Page 1 of 8 GTZ/DSE Workshop on Watershed Management Vientiane, Laos, 29 Jan - 2 Feb, 1996 Christoph Berg, GTZ Division 425, Regional Rural Development WATERSHED MANAGEMENT AND LAND USE PLANNING 1.THE PROBLEM Land scarcity The basic needs for food, water, fuel, clothing and shelter must be met from the land whose supply is limited. As population and aspirations increase, land becomes an increasingly scarce resource. The demands for arable land, grazing, forestry, wildlife, tourism and urban development are greater than the land resources available. In the developing countries population is growing rapidly, so that many people have inadequate access to land. Land use conflicts and land degradation Conflicts over land use are the usual consequence and land is frequently over utilized. Decisions about land use have increasingly led to the degradation of natural resources, so that interventions to improve the land use and to conserve natural resources take place to an increasing degree. Land Use Planing as a means to support problem solving In order to facilitate this process Land Use Planning (LUP) has been further developed and has been applied more frequently in technical cooperation projects. Land Use Planning is applied in various types of resource management projects and has become a standard procedure for integrated approaches to develop areas and their natural resources. Since most problems in natural resource management cannot be solved by sectoral measures only, it is necessary to combine technical, economic and social measures, and to agree on their implementation in a particular area. 2. WHAT IS LAND USE PLANNING? Definition of Land use planning by FAO Land Use Planning is the systematic assessment of land and water potential, alternatives for land use as well as economic and social conditions in order to select and adopt the best land use options. It's purpose is to select and to put into practice those land uses that will best meet the needs of the people while safeguarding resources for the future. Definition of Land Planning by GTZ Land Use Planning within technical cooperation is an iterative process based on a dialogue and a balance of interests among all parties involved. LUP aims at decisions on a sustainable form of land use in rural areas and at the implementation measures. Aspects of GTZ's Land Use Planning definition The dialogue between all participants (concerned land users and participating parties) should lead to decisions based on consensus The dialogue-oriented process leads to an increase in land use planning competencies at the local level Most important in land use planning are the local land users. Responsible government and non-government institutions have to be involved, as well as private companies The LUP process comprises data gathering, data analysis, discussion, decision making on land use options and implementation of land use changes LUP is an iterative process: planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation are a continuous process so that plans can be revised LUP is a process to reach common understanding on desired changes among people or institutions Forms of land use can be called sustainable if the way of utilising land is socially fair, environmentally sound, politically accepted, technically feasible and economically appropriate. Main Objective of LUP In summary, the main objective of Land Use Planning is: LUP creates the conditions for a sustainable land use which is socially desirable, environmentally sound and economically appropriate. LUP initiates common decision making on managing private, communal and public land. Such preconditions are best met by a decentralised approach.
Page 2 of 8 3. BASIC PRINCIPLES OF LAND USE PLANNING The following basic principles have been used for the development of guidelines for the practical application of Land Use Planning. Basic Principle 1 Basic Principle 2 Basic Principle 3 Basic Principle 4 Basic Principle 5 Basic Principle 6 Basic Principle 7 Basic Principle 8 Basic Principle 9 Basic Principle 10 Basic Principle 11 The scope and content of LUP and the method are adapted to the local situation. LUP considers cultural aspects and is based on indigenous knowledge of the environment. LUP considers traditional problem solving strategies. LUP is based on a development concept, where development is a bottom-up process and based on the basic principle of self-help. Only if the population affected by planning is actively involved in the planning process can plans and their implementation be sustainable, and LUP can become an important element of self-help. LUP is a dialogue among all actors whereby it creates the conditions for the harmonisation of interests and for the cooperation between all parties concerned. LUP is a participatory process to improve planning and implementation competencies of the persons and institutions involved; this process qualifies local groups to increase their self-help capacities. Transparency, comprehensive information and communication in the local language increase planning and decision making capacities of the concerned population. Realistic LUP requires a detailed target group analysis and thorough consideration of gender aspects; various economic and social interests of men and women, their different access to resources and their different roles and responsibilities. Gender differentiation has to be an integral part of the land use planning methodology and the active integration of women in all planning phases should be ensured. LUP requires interdisciplinary cooperation. Utilising land has ecological, economic, technical, financial and sociocultural dimensions. The iterative character of LUP is both method and principle; flexibility is needed to react to changing conditions; new knowledge is integrated in the ongoing planning process; experiences from plan implementation are taken into account for new planning. ("rolling planning"). LUP is implementation oriented; the complete land use planning process ends with the realisation of planned measures. Land use planning without implementation is a waste of time and other resources. 