environments, ecologies, power/politics, and so forth) and yet also able to synthesize and demonstrate regional and global patterns and conclusions (i.e., be both place-based and global).

Technological Capacity and Training

While confronting the constraints presented by diversity and lack of consensus among members is crucial, obstacles related to technology, financing, and training also are serious and must be addressed. Diversity in technological capacity is apparent among ISA Net members. Not surprisingly, Northern members such as World Wildlife Fund, Natural Resources Defense Fund, and the Environmental Defense Fund, enjoy considerable technological advantage over their Southern colleagues. Representatives of these Northern NGOs also are fluent in English and have more resources at their disposal in general than do their Southern counterparts. While it is tempting to work through these more powerful organizations (it simply would be a lot easier to do so) they do not necessarily represent the interests of the Southern NGOs many of which are community based organizations comprised in the main of poor people from coastal zones. Working with the more powerful (in some respects) Northern NGOs may serve their interests at the expense of those of people from the South. Making things more complex however, Southern NGOs themselves differ significantly among themselves in their capacity to utilize advanced information technologies. Thus, although desirable, working with local groups in the South greatly reduces the speed of design and implementation, doing so also enhances representation and effective participation.

Counter mapping, politics, and the ownership of information

As discussed elsewhere (Stonich 1998a), the distinction between ICTs, GIS and other spatial information technologies as democratizing or reinforcing of extant power relations is ambiguous. On which side of the line such efforts fall depends on a number of diverse factors. Mapping, especially counter-mapping, frequently is an extremely political endeavor and must be viewed within the broader social, economic, and political framework. An ICT/PPGIS as generally envisioned by members of ISA Net, certainly enhances the potential danger for surveillance, conflict, and co-option of local knowledge and resources by power elites (including the shrimp industry). At the same time, it also has the potential to advance advocacy, to make visible the claims of those most affected by the expansion of industrial shrimp farming, to counter the claims of the industry, and to promote new visions of development. The expansion of the shrimp farming industry already has provoked considerable conflict, violence, resistance, and backlash. The essential requirement here in terms of PPGIS is that the political consequences of such an effort must be thoroughly investigated.

References

Bailey, C., S. Jentoft et al. (eds.) (1996). Aquacultural Development: Social Dimensions of an Emerging Industry. Boulder, Westview Press.

Bailey, C. (1997). Aquaculture and basic human needs. World Aquaculture 28(3): 28-31.

Stonich, S. C. and C. Bailey (n.d). Resistance and response: Contending coalitions surround industrial shrimp farming. Rural Sociology (forthcoming).

Stonich, S. C. (1998a). Information technologies, advocacy, and development: Resistance and backlash to industrial shrimp farming. Cartography and Geographic Information Systems 25(2):113-122.

Stonich, S. C. (1998b). Violence, environment, and the Blue Revolution, Paper written for the workshop on Violence and the Environment, Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley, California, September 24-26, 1998.

Notes