Participatory 3D mapping as a dialog tool for Disaster Risk Reduction at Fogo
Volcano, Cape Verde (Poster)
TEXIER Pauline1, LAVIGNE FRANCK², CHOURAQUI Floriane2, PERRILLAT-COLLOMB
Anais2, ROM CADAG Jake3, GAILLARD Jean-Christophe4
1: University of Lyon 3 Jean Moulin, CNRS UMR 5600 Environnement, Villes et Sociétés, pauline.texier@univ-lyon3.fr
2: University of Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, CNRS UMR 8591 Laboratoire de géographie Physique,
franck.lavigne@univ-paris1.fr
3: University of Montpellier III Paul Valéry, CNRS EA 3766 Gester ; University of the Philippines Diliman.
4: University of Auckland, School of Environment
Abstract
This paper aims at presenting and discussing the Participatory 3D mapping methodology in Disaster
Risk Reduction and results obtained from a European research program MIA-VITA (“MItigate and
Assess risk from Volcanic Impact on Terrain and human Activities”), on the community living on
Fogo Volcano in Cape Verde. This methodology provides a tool for dialog between all stakeholders
and the community, the researchers being only a mediator. To create communication between
stakeholders and the community is crucial in Fogo, since the village is located within the Fogo
Natural Parc, which implies constrains of landuse. The case of Fogo shows how risk reduction
policies should address the larger issues of development (education, health, basic services, land
tenure and concurrency relationship between activities) to reduce people’s vulnerability and secure
their livelihoods in facing not only volcanic but also drought and economic hazards. The method
shows that it’s crucial to involve local community and external stakeholders within the process, from
the right beginning.
Introduction
In many practitioners handbooks as in many scientific publications or international directives about
disasters and development, has arisen a consensus about disaster risk reduction (DRR). It should
firstly better integrate socio-economic factors from daily pattern to strengthen livelihoods (O'Keefe et
al., 1976 ; Hewitt, 1983 ; Chester, 1993 ; Blaikie et al., 1994 ; Wisner et al., 2004; Chambers et Conway,
1991 p. 1 ; Benson et Twigg, 2007). Secondly, it should adopt context-appropriate measures to develop
local communities’ capacities in facing risks (Anderson et Woodrow, 1989 ; Maskrey, 1989). Thirdly, it
should be based on real collaboration between the different scales of action (institutional and upper
levels stakeholders, local stakeholders, communities) to merge scientific, technical, political and
local knowledge (Gaillard, 2007, 2009; Texier, 2009). If things are theoretically well-established,
practically speaking difficulties remain to develop this collaboration and to find a research
methodology which could combine all knowledge to help practitioners to find better solutions in
DRR and in resources management (Gaillard, 2007 ; Texier, 2009 ; Nations Unies, 2009). The MIAVITA
European research Program aims at (1) better analyzing vulnerability and capacities of communities
living on volcanoes by developing a methodology which adopts a multi factors approach, and (2)
enhancing collaboration between researchers, practitioners and communities. This communication
focus on one field of investigation of MIA-VITA: the community of Cha Das Caldeiras facing Fogo
volcano threat, in Cape Verde islands. We will present first the physical and social background in
Fogo, and the global methodology applied for P3DM (Participatory 3D Mapping). Then, we will
discuss the results obtained through this experience and do some suggestions to improve the method
for further participatory research.
Context and methodology
Fogo is an active volcanic island from Macaronesy. It’s a “hot spot” stratovolcan. Its actual shape of
caldera results from a collapse of old volcanic edifice (figure 1).
Figure 1: Scheme of Fogo volcano and photography of actual Pico(modified from Day, Fonseca et Da Silva, 1999 ; Day
et Amelung, 2002 p.3, Photography from Chouraqui, 2011).
The last eruptions, of effusive type with long lava flows, occurred in 1995, and before that in 1951.
