FoxHershockMappingCommunities

who have not attended the sketch mapping activities do
not understand. People said that the maps appear
distorted, the streams are not drawn as they actually are,
things are in the wrong place, and the writing is not all
oriented in the same way. Many people cannot read, and
those that can read often cannot read the poor writing on
the map. The writing is also often in the wrong place.
The scale map is easy for people who can read text because
it has a legend. But most community people cannot read
text, so they cannot understand. The topographic map is
difficult to read because it has contour lines, which are
confusing to look at. People trying to read them often
mistake a mountain for a flat area and vice versa.
Additionally the topographic maps are old (1967) so the
village areas have changed since that time, and villagers
have trouble orienting themselves in their own village area.
They have trouble finding swidden areas, collection forests,
spirit forests, protected forests, and other areas.
Participants in the workshop however felt that both sketch
and scale maps are required. Having seen an example of a
3D map in the workshop, participants felt that 3D maps
could be useful but no one in the meeting could say
whether their village would agree to spend the time
required to make one of these. A couple of participants said
they would ask in their villages. NGO staff said that villagers
had to clearly understand how these maps would be useful
for them before agreeing to build one. Another suggestion
to make maps easier to understand was to change the fill
types of the land-use areas on the scale map. Currently
land-use codes are colored/patterned polygons that are
unrelated to land type. Villagers suggested that it would be
easier to understand if the codes were more realistic. For
example, a picture of trees where there is a forest, or
bamboo where there is a bamboo forest. They also wanted
large maps with large writing so that those with poor
eyesight can still read the maps.
In general community people cannot use GPS because they
have only received a short amount of training and have had
no time to review. Thus, only some of the NRM committee
members have had experience and training in using GPS.
One request from the workshop was that people want to
learn how to use GPS. Another comment from the La En
Kren Village chief was that NGO and government staff
members came to his village and told him that if they take
some points with a GPS they can tell him how big the area
is. He said he really wondered how this can be done. La En
Kren was mapped using the slow step process, and over a
period of three years, the village chief would have received
approximately four training sessions on mapping including
GPS use.
The feeling was that the training was satisfactory but too
infrequent for villagers to remember and fully understand.
Training sessions need to be more regular and perhaps
incorporated into a program of village land and forest
management. Community people also say it is difficult to
read the topographic and scale maps and use the GPS
receiver because the training course they had was a long
time ago, and they have had no time to review these
lessons. Participants in the workshop suggested that
training sessions should be shorter and more frequent
because the concepts are difficult to understand, and they
also have limited time to attend training sessions. The
facilitators sometimes try to use village translators to
explain the ideas in the local language. Also the GPS
equipment is in English and the capacity of CBNRM staff is
limited, because they receive only two short training
courses per year. It is not possible for them to remember
and to be able to train the NRM committees. There is also a
high turnover of CBNRM staff, so as a result only some of
the NRM committees and a few community people can
read maps and use a GPS.
Regarding the question of who should be involved in
mapping activities, participants in the workshop answered
that elders, NRM committee members, younger members
of the village, and all communities in the village should take
part. Comments were that generally both women and men
participated in the mapping activities. In some cases
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