Fiji

Tanzania

W. Sahara

Canada

United States of America

Kazakhstan

Uzbekistan

Papua New Guinea

Indonesia

Argentina

Chile

Dem. Rep. Congo

Somalia

Kenya

Sudan

Chad

Haiti

Dominican Rep.

Russia

Bahamas

Falkland Is.

Norway

Greenland

Fr. S. Antarctic Lands

Timor-Leste

South Africa

Lesotho

Mexico

Uruguay

Brazil

Bolivia

Peru

Colombia

Panama

Costa Rica

Nicaragua

Honduras

El Salvador

Guatemala

Belize

Venezuela

Guyana

Suriname

France

Ecuador

Puerto Rico

Jamaica

Cuba

Zimbabwe

Botswana

Namibia

Senegal

Mali

Mauritania

Benin

Niger

Nigeria

Cameroon

Togo

Ghana

Côte d'Ivoire

Guinea

Guinea-Bissau

Liberia

Sierra Leone

Burkina Faso

Central African Rep.

Congo

Gabon

Eq. Guinea

Zambia

Malawi

Mozambique

eSwatini

Angola

Burundi

Israel

Lebanon

Madagascar

Palestine

Gambia

Tunisia

Algeria

Jordan

United Arab Emirates

Qatar

Kuwait

Iraq

Oman

Vanuatu

Cambodia

Thailand

Laos

Myanmar

Vietnam

North Korea

South Korea

Mongolia

India

Bangladesh

Insufficient expertise is available in Zimbabwe to formulate policies and plans for effectively managing environmental problems in Zimbabwe. The MEPP project aims at strengthening the MSc Course on Environmental  Policy and Planning at the Department of Geographic and Environmental Science of Zimbabwe in order to better meet the needs of Zimbabwean institutions for expertise in these subjects. The MEPP project is jointly managed by the Department of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Zimbabwe, and ITC, the Netherlands.

The project's main objective is to strengthen the MSc Course on Environmental Policy and Planning by adapting and updating its current curriculum, taking into account the needs of government and non-government institutions in Zimbabwe for personnel trained in the handling of environmental problems.

The target group of the course consists of middle level staff of government and non-government organizations who:
-deal with environmental problems and,
-who have a BSc o BA (Geography) degree or equivalent.

The MEPP course deals with environment from a broad and integrated (multi-disciplinary) perspective. Sustainable development is the main underlying theme and location-specific (geographic) information is the main focus.

Description of Actual Services

Main services provided by the project include:
-Staff development through short specialized courses and overseas training.
-Course development by restructuring and updating the current curriculum.
-Upgrading of the facilities of the Department of Geography of the University of Zimbabwe, e.g. by establishing a GIS lab and improvement of the library.
-Joint educational research and consulting activities.
-Establishment of South-South linkages with other institutions in the region.

Strengthening MSc course in Environmental Policy and Planning

This project was a follow-up to the ECURSPAM project. ECURSPAM stands for Educational Centre for Urban and Rural Surveying Planning and Management. The ECURSPAM was established within the Wuhan Technical University of Surveying and Mapping (WTUSM). When WTUSM integrated in the Wuhan University, ECURSPAM became the School of Urban Studies (SUS). The SUS runs an MSc course on urban planning and management. The SUS-DSO project aimed at strengthening SUS and the MSc course through improvement of curriculum, staff training, upgrading of equipment, etc.

Strenghtening the School of Urban Studies of Wuhan University

ITC is one of the partners in a consortium, led by GTK Finland, in a program to improve the geological mapping and geological infrastructure development of an area in northern Mozambique. The project is part of a larger Mineral Resources Management Capacity Building Project, financed by the International development Association and the Nordic Development. ITC's tasks and responsibilities in this project include training of Mozambican junior staff and the study and analysis of geological data and images. The project is financed by the World Bank.

Mozambique Geological Infrastructure Development Project, Lot 2

Narrative description of the Project:

The UNESCO program Capacity Building for Natural disaster Reduction (CBNDR) was established in 1998 upon the initiative os UNESCO,RAS the International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences (ITC), Delft University of Technology (TUD) and the University of Utrecht (UU). Its objective is to strengthen the capability of institutions in developing countries to participate in national, regional and local programs for the reduction of vulnerability for natural hazards.
The UNESCO CBNDR, for the achievement of these objectives, initiates and supports in various regions in the world Regional Action Programs with the following activities:
*The Integration of the existing local knowledge on the occurrence of 201166 and the available methods and techniques for geo-information handling into practical methodologies to produce natural hazard, vulnerability, and the risk information at various scales.
*Development, together with the user community in the region, of appropriate visualization techniques and decision support systems to ensure a proper contribution of geohazard information in the development planning process. In-service training. 

