Applying GIS to Natural Resource Mapping in Babatngon

The past few weeks, I have been trying to combine my knowledge of GIS and Mapping with the coastal resource mapping here in our host site, Babatngon. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is an area of mapping and software that uses different datasets such as infrastructure, topography, property boundaries, and the like to create maps and modeling for use in areas such as disaster preparedness and landuse planning, not to mention hundreds of other applications that are being studied and used in other sectors (apart from the environment).

In the early '90s, GPS technology, something used in the U.S. military, was opened up for public use, and has since become a huge part of mapping and using remote sensing to manage large spatial areas. In the United States, we have lots of data on everything now, from forest cover types mapped with GPS units, to city blocks delineated with underground infrastructure and specific addresses of houses, to school groups using the technology for Geocaching for scavenger hunts. Every year or so, new satellite imagery becomes available for every inch of the united states. We update topographic maps often, for higher resolution, or to depict land use changes, or to include information with higher precision. It is insane how much data is out there for use in GIS and spatial planning in the United States.

Then there's the rest of the world. The Philippines is listed as one of the top 2 if not the most disaster prone country in the world. The combination of liquifaction (landslides), volcanoes, fault areas and earthquake-prone areas, as well as low-lying populated coastlines, typhoon potential, as well as other threats makes for a very tenuous situation here. For that reason, extensive mapping, while incredibly good to have for places like the United States, is downright crucial in a country such as this. However, there exists very little spatial data in the Philippines. I have taken it upon myself to begin collecting information from a host of government agencies to develop some semblance of a database for this mapping information. Hurdles to this process are usually inept government officials who don't know where to send me for the informaiton, or the fact that different agencies don't communicate, so even if there was a GIS file for faults of the Philippines at the Department of GeoHazards, the The National Land Mapping agency knows nothing of it. It's frustrating to say the least. I have walked down many a Filipino street in hopes of getting information of this sort, just to leave an hour later bathed in the awesomeness of air conditioning, but empty handed.

The national mapping agency tasked with compiling disaster preparedness data is working on a comprehensive product and has made lots of progress, but when I look at what data they now have available, large sections of the country have not been started. These sections, as you would expect, are the poorest areas of the country usually, and even the 1950's topographic maps have been scanned in to begin the process. Read that again if it didn't hit home, that means maps from 60 years ago are the only resource for land-use planning in over half of a country where 92 million people live. Forget satellite imagery, forget spatial information on infrastructure, power grids, telephone lines, water mains, septic systems, drain fields, reservoirs, none of that. The only repository of spatial information in the 21st century are Topographic maps from the 1950's, maps made, believe it or not, by the United States Military.

Enter Pete. For the past few months, I have been working with these scanned topographic maps, georeferencing those maps to display in GIS, and beginning to try and fill a 60-year mapping void. Additionally, I'm trying to convince Peace Corps central office to begin using geospatial software so that they can plan for potential disasters for volunteers in vulnerable places. That though, is for another blog, another day. I rode a jeep one sunny day about 8 months ago to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources office in Tacloban in hopes of getting a hard copy of one of the U.S. Army maps. An hour later, a man came out from a dilapidated map room, dusty map in hand, rolled up, bound with twine, with signs of never being studing before. I paid 200 pesos for the map of Babatngon, and left, happy with my loot. I've been able to get most of the barangay (village) borders and start looking at infrastructure, health clinics, elementary schools, rice mills, waiting sheds for the jeeps, and most importantly for my project, mapping of natural resources. This has been the fun part.

At 7 a.m. on days where it's hubas (low tide), I meet Edwin at the shoreline and we head off to map corals, mangroves, seagrass areas, and try to ground truth what United States soldiers mapped 60 years ago. With that old map in hand, and Edwin, the captain at the helm, we go to all of the dots on the map where some old soldier long ago said there was coral, demarcated with a squiggly line. Most times, the coral is all gone, signs of years of overfishing apparent, and we snorkel, diving to find seagrass beds the locals claim are there. Sometime's though, we come upon areas that are nearly pristine, schooling fish circle, and dead coral has live buds, signs of rehabilitation. We map mangrove stands, and record the Waray Waray and latin names of all the species using antiquated field guides, hopefully creating a repository that will be used in the future to see what's left. We take pictures, I take notes, and we move on, hoping to hit all of the high points of Babatngon's nearly 40 kilometers of winding, mountainous shoreline. While I snorkel, estimating dead and live percentages of coral, or looking at striations on seagrass and leafscars on mangrove twigs, Edwin anchors the boat, and walks the shore looking for shellfish to take home to his family. Some places we find are suitable for protection, and would be fairly easily managed as a no-fishing area, so I deliberate with Edwin, a born fisherman, why the areas would or would not be good for protection, in the eyes of the locals who depend on them for livelihood. Sometimes I will find a good clam or mussel or abalone when snorkeling, and I will swim to Edwin, hold out my hand, and drop the shell in his hand. Our eyes will meet briefly, his raised eyebrows mean thank you, that the shellfish is a good find. At the end of the day, I take our data that we've collected, and enter it into the GIS database I'm creating, and overlay 60-year-old map data with mine and Edwin's 2011 information. Edwin is very street smart, but if I tried to explain the process to him, he wouldn't understand having never worked with a computer, but he is part of a pr that project that is bridging data from 2 centuries, spanning decades. I think that is pretty neat.

We're about a third of the way done with the survey of the shore areas at this point. We have found 3 or 4 50-hectare areas so far that will make for good protected areas in the future, areas that will hopefully lead to a healthier fishery and higher yields for the fishermen in the future.