The changing paradigm of rural governance for sustainable development: Defining the niche and role of GIS


3. Where are the niches for GIS in rural governance?
Almost all information to support rural development has a strong geographical context, particularly since it deals with the natural resource base over extensive areas. Therefore it stands to reason that geographical information science (GIS) plays an important role in rural development, throughout the continuum of planning, governance and management.

In this paper, I prefer to use the acronym GIS to for the term geographical information science, rather than geographical information system(s), because the latter has a confined connotation of the physical system of computers, software and data used to capture, store, process and analyze geographical data. Geographical information science encompasses concepts, principles and techniques of representing and modeling real world objects and phenomena. The rapid advancements in computer, information, communications and space science offer a broad range of tools that can be deployed for GIS, which can be referred to collectively as geographical information technology (GIT).

Practically every aspect of planning, governance and management for rural development where geographical space is an important consideration would have use of GIS. Particularly given the emerging trend towards a more holistic orientation in rural development, as reflected in the World Bank’s new rural development strategy, GIS provides the vehicle for bringing together geographic information from a variety of subject matter and sources into a coherent framework. This facilitates inter-disciplinary interpretation of information for a more holistic understanding of the problems and needs, and better insight into the opportunities and key interventions in governance for improvement of the rural sector. GIS techniques and tools are particularly useful for the following broad areas of application in relation to rural governance.

3.1 Geographical targeting
One challenge faced in rural development is proper targeting of limited resources for better equity, particularly given the pro-poor focus of several development assistance programs.

Because the poor tend to be concentrated in areas commonly characterized by harsh living conditions, pro-poor development programs need better geographical targeting (Bigman and Fofack, 2000). The identification of geographical “hot spots” is particular relevant for determining
  1. where rural populations are most disadvantaged and vulnerable, to design strategic and emergency response;
  2. where particular problems are in relation to agricultural (including crop, livestock and agro-forestry) production, to identify research and development and extension priorities;
  3. where areas are poorly serviced, to improve infrastructure, marketing, health, education and other services; and
  4. where and to what extent natural resources are being overly exploited and degraded, to undertake prompt measures to minimize if not reverse the degradation.
3.2 Resource allocation
Not only is there need for better targeting of development resources on a sectoral basis, but also there are competing demands on natural, financial and human resources from various rural sectors. Decisions to be made on allocating limited resources to meet certain development objectives as well as the needs of rural communities need to take into consideration various factors including resource availability, quantity and quality; availability and level of technology; and human capacity. Such decisions involve having to consider trade-offs among different development objectives. For example, a resource allocation scenario based on self-sufficiency in food production can be very different from a scenario that targets profit maximization.

Various decision support tools for land and resource use allocation have been developed. Some of these tools have taken a more holistic approach in considering biophysical, socio-economic as well as policy factors, and also explicitly incorporated the spatial dimension by linking with GIS. For example, the CLUE model (Verburg, et al., 1999) analyzes changes in land use, identifies the main driving factors and simulates future land use changes subjected to various sectoral demands. Linked with GIS, the CLUE model can handle land use allocation analysis at various spatial scales. The Land Use Planning and Analysis (LUPAS) decision support system (Hoanh, et al., 2000) is one of many models that makes use of multiple goal linear programming to explore scenarios of land and resource use allocation subjected to different development objectives and resource constraints, and to determine implications and trade-offs among the different scenarios. The Vietnamese government is now adopting this decision support tool for land use planning at province and district level (Yen, et al., 2002).

3.3. Administration of land and other resources
Just as GIT has proven useful for land administration in urban applications, it is potentially also useful for land and resource administration and management in the rural sector. However, use of GIT for rural land administration is more difficult that in the urban setting because of the much larger geographical spread of land, which necessitates a decentralized system of collecting and managing land parcel and ownership records. It is difficult enough to establish and maintain a dynamic spatial land administration database in compact urban areas that have better infrastructure and a bigger pool of trained human resources to handle modern technology. Nevertheless, there is evidence of a greater awareness of the importance of spatial data even local government units, even in the rural areas. In Vietnam, the General Department of Land Administration has set up GIT facilities in provincial capitals to computerize cadastres for monitoring land use for taxation purposes. In Thailand, the Agricultural Land Reform Office uses GIT for administering issuing of land titles and to provide base maps for agricultural development projects within land reform areas under its jurisdiction. Present efforts of using GIT are still largely at the level of computerized mapping. There is much scope for developing applications using this valuable data resource for automating land administration functions.

GIT is used more widely in dealing with administrative and management of natural resources on a sectoral basis. Many countries now use remotely sensed data to map and monitor changes in land use and forest cover (Watson et al., 1998), detect illegal logging and oil spills from tankers, monitor forest fires (Liew, et al., 1998), estimate crop area (Manjunath, et al., 2000), forecast crop yields (Dhadwal, et al., 2000) and assess damage due to natural disasters (Bhanumurthy, et al., 2000; Okamota, et al., 1996); in some cases on a routine basis (NASA Earth Observatory http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Search/sitemap.html).