4. LAND USE PLANNING AT DIFFERENT LEVELS Level of Land Use Planning Land use planning is carried out at three major levels: local level district level national level Other levels or units commonly chosen for land use planning: province region watershed Land use plans are vertically and horizontally linked (see figure on page 4) Importance of local level or village level The local level or village level should be the starting point for land use planning. At this level local communities are actively participating, their experiences and knowledge are utilised and their interests are considered. Participatory land use planning or bottom-up planning has the following advantages: the planned targets are locally defined plans can be better adjusted to the local situation with regard to natural resources or socioeconomic problems people are motivated to look at the planning process as their own and are more willing to participate in its implementation and monitoring Local level planning can also have some disadvantages: a the investment for providing technical knowledge is high local level plans may be difficult to integrate into higher level planning local efforts may collapse because of lack of higher level support
Page 3 of 8 5. LAND USE PLANNING, SECTORAL AND DEVELOPMENT PLANNING Land use planning is non-sectoral by definition. However, implementing planned measures must be done by sector agencies, e.g. agriculture, forestry or irrigation. Type of Plan Land Use Plan Sectoral Planning Regional Planning Region-Oriented Programme Planning (ROPP) Regional Rural Development (RRD) Main Purpose to define the suitability of an area and the demands to utilise the land to improve the economic benefits of the land use to allocate land to different kinds of land use to coordinate the work of sectoral agencies related to land use to specify projects and programmes of sectoral agencies to define the economic, social and infrastructural functions which are necessary for a particular region to distribute these functions spatially by efficient resource allocation to determine activities for implementation to achieve a project purpose or a defined development goal to plan programmes in a participatory way with all aspects of rural development including economics, natural resource management, infrastructure, health and education to implement programmes in a coordinated way to monitor and evaluate programmes and their impact in a participatory way and to update planning based on feed-back (re-planning) 6. MAJOR ELEMENTS, INSTRUMENTS AND TECHNIQUES IN LAND USE PLANNING The initiative to reconsider or to change land use practices can originate from government agencies, NGOs, private interest groups, district or village governments or from local communities. Element 1 Preparation Definition of planning area An important precondition for the implementation of plans is the clearly defined demand for changing the present land use. This implies that all parties involved agree on definite objectives. The area for which land use planning is carried out has to be agreed among all 131persons, groups and institutions or agencies involved. Land use planning areas can be areas used by a neighborhood, a village or a group of villages. Administrative or natural boundaries can determine planning areas. Areas determined according to natural boundaries can be watersheds, catchments or sub-catchments. The definition of LUP areas should also consider land use activities of farmers outside the planning area. Joint problem analysis Land use practices, the environmental situation and possible problems and risks are discussed among all parties concerned: the local population, interest groups, government institutions, NGOs, private sector, project staff etc. Causes and effects of environmental problems are jointly identified and analysed. Element 2 Data gathering Within the land use planning process the diagnosis phase continues throughout planning and implementation phases. Two main types of information are used: 1. "local knowledge": information about people, the local situation and the history; perspectives of the local people (mainly primary data) 2. "official information": basic data on political, economic, administrative, social and cultural structures In the beginning, data needs have to be defined among the planning team. Information sources The major information sources are: 1. gathering primary data (PRA, base line surveys, problem census etc.) 2. compiling (secondary) data from national development plans, statistics, budget figures, research documents, maps etc. Data analysis Information has to be compiled according to the data needs for the planning of a particular area
Page 4 of 8 (user friendly); the amount of primary and secondary data has to be limited. The importance of indigenous knowledge Traditional agricultural communities own abundant knowledge and experiences which have been collected over many generations. Traditional land use systems and practices are impressively manifold and well adapted to natural conditions. This refers not only to agriculture and livestock but also to the utilisation and integration of non-wood forest products such as plants/herbs, honey, game and fish. Indigenous knowledge on the respective local environmental conditions is significant for the development of technical contents, user agreements and land use decisions. But it is rather difficult to ascertain and to document traditional knowledge, since views of local people (which are mostly user-oriented) differ considerably from views of external experts (mostly conservation oriented). Sound information on indigenous knowledge on the local environmental is necessary to plan project measures appropriately. On the other hand the dialogue with outsiders may also help the local population to adapt their traditional system to the changing environment. Example Instruments Participatory the methods PRA Instruments Landscape zoning 0 Instruments Topographical maps, aerial photographs GIS and topographical models Example The shea butter tree is widely spread in Burkina Faso. Besides making butter, the nuts are also used for soap; thereby the tree provides an important of cash income for women. In the village of Zipelin the