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Participatory 3-dimension mapping: A tool for encouragingmulti-caste collaboration to climate change adaptation anddisaster risk reduction

JC Gaillard a, *, Charlotte Monteil b, Anaïs Perrillat-Collomb b, Sukhdev Chaudhary c,Mamta Chaudhary d, Omkant Chaudhary e, Franck Giazzi b, Jake Rom D. Cadag f

a School of Environment, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealandb UMR 5194 PACTE e CNRS, Université de Grenoble, Francec Koshi Victims Society, Nepald Department of Rural Development, Tribhuvan University, Nepale Green Secondary School, Rajbiraj, Nepalf UMR GRED, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, France

Keywords:Participatory 3-dimensional mappingClimate change adaptationDisaster risk reductionCasteNepal

a b s t r a c t

This article reflects upon the use of participatory 3-dimensional mapping (P3DM) for facilitating thecollaboration of different castes in disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA).Unequal power relationships amongst upper and lower castes has indeed been identified has a majordriver of people’s vulnerability to natural hazards, including the negative effects of climate change, inNepal and elsewhere in South Asia. However, this does not prevent the members of all these castes,including the lowest untouchables, to display significant capacities in facing these natural hazards andchanges in climate patterns. It is therefore similarly important to harness those capacities and addressthe unequal power relationships underpinning vulnerability. Achieving these goals requires fosteringdialogue amongst upper and lower castes as well as with other stakeholders of DRR and CCA, e.g. sci-entists, NGOs, government agencies, which often tend to work with a single caste because it is easier.P3DM provides a platform for such a dialogue as it makes the knowledge of every caste tangible andcredible to others. This proves essential in both assessing and planning for reducing the risk of disastersand adapting to climate change. This article particularly documents activities conducted in a small villageof the Terai plain of Nepal frequently affected by flooding.

� 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Introduction

Overcoming unequal power relationships amongst castes inSouth Asia has been considered as a major challenge to sustainabledisaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA)(e.g. Bosher, Penning-Rowsell, & Tapsell, 2005; Hartmann & Boyce,1983; Jones & Boyd, 2011; Onta & Resurreccion, 2011; Ray-Bennett,2009;Winchester,1992). Such power relations have been identifiedas a major driver of people’s vulnerability in facing natural hazards,including the negative effects of climate change (Gaillard, 2012).Vulnerability reflects people’s inability to access resources andmeans of protection that are available to those with more power. InSouth Asia, many studies have shown that means of protection are

most often available locally but these are only accessible to thosecastes of higher status (e.g. Bosher, 2007; Hartmann & Boyce, 1983;Onta & Resurreccion, 2011). Vulnerability in facing natural hazardsis thus deeply rooted within the structure of the society and this isbeyond the reach of those who are vulnerable (Wisner, 1993;Wisner, Blaikie, Cannon, & Davis, 2004). In this context, reducingpeople’s vulnerability is a difficult task that warrants the contri-bution of stakeholders with power outside of local communities(Gaillard, 2010).

Such situations do not prevent the members of all castes,including the lowest untouchables, to display significant capacitiesin facing natural hazards and changes in climate patterns (e.g.Adhikari & Bohle, 2008; Dekens, 2009; Dixit, Parajuli, & Guragain,2004; Prindle, 1979). Capacities refer to the sets of endogenousknowledge, skills and resources people resort to in dealing withnatural hazards and disasters (Cadag & Gaillard, 2013). The conceptof capacity also encompasses the ability to claim, access and use

* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ64 (0)9 923 9679.E-mail address: [email protected] (J. Gaillard).

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Applied Geography 45 (2013) 158e166


these knowledge, skills and resources (Kuban & MacKenzie-Carey,2001). Capacities are not the opposite end of vulnerability on asingle spectrum, because highly vulnerable communities maydisplay a large array of capacities (Davis, Haghebeart, & Peppiatt,2004). In fact, capacities are most often rooted in knowledge,skills and resources which are endogenous to the community andwhich rely on local knowledge, indigenous skills and technologies,traditional medicine and solidarity networks. In this sense,enhancing people’s capacities is often much more accessible andeasier than reducing vulnerability. It mostly requires the contri-bution of local communities (Gaillard, 2010).

