Community Participation and Geographic Information Systems - Chapter 11

Chapter 11 A community-based and collaborative GIS joint venture in rural Australia Daniel H. Walker, Anne M. Leitch, Raymond de Lai, Alison Cottrell, Andrew K. L. Johnson and David Pullar 11.1 INTRODUCTION Traditionally, the power to make decisions for natural resource use planning and management in Australia has been vested with regulatory authorities. However, sustainable resource use and participative democracy have emerged as increasingly influential paradigms since the 1950s. More recently, signi-ficant changes have occurred to involve the community in the decision-mak-ing process (e.g. McKenna 1995) that have challenged assumptions about requirements for sustainable resource use and, in particular, about the role of technocrats, resource users, and the broader community. In Australia, natural resource management and rural development policy over the past decade has been underpinned by a rhetorical move toward participatory resource use planning (Dale and Bellamy 1998). This puts Australia at the forefront of international experience. The key feature of a participatory approach to planning is control of the information, evaluation, and decision-making process. In this type of approach, the community is responsible for developing a planning strategy and must have the capacity to undertake environmental analysis and evaluation. Community-based decision-making represents a change in the organiza-tion and operation of information systems. To participate effectively, stake-holders must have: · access to information pertinent to resource use planning, · access to analytical tools required to make effective use of that infor-mation, · a capacity to use the analytical tools and data sets, and · a legislative and institutional environment that fosters effective partici-pation. Recent advances in information technology such as GIS have brought new opportunities for improving local capacity and participation in plan-ning. As a result, community groups (rather than special interest groups) © 2002 Taylor & Francis 138 D. H. Walker et al. across Australia have driven a number of initiatives to create commun-ity resource information centres. Fostering effective use of GIS amongst a broad range of stakeholder groups and in the broader community requires investment in people as well as in data integration and provision. Community-based collaborative joint ventures can achieve both these objectives. This chapter reports the evaluation of a community-based, col-laborative joint venture in tropical Australia and, on the basis of this experi-ence, presents a set of principles for similar ventures elsewhere. 11.2 CASE STUDY: THE HERBERT RESOURCE INFORMATION CENTRE (HRIC) 11.2.1 The region The Herbert River catchment drains a 10,000 km2 area in Australia’s trop-ical northeast into the Coral Sea (Figure 11.1). Large areas of the catchment contain natural vegetation, although approximately 35–40% of the coastal lowland has been cleared for crop production or pastures. The catchment has a population of approximately 21,000 people and is bounded by two World Heritage areas: the rainforests of the Wet Tropics on the steeper slopes of the central catchment, and the Great Barrier Reef immediately adjacent to the catchment. A plethora of government and statutory industry agencies claim, or are assigned, responsibility for managing different aspects of the catchment and a number of agencies provide research and development outputs. This area has experienced strong economic growth in the agricultural and tourist sectors. The sugar industry dominates the local economy, having produced A$235 million worth of sugar from 1996 to 1997. However, the sugar industry may have significant environmental impacts on the Herbert catchment (Johnson et al. 1997). Riparian vegetation on stream banks and large areas of riverine rainforest have been removed in cane growing regions. Coastal wetlands, which provide important wildlife habitat and form an integral part of the hydrological regime, have also been cleared; soil erosion is a potential threat to long-term productivity. Diffuse source pollution may generate water quality problems in both ground and surface waters, including the area around the Great Barrier Reef. Growing concern about potential environmental impact is balanced by a recognition of the regional and national importance of an economically vibrant sugar industry that is internationally competitive. To achieve eco-logical and economic sustainability within the Herbert catchment, effective means are required to manage and reconcile industry imperatives with the requirements of other users of the catchment (including conservation and © 2002 Taylor & Francis A community-based and collaborative GIS joint venture 139 environmental services). Recognition of such issues has led government agencies in Queensland to implement integrated approaches to resource management to avoid the environmental and social damage sustained by land-use conflicts. In practice, the effectiveness of these initiatives is often constrained by: BABINDA HERBERTON INNISFAIL RAVENSHOE TULLY CARDWELL Hinchinbrook Island LUCINDA HALIFAX INGHAM ALLINGHAM Lower Herbert River Catchment Intermediate and Upper Herbert River Catchments Outside study area Herbert River Catchment boundary Figure 11.1 The Herbert River catchment in