population stated within the land use planning process that using the village shea butter trees by the neighboring villages reduces their own profit considerably the nuts are harvested before they are fully ripe removing the nuts from village land is disadvantageous for the shea butter tree plantation. While the access of the women of Zipelin to the shea butter trees of the neighbouring villages has been regulated by a fetish, the villagers of Zipetin had abandoned this limitation already 60 years ago. During the discussions with the team of the PATECORE project the villagers decided to reintroduce the "forgotten" measure. After the respective ceremonies were held the traditional regulation with its severe punishment came into force again. Disregard of the new/old regulation was not observed anymore and the shea butter nuts harvest was satisfying again for the women. An extended application of the fetish to protect other areas is presently under discussion in the village. The understanding and consideration of local knowledge is supported by use of participatory methods to gather information. Participatory Rural Appraisal and similar methods have proven successful within technical cooperation projects. However, PRA should be applied flexibly and adapted to the local situation as needed. For detailed information on PRA please refer to the respective publications, e.g. Participatory Learning Approaches - RRA, PRA - An introductory guide; M. Sch6nhuth, U. Kievelitz, GTZ publication 248, 1994 For the purpose of describing and analyzing the planning area and its natural resources, homogeneous zones or landscape units are identified according to topography, soil type or vegetation. In mountain areas agro-ecological zones are applied since altitude is an important factor to determine land use. For the process of land use diagnosis and planning topographical maps, aerial photographs and topographical models are important tools. The use of visual, aids supports the discussion of land use problems or conflicts. Especially at the beginning of a planning process with villagers, the use of topographical models (3-dimensional) models of the village environment is sometimes advantageous compared to the use of maps (people are mostly not familiar with maps, maps are on a large scale etc.). Topographical landscape models have been successfully used in mountain area or watershed area planning. Models and maps can be prepared with active participation of villagers or respectively by villagers themselves. This approach increases villagers' competencies and their-identification with the planning process. Aerial photographs are (relatively) easy to use by extension workers and villagers within LUP. Scales vary between 1:5.000 and 1:25.000, most common are 1:10.000 and 1:20.000. Local maps, 3-D-models or aerial photographs should remain in the village, which boosts the responsibility of the local people. The use of a Geographical Information System (GIS) can be helpful too. Before establishing a GIS within a project or an agency, the actual need should be analysed thoroughly, since investments in hardware and software and especially in training are high. The Thai-German Highland Development Programme (TG-HDP) started its "Community-based Land Use Planning and Local
Page 5 of 8 Watershed Management (CLM)" activities in the Nam Lang project area in the hills of Northern Thailand in 1989190. A testrun is carried out in 6 villages. After data have been collected with a series of RRAIPRA exercises and after initial discussions in the selected villages took place, 3-dimensional topographical models (TM) were built to facilitate the discussions. To make a TM, the approximate area of the village was identified with the villagers supported by the Land Use Planning Team (LUPT). Topographical maps, aerial photographs and satellite images were used by the LUPT to help in this first step. Farmers also have fields outside the village area; those fields were registered, but not part of the TM-area. Two types of TM were used, a styrofoam model and a clay/cement model. For the styrofoam model - which was first prepared by project staff and staff of the Chiang Mai University - styrofoam layers were produced according to the contour lines and the layers were glued together and fixed on a plywood board with a frame. The surface was painted green before using the model in the village, where respective parts of the model were coloured differently by the villagers according to actual land use. The costs for the styrofoam model were 100-150 US $. The second type - the clay/cement model - was introduced since the first model often did not correspond to the real features observed by the farmers. They developed and expressed their own ideas about the shape of the village surrounding. In making the clay model several village meetings were held. Prior to the first meeting a suitable place was identified to keep the model. This place was also used to hold village meetings. Farmers had to collect sufficient amounts of wet clay and a wooden frame was built. Modelling of the clay was carried out by the farmers themselves, while the Land Use Planning Team gave advice on request only. After the clay model was moulded, it was coated with a cement/sand mixture (ratio 1:1) in order to prevent cracking during the dry season. White oil paint was used to coat the model after the cement has dried. Oil paint of different colours was used to visualize the different land use categories which are identified during the village meetings. Women participated in the modeling and the later land-use planning process to a certain extent. In numerous cases women's contributions showed that they have a more de- tailed knowledge of the village surrounding. However, active participation of women was relatively high in villages of the Lahu hill tribe while women's role in Lisu tradition does not support such a role. Modeling by farmers with clay proved that villagers can make TMs, which are more understandable to them, have fairly good accuracy and clearly enhance villagers' participation and communication. In summary, the use of the topographical model in the TG-HDP project areas proved