Reducing the risk of disaster and enhancing people’s adaptationto climate change is therefore a complicated task which involvesactions from the top down, to address the root causes of vulnera-bility, and from the bottom up, to harness people’s capacities(Gaillard & Mercer, 2013). Achieving such goals requires a pre-liminary holistic assessment of disaster risk and adaptation needsand opportunities based upon both local and scientific or outsideknowledge to fully appraise the extent of both the vulnerability andcapacities. A close collaboration is thus needed between a largearray of stakeholders from inside and outside local communities.Such collaboration must rely upon dialogue and trust amongststakeholders, including across castes of different status. Gaillardand Mercer (2013) have suggested a road map for achieving DRRand CCA through integrated disaster risk assessment, dialogueamongst stakeholders and both top-down and bottom-up actions(Fig. 1). Such a road mapwill constitute the framework for fosteringthe participation of different castes in both DRR and CCA asdescribed in this article.

Indeed, at present, most of the projects conducted in South Asiahave failed to involve different castes and have thus overlooked theimportance of power relations (Bosher, 2007; Bosher et al., 2005).In consequence, DRR and CCA still prove challenging (Jones, 2010;Jones & Boyd, 2011; Winchester, 1992). One of the reasons for thelack of dialogue amongst castes and between different castes andoutside stakeholders is the lack of appropriate tools to level downpower relations and gather different actors around the same tableat the same time (Gaillard & Mercer, 2013).

A tool that has recently been identified for its potential infostering dialogue amongst stakeholders of DRR and CCA isparticipatory 3-dimensional mapping or P3DM (Cadag & Gaillard,2012; Gaillard & Maceda, 2009). The present study documents a

particular project where P3DM has been used for facilitating dia-logue in view of DRR and CCA in a multi-caste context in Nepal. Itcontributes to the growing geographic literature dedicated toimproving DRR and CCA policy and practice in a wide range ofcontexts and using a large array of different methods, includingmapping tools (e.g. Collins, Grineski, & Aguilar, 2009; Jeffers, 2013;Kappes, Papathoma-Köhle, & Keiler, 2012).

Participatory 3-dimensional mapping for disaster riskreduction and climate change adaptation

Participatory 3-dimensional mapping (P3DM) consists ofbuilding stand-alone relief maps made of locally available andcheap materials (e.g. carton, paper, cork, crepe sole) over whichpeople overlap thematic layers of geographic information. It en-ables the mapping of landforms and topographic landmarks,including land cover and use, and anthropogenic features, whichare depicted by push-pins (points), yarn (lines), and paint(polygons).

P3DM, as a tool and method, emerged in the early 1990s in thePhilippines and Thailand for facilitating natural resource manage-ment and land conflict resolution, especially among marginalisedethnic groups and indigenous people (Rambaldi, Bugna, Tiangco, &de Vera, 2002). To serve their purpose, maps had, back then, scaleswhich ranged from 1:5000 to 1:20,000 to cover large tracts of land.These maps contribute to raising local awareness of territories andserve as effective community-organising tools (Rambaldi,Mendoza, & Ramirez, 2000, Rambaldi et al., 2002). In fact, naturalresource management has, in numerous instances, been enhancedand many territorial conflicts, including tribal wars, have beenresolved through the use of P3DM (e.g. Rambaldi et al., 2002, 2006;Rambaldi, Muchemi, Crawhall, & Monaci, 2007). This form of P3DMhas thus spread quickly throughout the world with numerous ex-periences in Asia, Africa and Latin America as documented in theIntegrated Approaches to Participatory Development (IAPAD)website (http://ppgis.iapad.org/). In some few recent instancessmall-scale P3DM has also been applied to DRR and CCA (Capelao,2007; Dwamena, Banaynal, & Kemausuor, 2011; Rambaldi, 2012;Ririmae & Hardcastle, 2011).

Since 2007, P3DM has further been applied to DRR and CCAusing large scales, ranging from 1:500 to 1:1500, to plot details atthe household level (Cadag & Gaillard, 2012; Gaillard & Maceda,2009). Land use and other geo-referenced features threatened bynatural hazards and climate change are plotted and differentiatedaccording to their vulnerability using yarns and paint. Pins ofdifferent shapes, sizes and colours enable distinguishing buildingmaterials and locating the most vulnerable people in the commu-nity. It is also possible to identify the different resources whichcompose the household livelihoods, land tenure and some forms ofpower relationships within the community. People also delineatehazard-prone areas and locate local resources to face these threats.It is then easy and quick to evaluate disaster risk based on hazards,threatened assets, vulnerabilities and capacities. P3DM then en-ables the planning of DRR and CCA measures based on multi-stakeholder group discussions over the map, helping to findconsensus among participants.

This kind of P3DM has proved particularly useful in fosteringdialogue amongst a large range of stakeholders of DRR and CCA, i.e.scientists, government officials, NGOs, school communities, faithgroups, and local communities, thus enabling the integration ofbottom-up and top-down risk reduction measures (Cadag &Gaillard, 2012; Gaillard & Maceda, 2009) as suggested by Gaillardand Mercer (2013) in their road map. It provides a tangible toolwhere the most marginalised people can discuss DRR with scien-tists. All stakeholders can contribute their knowledge on the same

Fig. 1. Road map for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation (adaptedfrom Gaillard & Mercer, 2013).

