Participatory Mapping for Strengthening Environmental Governance on Socio-Ecological Impacts of Infrastructure in the Amazon: Lessons to Improve Tools and Strategies

Abstract

The Amazon region has been viewed as a source of economic growth based on extractive industry and large-scale infrastructure development endeavors, such as roads, dams, oil and gas pipelines and mining. International and national policies advocating for the development of the Amazon often conflict with the environmental sector tasked with conserving its unique ecosystems and peoples through a sustainable development agenda. New practices of environmental governance can help mitigate adverse socio-economic and ecological effects. For example, forming a “community of practice and learning” (CoP-L) is an approach for improving governance via collaboration and knowledge exchange. The Governance and Infrastructure in the Amazon (GIA) project, in which this study is embedded, has proposed that fostering a CoP-L on tools and strategies to improve infrastructure governance can serve as a mechanism to promote learning and action on factors related to governance effectiveness. A particular tool used by the GIA project for generating and sharing knowledge has been participatory mapping (Pmap). This study analyzes Pmap exercises conducted through workshops in four different Amazonian regions. The goal of Pmap was to capture different perspectives from stakeholders based on their experiences and interests to visualize and reflect on (1) areas of value, (2) areas of concern and (3) recommended actions related to reducing impacts of infrastructure development and improvement of governance processes. We used a mixed-methods approach to explore textual analysis, regional multi-iteration discussion with stakeholders, participatory mapping and integration with ancillary geospatial datasets. We believe that by sharing local-knowledge-driven data and strengthening multi-actor dialogue and collaboration, this novel approach can improve day to day practices of CoP-L members and, therefore, the transparency of infrastructure planning and good governance.

A lack of open data standards for large infrastructure project hampers social-ecological research in the Brazilian Amazon

“…To understand data needs and experiences, we surveyed key researchers and practitioners who focus on social and/or ecological topics from a list of the corresponding authors of the papers in the literature review, members of the Amazon Dams International Research Network 7 (ADN; Athayde et al, 2019), and members of the Governance and Infrastructure in the Amazon 8 (GIA) working group (Mere-Roncal et al, 2021). The ADN and GIA coordinate social-ecological research and information- sharing about infrastructure in the Amazon and are comprised of researchers, NGO practitioners, and members of government agencies.…”

“…To understand data needs and experiences, we surveyed key researchers and practitioners who focus on social and/or ecological topics from a list of the corresponding authors of the papers in the literature review, members of the Amazon Dams International Research Network 7 (ADN; Athayde et al, 2019), and members of the Governance and Infrastructure in the Amazon 8 (GIA) working group (Mere-Roncal et al, 2021). The ADN and GIA coordinate social-ecological research and informationsharing about infrastructure in the Amazon and are comprised of researchers, NGO practitioners, and WIth the survey, we collected demographic information and asked participants questions about types of infrastructure projects for which they searched, the information required about these projects, where they searched for information, how long it took to find relevant information and format it for use, what they did if they could not find appropriate data, and about data quality based on task-independent standards (Vetrò et al, 2016).…”

Ecological Protection and Environmental Governance in the Era of Big Data Corporate Finance Political Performance Studies

“…New approaches to environmental governance can help to mitigate adverse socio-economic and ecological impacts. Broadbent, E.N [13] develops CoP-L on tools and strategies to improve infrastructure governance that can be used as a mechanism. Their research promotes learning and action on factors related to governance effectiveness.…”