Enrico Fantacone
University "La Sapienza"
ITALY
Via Asmara 76, 00199, Rome
Tel +/39/6/86214481 Fax +/39/6/8555269
FANTACONE@AXRMA.UNIROMA1.IT

GIS as appropriate technology to developing Country.

The Case Study of Bengo in Angola.

Keywords
GIS, Appropriate Technology, Developing Countries.

Overview

Here is reported an example of using GIS as appropriate technology with a methodological application in Angola, where twenty years of war throw into confusion and dangerous status both anthropic and environmental systems

The uncertain conditions and limited resources are chronic characters in developing countries. The appropriateness of the GIS is on respecting and thinking these chronic conditions in setting up a methodology aiming to pursue the basic knowledge of territory to support decision making and planning actions on emergency condition as it happens in this case study localized on the District of Bengo in Angola.

This case study has been choiced since it is in progress a cooperation programme between the Universities of Rome and of Luanda in Angola. Thus many data, consulting opportunity, and maps availability have been possible due to this cooperation. The presented case study is a part of a research recently developed by the author in a PhD thesis#1 at C.I.R.P.S.#2.

I want to thank Professor V.Naso as Coordinator of the PhD, Professor S.Dierna and Dr M.Prezioso as Tutors of the research.

Statement of objectives

It is intended that technology implies several characters to be appropriate.

Actually GIS is usually implemented in industrialized countries and it is known that GIS as a science was born in the north side of the world, mainly UK, Canada and USA.

Although in the last decade the International Agencies and particularly those of United Nations as FAO, implemented GIS aiming to explore defined fields experimenting systems oriented to manage locally the availability of resources.

In this research was intended to set up a different approach to GIS, using it as an appropriate technology, where the appropriateness is mainly in:

• - low cost required;
• - limited know-how needed
• - adaptability of local context.

Aiming to propose the overcoming of the traditional conception of GIS as a defined static tool of data collection and georeferentiation, here is presented an application of a recently proposed methodology to set up an open complex and dynamic system.

This research wants also to be a contribution to improve the scientific outputs coming from the collaboration of members of the two Universities "La Sapienza" of Rome, and "Agostinho Neto" of Luanda.

Material and methods

Working in developing countries usually imply the necessity to play in conditions of uncertainty (general missing data ), and of emergency (natural catastrophes, wars etc.).

Furthermore it is indispensable to bear in mind at least the above mentioned characters of appropriateness in order to avoid to set up a system able to be supported just by qualified professional experts do not involving the local personnel. Instead the objective should be to set up an easy managing system, oriented to be implemented and developed by qualified technicians of local institutions, cooperating with international experts as consultants.

Here is displayed the way to attend the three appropriateness characters listed above pursued in the research.

- low cost required: assuming that costs are both in terms of human resource and of hardware and software investments: the people involved in this part of research (just the case study) are the author of this paper under the supervision of the tutors of the PhD nearly one year long; The hardware used was just a PC Pentium with basic input/output and data storage units (Estimated costs less than 7000$); The software used was MapInfo of Mapinfo Corporation Troy of New York (Cost is about 5000$ for commercial licence or 1000$ educational).

- limited know-how needed: due to the friendly and at the same time professional interface of the software, learning to use it is extremely easy and rapid; furthermore the software belongings to the Window system, thus it is possible to import several kind of files (txt, xls, dwg, bmp, tif, etc.). The know-how needed to correctly use the MapInfo software is just a general knowledge of the window system and of computer working. The author is already training angolan fellowshipers to use it and to export the know-how.

- adaptability of local context: the first step has been a prescreening action aimed to argue the main regional characters and the relationship with the local systems singled out on territory.To get the basic knowledge of local context has been collected and analyzed the local cartography since portuguese colonial maps age, across Russia and Cuba maps (1980) and aerophotogrammetry (1986), till today WFP refugee Cartograhams and emergency maps, UNAVEM mine localization areas.
The GIS has been stuctured in parallel with the territory analysis, suggesting to give enphasys in defined areas where data were allowable, and set up a deductive coherent methodology to update and refer them on uncertain conditions.

 

The four methodological steps:

1- Definition and localization of the main local territorial systems aiming to argue the actual and potential anthropic pressure and relationoship with natural systems.

2- Georeferentiation of historical available data and elaboration of tematic maps generated by selected indicators aimed to acquire a theoretical picture of previous social organization.

3. Analysis of the UN rehabilitation programme showing the actual conditions and the needed actions to be supported in terms of financial resources and of environmental impact to overcome the emergency and pursue a sustainable development.

4- Definition of appropriate Indexes and realtive weight classes to attribute to the smallest known limited ereas (at municipal or comunal level) or to the defined systems, in order to define omogeneous functional areas where managing coherently decision making and planning actions.

1- Definition and localization of the main local territorial systems.

