use case

Participatory mapping using Mapeo by The Waorani Indigenous people

This use case demonstrates an example of a participatory mapping framework and aiding technological tools - the development of which have been led by Indigenous communities themselves along with supporting partner organizations. Participatory mapping using Mapeo and other Earth Defenders Toolkit tools have helped various Indigenous communities document features of their land, report key information to authorities, launch media campaigns, and even win legal claims and battles that have secured their governance rights over their lands.

source of visual

Latin America, Waorani People, Offline+Online
- Where did this use case occur?
2015-ongoing
- When did this use case occur?
Alianza Ceibo (a coordinating group made up of representatives from four Ecuadorian indigenous peoples, the Kofan, Siekopai, Siona and Waorani), Amazon Frontlines (an international team living and working alongside Alianza Ceibo), Digital Democracy [1]
- Who were some of the key collaborators
6000 people
- How many people participated?
Indigenous, Land/landscape
- What are some keywords?

What was the problem?

Indigenous communities around the world are protecting natural resources, biodiversity, and the lands they live on. However, they face threats such as illegal gold mining, oil contamination, and poaching. Technological solutions don’t always work if they are unnecessarily complicated or don’t work in more remote areas without internet access.

How does the community approach the problem?

In 2015, the Waorani Indigenous people, who live in the forests of the Ecuadorian Amazon, started working with local partners to create “a map full of things that don’t have a price.” Eventually they reached out to Digital Democracy to support them, which led to them becoming the main pilot use case for the Mapeo tool. Using Mapeo, the Waorani people are able to record important places or resources on their lands to show it to be rich in biodiversity and steeped in cultural history.

Process

Participatory Mapping

Technique

“The process includes multiple workshops at the village level to discuss the mapping and look at drafts. Over the course of hundreds of miles of footpaths trodden by elders and young people visiting important sites to share and document biocultural knowledge, a rich shared awareness and language relating to territory and the threats to it emerged. This proved critical when the Waorani started preparing for the court case as there was general consensus on actions and strategy needed to defend their land for future generations.” [2] In 2018, the maps were used in a legal case against the government to fight the sale of new oil blocks which encompassed over 7 million acres of rainforest in Waorani territory.

Tool

Mapeo

What were the results?

• Mapping the lands helped save 180,000 hectares (445,000 acres) of Waorani land from oil drilling in 2019 [3].
• Now, many other Indigenous communities in South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia use Mapeo and other Earth Defenders Toolkit tools to protect their lands.

In Our Opinions

How participatory was it?

Empower

This mapping process puts power directly into the hands of the people closest to the land.

What makes this Use Case unique?