Etienne Delattre, FAO Siem Reap (Cambodia)
The FAO "Tonle Sap" Project, based in Siem Reap (Angkor), Cambodia, is designed to address natural resources management issues around the Tonle Sap Lake, with a special concern for the degradation and loss of forest habitat. Since the potential usefulness of resource information technologies had been recognized by the project team, these tools have been introduced in the project to facilitate integrated forest resources management by local communities. This paper strives to present the Tonle Sap Project's GIS background, current status, ongoing activities, and the prospects for the future. It aims to show how such tools can be used in a predominantly field-oriented project based at the provincial level. It will discuss the potential use of existing data sets, including applications such as ranking of current forest productivity, identification of target sites for community forestry activities, or detailed mapping of community forestry sites. It will elaborate further on the main objective of the GIS work: the establishment of Natural Resource Data Bases. Finally, considering GIS as a tool and not an objective in itself, it will elaborate on the future GIS strategy as the main challenge, i.e. the establishment of a GIS based planning procedure, which can be adopted by the provincial departments; which is seen as the only possible way to ensure the sustainability of GIS and related resources assessment work beyond the duration of the project.
Introduction
Project overview
GIS background and current status
Applications
GIS Unit strategies
Present focus : community forestry process
Future objective : natural resource database
Conclusion
Bibliography
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ (FAO) "Tonle Sap Project" based in Siem Reap (Angkor), Cambodia, is one of the few organizations in Cambodia involved in introducing and applying resource information technologies at all, and perhaps the only one doing so outside the capital, Phnom Penh. Having introduced RS/GPS/GIS tools step-by-step into its participatory forest resource use planning and management, FAO has learned valuable lessons on how best to integrate such technologies in a predominantly field-oriented project strictly located at the provincial level.
The "Participatory Natural Resources Management for the Tonle Sap Region" Project of the FAO was formulated in 1994 to address natural resources management issues around the Tonle Sap Lake. It intended to focus on the degradation and loss of the inundated forest habitat, which is believed to be of essential importance for the maintenance of productive fisheries within the lake. The Siem Reap province was selected, and activities were implemented in one target district, Sotr Nikum.
Project activities focus on the forestry and fisheries sectors. A considerable amount of ecological and socioeconomic data has been gathered during implementation of the project's various activities over the last three years. Trials and experiments on forestry, fisheries and other income generating activities yielded additional information, and laid the foundation for further development of an approach to sustainable management of the natural resources. A second phase began in September 1998, with thirty months of Belgian Government funding. The project's team is now implementing activities built upon the lessons of Phase 1 to focus on improving natural resources management by local communities.
The Phase 2 goal is therefore : "Sustainable management of natural resources within the Tonle Sap Basin through local community participation for the benefit of rural people and communities". The project has now expanded its activities to three additional districts along the lake shore of Siem Reap province, i.e. Siem Reap, Prasat Bakong and Puok districts; the project's target area now covers 262,300 hectares and has a population of over 340,000.
The project's team concentrates its activities on helping communities to assume responsible, productive and sustainable management of local forest resources, both in the upland areas as well as in the inundated forest zone. Trained counterpart staff provided by the Provincial Departments of Forestry, Fisheries, Agronomy, Rural Development and Environment undertakes fieldwork. In addition to community resource management, the project implements supporting activities which include: seedling production, agroforestry development, horticulture nursery development, on-farm aquaculture development, wood energy conservation program, micro-irrigation systems for vegetable production, environmental education and extension, and a rural credit program to support local development and income generating activities primarily among community forestry management groups.
Although the original project design had not foreseen a GIS component, GIS eventually became part of the activities and development of Phase 1, even though the important and preliminary step of assessing the relevance of installing and using GIS for the project was never really made.
Several GIS-related activities took place during Phase 1, albeit without a compelling strategy. In 1996, the designated Cambodian GIS counterpart received extensive GIS training in AIT/Bangkok, and some additional hands-on remote sensing practice in Phnom Penh, but was unfortunately never in a position to make use of this training. In 1997, Arc/Information software was purchased and installed, and a one-month GIS consultancy resulted in setting up a GIS database. This consultant’s end-of-mission report strongly recommended establishing a competent GIS unit within the project. Subsequent mapping exercises using GIS during Phase 1 were nonetheless contracted out to an external agency based in Phnom Penh (IRIC). The main data produced were land use/land cover data sets based on aerial photos (1/25,000 and 1/15,000 scale of 1992, 1996) for the project's target area.
