Indonesia is an archipelago nation with more than 17,000 islands. Traditionally, communities have mapped their borders, relying on natural landmarks. However, the number of communities with accurate maps remains low.
 
Resolving this uncertainty allows villages and district governments to more effectively govern land use and plan sustainable land practices. Developers can invest in renewable energy systems for reliable electricity — ultimately improving lives, livelihoods, and service delivery.
 
The Abt Global-led Participatory Mapping and Planning (PMaP-1) project — launched under the Millennium Challenge Account-Indonesia (MCA-I) in 2015 — tackled this mapping issue by creating accurate, locally accepted spatial and land-use data.

Community-Driven, Technically Capable
The project organized community-involved processes of boundary setting (VBS) and resource mapping in four districts — Merangin, Muaro Jambi, Mamuju and Mamasa — in Jambi and West Sulawesi provinces.
 
Abt’s VBS process broke new ground by heavily emphasizing community involvement as necessary to solve local border conflicts. By pairing this approach with innovative technology, Abt was able to guide 114 villages to resolve over 302 village boundaries—more than 50 percent using unmanned aerial vehicles.
 
Under PMaP-1, Abt Global:

• Teamed with each district’s Village Delineation and Demarcation Committee, local stakeholders and the Indonesian Geospatial Information Agency to solidify land boundaries, resolve disputes, and remove land uncertainty as a major barrier to investment;
• Employed a unique VBS approach that blending guided community meetings with existing land use data and new technology, including high-resolution satellite maps and footage from unmanned aerial vehicles; and
• Developed a customized Information Management System that integrates this new information with existing land use data and trained district government officials to use for more efficient, transparent land use planning.

To support the Government of Indonesia’s efforts to reduce spatial uncertainty, MCA-I launched a series of PMaP projects to implement the Participatory Land Use Planning (PLUP) Activity and pave the way for environmentally sustainable investments through the MCC Green Prosperity project—part of the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s Compact with Indonesia. In 2012, Abt helped lay the groundwork for the PLUP Activity through its District Readiness Assessment project.
 
Learn more about PMaP-1:

• Video: Mapping for Indonesia’s Future