Rambaldi, Giacomo

Since time immemorial humans have been increasingly competing for natural resources. Their occurrence and access have been used to exert power and authority, influence and enact policies and decisions concerning public life, and economic and social development. From as early as 2200 BC, humans have tried to document and legalise rights to resources with the use of maps, a geographic representation of the earth that has since been considered as an authoritative reference, and accorded due (and sometimes undue) respect and credibility.

This resource book describes in detail an innovative community-based communication, research and planning tool as it employs new technologies to address environmental and social concerns. It is intended to assist researchers, Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) practitioners in bringing the power of GIS to the grassroots level through the use of Participatory 3D Modelling (P3DM).

This article focuses on Participatory 3-D Modelling (P3-DM), a tool which merges Geographic Information System (GIS)-generated data and peoples' knowledge to produce a stand-alone relief model. P3-DM was used in the Philippines, by the National Integrated Protected Areas Programme (NIPAP), to give due weight to the interests of local communities in delineating protected area boundaries, identifying resource-use zones and formulating policies on protected area management. The model provides an efficient, user-friendly and relatively accurate spatial research, planning and management tool.