J. Gaillard et al. / Applied Geography 45 (2013) 158e166 159


tool and in the same forum. P3DM is credible to both locals, whobuild the map and plot most of the information, and to scientists aswell as local government representatives who can easily overlaptheir own data and plans on scaled and geo-referencedmaps. In theprocess, NGO partners serve as facilitators and moderators. Theintegration of bottom-up and top-down actions is further facili-tated when P3DM data are integrated into Geographic InformationSystems (GIS) to make use of people’s knowledge beyond thecommunity who built the map.

As for other participatory tools, success and failure in imple-menting P3DM projects very much depends upon the process ofparticipation (e.g. Chambers, 2007, 2008). Participation refers to “avoluntary process by which people (.) influence or control the de-cisions that affect them” (Saxena, 1998: 111) Participation thereforeincludes sharing and redistribution of power among people.However, as Cornwall (2008: 269) puts it, “‘participation’ can beused to evoke e and to signify e almost anything that involves people.As such, it can easily be reframed to meet almost any demand made ofit”. In many instances, participation is in fact seen as an outcome bymany development agencies, which leads to what Cooke andKothari (2001) have coined the ‘tyranny of participation’. Partici-pation is then driven by outside facilitators to serve external in-terest (White, 1996), i.e. schedule of projects are decided byoutsiders who make sure that enough members of local commu-nities take part in activities designed beforehand to report alleged‘participation’ upward to funding agencies. In the particular field ofDRR and CCA such skewed approach to participation is evident inthe many vulnerability and capacity frameworks, based on stan-dardized criteria and components (demographics, gender charac-teristics, incomes, resources, health, etc.), imposed upon localcommunities by outside organizations or facilitators (Heijmans,2004; Twigg, 1998). In many instances, those alien frameworksfor assessing the risk of disaster do not make much sense to peopleand the reality of their everyday life (Bhatt, 1998; Delica-Willison &Willison, 2004). Meaningful participation must therefore empha-sise downward accountability towards those people who partici-pate (Breett, 2003; Cornwall, Lucas, & Pasteur, 2000). In addition,participation and participatory tools have been criticised for rein-forcing the interests of the already powerful within inhomoge-neous ‘communities’ as it often proves difficult to reach the mostmarginalised that participatory tools are meant to empower (Cooke& Kothari, 2001; Guijt & Shah, 1998). Such issues have actually beenidentified in previous P3DM for DRR projects (Maceda, Gaillard,Stasiak, Le Masson, & Le Berre, 2009).

In the context of the foregoing limitations and potential biasesassociated with participatory tools, it was the intention of theactivities documented in this article to further explore the po-tential of P3DM for overcoming unequal power relations amongstcastes of different status in Nepal in order to initiate sustainableDRR and CCA.

Setting the context: Bochahi, a small multi-caste village inSouth-Eastern Nepal

Nepal is often affected by disasters (e.g. Bhandary & Subedi,2010; Government of Nepal e Ministry of Home Affairs, 2011; RajAryal, 2012) and prone to the potential impact of climate change(e.g. Nepal Climate Vulnerability Study Team, 2009; Optiz-Stapleton, 2008). Despite significant efforts at the national level(e.g. Ayers, Kaur, & Anderson, 2011; Government of Nepal e

Ministry of Home Affairs, 2011; International Federation of RedCross and Red Crescent Societies, 2011) and people’s evident ca-pacities to face both natural hazards and changes in climate pat-terns (e.g. Chhetri, Chaudhary, Raj Tiwari, & Baran Yadaw, 2012;Dahal, 1998; Johnson, Olson, & Manandhar, 1982; Khatri-Chhetri

& Maharjan, 2006), a number of communities remain particularlyvulnerable in the mountains, exposed to erratic rainfall and land-slides (e.g. Adhikari, 2008; Gentle & Maraseni, 2012; Mission East,2010), in the hills, prone to landslides and flash floods (e.g. Bohle& Adhikari, 1998; Dixit, Upadhya, Dixit, Pokhrel, & Raj Rai, 2009;Onta & Resurreccion, 2011; Oven, 2009; Sudmeier-Rieux, Jaquet,Derron, Jaboyedoff, & Devkota, 2012) and in the Terai plainthreatened by riverine flooding and droughts amongst other haz-ards (e.g. Practical Action, 2011).

