Participatory mapping of landscape service indicators in rural communities of Zanzibar islands, Tanzania

Project description

Participatory mapping method was applied in a research project “Changing land use and forest management practices and multidimensional adaptation strategies in Zanzibar, Tanzania” focusing on landscape services in two rural villages in Zanzibar islands. A typology of 19 different material and non-material, cultural landscape service indicators were established based on literature and local context knowledge. In the village workshops, community representatives mapped the indicators individually on an aerial image. The landscape service indicators were then spatially analysed in order to establish an understanding of landscape level service structures, patterns and relationships. The services were also analysed in relation to land cover and land use changes. In addition, a landscape characterization integrating expert and local spatial knowledge of land and forest resources was developed.

Research themes

Integrated landscape management

Ecosystem management

Project details

Start date:

January 1, 2010
End date:

December 31, 2013
Location:

Tanzania, Zanzibar
Funded by:

Academy of Finland
Objectives:

Mapping indicators of landscape services in rural communities of Zanzibar islands, Tanzania

Project contact

Nora Fagerholm

University of Turku

Team members

Niina Käyhkö (project PI), University of Turku
Salla Eilola, University of Turku

Participating partners

Festo Ndumbaro

University of Dar es Salaam

Miza Khamis

Department of Forestry and Non-Renewable Natural Resources, Government of Zanzibar, Tanzania

Abass J. Mzee

Department of Forestry and Non-Renewable Natural Resources, Government of Zanzibar, Tanzania

Related publications

Eilola, S., Käyhkö, N., Fagerholm, N. & Kombo, Y. H. (2014). Linking farmers’ knowledge, farming strategies, and consequent cultivation patterns into the identification of healthy agroecosystem characteristics at local scales. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems 38(9), 1047-1077. doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2014.923800

Käyhkö, N., Fagerholm, N. & Mzee, A. J. (2015). Local farmers’ place-based forest benefits and government interventions behind land and forest cover transitions in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Journal of Land Use Science 10(2), 150-173. doi.org/10.1080/1747423X.2013.858784

Fagerholm, N., Käyhkö, N. & Van Eetvelde, V. (2013). Landscape characterization integrating expert and local spatial knowledge of land and forest resources. Environmental Management 52(3), 660-682. doi.org/10.1007/s00267-013-0121-x

Fagerholm, N., Käyhkö, N., Ndumbaro, F. & Khamis, M. (2012). Community stakeholders’ knowledge in landscape assessments – Mapping indicators for landscape services. Ecological Indicators 18, 421-433. doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2011.12.004

Fagerholm, N. & Käyhkö, N. (2009). Participatory mapping and geographical patterns of the social landscape values of rural communities in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Fennia – International Journal of Geography 187(1), 43-60. fennia.journal.fi/article/view/3703