Mapping coastal wetlands for climate change resilience

Supported with a 2017 HOT Microgrant, Universidad de Antioquia research staff and YouthMappers community have been mapping fishing villages in Northern Colombia. They have focussed their efforts on 190km of coastline near the rural Turbo River floodplain in Colombia where the population is particularly vulnerable to flooding due to El Niño and climate change. The main goal of the project - ‘Coastmap-Uraba’ - is to work collaboratively with fishing communities to create the map. Through community participation, the project has developed a detailed understanding of the locations in Uraba that are affected by seasonal and extreme event flooding, gained understanding into why these homes are vulnerable, and developed insights on how to improve their resilience.

In addition, the team have mapped mangroves and freshwater wetlands within the area which act as nursery areas, fishing grounds, and natural coastal flooding barriers. So far the team has made over 25,256 OSM edits.