Greater attention has been given to both understanding andfinding solutions in facing natural hazards and climate change inthe hills and the mountains. The Terai plain, although the mostdensely populated region of Nepal, has received less consideration.In this context and as an attempt to direct attention towards thefate of lowland rural communities, the present article documents aproject conducted in Bochahi, a small lowland village located in theVillage Development Committee (VDC e the smallest administra-tive unit in Nepal) of Odraha in the district of Saptari (Figs. 2 and 3).It is nested on the right bank of Triyuga River near the river’sjunction with the Koshi River, which drains a large segment ofNepal Eastern Himalaya. Both the Triyuga and Koshi Rivers regu-larly flood Bochahi. Other natural hazards include droughts, bushfires and animal attacks, notably from wild buffalos and elephantswhich have sought shelter in the neighbouring Koshi TappuWildlife Reserve.

265 households live in Bochahi. These belong to two dominantindigenous castes (Tharu and Goriya) and three main untouchableor Dalit (Mushahar, Dusadh and Pashwan) castes (Table 1). Brahminand Chhetri have also migrated from the hills over the past 60 years(Shrestha, Velu, & Conway, 1993). The cohabitation between thesedifferent castes has been peaceful but there is still a clear social andspatial stratification amongst them. The village is divided into toles,each of which hosts a particular caste. The dalit castes are landlessand live in the densest settlements. They make a living as wagefarm labourers at the service of upper castes. The Brahmin andChhetri upper castes are indeed land owners. They till rice andwheat in a seasonally-dependent rotation to sustain their dailyneeds. They also raise cattle and buffalos. Tharu and Goriya castesstand halfway on the social ladder. Tharu, some of whom are luckyland owners, sustain their daily needs through farming and herd-ing. Goriya are traditionally engaged in fishing activities.

Bochahi is geographically and politically isolated. It suffers froma lack of institutional support and amenities. It is linked to theOdraha VDC centre through a single, narrow dirt road plied by a bustwice a day since 2013. Electricity was only brought into the villagein 2010 but there are still no water and sanitary facilities beyond afew deep wells. There is one public primary school but no high-school nor other government offices/services in the village. Inconsequence, the people of Bochahi heavily rely on natural re-sources, especially those available within the jurisdiction of theKoshi Tappu National Reserve, e.g. grass for the cattle, fire wood,water. This creates some conflict with the army men in charge ofprotecting the reserve known for its rich biodiversity. Access to theresources that compose people’s livelihoods is therefore a criticalissue, especially for those lower castes which do not own land orother form of capital.

Such a situation makes Bochahi particularly vulnerable in facingflooding, which is considered the most damaging natural hazard.Riverine floods are seasonal and occur between the months of Asar(JuneeJuly) and Bhadra (AugusteSeptember). They further isolatethe village by rendering the dirt road impassable to most vehicles.Floods cause erosion of the river banks and some sections of farmlands as well as heavy siltation for some other cultivated farms. Thelower castes are the most affected as they lose opportunity to workas wage labourers without having any form of savings to cope with

J. Gaillard et al. / Applied Geography 45 (2013) 158e166160


the situation. Many are thus forced to seek short-term wage jobsout of their village or to contract loans from upper castes, neigh-bours or relatives. Small land owners are also affected as they oftenlack the financial resources to cope with a potential loss of harvestand farmland due to erosion. They have to seek small loans or selltracts of lands. Larger land owners are better off but also suffer frompossible losses associated with the destruction of their crops.

In facing this situation, the government has provided limitedfunding for the construction of an earthen levee supplemented bysmall spur dikes made of gabions. These have proved insufficientthough as the levee has already been breached by flood water inseveral instances. In reaction, a local NGO has created a DRR com-mittee (the Triyuga River Control Consumer Committee), which, onpaper, involves locals from all castes. In reality though, only a fewpeople have actually been involved in past discussions and activ-ities. The committee is in charge of repairing and strengthening thelevee. It has also led the planting of trees to reinforce theembankment but most have died shortly afterwards.

Participatory 3-dimensional mapping activities in Bochahi

P3DM has been suggested by a number of local and externalstakeholders to support the people of Bochahi’s endeavours infacing flooding. Those stakeholders include the local NGO involvedin strengthening Bochahi’s DRR committee, local officials (wardpresidents), Nepalese and Western geographers and members ofdifferent castes. Between January and April 2012, one Westerngeographer engaged in daily interactions and trust building withthe locals. During that period, theWestern geographer participatedin everyday house, farm and fishing chores of the different castesand ran a series of participatory activities (timelines, calendars,matrixes) with them to assess local needs and resources in dealingwith disasters and climate change. These activities, and associateddialogue, also confirmed that P3DM would be a relevant tool DRRand CCA in Bochahi. They further provided baseline information,regardingwhat andwho is vulnerable and display which capacities,which eventually facilitated the mapping process.