Fogo presents a dry tropical climate, with very short rainy season from July to October. The caldera
presents a relative good biodiversity linked with its altitude and exposition to Alizee humid winds.
The villages of Portela and Bangaeira which compose Chã das Caldeiras are located in the 9kmwide caldera of Fogo volcano (figure 2). It is part of the municipality of Santa Catarina. It lies
within the Fogo natural park.
The first settlements in the caldera was in 1917, driven by hard drought and lack of arable lands,
during the Portuguese colonization (Ribeiro, 1951; Lesourd, 1995; Andrade, 1996 ; Madeira Santos
et al., 2007). Despite a strong diaspora to United States and Europa (who still interact with their
native village), the community of Chã das Caldeiras is still growing. Today, 710 inhabitants live
there. They are quite isolated: the community had been self-sufficient for more than fifty years until
the first paved road was built by the Portuguese in 1975. They are exposed to the volcanic threat.
The last two eruptions of Fogo volcano caused damage to infrastructure and farmland. No one was
killed however. After the 1995 eruption of Fogo volcano, many families were relocated beyond the
rim of the caldera but most people came back to Chã das Caldeiras shortly afterwards. The steep
and elevated caldera which surrounds the community may also collapse. Yet, the most severe
hazard however is drought. It is frequent and endangers people’s main resource, i.e. farming, thus
leading to severe food insecurity.
Furthermore, there is neither electricity nor running water in Chã das Caldeiras. Only generators
provide the wealthiest families with electric power while the poorest households have no choice but
to rely on candles. People rely on tanks filled with rain or have to purchase water from a municipal
delivery truck to sustain their daily water needs. The community is however being connected to the
telephone and internet networks.
There is a permanent representative of the municipal authorities in Chã das Caldeiras. This liaison
officer, who was born and lives in Chã das Caldeiras, handles social services and tax-related issues.
The social structure is shaped by a complex mesh of family ties. Most of the people are relatives,
claiming a common French forefather, Armand Montrond. Many families are decomposed and
recomposed with single mothers often living with their parents. Despite strong kinship, social
conflicts are frequent. These are usually settled through public debates.
Two religious communities cohabit peacefully, i.e. 7th Day Adventists and Roman Catholics.
Figure 2: Villages of Portela and Bangaeira in the caldera (CADAG from general photography of Pico, and TEXIER
from Monte Amarello for photography of villages, April 2011).
Farming is the main component of people’s livelihoods. All families rely on small cattle (goats and
cows) and multiple crops (mainly beans, corn, manioc, apples, grapes and figs) which harvest
spreads throughout the year to self-sustain people’s needs. Farmlands are not irrigated. Water
supply depends on rainfall, which often is irregular. Grape and pomegranate are transformed in the
village to make wine and liquor which are sold in the entire country. The local wine cooperative
gathers 102 farmers and is the major economic stakeholder in the community.
Tourism is a growing additional resource for many households of Chã das Caldeiras. Men guide
tourists up to the summit of the volcano while kids and women make souvenirs. Tourism activities
are yet volatile because dependent on the international demand.
Economic resources also include remittances from overseas which are similarly dependent on the
international political and economic conjuncture.
The volcano is thus a threat as much as a livelihood provider.
The natural Parc of Fogo was created in 2003 to enhance Endemic species protection and regulate
tourism. But its creation supposes some constrains of landuse and conflicts with the local
development. The strongest constrains deals with land farming and cattle, which most of families
rely on, whereas some others take profit of the park through tourism. On the other hand, the risk is
managed principally by the Capeverdian Civile Protection. This stakeholder has a quite hazardrelated strategy to reduce the risk: sensitization, protection, and displacement of people if needed like
in 1995, even if they try to integrate all local social and economic constrains.
There is thus some contradiction in stakes of territory management, between the development of
“green” tourism in a high risk site, and the development of the local community (access to
infrastructures such electricity, road, water, agriculture).
