Community participation in flood mapping in the Amazon through interdisciplinary methods

Abstract

Community participation is an increasing issue in risk and disaster management. This paper argues that interdisciplinary methods are necessary for mapping flooding areas. On the one hand, hazards can be quantified and mapped through deductive approaches and methods from the natural sciences. On the other hand, hazards can also be described from the population perspective at a local level using social sciences methods. The methods are successfully mixed with a geographical information system environment. In the first case, important inputs include topographic and slope data for geomorphological mapping. In the second case, timeline methodology can indicate temporally the most severe floods, and a participatory map construction gives the population the opportunity to point out the affected areas. These methods were applied in a case study in the lower Amazon River Region in the urban area of the Santarém municipality. High-resolution images and remote sensing were essential tools. Results show that nine neighborhoods have high and moderate susceptibility areas to riverine floods. Another nine neighborhoods are affected by flash floods. Flood mapping is the first step in risk mapping for the sustainability of regional planning.

Coping and adaptation strategies and institutional perceptions of hydrological risk in an urban Amazonian city

“…The study area is characterised by a geomorphology of floodplains (0-10 metres) and low hills (less than 80 metres) with a low slope (Andrade and Szlafsztein, 2015). The floodplains are geologically formed by alluvial sediment and the highlands are sustained by sedimentary rock from the cretaceous Alter do Chão formation (CPRM, 2013).…”

Flood hazard assessment and the role of citizen science

“…P-mapping and P-GIS have been used in order to map potential or flooded areas (De Andrade & Sy et al (2016) : could be applied for flood analyses; -: not mentioned. Szlafsztein, 2015;Padawangi et al, 2016;Peters Guarin, 2008). With regard to crowdsourcing, as social media data can be messages or photos, and can include geolocated information, several authors (see Cervone et al, 2016;Li et al, 2017;Rosser et al, 2017;Schnebele & Cervone, 2013;Smith et al, 2017) have demonstrated the usefulness of integrating these data for flood extent assessment, in particular during an event.…”

“…Various tools are used to involve citizens, which can be classified into two main categories, direct and online. The first category implies observation or mapping activities through active survey (Sy et al, ), participatory mapping (P‐mapping) or participatory Geographic Information System (P‐GIS) (Chingombe, Pedzisai, Manatsa, Mukwada, & Taru, ; De Andrade & Szlafsztein, ; Kienberger, ). The second category involves citizen's participation via the use of Web platforms (Dorn, Vetter, & Höfle, ; See et al, ) or social networks.…”

Participatory GIS as a Tool for Stakeholder Engagement in Building Resilience to Sea Level Rise: A Demonstration Project

“…Participatory mapping has been used in monitoring, reporting, and verifying environmental policies and problems, including applications in the areas of environmental degradation (Agyemang et al, 2007;Chagumaira et al, 2016), marine and coastal ecosystem management (Andrade & Szlafsztein, 2015;Frazier et al, 2010), marine spatial planning (Stelzenmüller et al, 2013), disaster management (Gaillard & Pangilinan, 2010;Kaul & Thornton, 2014;Levine & Feinholz, 2015;Villagra et al, 2014), and sustainable management of natural resources (Lubis & Langston, 2015).…”