Photographs by Damian Prestidge

The community of Telecho is located in the hills of the rural Oromiya region of Ethiopia. At the close of 2010 the community undertook a powerful participatory 3D mapping exercise facilitated by our partner MELCA Ethiopia.

Eco-cultural mapping is a process used across Gaia's network of international partners. It began in South America as a means of engaging with communities and their rich ancestral past, in order to interrogate their present and change the paths of their future. The maps may take either sketch or 3D form, and each style has its merits. In Telecho, the mapping took the form of 3D models of the landscape, built with the involvement of the entire community from scratch.The 3D maps are physical manifestations of the landscape and all that is imbued within it: indigenous knowledge, sacred sites, rituals, rites of passage and systems of belief. As maps of the past, present and future are all created as part of the process, it is also an extremely powerful way to highlight changes in the landscape over time.

Partners and communities who have carried out or particpated in an eco-cultural mapping process have witnessed profound results as a result. Here we explore some of the stages involved in 3D mapping and how it has impacted upon the people of Telecho. The film, Localisation, Participation and Communication: An Introduction to Good PGIS Practice, produced by the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA), also documents this inspiring process and can be viewed by visiting their website.

Seeing the landscape through new eyes

The first stage of the mapping was carried out by a group of local students who constructed a model of the landscape using layers of cardboard to create the contours of the region. Engaging the young people of the community in the process at this early stage is really critical because of the increasing community fragmentation taking place across Ethiopia and the wider continent. As Africa's youth gain access to mobile phones and computers, they seek to adopt a more 'western' lifestyle and are migrating to towns and cities in huge numbers. The communities that they leave behind face a modern crisis as their traditions, knowledge and values threaten to be lost forever. It is for this reason that the young people of the community are involved in the mapping from the outset. They are drawn into the journey which encourages them to look at their surroundings with new eyes; through the eyes of their neighbours and of Elders, and with the rich traditions that echo across the landscape. Over time, this has the affect of catalysing knowledge transfer between generations and aiding the preservation of rich indigenous knowledge which may otherwise be lost forever.

From Model to Map

When the basic structure of the model was complete, the rest of the community were invited to bring it to life by painting in the fields, forests and rivers, sacred sites and sacred groves. The blank model was transformed into a rich tapestry of pastures and villages, and started to take shape as a 'map'. The next stage was to imbue the map with the communities' very personal understanding of both land and place. Million Belay, the Director of MELCA Ethiopia and facilitator during this process, describes these critical stages, "At first people were reserved and quiet - they looked at the landscape but didn't understand how it represented their land. However, as they painted familiar landmarks such as rivers onto the model, they began to recognise it as land that belonged to them".

Naming the Land: Creating a 'Legend'

The people of the community are the map-makers throughout this whole process and so it is essential that it is they who decide what and how to visualise key areas of their landscape. Community members of all ages took time musing over both meanings and names; each bringing their own oral memories and history to the contours and landmarks of their landscape. Through this dialogue and sharing, the community create their own meaningful 'Legend' (or key) for the maps, as Million explains:

"The description of the land comes from the Legend, and the community must make the Legend. It must come from them; it can only come from them. Sometimes this process takes some time as some of the names of places and sites are only known by the Elders. This knowledge must re-emerge and then all must agree on what goes on the Legend. A name of a place or river can be very powerful. A single name is like a thread which ties together the whole landscape. When you pull the thread between the names - the places, the whole story of the landscape is finally tied together. People can see the story of their past once again".

When we saw our harvests were getting worse, or the land was getting dry, people were saying it's because of a curse from God. They didn't know that it's because of the forest. Now we know and we will change it!

Mulgeta, Telecho Community, Ethiopia

The making of the 3D map is all part of a vital process of oral storytelling around the history and meanings of the landscape. It is through these stories that indigenous knowledge - often almost completely lost or forgotten - is given space to re-emerge. The knowledge and memory of the Elders suddenly becomes critical to the process, thus validating it's worth in the eyes of the young whilst reinvigorating confidence in the Elders. The whole journey is a unifying participatory experience for the community; everyone is at the table, every voice is heard and decisions are made together.

As the painted landscape emerges fully, the community begin to observe stark changes which have taken place on their land over the last decade. They observe areas that were once forested and are now barren or where large swathes of forest have been decimated.

The whole journey is a unifying participatory experience for the community; everyone is at the table, every voice is heard and decisions are made together.

Mulgeta, chairman of Telecho Worreda, explains how the process inspires the community to swap their stories of how the landscape has changed, and what has been lost. He observes, "in the past this area was fully covered by forest. Our grandfathers, and their fathers generations, they loved the forest, it was our generation who destroyed the forest".

Million Belay explains that the map enables the community to more fully understand the changes in their landscape of the past and present: "They are able to link the degradation of their landscape to loss of green spaces and increase in hunger. The shocking moment for the community comes when they compare the maps of the past and of the present. That's when the community really feel the wounds of their landscape. That's when they ask themselves 'How and why did we do this? How could this have happened? And then they ask 'How can we change it?'".

"Through the mapping process the whole community is able to see and to understand the relationship of the forest to agriculture, the wildlife to the plants, the land and the river. In addition they are able to see the bigger picture and their connection to it. They also see the role that their actions have played in shaping and changing the landscape. They began to understand the link between deforestation and the degradation of their land".

The map is now being used by the Telecho community, with the support of MELCA Ethiopia, to open up dialogue with local authorities, and together embark upon rehabilitating the area. The process of creating the model has restored confidence in the community; encouraging them to unite to effect change in their livelihoods and their landscape. The community now recognises that the future is theirs to shape.

This process was carried out by Gaia partner MELCA Ethiopia and supported by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural cooperation ACP-EU (CTA). Read more about their experiences of the mapping process here.