The design of Phase 2 finally included a GIS component., including specific GIS-related expected outputs, recruitment of a GIS associate professional officer (APO), and an option for another GIS consultancy. As a consequence, GIS capacities improved significantly during Phase 2. First, computer availability and capacity, which was one among many key problems to develop GIS properly during Phase 1, has improved significantly. An appropriate computer was purchased and is now restricted to GIS and mapping purposes only. A CD writer has been added to the hardware in order to make the converted GIS maps into formats which can be read by non-GIS software available to other project computers. An A3-size printer has been purchased as well, in order to produce final print maps of larger size. The project has decided to switch to ArcView, which is more user-friendly but still allows use of the existing GIS database without much difficulty. The GIS APO and his counterpart have both acquired skills in Arc/Info and ArcView, including intensive training. A second GIS consultancy provided the conceptual framework critical to reshaping the entire work of the GIS Unit. GIS staff is now able to extensively manage the GIS data base and the directory structure layout and to perform to a fair extent various analytical operations, such as calculate statistics for administrative or community forestry units or perform overlay procedures.
Finally, a separate Cartography/GIS Unit has been established, and the GIS associate professional officer and his Cambodian counterpart are now in the process of applying their new technical skills to ensure that the GIS Unit’s work is tailored to serve project activities’ needs. The GIS database has been greatly expanded, and maps produced by the GIS Unit are exclusively made using a computer-based approach.
As with the project's Training and Documentation Center, the Cartography/GIS Unit intends to be accessible and helpful to everyone from the project staff as well as non-project provincial-level staff (e.g. provincial departments, other UN agencies or other organizations based in Siem Reap).
The GIS Unit has gathered GIS data gathered from outside agencies. These data sets include :
The GIS Unit has also created its own data, including
A large number of maps were collected or purchased from other agencies in Cambodia. The majority of these maps are at small scales (1:250,000 and smaller), potentially useful only for macro level planning. Nearly all these maps are based on data sets that have also been included in the GIS data base. In addition to these key reference maps, the GIS Unit also has a set of the US toposheets (1/50,000) made in the 1970's.
The GIS unit owns black and white aerial photos at 1:25,000 (1992 and 1996) and at 1:15,000 (1996) which cover parts of or the entire area where field activities are being implemented.
Two non-differential GPS navigation units linked to GPS software are extensively used in the field.
Beside the day-to-day work undertaken by the GIS Unit in various fields of activities, efforts are to be concentrated into applications directly usable for the project's main focus, community forestry ("CF").
The short-term strategy of the GIS Unit at present is to make the existing GIS data sets and other resource information techniques as useful as possible while implementing the Community Forestry process.
The goal of community forestry is to reduce natural resource degradation and loss by placing resource control and responsibility under local communities who have traditionally utilized the resources, and to assist these communities to achieve productive and sustainable resource management which meets local needs while stimulating community development.
The project assists interested communities to obtain recognized rights for management and utilization of locally accessible resources. Land tenure does not change, but resource tenure is transferred to the local community upon approval of their community forest management regulations. All products and revenue from the resource belong to the community for their utilization / distribution as defined in their regulations.
The approach adopted is one of facilitation to assist local community members to articulate what they want, what they see as their problems, what options and opportunities exist, and to help them reach a consensus on how to proceed.
The process now follows specific steps:
It should be mentioned that the project is keen to strictly follow a participatory approach in the entire process. Any GIS output is a considerable plus to implement this process, but should not be seen as an alternative to management. The GIS Unit prepares technical maps using remote sensing data, GPS, ground checking and GIS, to be discussed with the local people. Whenever needed, participatory sketch maps are still made on the spot, often using the materials prepared by the GIS Unit as a base map. The participatory sketch map tool is mostly left to the project's community forestry staff experienced with this kind of technique.
Two operations performed by the GIS Unit have a direct impact on implementing the CF process.
1- Process aerial photo
GIS Unit staff are trained in processing existing aerial photos, i.e. scanning, importing into GIS and geo-referencing them. This is of great benefit to the project’s community forestry activities, since the original photos can be enlarged from the 1:25,000 to the 1:5,000 scale with simple and inexpensive means. The enlargements can be taken to the field and be used in discussions with villagers, e.g. when identifying boundaries of potential community forestry sites. These enlargements have proven to be the best tool to help local populations to visualize the area -- topographic sheet and land cover map have been found to be rather meaningless for them.
2- Import data from GPS surveys into GIS
Data from the GPS receivers used by the project field staff can be downloaded into the computer and then imported into the project’s GIS. This has already been widely practiced for numerous community forestry sites, as well as for other features such as roughly one hundred illegal dikes, which were surveyed earlier.
As any position on the ground read from a GPS receiver can be identified on the photo, the combination of these two tools (aerial photos and GPS) in a GIS is of great benefit for the project. By developing their use, the GIS Unit is directly involved in detailed mapping of Community Forestry Sites. Once an area has been identified and confirmed as a potential community forestry site, draft maps showing the CF area boundaries are prepared. It basically consists of spotting the different features which might serve as physical boundaries (such as rivers or roads), and collecting GPS points all along parts where no physical boundaries can be identified. A draft of the potential area limits is presented to the user group representatives during the discussion and workshop steps. When it is all agreed, the map is finalized and printed to be incorporated in the official CF agreement to be signed.
