Project information
| Status | Finalist |
| URL | Go to website |
| Category | Environment Habitat protection |
| Country | Congo |
| Operational areas | Rural |
| Target groups | Children, Youth, Women, Men, Seniors |
| Wireless connection | Satellite |
| Access points | Home |
| Interact | , PDA |
| Software License Types | Proprietary |
Project location
Random images Challenge 2008
Using ICT to empower indigenous community involvement in Sustainable Forest Management
- Brief description
- Tropical Forest Trust provide expert advice and guidance in environmentally sustainable forest management, including as a basic criteria, the protection of traditional land use and human rights of indigenous people. Our project in the Congo sees indigenous semi nomadic Pygmy communities (previously discriminated against and disadvantaged by the creation of forest concessions and conservation areas) included in forest management for the first time. This is achieved by communities using specially developed GPS mapping technology as a new medium for communicating their concerns over forest use.
- Vision, Objectives and Goals
- The broader vision of this project is to protect tropical forests in the Congo Basin, specifically four forest management units (FMU’s) totalling 1.3 million hectares of ecologically important habitat in the north east Republic of Congo. A key part of this process is for the forest management company (CIB; Congolaise Industrielle des Bois) to actively engage on an equal and transparent basis with the local forest dependent communities; the “eyes and ears” of the forest. The community’s political weakness and poverty make their unique knowledge of the forest vulnerable to exploitation by outsiders who often depend upon it to undertake environmental crimes such as the commercial hunting of protected species. Recently, the rapid expansion of activities by multinational companies opening up even the most remote forest areas to the outside world has seen indigenous semi-nomadic, largely non literate forest peoples further alienated from control over their forest homes. The project and TFT’s aim is to solve this community inclusion issue as it is fundamentally important if the communities are to maintain their traditional rights and livelihoods, if they are to have any prospect of sharing in the benefits that will be derived through the region’s development, and ultimately if they are to play the crucial and unique role that only they can in sustaining this forest for the future. All efforts to include these communities in forest management form part of the TFT programme to preserve tropical forests in the Congo Basin by aiding CIB’s efforts to have all of their FMU’s Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified. FSC certification is globally recognised as the highest standard of sustainable forest management. Key milestones that have been achieved include;1) The design of appropriate technology applications2) the training of communities in using GPS hand held mapping units 3) the physical production of community maps4) Demarcation by communities of significant cultural/resource areas and the incorporation of these areas into CIB’s forest management plans5) CIB management have implemented an official company policy respecting and protecting Indigenous Peoples rights. 6) The first of four forest areas achieved FSC certification in May 2006. Expected Future Key Milestones1) Increased number of community maps produced2) FSC pre-assessment of the three remaining areas in 20083) Awarding of FSC certificates in 2008/2009 signifying sustainable forest management of the whole 1.3 million hectares of forest.
- How does ICT contribute to the organisational objectives
- Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a central component of this project. Without the use of the specifically adapted GPS technology this project is unlikely to have succeeded. Our objective is to enable indigenous communities to map their key resources and ICT is fundamental to this process. Using specially developed mapping tools, non-literate indigenous peoples are being supported to map their resources prior to any logging in their traditional forest homes, and so ensure their resources are not damaged or removed without their free, prior and informed consent. CIB uses these diverse sources of mapping information to plan tree harvesting throughout the concession in a way that aspires to minimising disruption to the forest ecosystem and mega fauna, while seeking to avoid damage to key resources for livelihoods or sites of special religious or cultural significance for indigenous people. With support from Helveta Ltd, a software company in the UK (TFT member and project partner), the project saw the development of computer mapping tools incorporating iconic software and automated GPS recording processes. No literacy is necessary to accurately record the coordinates of key resources that industrial activities threaten. The community-owned maps produced in this process are a new language by which communities can make their concerns known to company managers. The electronically recorded maps enable company managers to efficiently and systematically incorporate local forest peoples’ concerns into their forest management planning and identify any potential areas of conflict for follow-up negotiation and discussion. Where differences in power and language make face-to-face communication difficult and often ineffective, this technology enables both parties’ concerns to be considered equally. CIB can now prove that they are respecting the key resources indigenous peoples have indicated to them, and that they are taking the necessary steps to demarcate and protect them from damage during harvesting. The community-based mapping process that CIB supports will enable all indigenous communities to document their forest use for themselves, in line with FSC principles and the maps provide the community with evidence of their key resources and forest use. These advances would not have been possible without the use of ICT.
- Transferability
- Because this project tackles very specific issues relating to Forestry in the tropics, the organisation types that are required to replicate this model are also very specific. Firstly, a Forest Management Company needs to be identified as a potential partner and they need to fulfil certain vital criteria. These include the legal rights to harvest from the area of forest in which they are working, they must express and demonstrate a real commitment to achieving Sustainable Forest Management (including FSC certification) and they must have the financial capacity to see through this process from start to finish. Secondly, an organisation or NGO such as TFT is required who have the experience and ability to guide companies through the certification process, especially with regard to the social and environmental issues relating to forestry. Thirdly, an independent organisation or especially skilled individuals are needed to establish an open and equal dialogue between company and local communities. They must possess the necessary skills, relationships and local knowledge to communicate directly with the people affected by the management company’s activities. Finally, a specialist technology provider is needed to replicate a project of this kind. As already stated ICT is vital to this mapping model and the technology must be suitable for long term use in difficult forest terrain with the necessary back up systems for producing and storing the mapping information.. The project requires a mix of specialist NGO’s and independent consultants as well as the backing and will to change existing practices of a large multi national company.
- Project summary
- The project uses ICT to bridge a significant literacy and cultural divide between an impoverished, disenfranchised community and a large multinational company. Without the use of this unique ICT solution, traditional barriers to benefit sharing and development would have remained and led to the further alienation of a forest dependent community and restriction of their access to the resources they depend upon for day to day living. ICT is being used to create a strong collaborative foundation that works to preserve and protect tropical forests.
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