Description

Excerpt: Mountain environments present many challenges, not least of which is how to accurately portray their ecological complexity for purposes of integrated natural resource management. In the Andes mountains of Ecuador, the SANREM-Andes team has been experimenting with innovative methodologies that enable a better representation and, therefore, a better understanding and management of the natural landscape. To better integrate data into a scenario that is coherent with

local conceptualization of the landscape, anthropologist Robert Rhoades, the Program Manager for the

SANREM-Andes research team, proposed that SANREM researchers and local stakeholders work together to develop a P3DM (Participatory 3 Dimensional Modeling), a methodology originally developed by IAPAD (Integrated Approaches to Participatory Development) in the Philippines. The approach consists of a participatory process whereby spatial information is combined with peopleOs knowledge into a tool to be used in advocacy activity, awareness raising, community planning, conflict resolution, and participatory monitoring and evaluation. In Ecuador, its role was also extended to the realm of collaborative research.