The analytical knowledge of territory needs both a cohomprensive reading of the systems composing it, and a single reading of each of them.

Four systems as a significative selection of the many composing the complexity of the territory have been localized on the maps:

- (RRS) - River Regional System ;

- (IRS) - Infrstructural Regional System ;

- (SRS) - Settlement Regional System ;

- (R&PRS) - Resource and Production Regional System.

 

The River Regional System (RRS) (See figure 1)

The RRS is strongly influent on the distribution of human settlements and of their economic activities.

There are 7 basins here named as river systems flowing generally in direction East-West.

Three of them (Dande, Bengo e Kwanza) have a very important role on conditioning the settlement and economic production processes.

The Lage-Lue and the Longa-Nhia river systems represent also rispectively the Nort and the South borders of the District of Bengo.

The Regional Infrastuctural Region (IRS) (See figure 2).

The IRS is heavily demaged by the war and nerly totally missing of maintenance actions.

The UN rehabilitation programme#3 defines a strong financial efford to restore it.

Many roads are closed part of the year (the rain season, march-april) due to climatic conditions. The mayn roads system has a radial shape centered in Luanda.

The railway is not working at now even if restoring action are in progress.

The Settlement Regional System (SRS) (See figure 3).

Each settlements subsystem has been classified as a sub-case study, having several contextual specificity, even mantaining the general characters allowing an omogeneus classification.

The Resource and Production Regional System (R&PRS) (See figure 4).

Twenty and more years of war destroyed nearly totally the local economic order.

The regional poductivity is very low or near 0 both in the industrial sector, and in the agricultural.

The few preexisting factories are closed or underproductive, the coltivable soil is used at less than 50% with peaks of less than 85% due to the extension of mines dangerous areas and of the missing of water canalization and general management.

It results that the district of Bengo having an economic potential very high, is actually one of the most unproductive areas of Angola and perhaps of the whole Region.

Here is the reason of the heavy part covered by actions localized in this district, on the UN Rehabilitation programme, both in terms of financial efford, and of planning task.

The importance of the UN Rehabilitation Programme has been accepted in the organization of the GIS stucture as discussed ahead in the following chapter.

Systems overlaying (See fig 5)

The ovelaying of the territorial natural and anthropic systems allows the reading of local context giving the real conditions of population distribution and of communication and trade capacity.

This way the knowledge of the territory overcome the conventional administrative definition often, and particularly in Africa, not showing the effective local constitutive order.

To know the real local conditions allows to manage correctly the planning action aimed to develop appropriately the social and economic status in order to preserve the balance between anthropic pressure and environmental safeguard.

2- Georeferentiation of historical available data

In each GIS, any way it is structured or conceived, the georeferentiation of data has a fundamental role evidencing the connections on the territory of etereogeneous data referring to several disciplinar fields.

The relationship showed by the analysis and interpolation of georeferenced data put in evidence the complexity of the terrirorial system, allowing to set up simulative development scenarios.

It is important to take care using the available data collected and bear in mind they are not updated (last updating is of 1987), and perhaps unbelivable and not verficable on certain areas. Note that due to the war and connected several effects, at now is not possible to make a serious hypotesis of data updating using statistical projections or interpolation methods. This is a typical case on which extraordinary events generated impossibility to manage data using affirmed methodological derivative tools.

Anyway on the basys of these data, in this stage has been strictly respected the administrative local border at the three level of District, Municipality and Comunal area (see fig 6), getting a comparable picture of the local general conditions.

The crossed reading of the natural and anthropic systems previously defined, and of the thematic map (see fig 7 as example) generated on the basys of selected historical data, named as indicators, gives the perception of correspondance between social human organization, and the ecological context, allowing to define the existing relations conditioning the future development. This way has been defined omogeneous functional areas to be compared with the ones defined later appliyng different methods.

3. Analysis of the UN Rehabilitation Programme.

As underlined before, it shows the actual conditions and the needed actions to overcome the emergency and pursue a sustainable development.

This part of the research use aims to know:

a) the localization of areas where the emergency conditions are dominant and where the war effect are classified as indirect (general recession, missing of functional services, unaccessibility to market place, rural exodus, etc) or direct (refugee, army presence, infrastructure desabled, mine, etc) (see fig 8)

b) the definition of needed interventions localized per area on a scale of preliminary, prioritary and secondary actions;

c) the localization and classification per operative sectors of the projects to be financed and carried out using also local resource.

The hypotesis of realization of projects allows the set up virtual scenarios which would present realizing the concerted planned actions.

4- Definition of appropriate Indexes and relative weight classes

This is the most innovative part of the research, from a thoretically point of view.

In fact in this part has been defined the methodology to read the territory and to assess its actual status in condition of missing data, using appropriate defined Indexes, classified in weight classes on an ordinal scale.

These appropriate Indexes are intersystemic (IAI) and qualitative (QOI).

