Socioenvironmental Mapping: a Participatory Methodology of Local
Diagnosis involving Different Stakeholders
Abstract
Social Learning contributes as a guiding proposal for the joint
intervention of the local actors and dissemination of methodologies and
collaborative activities in socioenvironmental diagnoses. Its principles
are active involvement, consultation and public access to participation.
Several participatory tools have been developed and have been applied
within the principles of Social Learning, such as local
socioenvironmental agendas, action research, role playing; world café,
participatory monitoring of the streams and socioenvironmental mapping.
This article presents the last one applied in different contexts and
with different groups of social actors, always aiming to elaborate a
participatory diagnosis of the place and reality to identify the wicked
problems. Socioenvironmental mapping is a didactic-pedagogical resource
used to reflect and rethink about the place. It contributes to elaborate
a diagnosis of the local reality and it subsidizes the reflection on the
forms of the land use and occupation and its implications for the
quality of life of its inhabitants, fostering discussions, possibilities
of actions to solve problems and conflicts to improve the quality of
life in communities. The map is a product of collective and
collaborative construction of the participants. It contributes to
transform information into knowledge and establish a bridge between
scientific and local knowledge. Consider the following procedures: a)
the reality in which the individual lives and how he deals with his
immediate environment and his understanding of it, as a starting point;
b) the possibility of re-elaborating the individual’s initial
understanding of his / her place; c) the way to the development of
different types of knowledge for the construction of more elaborate and
more critical knowledge. We have applied this methodology with teaching
formation, social control and conservation area with positive results of
empowering the communities.