**6. Aquatic ecosystem management through participatory mapping in marine spatial planning context**

Updating marine data and information can be done by involving communities who live in coastal and marine habitats through participatory mapping. To examine in detail the role of participatory mapping as a tool of negotiation between the community and the government, the author will explore the journey of participatory mapping in general and its application in Indonesia.

Participatory mapping was initiated from participatory research that was created in the 1960s with the rise of social oppression due to the Second World War triggered in Europe. Furthermore, the emergence of Marxist influences in overcoming the entry of the problem of social justice in the social sciences in the 1970s triggered the development of marginal community-based research methods. One of the innovations in the social research method was participatory mapping initiated by Freire to bridge dialog between elites and citizens in alleviating the problems of marginal communities [10].

Society as an actor who directly receives the results of spatial planning determined by the government has a role to participate in the spatial planning process in various forms, one of which is the provision of spatial information. In Indonesia, the provision of spatial information has been regulated under Law No. 4 of 2011 of The Indonesian Geospatial Information, article 23, paragraphs 1 and 4, and Law No. 26 of 2007 of The Indonesian Spatial Planning, article 65, that spatial planning provides opportunities to the community with a participatory-based approach in the procurement of spatial data and information to achieve spatial planning consensus.

There have been many manuscripts published by geospatial and spatial planning scholars regarding community management based on spatial data and information for planning and management purposes [11–14]. In general, based on the political elite point of view, the government is greatly assisted in making decisions related to spatial planning as a valuable input in creating harmonization of the development agenda of the government with the needs of affected communities from planning.

Participatory mapping in Indonesia was initiated by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) with indigenous peoples to advocate spatial planning to protect their land ownership from land development by investors for commercial activities that often receive support from the government, such as establishing oil palm plantations. In this spatial planning advocacy, the role of participatory mapping has a crucial point to provide input to the government and investors on the land ownership belonging to indigenous peoples.

Participatory mapping activities relevant to spatial planning activities in Indonesia can be identified in two parts:


Participatory mapping activities related to advocacy zoning mapping can be taken as an example in the case of Pahawang Island (see **Figure 2**). Here, the local community is mapping the area to create a consensus between traditional fishermen and modern fishermen in fishing arrangements. The result of this participatory mapping is that an agreement is reached between the two groups of fishermen who are only allowed to catch fish using conventional methods (e.g., using fish hooks) and do not use equipment that can disrupt massive fish ecosystems, such as the use of trawls, bombs, and potassium cyanide [15].

The impact of participatory method that carried out by traditional fishermen groups, who always using traditional equipments for fishing advocacy, with modern fishermen groups, who usually the equipments that can disrupt massive fish ecosystems, achieved the consensus to use only traditional fishing equipment was the number of fish around Pahawang Island increases and traditional fishermen can continue fishing. Furthermore, participatory mapping by traditional fishing communities on Pahawang Island has encouraged the government to establish a legal basis through the establishment of a basic map of fishing zones in the form of village regulations.

Another example of seagrass mapping project in Indonesia is Dugong and Seagrass Conservation Project (DSCP) granted by GEF, UNEP, and Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, 2016–2018. Dugong (*Dugong dugon*) and

**Figure 2.** *Pahawang Island in Indonesia.*

*Strengthening Democracy in Indonesian Marine Spatial Planning through Open Spatial Data DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88287*

seagrass are the main issue where the threat to seagrass ecosystem can affect dugong. The project is set up in four locations, namely, Bintan-Riau Archipelago, Kotawaringin Barat-Central Kalimantan, Alor-East Nusa Tenggara, and Toli-Toli, Central Sulawesi, where the population and habitat mapping are developed. One of the goals is a community-based conservation and management.

Participatory mapping activities in inventorying natural resources in the areas where indigenous peoples live have created local spatial knowledge in identifying the types of natural resources. According to Sabu [16], the implementation of participatory mapping in Indonesia has opened the insights of indigenous people in the management of natural resources that exist in their regions into four aspects, including political, social, economic, and cultural aspects.

• Political aspects

Participatory mapping provides basic territorial information as a tool for communicating and negotiating between parties (communities, governments, and entrepreneurs) who have an interest in particular areas in achieving territory management consensus [16].

• Social aspects

Participatory mapping activities open up the insights of indigenous people in managing natural resources in their homes through:


Participatory mapping helps to identify valuable local natural resources, so as to create a sustainable fulfillment of the daily needs of indigenous peoples' living environments [16].

• Cultural aspects

Participatory mapping can create local wisdom to identify, preserve, and develop traditional customs and habits in area management inherited from indigenous ancestors. Examples of areas that have religious purposes can be planted with plants that have a symbolic value, such as banyan trees [16].