The methodology developed in Cha aims at analyzing this stakes, first by investigations through
questionnaires at household level, Focus Group Discussions and interviews with local and external
stakeholders, and secondly by organizing a participatory 3D mapping, involving the community and
all stakeholders of risk management and Nature protection, to create a real dialog about risk
management and livelihoods development. This dialog lays on different activities and thematic focus
group around the mapping: people discuss together about resources, land conflicts, security toward
volcano, contingency plan based on local reality, constraints and strengths. The figure 3 sums up the
main stages of the methodology.
Results of VCA and Participatory 3D mapping
The results of focus groups first demonstrate that people have both vulnerabilities and capacities
(figure 4).
Figure 4: Relationships between livelihoods, needs and vulnerability of the community of Chã Das Caldeiras. Summary
based on Focus Group Discussions conducted in July and August 2010.
Livelihoods heavily depend on the sole climate-dependent farming. Farmlands may further be
buried by lava flows. No land registrar thus making it difficult to compensate for potential losses.
They have no many alternative resources, especially through secure and formal employment ; There
is a growing dependence on volatile national and international economies (wine industry, tourism,
remittances) ; Many households are headed by single women with several children ; Kids never
experienced a volcanic eruption ; Access to Chã das Caldeiras relies on a single road to the South
and one small trail to the North ; The community suffers from a lack of communication facilities, a
lack of public services such as water and health which makes people’s livelihoods fragile ; the
management of the volcano is unclear and changing.
Figure 3: Main steps of the P3DM methodology.
On the other hand, people lies on capacities: Diversity of farming products throughout the year ;
Volcano and drought-safe remittances flowing in from overseas ; Local associations are effective in
supporting farmers to market their products ; Permanent liaison officer representing the
municipality of Santa Catarina ; Memory and experience of past volcanic events ; Permanent
monitoring of the volcano ; Contingency plan which has been tested through a two-day simulation.
The people of Chã das Caldeiras are closely tied to their native place, which caters for their
economic and social needs. This is evident in the abandonment of the 1995 relocation site.
Reducing the risk of rare volcanic disaster is not a priority for the locals. People are more concerns
with droughts and basic services which both pertain to their everyday life. These results were
identified thanks to FGD, interviews and P3DM. All these findings should be integrated into a
global resources and risk management plan.
The realization of 3D Mapping aimed at addressing these results about local vulnerability and
capacities, and to integrate them, by a bottom-up approach, into the institutional strategies. It was a
“half” success. Even if the last step of follow-up is not yet in process and that the time was too short
to adopt a community-based disaster reduction plan, the global participation during four weeks was
quite sufficient. Children from school participated to the building of blank model and to the
communication actions (figure 5).
Figure 5: the building of 3D mapping with children and adults from Chã das Caldeiras, April 2009 (Texier and Cadag).
70 people were attending the general assembly to put information on the mapping together with
external stakeholders. Information on vulnerability was plot for 75 households (more than half of
total households), and five focus groups were organized. A group of members of the community
was identified to do the follow-up.
However, some problems occurred during these four weeks. The figure 6 sums up in a table the
main problems, their cause, their impact on 3D mapping and the possible solutions. Three types of
problems can be observed:
1. Technical problems: the low availability of rough material to build the blank model because
the site was located in isolated place and only few means of transport were available. The
timing of realization was not respected, and thus a lack of time implied a lack of final
information. The room where the model was stored was too small which caused some
difficulties to organize FGD around the model. It’s thus important first to trust the
community to find some local solutions. For instance, in Chã, they used volcanic ashes and
pouzzolanes to compensate the lack of painting. Then, the place should be decided through
dialogue between stakeholders to identify the best place as possible.
