Foata Mountain, ETH

Participatory 3D Modelling of the Foata Mountain area, Oromia, Ethiopia

Image courtesy of Giacomo Rambaldi © / CTA, 2010Image courtesy of Giacomo Rambaldi © / CTA, 2010This 1:10,000 scale Participatory 3D Model (P3DM) of the Foata Mountain area, Oromiya Regional State, Ethiopia was produced on 8-18 December 2010. The model measuring 2.4 x 2.8 m (672 km2 on the ground) has 2 x vertical exaggeration and is the 4th Participatory 3D Model constructed in Ethiopia.

The exercise – organised by MELCA-Ethiopia, a national NGO and supported by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA), was a response to a call by the community for assistance in rehabilitating its environment which suffered heavy deforestation and soil degradation over the past decades and to address increasing challenges due to climate change.

Image courtesy of Giacomo Rambaldi © / CTA, 2010Image courtesy of Giacomo Rambaldi © / CTA, 2010About 20 students and representatives from youth groups constructed the blank model. 130 residents of the area, especially elders populated the map with their spatial knowledge. In the process knowledge about the mountain area and its foothills has been shared across generations and between local communities and other stakeholders, opening the door for deeper discussions on the sustainable management and safeguarding of both local culture and environment. The exercise has been the training ground for trainees coming from 20 delegates coming from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Uganda, Cameroon and Benin.

Recommended readings:

Rambaldi G. and Belay M. 2010. Looking Through a Mirror at our Past and Present: Account of a P3DM Exercise in Ethiopia; post 17 January, 2011. PPgis.Net Blog

Various authors on WordPress: Participatory 3D Modelling: Sharing our experiences in the development of the Telecho Model, Ethiopia (December 2010 ->)

Video productions:

Report back from Telecho – the pathway to environmental reclamation (April 2014)

Mapping for Change: The experience of farmers in rural Oromiya, Ethiopia (April 2011)

Cartographie pour le changement. Expérience des agriculteurs dans la zone rurale d’Oromiya, Éthiopie (April 2011)

Cartografía para el cambio – La experiencia de los agricultores en la zona rural de Oromiya, Etiopía (April 2011)

Mapeando para a mudança – A experiência dos agricultores da região rural de Oromia, Etiópia (April 2011)

Related video documentation:

Mapping for Change: The experience of farmers in rural Oromiya, Ethiopia
Report back from Telecho – the pathway to environmental reclamation
Cartografía para el cambio – La experiencia de los agricultores en la zona rural de Oromiya, Etiopía
Cartographie pour le changement. Expérience des agriculteurs dans la zone rurale d’Oromiya, Éthiopie
Mapeando para a mudança – A experiência dos agricultores da região rural de Oromia, Etiópia

Location map:

MELCA Ethiopia – Movement for Ecological Learning and Community Action – was founded in 2004, to work for the conservation of ecosystem and for the revival and enhancement of Traditional Ecological Knowledge and to protect the rights of communities in Ethiopia through research, advocacy, endogenous development and intergenerational learning. The word ‘melca’ means ford both in Amharic and Oromo language – two of the widely spoken languages of Ethiopia. It means a crossing point on a river, which is symbolically used to indicate the need to take people away from their misconception about local people and culture to an understanding and appreciation of traditional ecological knowledge. A river also signifies linkage with a source. If the source dries, the river also dries. MELCA emphasizes that culture is the source of identity and wisdom, and that the destruction or degradation of culture will result lose of a vast amount of knowledge and identity. MELCA currently works with local communities, elders, schools and youth in the Sheka Forest region in southeast Ethiopia, the Bale Mountains National Park, and Menagesha Suba forest near to Addis Ababa. MELCA is also a regional node for the African Biodiversity Network.

Image courtesy of Damian Prestige © / CTA, 2010
Trainees from different countries participated in the exercise
Image courtesy of Giacomo Rambaldi © / CTA, 2010
Participatory Video (PV) activities in Telecho during the P3DM exercise

The exercise has been made possible by the coordinated effort of MELCA Ethiopia and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA).

CTA provided funding and technical assistance for (i) the implementation of the exercise, (ii) the training of delegates coming from African countries, (iii) training in Participatory Video (PV) and (iv) the production of a professional video documentary on the process.

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