CF area limits demarcation is made by using inexpensive means, such as affixing wooden poles to the tallest trees in the flooded forest, or planting recognizable tree species seedlings in the upland area. Field check is made by the GIS Unit using GPS to detect any change in the limits of the CF area. Demarcation poles positioned on the ground are read from a GPS receiver; later the GPS navigation tool will help relocate them if needed.
For the more advanced CF sites, the project is now reaching the step of developing a community forest management plan. Additional large-scale maps dividing the CF area into compartments for different forest management strategies are required as well. These maps, based on scanned aerial photos, bring into discussion the forest management options, often enhancing the traditional knowledge of the local communities on the CF area. The locals make the final decisions, in a fully participatory approach; the area is then divided accordingly into different blocks (per forest product) and sub-blocks (per village). GPS measurements are made during demarcation when requested by the CF staff..
In 1998, it was decided to target new community forestry sites based on the degree of utilization, and to work first with those sites which are under the heaviest pressure, i.e., those which may be lost unless immediate action is taken. To this end, the project conducted a resource assessment in all districts for long-term natural resource management planning.
However in reality, communities are approaching the project for assistance and demand is exceeding current staffing levels. Demand was easily created first by holding discussions with commune chiefs at district meetings which feeds back to the villages and starts the whole process. The project is now receiving direct requests from villages asking for assistance.
The CF process starts by the site identification step, which so far considers only the following criteria for selecting suitable sites to initiate community forestry:
The GIS Unit could provide a valuable input in this early stage as well, in the near future. It would consist in two main tasks:
1- Ranking of Current Forest Productivity
One could use the land cover data sets mapped from the 1:25,000 scale aerial photos (1992, 1996) in order to get a better overall picture of available forest resources at the district level. The classification scheme of these data sets in its original form does not provide this picture. However, one could re-group the various interpretation classes according to their current productivity (e.g. (simplified) Evergreen Forest > Deciduous Forest > Woodland > Shrubland). This may require some field activities in order to get a better idea of how classes (say, Woodland or Shrubland) actually look on the ground. The forest inventory information previously collected during Phase 1 may also be used in this context. The output would be maps showing the current forest productivity rather than the land cover with intangible classes like Bushland and Trees of Low Density. A map simply showing a productivity ranking (e.g. very high – high – medium – low – very low) would provide valuable insights compared to what is available at present.
2- Identification of Potential Target Sites for Community Forestry Activities
The information on current forest productivity generated in the previous step could next be used to help identify potential target sites for community forestry activities. Considering the project’s life span, one would therefore logically focus on activities in those areas that can be expected to provide maximum benefit to the target population, and which would serve as pilot sites for further action. Such areas would have to be identified through a structured selection procedure, combining information on areas of current forest productivity with information on population density and population distribution, which is available in the commune and village data sets (1998). Other valuable information such as forest products demand and supply have to be considered as well; the project-made natural resource assessment at the commune level (1998) would be a primary source of information.
Note: This procedure can of course only be used to help identifying potential target sites, at the first step of the CF process. It has to be followed by thorough case studies by the Community Forestry team, checking on the ground whether an area is available for community forestry management at all.
That step leads naturally towards the GIS Unit broader objective: building the Natural Resources Database.
One of the key final outputs of the project is to produce District action plans. Logically, the main objective of the GIS work stated in the Phase 2 Project Document, is to establish natural resource data bases. This is further specified by the Objective Verifiable Indicator Detailed natural resource data bases compiled for each district and accessible under GIS. Moreover, other Objective Verifiable Indicators are directly or indirectly related to GIS, including:
Number of communes and villages mapped for resource supply / demand
Environmental profiles prepared and accessible under GIS for the project’s four districts
GIS data base for six districts
Data base on fuelwood consumption for the various consumptive activities and options to decrease consumption evaluated
Data on Fish Pond Location and Characteristics
In order to achieve this objective, the preliminary step is for the project team together with staff from the provincial Forestry and Fisheries Departments to refine the information requirements for planning and implementing of forestry and fisheries activities at the district or commune level.
The main task of the GIS Unit will be then to further elaborate the components and contents of the Natural Resource Data Bases. This data base has to be built comprehensively, considering the following information layers :
It is obvious that, of the data sets included so far in the GIS data base, data derived from sources at scales below 1:50,000 will not be suitable for the intended purpose, which is planning at district or even commune level. Therefore, only a limited number of the project's current GIS data can be of much use for planning and analysis purposes at district and commune level. These are:
The other data sets could only be used at the macro level planning, e.g. at provincial level. Other sources of information are therefore to be found.
