Participatory GIS with the Ovahimba to support joint ecosystem management.

The sustainable ecosystem management of large trans-frontier conservation areas (TFCA) like the newly proclaimed Iona-Skeleton Coast TFCA would benefit from the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to collect geospatial data. Participatory GIS (PGIS) offers a platform where data from heterogenous sources can be integrated and analysed to form information products which can then also be shared with many users of diverse backgrounds and expertise. For the output of PGIS to be accurate and hence useful, the data fed into the system must be accurate. The desired level of accuracy varies across disciplines and depends on the use. However, when data is collected and used by a heterogeneous team, the variances in accuracy requirements poses a challenge. This study intends to investigate the spatial, attribute and temporal accuracy requirements across a heterogenous team comprising of scientists, students, game rangers, park managers and the indigenous Ovahimba community of the Kunene Region in Namibia and in the Iona Park. The advances in ICT have seen an increase in the contribution of spatial data by members of communities. However, when it comes to the Ovahimba community, the paucity of formal education and limited access to ICT infrastructure as well as their own indigenous knowledge following a distinct epistemology, invites a different way of designing and deploying applications and maps. Through participatory mapping sessions, the perception of data accuracy amongst the various sources of data as well as the representation of indigenous knowledge will be investigated. By conducting ethnobotanical walks and focus group sessions, requirements for data collection tools will be derived as well as the requirements for developing portals for distributing the outputs of the PGIS to all the stakeholders. The anticipated outcome of the research is a PGIS for the Iona-Skeleton Coast TFCA and hence maps representing local knowledge, practices and species in a meaningful way for indigenous communities as well as adhering to external scientific requirements such as accuracy in terms of location, identification, measurements and time.