Problems
Causes of
problems
 Lack of rough material
 Difficulties to organize FGD with members of community (despite some volunteers from the
community were responsible for this task)
 Consensuel discussions, tabous remain
 Low participation from some external stakeholders
 The room to store the CP3D was quite small to organize FGD around the model
 Difficulties for the kick-off meeting organization
 Difficulties to organize the follow-up
 Next city with shops was far, lack of public transport to reach the shops
 Low availability of inhabitants,
 Lack of motivation because a lack of involvement at the beginning of the project
 « cultural » tabous, competition between some participants (ex.: from touristic infrastructures)
 Conflicts between the community and the municipality ; Chã remains far from municipality
 High cost of logistic
 Low availability of stakeholders and lack of involvement at the right beginning of the project
 Some social events (mourning) delayed activities organized despite means of communication
displayed
 Time too short to organize the follow-up
Impacts on the
realization
Solutions
 Lack of time to realize FGD because all steps were delayed
 Lack of information plotted during FGD (tabous)
 Depreciation on P3DM and lack of scientific knowledge and official strategies, difficulties to go
until the CBDRR, and to create a real direct dialogue
 Let the community find some local solution to replace classical material
 Plan a wider place to store the model
 More involve the responsible for FGD at the beginning of the project
 More communicate on big assembly with the community
 Defuse internal conflicts with representatives, plan concertation meeting before the P3DM to
better define expectations from community and stakeholders
 Include a special bonus budget for the logistic (travel of stakeholders)
 Better schedule important meetings according to their availability
 Envisage a indirect dialogue through tables
 Plan free bonus time to anticipate imponderables
 Follow-up: involve representatives, the local group and plan time to organize it all along the 4
weeks of P3DM
Figure 6: The problems, causes, impacts and solutions for P3DM according to Chã’s experience.
2. Organization problems: some social events (mourning because of 2 people died during the
P3DM) delayed the organization of kick-off meeting. Some confusion linked to this delay
caused difficulties to clarify the date and hour of the meeting. The follow-up was quite
difficult also to organize because a lack of time and anticipation. The principle lays on a
synergy between few motivated participants from the community and external stakeholders,
to actualize the model, to transform it into a GIS and to implement a CBDRR plan. It should
take time to organize it. In Chã, the follow-up is in process but it will certainly takes months
before achieving a real CBDRR plan.
3. Participation problems: Community is very busy with all its economic activities and it’s
difficult for the members to dedicate time for the P3DM. Furthermore, despite a huge effort
in communicate during the P3DM and although some members were volunteers to organize
the FGD and fix the meetings, the main problem relies on a lack of involvement of the
community at origins of the project, which should be a local initiative and not an exogenous
idea from scientific team. Other experiences of CP3D lead in Philippines show that it’s the
crucial point in the success of such a project. It’s the same problem with lack of
participation with external stakeholders: they should be more involved at the origin of the
project, to better define their objectives and expectations, and schedule by themselves the
program according to their availability. This involvement should stimulate the global
motivation within the project, more than huge communication and motivation campaign.
The result of this default of participation is the lack of final information plotted on the
model, and thus difficulties to process a CBDRR plan. This lack of information is linked
also to internal conflicts, competition between socio-professional groups and taboos toward
local management of resources like wine cooperative or Natural Parc. Indirect dialogue
should be stimulated also to develop self-confidence and trust between all participants.
Conclusions and Perspectives
Risk reduction policies should address the larger issues of development (education, health, basic
services) to reduce people’s vulnerability in facing not only volcanic but also drought and economic
hazards. Documenting land tenure is crucial to secure people’s livelihoods. Contingency planning
should consider all forms of resources which make up people’s livelihoods, including food, water,
farming implements and cattle.
The 3D mapping was a success since most of external actors and community worked together to
build the model and put all information layers, but the process is not over: the community and
stakeholders are on the way to build a strong community-based risk and livelihood management.
But this will take more time, and it’s just for the moment a beginning.
We can still improve the method, by involving at the right beginning all the stakeholders to
facilitate the participation process.
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