The Iracambi Geographical Information System

Putting Land Use Planning in the Serra do Brigadeiro on the Web

The Iracambi Geographical Information System (I-GIS) is one of the most important and exciting tools at our disposal - and we're currently putting the finishing touches to setting up the first web based Community GIS in the nine county area of the Serra do Brigadeiro. The GIS is used to generate maps and manage data to help us land-use planning, locate strategic areas of threatened forest to be protected, and figure out which stretches of land to incorporate in our Payment for Environmental Services scheme.

What are the practical uses of GIS in a remote rural area where most people over the age of twenty are barely literate? Well, a few years back we learned that a large company had acquired concessions to mine bauxite in much of the land in the area. Thanks to our GIS we were able to map the location of each claim, and show local farmers exactly how their lives would be affected if mining were to go ahead. Armed with this knowledge we called for a public hearing - the first one ever held in the area - where community members had the opportunity to express their views and hear in detail what the mining company proposed to do.

Another concrete use of GIS is to help us in conservation land planning. We use GIS to help us map areas to be turned into Environmental Protection Areas which will attract "green dollars" from the federal government. The amount of money received is directly connected to excellence in conservation management.

Under our Payment For Environmental Services project, farmers can also receive credit for conserving springs, streams and forest land. Now that the concept of conservation can actually be associated with cash payments, farmers are signing up with considerable enthusiasm, whereas previously they had considered forest land to be a waste of good agricultural land.

Since the concepts of mapping and spatial planning are new to the area, we start by asking landowners to sketch out the principal features of their landholding - often in the dirt as in the picture on the left.

On the right you cansee people taking their first look at aerial maps.

The next photo is of the management committee of one of the environmental protection areas: it was the first time they had ever seen maps of the area and the first time anyone had explained what it was all about.

Another step along the way is understanding the concept of landscape mapping. For this to be useful we need to agree on the terms we use to classify different types of land cover.

After clarifying the common terms in everyday use, Iracambi staffer Charlie took panoramic photos with a drugstore digital camera, printed out the result, and noted down the local terms - thus producing the first practical land classification map of the community, which was later georeferenced and digitalized.

Below is a picture which shows areas of strategic forestland adjoining the Serra do Brigadeiro Park. Iracambi plans to acquire them as we are able and then place them under permanent protection. The white line is the watershed, and the dark areas are the forest patches, so it's easy to spot the critical conservation areas.

When we reach the area planning stage, we relate the local images, the photos and the hand-made maps to the satellite images.

The I-GIS is already generating a lot of interest and excitement and we are working as hard as we can to improve it and turn it into a tool that will be genuinely useful to county authorities, schools, farm families, the local police force (which currently does not possess a map,) and anyone interested.

Want to see The Serra do Brigadeiro Territory on Google Earth or I-GIS on Microsoft's Live Earth?

Want to learn more?

Want to help? We are looking for people with GIS skills to lend a hand.