3.4 Impact assessment
Much less has been done in monitoring and assessing the impact of development programs, particularly in rural areas where benefits are not equally distributed geographically. Development agencies are only beginning to recognize the importance of going beyond measuring financial impact using gross indicators such as internal rates of return of development assistance projects. The U.K. DfID now adopts the sustainable livelihoods approach to identify target assistance programs and to assess impacts, whereby accounting of natural, human, financial, physical and social capitals is required (Turton, 2001).

There is also need to rethink the purpose and function of impact assessment for rural development projects. It is more useful to carry out monitoring and ex-ante assessment of projects during implementation, especially for medium- to long-term projects, rather than ex-post evaluation. This will enable identification of bottlenecks and unexpected outcomes that would allow project redesign, and adaptive management and governance (Kam, et al., 2001).

3.5 Top-down and bottom-up approaches in rural governance
Most attempts to use GIS in planning, governance and management for rural development are largely focused on developing applications or systems that are to be handled in a top-down approach by both public and private agencies. This tendency is based on the premise that GIT is sophisticated technology and its deployment is data-intensive, skills demanding and dependent on good infrastructure support.

Even so, not many of the tools and systems developed have gone beyond the pilot stage or beyond realm of the researchers to be used on an operational basis. Those that have become operational require considerable resources, organizational arrangements and institutional support, not to mention political will to sustain these ventures. Real impacts in terms of making a difference to people’s lives or to the way that rural governance is conducted are not well documented.

The development and implementation of automated, comprehensive, georeferenced databases is not easy, even in data-rich developed countries. In developing countries, this is a daunting task faced with many obstacles that are even more formidable in the rural context. This is despite the increased opportunity for collecting more timely and accurately georeferenced data using remote sensing and global positioning system (GPS) technology. Where such databases have been established, largely by government institutions using public funds, there is a prevailing reluctance to make these databases available and accessible for public use. This brings to question the feasibility of generating and maintaining comprehensive databases and undermines their utility in the service of those who are in greatest need for knowledge. In the spirit of greater public participation in rural governance, GIT need not remain in the realm of those who govern.

3.6 Social empowerment
In many countries the poorest of the rural poor tend to concentrate in the marginal lands, where they are most vulnerable and are caught in the poverty trap. Barring major land reform, which many governments are not inclined to undertake, there are few exit paths from poverty for these marginalized groups. One path is through social empowerment, i.e. giving voice to the poor and enabling their participation and entry into the mainstream of national economic development. Eventually only the poor can improve their lot through their individual and collective actions by self-organization. Presently the poor are faced with powerlessness in the prevailing social structure. They need to build self-confidence through enhancing their self-image and self-worth. It has been shown that having knowledge is one way of attaining self-esteem.

Being able to use modern technology to attain knowledge further enhances self-confidence. The poor deserve the best that modern science and technology can offer to help them get out of poverty, and ICT has this potential to leapfrog technological advancement into the reach of the rural people. The availability of satellite facilities, WAP and other mobile connections facilitates the expanded movement of information to the most rural and remote villages. For example in Bangladesh, the mobile phone has placed international communication in the hands of “telephone ladies” in rural villages -illiterate housewives in rural areas who not only use it to supplement their household income, but also found their social standing upgraded and their self-confidence boosted (Ahmed, 2000). The possibilities are limitless for rural people to use ICT to break away from their isolation and to improve their lives and livelihoods (Mohan, 2000). Over time, it will be possible to set up extensive people's networks with immense capability for sharing of information, knowledge and learning for, by, among, and of the poor - to combine radio, TV, print, Internet and even geographic information tools.

GIT, as a facet of ICT, is potentially an enabling technology for social empowerment. It is not only a vehicle for accumulating and disseminating knowledge, but it can also be used as a communication and negotiation tool. GIS principles are not new; they are grounded in age-old geographical concepts and are highly intuitive. People who live off the land (or the sea) have good spatial awareness. Researchers and scientists may be surprised to see illiterate villagers use sticks to sketch maps on the ground, demonstrating possession of intrinsic mental models about space and spatial relationships. The power of visualizing space, using GIT, can be used creatively to offer georeferenced data and tools for spatial interpretation in ways that local people can easily relate with and can use to represent their local knowledge (Castella et al., 2001; Gonzalez, 2000). Their spatial perceptions can be formalized and transferred into georeferenced and scaled spatial integrators, such as maps, printed or digital, spatial models, including 3-D models (Rambaldi and Callosa-Tarr, 2002) where it can be analyzed and interpreted together with formal data.

Besides the data and knowledge generated, the process itself is an effective way to evoke active participation of the local people, such as in identifying conflicts in the use of management of resources. The tool becomes a communication and negotiation platform for them to articulate their needs and seek solutions either among themselves or with their local authorities. Used in this way, GIS helps facilitate the bottom-up approach to rural governance.

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