to be a successful tool for communication on land use status, land use problems and future land use options. Source: TG-HDP: CLM Guidelines in Brief, Internal Paper 189, March 1995 Instruments Transect walks Besides topographical maps, aerial photographs or 3-D-models the participatory process of land use diagnosis should include intensive field visits in the planning area. For systematic planning and documentation walks are done along planned transacts. Land use problems, conflicts and possible land use options can be discussed and verified. Ground checks are commonly used to prepare maps for local planning, especially if only largescale maps or photos are available. Element 3 Organisation and preparation of concerned parties Target group Organisation In many cases mandates of the concerned parties for land use planning and the respective responsibilities are not clearly defined. There is often a deficit or a vacuum of institutional structures. Besides the task of a project to facilitate a participatory land use planning process, the strengthening of organizational structures in the village is important. Planning responsibilities and land use regulations of the individuals and groups concerned have to be agreed first. At the beginning of the cooperation with villagers the often existing distrust of the local people towards external bodies (government, project, etc.) has to be sorted out. Trust and confidence building measures (TCM) are taken to build up good working relationships. TCM are commonly small-scale activities e.g. in social or economic infrastructure such as drinking water schemes or transport improvement. Organisation of Local government, agencies, NGOs and private sector Due to the prevailing deficit in institutional structures, organisational development of the institutions involved is normally a prime task of resource management, projects, especially if interventions refer to various sectors. However, agencies and institutions in charge of land use planning and implementation have to fulfil some minimum requirements: qualified personnel (motivation, competence) sufficient equipment and material
Page 6 of 8 sufficient financial resources. Relevant local groups such as NGOs, private companies or financial institutions (banks) have to be integrated into land use planning. All parties can be affected by LUP or they are important for a successful plan implementation. Planning team When forming a land use planning team (LUPT) all relevant local parties have to be considered: villagers (the majority or their appropriate representation), officials (usually village and district level), local NGOs, interest groups, private sector representatives. LUPTs function as key institutions for participatory village land use planning. Their mandate should be agreed upon at the beginning of a planning process and should be recognised by the officials. Example In the TG-HDP project area Nam Lang (Northern Thailand) Land Use Planning Teams (LUPTS) have been set up as part of the test run of the "Community-based Land Use Planning and Local Watershed Management (CLM)" process. An interdisciplinary approach chosen in order to tackle all aspects of land use and the responsibilities of the various groups and agencies. Representatives of the following institutions were included in the LUPT: District Hilltribe Committee (mandated with coordination of highland development) Hilitribd Development and Welfare Centre (mandated with highland development) Department of Agriculture, district level Department of Agricultural Extension, district level Royal Forest Department, district level Land Development Station Provincial Livestock Office Provincial Fishery Office local NGO private sector, company representatives local teachers -P TG-HDP project staff (Land Use Planning Coordinator) One agency should be given the leading role. In some villages the Hilitribe Development and Welfare Centre was given the leading role, in another place the representative of the Land Development Department was chosen. In the first year, LUPT meetings were held monthly, later on intervals were 2-3 months. Meetings take place in all the test run villages jointly with the villagers. The flow of information - which is of utmost importance - between the LUPT, the District Hilitribe Committee and the TG-HDP, was well maintained. Element 4 Consideration of major elements of a land use plan A land use plan should contain the following elements: objectives of the planned measures for implementation description of the base line situation including economic analysis and land plan tenure costs and benefits of intervention Who is contributing what and who will be the beneficiaries? Who is responsible for which activity and which agency is in charge for which activity? What are the possible land use options and what are the agreed land use changes? What are the principles and regulations if new land use practices or restrictions are agreed? Time requirement for participatory land use planning The following considerations should be made when planning new land use options: the foreseen land use options of other plans the financial implications of proposed changes. Thereby budget planning can become a part of a land use plan. Participatory land use planning is a time consuming process. Establishing planning partnership between local and outside people requires much time Institution building is another joint learning process and requires much time as well. Element 5 Presentation Presentation of After the present land use status has been analysed, the results of this working step-are presented to
