Leah Kintai heard there have been birthing caves utilized by forest elephants in her neighborhood’s territory round Mount Elgon in Kenya however had by no means seen them herself. Leah is a member of the Ogiek neighborhood, a gaggle Indigenous to the Chepkitale area of Mount Elgon who’ve lived in concord with the forest for generations. Nonetheless, their lifestyle and land rights have been repeatedly impacted by efforts to create nationwide reserves and timber farms – plans that may hurt the native atmosphere.
In response, the Ogiek neighborhood developed a land administration system to doc their ancestral connection to the land and ecosystems they shield. Recognizing the significance of know-how on this effort, they started utilizing CoMapeo, a panorama mapping instrument developed by Awana Digital. Since 2021, Leah and different neighborhood members have been mapping key ecological websites, such because the salt caves shared by goat herds and forest elephants, and recording environmental destruction brought on by logging.
Ladies particularly play a significant function on this work. “We’re wealthy in data which is necessary to the neighborhood,” Leah explains. “We all know the place to collect firewood and greens and discover particular soil for adorning our paintings. We girls additionally know extra concerning the historical past and conventional rituals that occur in caves.” It was by way of this mapping use that Leah lastly witnessed elephant moms and calves within the caves, deepening her appreciation of the significance of preserving the land by way of CoMapeo.
Why Consumer-Centric Mapping Instruments Matter
Indigenous communities just like the Ogiek steward 80% of the world’s biodiversity. But, they usually lack the infrastructure, sources and instruments to sustainably handle their landscapes. Most present mapping applied sciences are inaccessible — depending on web connectivity, obtainable solely in English, and managed by way of centralized databases that exclude native possession. Getting acceptable assist to make knowledgeable selections for panorama administration is vital on the neighborhood degree in addition to on the world degree.
The Cisco Basis has supported two community-led instruments that allow native leaders to conduct panorama mapping: Awana Digital’s CoMapeo, and Tech Issues’ Terraso, developed by way of community-led design processes, with the intention of supporting efficient decision-making by native leaders.
Awana Digital: Constructing Decentralized Know-how
Awana Digital works with frontline communities to make use of know-how to guard their atmosphere and human rights. They associate to co-design and co-develop instruments they’ll use to guard vital ecosystems and Indigenous cultures, working towards a world the place all individuals can take part within the selections that govern their lives.
The Cisco Basis funded Awana Digital in 2023 to construct the CoMapeo instrument, designed in collaboration with Indigenous communities, just like the Ogiek, to make it simpler to securely map their territories and construct a database with out ever needing web connectivity.
In 2024, Cisco prolonged the funding, and launched Awana Digital to the Equinix Basis who additionally prolonged funding. Then this yr, Cisco and the Equinix Basis got here collectively funding the enhancement and development of CoMapeo in new methods. This peer-to-peer database permits native knowledge possession and offline workflows in order that customers can seamlessly collect knowledge in distant places. Whereas most knowledge assortment apps are form-centric, CoMapeo makes use of a map-centric method to make knowledge assortment intuitive and straightforward to be taught for non-technical customers.
The Ogiek neighborhood now makes use of CoMapeo to maintain their land use maps updated; since 2021, the neighborhood mapping crew have mapped and actively monitored 80,000 hectares of their territory, benefitting the 4,000 members of the Ogiek neighborhood.
However the Ogiek’s imaginative and prescient goes past mapping. They’re dedicated to exhibiting how their stewardship results in higher conservation and biodiversity outcomes. With assist from Oxford College, Forest Peoples Programme, and Awana Digital, the Ogiek are implementing a biodiversity monitoring undertaking to collect proof of their efficient community-based conservation. This knowledge may assist them reclaim rights to extra of their ancestral land and enhance stewardship practices.
One thrilling new function of CoMapeo is its audio recording perform, which permits the Ogiek to seize birdsongs within the forest. Elders can then establish these species, enriching the information with native ecological data and conserving observe of biodiversity in these lands.
CoMapeo can be utilized freed from cost and is designed to be user-friendly and adaptable, making it simple for anybody to get began with mapping and monitoring their land or environmental tasks.
Tech Issues: Tech Options That Serve Humanity
The Cisco Basis additionally helps Terraso, an open-source mapping and storytelling instrument developed by Tech Issues to assist communities acquire, retailer, and share panorama knowledge. Designed with native companions, Terraso is accessible and cost-free – making it particularly beneficial to nonprofits and grassroots organizations that may’t afford costly, industrial options.
In India, Paani Earth confronted a big problem: Bangalore’s rivers had been quickly deteriorating, but the final inhabitants lacked consciousness of town’s hydrological programs. The issue was compounded by the absence of a dependable, built-in river knowledge system which may compromise decision-making and result in mismanagement of water sources.
To deal with this, Paani Earth used Terraso to create an accessible, interactive map of the area’s river programs, compiling knowledge from authorities businesses, unbiased research and satellite tv for pc sources. With the platform’s Story Maps function, they created an interactive, visible narrative combining knowledge, images and movies. Cofounder Madhuri Mandava explains the transformation: “Our previous web site – individuals referred to as it very tutorial. Individuals mentioned, ‘I don’t see why I ought to care.’”
That modified with Terraso.
The Story of Forgotten Rivers was featured in an area museum exhibit. Its ultimate chapter included a name to motion – inviting individuals to hitch a WhatsApp group devoted to river walks and native cleanup occasions.
“That group now has dozens of members,” says Madhuri. “We stroll to a close-by river to start out rebuilding that connection. We make artwork and poetry, and focus on how we will take motion to guard this house.”
Paani Earth plans to increase its use of Story Maps in future tasks. With continued assist from Cisco and others, Tech Issues is actively bettering the platform, primarily based on actual person suggestions like Madhuri’s.
Terraso stays free and open-source, and organizations in every single place are inspired to make use of it to inform their place-based tales, advocate for change, and interact their communities.
The efforts of communities just like the Ogiek present that when native leaders are outfitted with the precise instruments, they’ll shield biodiversity and reshape the way forward for their landscapes. Platforms like Awana Digital’s CoMapeo and Tech Issues’ Terraso — backed by the Cisco Basis and the Equinix Basis — are serving to make this potential. As these applied sciences proceed to evolve, they provide highly effective examples of how place-based innovation can shield the atmosphere and profit native communities.
For extra info, please go to the Cisco Basis’s Local weather Grants Portfolio web page.
This weblog was written with help from Anastasia Baranoff, TekSystems at Cisco.
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