The baseline information generated by the project's own surveys (e.g. the forest inventory work) throughout Phase 1 has to be reviewed and screened ; valuable data have to be compiled in a comprehensive way to make them useful for the project as additional GIS data sets. Moreover, the resource assessment survey would be another valuable source of information for that purpose. This would require that the information collected be put into a structured (tabular) format prior to importing it into GIS. The GIS unit is now able to integrate tabular data into GIS analysis. Importing tabular (descriptive) data, e.g. prepared in EXCEL, into GIS will give a strong impetus to build the database ; it will also allow the GIS Unit to integrate various additional data into the GIS database (e.g. RRA or PRA data which have been collected by the project or by other agencies).
More information, which could be regarded as essential, might be already available from other existing sources at the provincial level, such as UNDP-CARERE, ACF, ILO, APSARA… Instead of re-surveying features that have already been surveyed by others, exchange of meta-information (information about information) within a provincial GIS user group would avoid the duplication of work already done by others. In addition, a wealth of information might be available from agencies at the central level in Phnom Penh, such as DoG, DFW, MoE, IRIC, JICA/PASCO, OXFAM, WFP or MRC ; a question mark, however, will remain on willingness or ability to share data and information.
Once the availability of information from outside sources has been clarified, the GIS team will be able to assess what additional data have to be generated in order to achieve the project's main GIS objective : the Natural Resource Data Base.
Given the capacity of the present GIS team (i.e., restricted), it is recommended that a GIS based planning procedure be at least initially limited to one or two districts where the approach can be thoroughly tested. It can be argued that establishing a planning procedure is at this stage more important for the project and the provincial Forestry and Fisheries Departments than establishing a full coverage GIS data base for all districts. Not only would the planning procedure be strategically more important, but the usefulness of a full coverage GIS data base is unclear. Not only would end-of-project time constraints prohibit a proper testing under local conditions, but few would be in a position to make use of such a data base, and it would be unsustainable after project end due to maintenance/up-dating cost issues.
The prospects of using GIS within a field-oriented project are considerable, as are the difficulties one faces installing and using a GIS unit at a provincial level without many facilities.
Experience to date with the project’s community forestry development focus on local communities and provincial authorities in Siem Reap is very encouraging. Provincial and district staff are gaining hands-on experience with community resource management in the upland forests as well as in the inundated forests of the fisheries domain. Community forest management should prove to be a productive and viable resource management approach that conserves bio-diversity and protects the environment, while stimulating local community development. Regarding resource information technologies, the GIS Unit is working hard, albeit as a pioneering effort, to prove that these technologies can be successfully applied at the field-level, for the direct benefit of the local communities.
The project's longer-term objective of drafting district action plans, which would include natural resource use planning, is a tremendous challenge. How can one correctly assess available forest land and resources, how can one best design appropriate forest land and resource management program? The GIS Unit should naturally take the lead in attempting to answer these questions. Surprisingly perhaps, the main difficulty facing the GIS Unit in contributing to achieve this objective might not be technical constraints, such as the lack of reliable, up-to-date, adequate or accurate geographic information, or human resources limitation. The GIS Unit can be deemed fully successful only at that point where its clients (i.e., various project components, non-project staffs at the provincial level such as Forestry or Fisheries Departments officials) are truly convinced that resource information techniques are useful for their ground level activities planning and implementation.
Idealistically, the GIS Unit has to run as a two-person component with a GIS specialist to handle information availability and lead the procedure, and a map theme specialist, with his own specific knowledge of information. With such a team, the GIS Unit would finally be a position to give definitive technical advice on (a) which information requirements can be satisfied based on the existing information, and (b) what additional information would have to be compiled before needs can be met. The very existence and sustainability of the GIS Unit will depend on its being perceived as a responsive technical service unit for province-level clients, as opposed to a project activity that operates in isolation. Being able to succeed in these objectives would mean that the GIS Unit would be truly established as an efficient and tool for facilitating integrated natural resources management by communities at the local level, and be in a position to contribute to developing natural resources use planning options for decision-makers at higher level. That is the project's GIS Unit’s goal for the year 2001, admittedly not a long way away!
DELATTRE, E. (1998), "GIS Status Update from the FAO Tonle Sap Project", Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO Siem Reap), paper presented at the Seminar on "Environmental Data and Information Management", ADB, Phnom Penh, December 1998
FELDKÖTTER, C. (1999), "Report on Geographic Information Systems Consultancy", Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO Siem Reap), Siem Reap, July 1999
PRAK, M. & EVANS, P. (1999), "Community Forestry Development", Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO Siem Reap), paper presented at the Workshop on "Participatory Land Use Planning in Cambodia", GTZ/MRC/ADB, Phnom Penh, September 1999