P3DM activities were eventually conducted in late April-earlyMay 2012 with follow-up activities in MarcheApril 2013. Initially,the core activities led in 2012 were planned over a period of fiveconsecutive days of intensive work towards building the map and

Fig. 2. Location of the village of Bochahi in Nepal (map by JC Gaillard).

Fig. 3. Houses and main street of Bochahi, Nepal, in April 2012 (photo by JC Gaillard).

Table 1The different castes involved in the P3DM for DDR and CCA project conducted inBochahi, Nepal, between 2012 and 2013.

Caste type Caste group Origin Main resources

Upper Brahmin Hills Landowners relying upon farmingChhetri Hills Landowners relying upon farming

Middle Tharu Terai Farming and remittances. Someare landless and rely upon localwage labour

Goriya Terai Fishing and wage labour(India and Kathmandu) during thedry season

Dalit Mushahar Terai Landless, rely upon local wage labourDusadh Terai Landless, rely upon local wage labourPashwan Terai Landless, rely upon local wage labour



using it for planning DRR. Such a schedule proved inappropriate forthe fishermen and herders who are busy fishing or looking aftertheir cattle in the morning. The activities were therefore resched-uled on the basis of 2 h every afternoon over as many days asrequired to, in a first instance, build the map. In fact, it took around3 h per day over six days to do so. Participants includedmembers ofall local castes, a skilled staff of a local NGO and a couple ofWesterngeographers who served as facilitators and note-takers to docu-ment the mapping and participation process. Around 30 people ofBochahi, across all castes and age groups but more women thanmen, came spontaneously every day, without any financial or othercompensation except that snacks were provided. Participants wereneither selected by the facilitators nor by any other outside orga-nisations to respect the process of participation and avoid anyexternal intervention. The initial four-month ground work andtrust-building process proved crucial in stimulating participationand progressively introducing P3DM to the people of Bochahi. Itfurther enabled the facilitators, i.e. Nepalese and Western geogra-phers, to know the villagers enough to anticipate any potentialbiases in participation towards a particular caste or another, whichwas not the case of this particular project.

Materials used for the P3DM activities were all sourced locally,i.e. from the district capital Rajbiraj, to make sure that local stake-holders may eventually conduct similar mapping on their own.These include a roll of foam, a piece of tarpaulin, nails and thumbtacks, a wooden table for the map itself, push-pins of differentshapes and colours, beads also of distinct sizes and colours, tinydecorative flowers, matches, tooth picks, a variety of coloured yarnsand acrylic paints. P3DM activities were conducted in a schoolclassroom.

The base map, which constitutes the starting point for themapping activity, was created from a satellite image of the areataken in 2012. Since the area covered by the map is perfectly flatand does not include any contour lines, the participants wereprovided with the sole dirt road and village streets to start with.The scale of the base map was 1:529. It was printed on a tarpaulinwith a layer of foam underneath to eventually allow for the directplotting of push-pins.

Although the map is flat due to the local topography, theframework used for defining the information to appear on the mapfollowed that suggested by Gaillard and Cadag for P3DM (2013)adapted from Gaillard and Mercer’s (2013) road map for DRR andCCA. The participants started reflecting upon the history of pastdisastrous events in Bochahi, especially those associated withflooding. However, this activity proved boring for the locals becauseit largely duplicated activities conducted during the ground workand trust-building stage. The NGO and geographer facilitators thusdecided to cut it short and rely upon the sole information gatheredfor flooding to define the legend of the map. Information associatedwith fire, drought and wild animal attacks were eventually dis-cussed on a case-to-case basis while plotting the data. Although notexhaustive the information collected for flooding, e.g. what andwho is usually affected and what kind of resources are resorted tocope, on the short term, and recover, on the long term, provided asolid basis for compiling the first items of the legend. Eventually, awoman started towrite down all items in following the sequence ofinformation plotted on the map. However, the participants shortlyrealised that this form of legend was not understandable for mostof the locals who are illiterate. To overcome this problem they ul-timately added drawings next to the symbols that appear on themap.