UNESCO and CEPREDENAC ("Centro de Coordinacion para la Prevencion de los Desastres Naturale en Americ Central") have since then reached agreement to embark on a Regional Action Program Central America (RAP-CA), with a duration of four years, to achieve the objectives of the UNESCO CBNDR in the Central American Region.
Individual candidates from the institutions in the 8 member countries of CEPREDENAC have applied to participate in he PAP-CA introductory training program. After completion of this tailor-made training they returned in August 2000 to their respective institutions, where they will work on the implementation in their daily work of the methodologies and techniques acquired in the introductory training program. During a period of at last three years they will receive technical support from experts in the Netherlands, France and Germany who were involved as staff in the introductory training program. Regularly, workshops will be held in the region to exchange experiences and to conduct short refresher courses. At the end of the three-year project CEPREDENAC will present the output of the CBNDR program in a final workshop and disseminate the results to the relevant institutions in its member countries.

Capacity Building for Natural disaster Reduction (CBNDR)

The main aim of the project is on one hand to further strengthen the position of HRI as a regional capacity building institute in the Nile region, and on the other hand to intensify the relations between regional institutes dealing with water resources. Among other things, this is done by further improving and broadening the scope of the training programs in River Engineering developed at HRI, and by intensifying the network of institutes in the Nile Basin dealing with training and research in River Engineering.
The project is carried out by the Hydraulics Research Institute, the National Water Research Centre and the Ministry of Public Works and Water Resources in Egypt, IHE (International Institute for Infra-structural, hydraulic and Environmental Engineering) and ITC

Strengthening the Regional Training Capacity of the Hydraulics Research Institute - Phase 2

Narrative Description of the Project (CLAS I):                 

The project has established a Centre for postgraduate studies en natural resource management and Ordenamiento Territorial (territorial planning) at the Universidad Mayor de San Simon (UMSS). This Centre offers professional master courses of 11 months duration and short intensive application courses. The Centre caters to the training needs of a wide variety of organizations working in the field of natural resource management and territorial planning. The emphasis in the training program of the Centre is on the use of geographical information technology for management purposes. The focus is on the application of aerospace survey, remote sensing techniques and geographic information systems (GIS) to collect, analyse and present data suitable for decision making purposes. In this way, the project contributes to the environmentally sound and sustainable development of natural resources in Bolivia.
The Centre runs an ambitious and very varied program of short courses, seminars and workshops. These education and training activities are supported by relevant research and also consultancy. The knowledge and experience gained will serve as an input in education.
In the development phase of the project, priority has been given to the training of existing and newly recruited staff of the UMSS to staff the Centre. Simultaneously, the Centre has been equipped with computer hardware and software for digital remote sensing, GIS and desktop mapping. The infrastructural facilities of the Centre include a CIS laboratory space, lecturing rooms and staff offices.
The Centre enables Bolivia to avail of a trained cadre of professionals that is in a position to give expert advice to policy makers and planners and thus enhance the country’s ability to plan and implement sound and sustainable development policies, programmes and activities.

CLAS II: Consolidation of the Center for Aerospace Survey and GIS Applications

Start date:1st of January 2000
End date:31st of December 2004

The CLAS I project ended in December 1999. The rationale for the second phase is to consolidate what has been achieved in CLAS I and to strengthen CLAS further so that it will become a sustainable center and really viable unit within the Universidad Mayor de San Simon. 

The main objectives for the second phase are:
In terms of Institutional Strengthening: to completely integrate CLAS into the UMSS and to further strengthen the management capacities of the center. 
In terms of Educational and Scientific Enhancement: build up additional capacity in education, both in terms of subject knowledge and educational fields, through continued staff training and to establish a research within CLAS to enhance its scientific profile.
In terms of Financial Sustainability: to strengthen the income-generating capacity to ensure a solid financial basis. To strengthen and broaden the commercial network. To develop marketing and promotional capacity. To stimulate regional co-operation and position CLAS as a regional training center.
In terms of Capacity Development: to develop human resources through PM courses, short regular courses and tailor made courses.

During the first phase, requests have reached CLAS for some specific expertise in the field of water management, which was not available within CLAS or ITC. Therefore, in the second phase, IHE has joined the project team. A specialization on Irrigation and Drainage has been developed by IHE. Furthermore, IHE is developing short courses in the field of water management. In this exercise, the project will collaborate with CINARA (Centro Interregional de Abastecimiento y Remocion de Aguas), in Cali, Colombia.

