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Incubation of Canopy Collective Goa

To contextualise projects at Canopy Collective Goa within the existing and active ecosystem of organisations, citizens, practitioners, farmers, educators, mappers, urban planners and other groups working on environment issues in Goa, we are in the process of interviewing experienced individuals who have worked in these areas for many decades.

Know your village maping series

Using maps as a storytelling device to interpret place beyond its administrative and political boundaries. We want to expand this understanding and making of maps, and instead present them as an affective medium that repurposes conventional cartography and conveys the plurality of ways in which we interact with space and time.

In collaboration with Sanctuary Nature Foundation through its Mud on Boots programme, Jerusha D’Souza and team have been exploring community mapping at the village level. Some of our ongoing work includes:

Just as none of us is outside or beyond geography, none of us is completely free from the struggle of geography. That struggle is complex and interesting because it is not only about soldiers and cannons but also about ideas, and forms, about images and imaginings.
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- Edward Said

Workshops

We have conducted four workshops with the village community covering the topics of planning and mapping in Goa, and how people can contribute to available mapping atlases. We have also presented this work in another village.

Mapping ward boundaries

The foundation for our countermapping work in the village of Aldona, is to understand the smallest unit of administration–the ward. Through five walks in the village led by local knowledge keepers, we have documented not only the boundaries of these five wards, but also their stories, songs, and livelihoods. Our goal is to document all 30+ wards of the village in this manner.

Work in Progress

Local livelihoods

We are working with a local journalist who has written about 250+ livelihoods in the village through his column in a local daily. His request was for the information to be documented in a way that brings better livelihood opportunities to those interviewed.

Vegetable vendor mapping

With Green Essentials, an organic produce store, we are currently exploring the possibility of connecting the farmers in the village to consumers through a map based network.

Waste audit

Our group, along with the panchayat (local village council) and Wilma Rodrigues from Saahas, are looking to tackle the problem of waste management in the village, starting with maps and a waste audit.

Mapping in school

We have created a biodiversity mapping curriculum for the local schools in the village. Our sessions will begin late July.

The Map Makers Fellowship

We also propose the launch of the Map Makers Fellowship that enables the exploration of maps as storytelling devices which provide an interpretation of a place that goes beyond its administrative and political boundaries. Through the fellowship, 10 fellows will spend 6 months understanding developmental, environmental and other issues in their communities through maps and will address these issues using counter mapping tools. The fellowship will be done in collaboration with YouCAN and we are looking for funders to help launch the program.

We're Looking For

Funding partners

Supportfor fellow stipends, residential costs, and field activities across a 6-monthcohort.

Knowledge partners

Cartographers,conservation practitioners, and planners who can mentor or co-designcurriculum.

Data and tool partners

Organisationswith existing datasets, open mapping platforms, or field tools relevant to Goa.

Network connectors

Anyoneworking at the intersection of community, environment, and participatorydocumentation in South Asia.