The participants then started by locating the local school, whichserved as the reference point for the subsequent information. Theyeventually proceeded with the plotting of all houses in the village(Figs. 3 and 4). They differentiated three types of houses according

to their vulnerability to flood hazard using red (traditional houseswith roofs made of grass), white (sturdier houses with roofs madeof steel sheets) and yellow (houses under construction) cylinderpins. Two-storey houses, which prove particularly important intime of flooding, were marked with a red dot. Temples and otherplaces of significant cultural value such as sacred trees were alsoidentified on the map with small decorative plastic flowers, poly-styrene balls and map pins. Fishermen also took the lead in plottingfish ponds while farmers delineated the farm lands prone toflooding using yarns eventually replaced by paint. Women thenused matches to identify the most vulnerable people in eachhousehold as identified in the initial history of past flood events, i.e.children, elderly, pregnant women, sick individuals and peoplewith disabilities. They also used beads to point out those house-holds with different forms of cattle (pigeons, goats and cows). Inthe meantime, men plotted electric posts and traced electric lines,which prove essential in everyday life and in time of flooding, usingtooth picks and yarns. Finally, the locals identified the deep wells,toilets and location of a communal boat in one of the wards.

To associate more information to the map, especially for eachhousehold, the participants decided to use household data sheets(Gaillard & Cadag, 2013). These consist in tabular records of datalinked to the map using a particular number for every household e

number which has been affixed on top of cylinder pins depictingthe households (Fig. 5). Additional data featured on the householddata sheets include the names of household heads, the totalnumber of household members and their age and gender. Such acombination of spatial data, on the map, and tabular data, on thehousehold data sheets, provides the villagers and local stake-holders with a powerful GIS-type database without being depen-dent upon costly hardware, software, skills, digital data sets andassociated maintenance/upgrading/updating. In fact, the follow-upactivities conducted in March and April 2013 consisted in updatingthe map and associated household data sheets, which are all keptsafe in the local elementary school. Members of different casteshave agreed to further update this information on a regular basis.No computer-based GIS activities were considered for this partic-ular project as this would not be sustainable given the lack ofexisting hardware, software and skills in Bochahi.

The previous information provides the people of Bochahi andother local stakeholders with tangible data regarding people’s vul-nerabilities and capacities in facing flooding, which was deemed themain and sole hazard of real concern. Mapping flood-prone areasturned out to be a tricky task. Indeed, the entire village gets

Fig. 4. Plotting of houses and other anthropogenic features on the P3DM of Bochahi,Nepal, in April 2012 (photo by JC Gaillard).



submerged when the Triyuga and Koshi Rivers are in flood. Floodinghowever largely results from breaching of the levee. Participantsthus identified weak points along the levee and then mapped thedifferent paths through which floodwater engulfs the village usingpink yarn. They were assisted by the staff of the local NGO, who hadalreadyworked in the village, and the Nepalese geographer, who hadexperienced flooding in the area in the past. At this stage, the exactscale of the map allowed those outside stakeholders to plot infor-mation and refer to landmarks as they usually do on topographicmaps or computer-based tools.

All data plotted on the map provided an integrated platform fordiscussing and assessing disaster risk, based upon people’svulnerability and capacities in facing flooding. Although the entirevillage usually gets flooded when the levee breaches, the mapenabled to identify which areas areworst hit based on the sequenceof events and the depth of floodwater. One tole, mainly settled byDalit households, was deemed of highest concern as it is wherewater accumulates and stands after flowing through the village.Dalit houses made of bamboo and grass are very vulnerable and aresometimes taken by the water. Houses of other castes made of mudare both stronger and easier to repair when the water recedes.Another low-lying tole, inhabited by middle and upper castes(Tharu, Goriya and Chhetri) and sitting besides the levee, was alsoidentified as a high-risk area. Although usually safe in their housesraised on posts, the inhabitants cannot get out and lack access toproper sanitation facilities and drinking water because all pumpsare submerged. The map also shows that Goriya households areoverall much less affected than other castes as they settle in toleslying slightly higher in elevation. Of particular concern to all castesthough is the fate of the local healer, the only person with medicalknowledge and skills in Bochahi, whose house is particularlyvulnerable to flooding. This person is therefore usually inaccessibleat a time when other locals are exposed to water-borne diseases.

P3DM, along with other preliminary participatory activities,eventually consolidated and made tangible an existing tacitconsensus shared across the members of all castes, including thoseindividuals who did not participate in constructing the map, thatbuilding a solid dike based upon recommendations of engineersshould stand as the overarching priority for DRR and CCA alltogether. Themap and associated data provided a tangible rationalefor lobbying possible donors and implementing agencies, includinggovernment agencies and NGOs. Photos of the map and associateddata were taken and used for such lobbying. However, building a

dike is costly for impoverished government agencies and resource-limited local NGOs. In consequence, during the follow-up activityconducted inMarch and April 2013, the people of Bochahi, inclusiveof all castes, led by the village DRR committee and supported by thelocal NGO partner, Nepalese and Western geographers and localofficials, have come up with a five-year plan for building a bio-engineered dike using their own resources and skills. Such anendeavour is to be supported by local funding from religious or-ganisations and yearly government allotments to the village. Inaddition, members of all castes planned to come together to pro-vide for the required labour.