The Intersystemic Appropriate Indexes (IAI) have been also weighted with the support of local qualified technicians, and referred putting on evindence the relationships among anthropic pressure, environmental sensitivity and productive potentiality with the natural and anthropic systems previously defined.

The Qualitatative Ordinal Indexes (QOI) have been weighted with the active support of local qualified technicians, and referred to the smallest known limited areas (comunal administrative area), definig the several configurations of the territory in relation with the single index (see fig 9 as an example).

Here is the IAI list with relative definitions and reference sphere.

Here is the QOI list with relative definitions and weight classes.

Results

Definition of Omogeneous Functional Areas (OFA) and of relative territorial gravitation.

The general territorial order of the District of Bengo is heavily conditioned by the presence as an enclave of the primary city of Luanda, Capital of Angola, and of its periurban area (classified as an autonomous District). The compared reading of thematic maps, and the analysis of relatives graphs allows to share the territory into Omogeneous Functional Areas (OFA), overcoming the previous established logic referring to administrative defined limits on basis of which are classified the available data.

This operative stage has been played twice referring to the traditional information system set up using data updated at 1988 and to the innovative one set up using the previous defined appropriate indexes reffered to the natural and anthropic systems.

On the basis of the two readings of the territory and classification in OFA have been defined the gravitation relationships between each OFA setting up a composite matrix#4 (Gravitation Matrix GM), which should be teorically symmetric in constant development conditions.The matrix is an important output of the whole research allowing the compared analysis of previous and actual status, and beeing able to be resetted dinamically any time new steps of knowledg have been pursued. It allows the following notes:

- the gravitation level on line and column of Luanda is remarkably increased since 1988 till 1996;

- the OFA of Catete and Caxito decreased theyr attrctive power on neighbouring areas;

- the OFA C (Bula Atumba-Pango Aluquem) lost the balancing gravitational role in relation with Luanda;

- Nearly all the reciprocal gravitations have changed.

Conclusions

The knowledge of territory has been here pursued operating both on not updated data, and on reading of natural and anthropic systems, and on defining appropriate Indexes to interpretate and classify the defined limited areas as omogeneous circumscribed intervention zone.

The general and chronic uncertainty conditions require a flexible approach on which the interpretative operations are definend appropriately with local context and existing data or cartography available.

Each specific context needs a different way to get the several degree of knowledge required by the planning and management activities.

It means that the appropriateness characters requires the adaptability to the local context, even if a general methodology overview the specifical intervention in a limited area aiming to clarify defined topics related with territory.

The general methodology, flexible and adaptable to single occasion and specifical needs, is based on the following steps:

- new definition of the relationship of the components of GIS setting up an oriented system architecture;

- monitoring and selection of the existing undubtable actions;

- check up of actual local conditions.

- arguing unknown anthropic pressure through known relations;

- Definition of evolution phenomena;

- Definition of simulation scenarios using sinthesys interpretation models.

The Decision making and planning processes should be from now on influenced by the preliminary knowing results of the GIS and more by the relationship the GIS defined on the territorial system.

References

Borrough P.A., 1990, Principles of G.I.S. for Land Resource Assessment, Clavendon Press;

Kemp K. Goodchild M., Dodson R., 1992, "Teaching GIS in geography", The Professional Geographer, vol.44, n.2, pp.l81-189.

Republic of Angola, Round Table Conference of Donors, 1995, UN Reabiltation and National Reconciliation Programme, Luanda;

Republic of Angola, 1995, Socioeconomic Profile of Bengo, Luanda;

Technoexportstroy, 1988, Esquema de desenvolvimento socio economico do Bengo, Luanda- Sofia;

UN Department of Social Affairs, 1988, Systematic Monitoring and Evaluating of Integrated Development Programmes: a Source Book, N.Y.

UNCED, Angola, National report, 1992;

UNCHS (Habitat), 1996, Global Report on Human Settlements, Nairobi;

Warral L., 1990, Geographic Information Systems: Development and Applications, Belhaven Press, London.

WB, 1981, Accelerated Development in Sub Saharan Africa. An Agenda for Action, World Bank, Washington D.C;

Zambia University Dept. of Surveying, Ministry of Water Lands and Resources, 1991, Proceedings of Seminar on Geographic Information System in Zambia, Lusaka;

1 Fantacone E., Human Settlements Managing and Planning in Developing Countries, using G.I.S. as appropriate technology to local geographical and economic conditions. The Case Study of Bengo in Angola". Supervisor Prof. S.Dierna and Dr M.Prezioso.

2 C.I.R.P.S. Interuniversity Research Center on Developing Countries, University of Rome "La Sapienza".

3 Cfr : UN Rehabilitation Programme, Luanda 1995/6, and social and economic profile of Bengo, round table of donnors, Luanda 1995 .

4 About the method used to set up the matrix, see the Rally model in Carter H., 1972, The Study of Urban Geography, Edward Arnold Publisher LTD;

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