This article summarizes a social mapping project conducted by the Environmental Education, Communication and Arts Research Group from the Federal University of Mato Grosso. The primary goals of the project were to map the vulnerable social groups of Mato Grosso, and identify the social and environmental conflicts that put them in situations of risk. The conflicts and dilemmas these groups experience are typically caused by land and water disputes. In turn, the disputes can be traced to the continuance of colonialist forms of political, economic and ecological relations implicit in the prevailing model of development in the region. Supported by the reinvention and application of a new methodology for environmental education, namely the social map, the work illustrates the significance of group identities, self-narratives and interpretive frames, and discusses how social mapping might be used in land education to enable the construction of participatory forms of public policy.