Integrating castes in disaster risk reduction and climatechange adaptation through participatory 3-dimensionalmapping

Castes usually refer to hereditary groups distinguished from oneanother and connected by endogamy, division of labour and hier-archy (Dumont, 1980). In Nepal, however, the caste system stemsfrom state policies as it is the so-calledMuluki Ain (or General Code)of 1854 which defined the contemporary social hierarchy to createa sense of nationhood across a large array of ethnic and religiousgroups (Höfer, 1979; Levine, 1987). It is therefore a highly contro-versial issue leading to political tensions (as in the case of theMaoist movement) and social discrimination (against the lowercastes) (e.g. Gellner, 2007; Murshed & Gates, 2005). In that context,fostering the participation of members of different castes in a DRRand CCA project in Nepal is as much a political endeavour as a socialprocess.

To achieve such an objective, dialogue and trust are essential forlocals to recognise, value and integrate all castes’, including Dalit’s,vulnerability and capacities in facing natural hazards and climatechange. Most members of the lower castes know what their needsand resources are. The issue for them is usually to make theirvulnerability and capacities tangible and recognized by others. Inthat sense, it is often insufficient for practitioners of DRR and CCA toonly work with a particular lower caste in isolation from others(Bosher, 2007; Bosher et al., 2005). These marginalised castesshould interact with those with power within the larger societyotherwise DRR and CCA initiatives remain clustered and fail toaddress the unequal power relationships which prevent sustain-able reduction of disaster risk and adaptation to climate change.

Fig. 5. Details of the P3DM built by the people of Bochahi, Nepal, and household data sheet linked to the map using numbers affixed on top of cylinder pins depicting thehouseholds, in May 2012 (photos by C. Monteil and JC Gaillard).



P3DM is a potentially powerful tool to contribute to the inte-gration of the most marginalised castes in DRR and CCA by grantingthem access to other’s knowledge and by rendering credible theirown knowledge in the eyes of upper castes. It therefore participatesin balancing the power relationship between lower and uppercastes. P3DM also contributes to balancing power relationshipsbetween different castes and outside stakeholders.

The activities described in the previous section emphasisedmany unbalanced power relationships amongst the different castessettled in Bochahi. The initial collective discussions around theobjectives and schedule of activities involving the members of allcastes in the village proved to be dominated by the members ofmiddle and upper castes. These preliminary discussions alsoshowed a clear divide between men and women as well as adultsand children, across and within each caste. In fact, it was only malesfrommiddle and upper castes that initially made all decisions uponthe orientation of the project.

The mapping activities were eventually facilitated by theWestern and Nepalese geographers as well as local NGO staff withthe purpose of balancing those power relationships and fosteringdialogue among the members of all castes. As an example, Goriyafishermen were particularly active and exclusive in the plotting ofinformation on the map. The male members of lower castes couldhardly access the map and all womenwere kept away and childrenbanished from of the room. The task of the facilitators was then notonly to use themap to foster the participation of the members of allcastes but also to foster the inclusion of women and children. Thecastes’ spatial segregation into toles facilitated this task as it proveddifficult for the member of the upper castes to accurately identifyand locate all features of the dalit settlement. When a small Pash-wan man initially snaked through the row of tall Goriya fishermenin front of him to try to locate the electric lines and posts for his tolehe initially got caught out and the yarn he put on the map wasimmediately removed. Eventually, however, the Goriya fishermenrealised that their knowledge of the alignment of electric lines inthe dalit tole did not connect with that in their own settlement.They had to recognise the contribution of the Pashwan man whowas then allowed to redraw the said electric line with a sense ofgreat pride (Fig. 6).

Such process of progressive participation also occurred forwomen of middle and lower (dalit) castes who were initially keptaway from themap. It turned out however that they were thosewhohad the best knowledge of who is vulnerable in each household, e.g.

pregnant women, elderly, children. They started to compile this datain small groups on the floor away from the map table where themiddle and upper caste men were working. They were eventuallyinvited by the facilitators to plot this information on the map alongwith themen. Childrenwere also progressively invited to locate theirplaygrounds on the map, a task that was impossible for adults. Theythen contributed other data to the map in company of adults.

