Capturing gender-specific understanding of landscape functions through participatory GIS

Abstract

Geographic information system (GIS) is a computer application that can create, store, manipulate, visualize and analyse spatial and temporal information. GIS can capture the social and institutional dimensions in space and time by involving local stakeholders in the generation of information included in the analysis—an approach we call participatory GIS (PGIS). PGIS has been applied in a wide range of contexts, including urban planning, conflict management over natural resources and land boundaries, and land use and natural resource planning and management. In Manupali watershed, southern Philippines, we used participatory GIS to capture spatially explicit gendered understanding of landscapes and their linkages to environmental services and livelihoods, and gendered access and control over resources