Page 7 of 8 land use statues and data analysis all relevant parties. This is done in a way, which is easy to understand for all people involved. Maps or 3-D-models which have been produced by the local people should be part of the presentation. Adequate presentation is important for a good quality of the plan and for the sustainability of its eventual implementation. Presentation of the plan 1. Kind and scope of a presentation depend on the type of audience (other villages, village and district government, government agencies at various levels, financial institutions etc.). 2. Presentations also depend on the purpose of presentation: financing of implementation, political lobbying, legal changes, information and motivation of other groups, training etc.). 3. Who is presenting the plan? (villagers/farmers, local politicians, extension workers, project staff) 4. How is the presentation done? (verbally, in written form, using visual aids) Verbal presentations are supported by maps, 3-D-models, tables, text (charts). Maps consist of topographical maps, land use zones/units, present land use and land use problems are shown, proposed/planned land use changes and agreed land use plans. Presentations include the list of proposed activities (type of intervention, measures to change/improve land use), the size of the affected areas, their respective labour inputs and costs. Element 6 Agreement on proposed land use options All groups affected by land use planning and the respective changes as well as) all organisations in charge of interventions in the area are involved in the LUP process from the beginning. Participatory approaches are employed in LUP in order to safeguard the clear understanding of their roles among all parties concerned. If a LUP process is facilitated by a technical cooperation project, an important task of the project is moderating the planning process, possibly support in conflict resolution and mediation between target groups and government agencies. After proposed land use changes have been successfully implemented on a small scale, land use changes or improved land use practices are submitted to concerned government agencies for official recognition. This step might include new land use regulations, financial commitments (e.g. budget allocation for afforestation, land reclamation, infrastructure) or legal implications (e.g. provision of land rights or land use concessions). Element 7 Plan implementation Objectives-oriented land use planning leads to the implementation of land use changes or the introduction of sustainable land use practices. Changes are firstly implemented as pilot activities, i.e. the activities are implemented on a small scale. Implementation on a larger scale can be addressed after these measures have been confirmed by positive Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) results. Implementation of land use changes is the very own responsibility of the target population and should thus be based on existing, internal resources. To depend on external (project) resources only should be avoided. It is the government's responsibility to provide basic resources and services such as infrastructure, appropriate administrative conditions or extension services. Target groups should be enabled to-make better use of resources and services. Technical co- operation projects can support the implementation during test-runs, but should not be in charge of broad-based implementation. The scope and the pace of the implementation are determined by the beneficiaries. In order to make implementation programmes feasible and to adapt them to the absorption capacities of the local people, programmes have to be split into packages. For these packages operational plans are prepared. The planning period is normally 1 or 2 years; budgets are included as well as responsibilities. Realistic implementation packages have to comprise a mix of activities which is attractive for the target population, i.e. economically attractive measures (e.g. irrigation) should be there and ecologically beneficial measures (e.g. afforestation with slowly growing species) are only planned at a later stage. Frequently, the staff of government agencies or NGOs facilitating improved land use practices have to be trained before implementation is started or on the-job during the implementation. During the implementation process mechanisms have to be built-up to monitor and evaluate ongoing activities.
Page 8 of 8 Element 8 Monitoring Evaluation The implementation of programmes is systematically observed throughout the whole process. All actors concerned should be actively involved in M&E. Local people should play a key role in monitoring their own programmes (self-monitoring) and in drawing conclusions from monitoring results (evaluation). The M&E process is usually initiated and facilitated by the staff of technical cooperation projects. M&E is characterized by a joint learning process among all partners. The role of the project in M&E should be a trainer and a temporary facilitator for the villagers and the concerned government or NGO staff. The determination of M&E scope and content (parameter, indicators), the data collection methods, the frequency of data collection and the responsibilities for information gathering should be discussed between M&E facilitators and the concerned parties and should be decided jointly. It is important to limit the amount of information regularly collected. There is no need to monitor all activities, but only selected key activities. M&E results are used to review ongoing programmes and to revise or update concepts and plans. M&E activities are part of the project management cycle of planning, M&E and re-planning. Important components of a M&E system are the monitoring of impacts and effects (which is more demanding than to measure activities and results), and the measurement of processes, particularly social processes, which is methodologically more difficult than monitoring physical outputs or financial inputs. M&E of target group activities should be done in a gender-specific way. If the necessary expertise is not available within the project, external methodological advice should be sought. REFERENCES 1. EGER, H., Edited by Deutsche Geselischaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit, GTZ GmbH, Division 425: Landnutzungsplanung - Strategien, Methoden, Instramente [Land Use Planning - Strategies, Methods, Tools], Eschborn; December 1995 2. Guidelines for Land Use Planning, FAO Development Series 1, Rome, 1993 3. Thai-German Highland Development Programme (TG-HDP), CLM Guidelines in Brief, Communitybased Land Use Planning and Local Watershed Management - An Approach to Achieve Sustainable Land Use, Internal Paper 189, March 1995 Eschborn, Jan. 1996