northern Australia. © 2002 Taylor & Francis 140 D. H. Walker et al. · the paucity of data at spatial and temporal scales relevant to decision-making, · poor coordination or communication between participating stakeholders, · limits to the data processing and analytical capabilities of participants in the decision-making process, and · poor understanding of key issues in sustainable resource use. 11.2.2 Creation of the HRIC In mid-1993, scientists from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s principal federal scientific research agency, initiated discussions with key stakeholders in the Herbert catchment. Their goal was to address one of the constraints to integrated catchment management – inadequate data – by acquiring essential base data at a scale of 1:10,000. The costs of acquiring this data exceeded the finan-cial capacity of any one of the interested stakeholders. In response, a joint venture called the Herbert Mapping Project (HMP) was developed between 11 industry, community, and government agencies to fund the acquisition of digital orthophotography, cultural data (e.g. utilities, farm boundaries), nat-ural features (e.g. streams, topography) and cadastral data for the lower catchment. The HMP was completed in July 1996. As the HMP neared completion, it became evident to many stakeholders that the utility of the data collected could only be maximized through advanced analysis of the data in digital form. GIS provided the best means of satisfying the requirements for data analysis and presentation. A further collaborative joint venture, the HRIC, was proposed. The appropriateness and viability of such a joint venture was investigated through a needs analy-sis and a cost-benefit analysis (Johnson and Walker 1997), the results of which suggested that a collaborative GIS facility suited the organizational characteristics of the potential participating organizations and was a good public and private investment. Based on this information, six stakeholders in the catchment began nego-tiations of a formal agreement. Four of the stakeholders (CSR Sugar Mills, Herbert Cane Protection and Productivity Board, Hinchinbrook Shire Council and Canegrowers Herbert River Executive) represented local indus-try and community, while the other two (Queensland Department of Natural Resources and CSIRO) represented state and federal government respectively. Although these six stakeholders had very different charters, organizational structures and cultures (some were even engaged in legal dis-putes with each other at the time) they were brought together by a desire and need to improve their business through better management of resources. In August 1996, a 10-year collaborative agreement was signed by the stake-holders to formally establish HRIC. The agreement secures the support of the stakeholders and binds them to uphold HRIC’s status as a non-profit, © 2002 Taylor & Francis A community-based and collaborative GIS joint venture 141 community-based, collaborative GIS facility designed to support both eco-nomic and ecologically sustainable development in the Herbert catchment. 11.2.3 The nature of HRIC HRIC is a catchment-based GIS facility that supports management of nat-ural resources in the Herbert River catchment by providing and allowing access to geographic information, GIS tools, and expertise. The organiza-tion is intended to facilitate a common geographic view of the catchment and enable synergistic planning amongst the six HRIC stakeholders and the community. The HRIC also acts as a conduit for delivering research prod-ucts to local decision-makers. The four HRIC community stakeholders provide funding for HRIC. The two external stakeholders (CSIRO and the Queensland Department of Natural Resources) provide matching in-kind contributions such as data and technical and professional support. Two full-time GIS specialists staff HRIC, providing expertise and skills to facilitate the collection, storage, maintenance, and analysis of natural resource data. They ensure the prod-ucts of these activities are delivered to HRIC stakeholders, provide consult-ing services and project management skills, and act as a conduit for the transfer of relevant research and development products. HRIC staff also build GIS capacity in the region by assisting stakeholders to implement GIS as part of their business operations, and promote improved communication and collaboration between HRIC stakeholders. In addition to the active participation of community stakeholders, the com-munity orientation of HRIC is demonstrated by a strong schools programme and documented use of HRIC’s services by a range of community organiza-tions including clubs and local Aboriginal representative bodies. In this sense, HRIC builds on rural Australia’s strong history of active community and representative groups that play a key role in local politics and governance. The objectives of HRIC are: · improved quality of data available for the Herbert catchment, · improved access to data, · better-informed decisions in planning and implementing data collection and use projects, · better-informed decisions in natural resource management, and · improved collaboration. 11.2.4 HRIC structure HRIC is a distributed cross-organizational corporate GIS (Figure 11.2). The organization offers a bureau service in its central office, and also provides © 2002 Taylor & Francis ... - tailieumienphi.vn