Assessing the Vulnerability to Natural Hazards on the Provincial/community Level in Mozambique: the Contribution of Giscience and Remote Sensing

The assessment of vulnerability at the community level is currently strongly evolving. Also participatory methods are seen as the way forward to act successfully at the local/community level. In order to carry out effective measures for risk reduction, information has to be available about the hazards that threaten a certain area, the elements at risk (population, buildings, infrastructure, economic activities) that are exposed to these hazards, the vulnerability of these elements at risk and an estimation on the expected losses. The concept of vulnerability has not been finally defined yet and indicators and agreements on how to measure the “unmeasurable” are still on its way. Parallel to this, also the field of participatory practices is moving forward and new concepts such as “Participatory GIS” (PGIS) are emerging. Within this paper the current application fields of PGIS and the use of GIScience and methodologies for Disaster Risk Management are reviewed and summarised. From a general evaluation focusing on available and suitable data and constraints within data distribution experiences will also be drawn from on-site experiences in Búzi, Mozambique where PGIS methods were applied to assess the vulnerability of communities to hazards (focus on cyclones, floods and droughts; Project PRODER-GTZ (2000-present)). Primary data was gathered through participatory approaches applying techniques of semi-structured interviews, transect walks and community mapping. To integrate the broad and interlinked concept of vulnerability, including social and natural issues from the global to the local, and to successfully address the main objectives of PGIS, to “participate”, empower and represent indigenous spatial knowledge, a common agreement on objectives, methodologies and a strong legal framework are needed. The relevance of PGIS practices has been evaluated within the Mozambican case study and will be presented in this paper. A certain attention lies on the requirements for developing countries and the role of GIScience from a technological perspective, but also from its data availability and potential to communicate information to involved stakeholders.