Establishment of a Centre for Aerospace Survey and GIS Applications for Sustainable Natural Resource Management at San Simon University

Like all geological survey organizations around the globe, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) needs to prepare for the new social-economic conditions recently implemented in the country. These include new legislation to promote indigenous as well as transnational investments in hydrocarbon and mineral exploration. Although India is already a significant mineral producer, the quantity or value of minerals per km2 is behind other countries with a comparable geology. India is thus relatively under explored and many economic mineral deposits are waiting to be discovered. The Project aims to strengthen the GSI and other geo-science institutions in India and the region in a way that they can remedy the apparent backlog and face the future with confidence.

The GSI and other geo-science institutions in India and the region need to increase their awareness of new computer based methods of acquisition, analysing, storage and publication of geo-data. Most important is to upgrade the rank and file of their human resources through training in the required fields of expertise, notably in digital mapping and data basing methods. The smooth and efficient introduction of this new technology is a huge organization as GSI (>5,500 earth science graduates among their staff) requires insight into the organizational and management  practices of such an organization (‘management of change’). ITC is therefore collaborating with its Sail-partner Maastricht School of Management (MSM) in this particular project. World-wide, readily available digital geo-science data sets play, next to prospectively, an important role in attracting the necessary national an foreign investments needed to fully develop India’s mineral resources. As such digital geo-science data (e.g. as CD-RPMS) are an important ingredient to create the enabling environment.

The project addresses a strategic part of the Indian economy. After a long period beset with administrative hurdles, the Project finally got on stream in the beginning of this year when a heavy Indian delegation visited ITC to sign the MoU and to conduct the first Steering Committee Meeting. Since then the first lot of ToT’s has been trained and project implementation.

Description of Actual Services provided by ITC

The core of the Project is to train a large number of GSI staff during short courses in the Netherlands in the fundamentals of GIS and other digital techniques, the so-called ‘Training-of-Trainers’ program. These ToT’s will conduct similar courses at GSI’s training facility in Hyderabad (GSI-TI), first together with experts form ITC and MSM and later independently. In this way a staff body of approximately 150 young and motivated geo-scientists with the necessary skills to carry the new technologies throughout the GSI and the Indian and regional geo=community, in tune with current international standards, will be formed. Further capacity building takes place by training on PM, MBA and MSc. Level at ITC and MSM. This, together with the social-economic form put in place by the national government, may eventually lead to the full exploitation of India’s mineral wealth. This will not only result in a reduction of costly foreign exchange losses on mineral imports. The development of a strong and diversified mineral industry may also serve as a vehicle for further progress of the Earth’s largest democracy.

Strengthening the capacity for application of digital methods in geophysical, geochemical and geological mapping at the national geo-scientific institutions of India

JIK is an International Advanced School in remote sensing and GIS, formed by three partners: The Iranian Ministry of Jahad-e-Sazandegi, ITC and the khajeh Nasir Toosi University of Technology in Teheran, Iran. The main objective of the School is to offer Professional Master (PM) and Master of Science (MSc) degree courses. The courses are offered jointly by the two Iranian partner institutions and ITC.

Jahad/ITC/KN Toosi

Support to Environmental Affairs in Mozambique.
On 22 April 2002 the Hon. Francisco T.C. Mabjaia, Deputy Minister for Coordination of Environmental Affairs, Mozambique and Professor Martien Molenaar, Rector ITC signed a 5 year Memorandum of Understanding and a 1 year contract to formally start cooperation between the Ministry for Coordination of Environmental Affairs (MICOA) and ITC. The agreements concern institutional support and human resource development in the area of environmental affairs in Mozambique (SEAM). While US$ 100,000 has been agreed for the start-up activities in 2002 the estimate of the total value of the agreement is US$ 3.65 million. This is the first project that we have been awarded from the new so-called Herfkens model for Netherlands bilateral assistance. Our client is MICOA not the Netherlands Embassy. SEAM is considered as a programme with a long- term perspective and not a 5-year project with limited objectives. The beneficiaries of the institutional support and human resource development come from all line ministries involved in the environmental sector in Mozambique and, of course, from MICOA itself.

ITC’s Department of Natural Resources (NRS) will lead the SEAM MICOA programme, which has a number of interesting aspects. Three training and education programmes will be developed – one at pre-polytechnic level – one at master’s level and – an in-service on-the-job training component. A formal Training Needs Analysis will be undertaken for each of these programmes and the developed methodology will be interesting for our decentralization activities in other areas.

