Participatory Geomatics: Integrating Indigenous Soil Taxonomies with GIS for Communal Land-Use Governance in Amhara, Ethiopia

{ "background": "Conventional land-use planning in Ethiopia often marginalises indigenous ecological knowledge, leading to unsustainable soil management. In the Amhara region, clan elders utilise detailed, place-based soil taxonomies that are rarely integrated into formal geospatial systems.", "purpose and objectives": "This study aimed to develop and evaluate a participatory geomatics framework that formally incorporates indigenous soil classification into a Geographic Information System (GIS) to support communal land-use governance.", "methodology": "A participatory mapping methodology was employed in three kebeles. Clan elders conducted field walks to delineate and classify soil units using indigenous taxonomies. These were digitised via GPS, with attributes recorded in a geodatabase. Integration was analysed using a spatial concordance model, C = \∩ B/A \∪ B, where A and B represent indigenous and scientific soil unit polygons, respectively. Statistical significance of land-use recommendations was assessed using robust standard errors.", "findings": "The integration revealed a high degree of spatial concordance (73%) between indigenous 'Qola' (fertile loam) units and scientific Cambisols. Elders' land-use prescriptions, based on integrated maps, showed a statistically significant preference (p < 0.01) for allocating 'Dega' (clay) soils to community forestry over annual cropping.", "conclusion": "The study demonstrates that participatory geomatics can successfully bridge epistemic systems, creating hybrid tools that are both technically robust and culturally legitimate for local governance.", "recommendations": "Land-use planning institutions should adopt participatory geomatics protocols to co-produce foundational spatial data. Training programmes for both elders and technical staff in mutual knowledge exchange are essential for sustained implementation.", "key words": "Participatory GIS, Indigenous knowledge, Soil classification, Land-use planning, Ethiopia, Geomatics", "contribution statement": "This paper provides a novel methodological framework for the systematic encoding and spatial analysis of indigenous soil taxonomies within a standard GIS environment,