The dialogue amongst castes instigated through the mappingprocess and other associated participatory activities over a periodof a year and a half was also essential in consolidating a consensusand providing the resources, including communal labour, towardsbuilding a solid bio-engineered dike to protect Bochahi. P3DMprovided a space for members of all castes and other local stake-holders to gather and reflect at the same time, around the sametable and upon a common tool, which contributed to level powerrelations. In this sense, the process throughwhich P3DM occurs hasbeen more important than the map itself in creating the consensusfor building the dike, which did not prove possible beforehand. Theconstruction of the dike in the context of people’s vulnerability andcapacities appeared more legitimate to stakeholders since theywere ones who conceptualised and endorsed them by using acommon tool that is acceptable to everyone. Both the use of amutually acceptable tool and the collaboration between all stake-holders were thus essential to plan for DRR and CCA.

The P3DM activities conducted in Bochahi thus emphasise theoverarching importance of fair and meaningful participation, as perSaxena’s (1998) definition, in achieving DRR and CCA in amulti-castecontext. In that context, P3DM is just a tool to foster the process ofparticipating, and not an outcome. In this sense, in the particularlysensitive and complicated context of caste interaction, it is of over-arching importance that accountability must be directed to thosewho participate rather than towards the tool or the interest of thosewho facilitate the activities (Breett, 2003; Cornwall et al., 2000).Facilitators must therefore give prime attention to the process ofparticipation over expected or desired outcomes (Cooke & Khotari,2001; White, 1996), i.e. having the most detailed map as possibleor a group photo around a mapwith the members of different castesto report to funding agencies. There is in fact always a risk thatparticipatory 3-dimensional maps are used as a tool for displaybecause they are large, tactile, colourful and overall very visual.

P3DM should instead be seen as one tool amongst many com-ponents of the participatory learning and action (PLA) toolkit (e.g.Chambers, 2004; Kumar, 2002; Narayanasamy, 2009); one whichproves particularly useful to foster dialogue amongst a wide rangeof stakeholders, including different castes. However, as a mappingtool, P3DM essentially encapsulates the spatial dimension ofdisaster risk. Despite significant recent developments in parallelprojects conducted elsewhere in the world (Gaillard & Cadag,2013), it remains difficult to capture the temporal dimension andvariation of hazards, vulnerability and capacities. In addition,although it provides basis for discussion, P3DM proves insufficientto fully address the root causes of people’s vulnerability, whichlargely lie beyond the border of a particular village and reflect thestructure of the wider society at large. It also partially fails toappraise the interactions between those resources that composepeople’s livelihoods and support their capacities in facing hazards.In this sense, P3DM needs to be combined with other participatorytools such as timelines, calendars, problem trees, Venn diagramsand other forms of matrixes to fully appraise disaster risk acrosscastes and the unequal power relationships that underpin it.

Conclusion

The project conducted in Bochahi proved that P3DM can serveas a tool for facilitating the integration of different castes in DRR

Fig. 6. Pashwan (low caste) man (in red) collaborating with Goriya (middle caste)fishermen in plotting electric lines on the P3DM of Bochahi, Nepal, in April 2012 (photoby JC Gaillard). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, thereader is referred to the web version of this article.)



and CCA. It helps at all three stages of Gaillard and Mercer’s (2013)roadmap (Fig.1), i.e. for integrating different forms of knowledge indisaster risk assessment and in assessing options for adaptation toclimate change, for fostering dialogue amongst a large array ofstakeholders, including from different castes, and for encouragingboth bottom-up and top-down actions.

P3DM particularly provides an opportunity for all stakeholdersto address issues associated with disaster risk and climate changearound the same table at the same time, thus facilitating a fair andpower-balanced dialogue amongst the members of upper andlower castes as well as outside stakeholders such as scientists,NGOs and government agencies. In the particular context of DRRand CCA, P3DM further provides a tangible view of vulnerabilitiesand capacities. Bringing these two concepts into discussions withlocal communities is often tricky. Vulnerability and capacity areabstract concepts, evenwhen disasters have previously occurred inthe area. One of the contributions of P3DM for DRR and CCA istherefore to render these concepts tangible and to lay the foun-dations for assessing disaster risk.

Ultimately, though, success or failure in fostering the integrationof different castes in DRR and CCA depends upon the process ofparticipation and its fair and meaningful appreciation by allstakeholders. P3DM, as a tool, provides a space for fostering suchparticipation across the hierarchy of castes and with outside actors.However, it is neither a silver bullet nor a stand-alone tool. It needsto be framed with due respect to local needs and in accountabilityto local stakeholders, especially those from the most marginalizedsegments of local communities. It that case, then, it proves to be apowerful tool for fostering the collaboration of different castes toDRR and CCA.

Acknowledgements

The project documented in this article was funded by the FrenchAgence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-09-CEP-005-0x/PAPRIKA).The authors also extend their gratitude to Alice McSherry for hersupport in finalizing the manuscript.

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