The pre-polytechnic level programme involves upgrading MICOA’s existing terrestrial planning (town and country planning) course and establishing a new environmental planning course. Material from the Polytechnic of Namibia land management courses will be used in the upgrading process and in the design of the new environmental course. Both courses will be translated and taught in Portuguese. The English language curricula of the environmental planning course will be made available to the Polytechnic of Namibia for use in Windhoek.

The masters’ level programme in environmental affairs will be hosted by and developed with the assistance of the University Eduardo Mondlane (UEM). Cooperation with the Centre for Environment and Development of the University of Natal is planned and it is anticipated that material developed under the TELMSA/IT-2 projects and under other CEAD programmes will be made available to UEM.

On-the-job training will be provided to MICOA staff and to staff from line ministries by developing 2 case studies, which will be also useful in the education programme. MER, the Netherlands EIA agency will participate in the case studies. Advice will be provided to establish GIS labs and a documentation and information centre. Key staff from across the environmental sector in Mozambique will be exposed to awareness training illustrating best practise in the southern African region and in the Netherlands. Training the trainers is key activity both for polytechnic and masters’ level courses with fellowships provided for study at ITC, CEAD/UoN and at PoN.

The SEAM programme will benefit considerably from the ITC’s established network in southern Africa.

Detailed Description of Actual Services provided by ITC

Support to Environmental Affairs in Mozambique: A programme of institutional cooperation and human resource development between Ministry for Coordination of Environmental Affairs (MICOA), Maputo, Republic of Mozambique and International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences (ITC), Enschede, the Netherlands

 1. Introduction

Background
 MICOA is relatively young Ministry and was established in 1995. 
Minister for Coordination of Environmental Affairs, the Hon. John William Kachamila and his delegation visited ITC on 23 July 2001 to investigate possible areas of cooperation and representatives of ITC paid a return visit to MICOA between 8 to 12 October 2001 for further discussions.

Description of problem
In order to further contribute to national development MICOA needs to improve the delivery rate of services provided by the Ministry in the following areas of environmental coordination:

Environmental Awareness and Promotion
Environmental Impact Analysis
Environmental Management
Territorial Planning (town and country planning).

Demand and justification
MICOA is the Ministry for Coordination of Environmental Affairs and coordinates activities with other line Ministries (Agriculture, Wildlife and Tourism, Water Management, Public Works and Housing) and with the Municipalities. In order to address the problem described above there are training needs for key officials both within MICOA and within the other line Ministries. Decentralization of governmental services is a priority area for the Government of Mozambique. There are 128 districts in Mozambique and currently only 10 districts have MICOA planning assistants. There is, therefore, a need to train planning assistants in MICOA and also in the linked Ministries.
There is no comprehensive pre-Polytechnic level training course covering the services in environmental coordination and planning issues provided by MICOA and linked agencies.
Institutional support and human resource development will strengthen the capacity at MICOA to function within existing legislation. 

Relevance
The programme of support will focus on institutional cooperation and human resource development with the aim of providing short-term technical assistance and human resource development while putting into place a longer term training and education system related to environmental coordination and planning issues.
The programme will strengthen MICOA’s coordinating role to address urgent issues.
The following key issues will be addressed in participation with other relevant agencies:
Trans frontier conservation areas
Tourism and particularly how to manage national parks and buffer zones
Communal areas
Water management and post flooding resettlement
Decentralization measures related to the above topics.


2. Programme Description

Phase 1:  Awareness training of key personnel
Target group: key personnel of MICOA and staff of line Ministries and institutes involved in environmental management – say 15 participants

Phase 2: Human resource development
Training needs analysis  - including analysing requirements of skills and knowledge of MICOA staff and staff in the environmental sector
Upgrading MICOA key staff:
Training of MICOA staff in modules in Maputo or in the regions (in Portuguese)
Training of MICOA staff at ITC (Professional Masters or individual modules – in English)
Training in the region – at CEAD (MSc in Environment and Development) or at Polytechnic of Namibia (National Certificate level – land use planning, urban land use management – in English)
This training would also be made available to staff from other line Ministries.

Phase 3:  Technical assistance and professional coaching
Technical assistance for selected projects addressing urgent problems:
Problem analysis and determination of information requirements and data requirements  – 1 to 2 weeks
Data collection by MICOA staff, data analysis and presentation with expert guidance (use staff trained in Phase 2)
These activities would be undertaken in cooperation with other (relevant) line Ministries and institutes
Technical training of MICOA provincial staff using case studies.

