Participatory mapping is a mapping exercise of a territory by a group of inhabitants of this territory with a more or less important supervision from researchers and cartographers. This approach relies on a collective consensus of the community around spatialised elements where local information is collected.
The UMR is interested in this tool as part of the governance of territories:
- to understand the endogenous territorial logic and confront public logic,
- to provide spatialized elements for concerted definition and management of protected areas, taking into account the local logic,
- to provide a basis for negotiation with the various parties involved in the use and management of a territory ...
this approach is tested on several research area of Paloc: Brazilian Amazon (Kayapó), Deltas of Eastern Africa (Tana - Rufiji) and West (Saloum, Senegal), Marquesas islands Marine Protected Areas (French Polynesia) etc ...
For information, a first file on the practice of participatory mapping within the UMR PALOC has been published in issue 9 of the Ethnoecology journal