 Phase 4:  Implementation of training at pre-Polytechnic level
Upgrading of existing 3 year Territorial Planning course.
Training the trainers.
Development of curriculum for the upgraded course.

Phase 5: Implementation of training at MSc level
Using the results of the training needs analysis and after studying the existing Masters courses at Eduard Mondlane University, a decision would be taken whether to further develop an existing course or develop a new course.
When developing the new curriculum maximum use will be made of existing modules developed and available within the region.
A component of training the trainers would be included Phase 2
Case study material developed in Phase 2 would be used where relevant.
Translation of developed course material into Portuguese.Training resulting from Phases 4 and 5 will be available for all Ministries and Institutes involved in environmental management.

3. Programme Management
The principal of joint management would be applied to the programme. MICOA would provide the Programme Director and at ITC the programme would be under the leadership of a Professor as Programme Supervisor and a Team leader. The programme would be guided and monitored by an Advisory Committee with senior management representation from MICOA and ITC. Development and implementation of the courses would be guided by course boards with participation of MICOA and ITC staff (and for the MSc course staff from Eduard Mondlane University)It is proposed to review the programme annually and agree priorities and work plans for the next year.

4.Sustainability
ITC enters the programme with the intention of developing a long-term relationship with MICOA and can provide limited own contribution to the programme in the form of fellowships and research activities. ITC can also introduce MICOA to ITC’s southern African Network. It is possible that other relationships could develop such as material exchange with the Polytechnic of Namibia and UCLAS (Tanzania) and a close working relationship with the Centre of Environment and Development at the University of Natal. Such established linkages strongly support the sustainability of the programme.

Support to the Ministry for Coordination of Environmental Affairs

This is the second phase of the five-year project.The present phase aims to train such staff in order to improve the overall management infrastructure at ESA. The project focuses on the national agricultural cadastre and related mapping sectors, and provides institutional support and a sustainable training programme to upgrade technical- and general management skills of the ESA management, both at the lower and middle management levels and by upgrading senior management levels. A number of inter-related training activities are being executed, the foremost of which involves the setting up and running an operations management training course in Egypt. To accomplish this objective, a series of expert missions by ITC and partner staff are being undertaken. However, a team of specialised training staff is needed at ESA, and one of the most important initial activities of the project was to "train the trainers". This is being accomplished by means of a structured combination of ITC's regular courses in Geoinformatics (GFM3 & GIM3), followed by special extended modules, as well as a special eight-month tailor-made course at ITC for the training managers. To compliment ITC's input to the training project, two other European contributors have provided specialist input. The Netherlands Kadaster and German Landesvermessungsamt Nordrhein Westfalen have assisted in a number of specialised technical areas of training relating to cadastral activities and issues relating to commercialisation of working practices. In order to ensure that the objectives of the project are well supported by the ESA executives, a series of senior management seminars are being run in both The Netherlands and Cairo. At these seminars, both ITC and ESA senior staff, as well as prominent Egyptian and European experts from both industry and academia are exploring state-of-the art technological and management practices in order to assist ESA in the advancement of its modernisation objectives. Various seminar themes have included, the identification of the critical steps in the implementation of the ESA strategic plan, and an investigation of the lessons learned within the European Geographic Information Industry following the introduction of digital technology and commercially orientated business practices. Apart from technical sessions in ITC, the visiting ESA delegation have ample opportunity to visit a number of key Netherlands organisations (Kadaster Topographic Survey etc), to view at first hand the operational practices and management techniques introduced in these fields. The project is developed with a longer term strategy in mind, in which it is expected to institutionalise the management training at ESA, and hopefully offer the courses on a regular basis, both at the Cairo Headquarters, and at one or more regional training centres.

Regular training courses at ITC in Geoinformatics and Geoinformatics Management
Tailor Made training courses both at ITC and in Egypt
Senior Management seminars both at ITC and in Egypt
Consultancy and advisory missions to Egypt in support of training programmes and general ESA production activities.

Training Programme for the Development of Managers and Supervisors for the National Cadastre at the Egyptian Survey Authority

Two-months tailor-made course for 15 staff members of Trujillo Municipality, resulting in the production of an Environmental Atlas during a follow-up phase in Peru.

TRUJILLO ENVIRONMENTAL ATLAS

A study to identify the current and historic trend of cropping patterns, crop evapotranspiration, land use as well as hydro-geological formations for potential groundwater recharge sites.
The study makes use of remote sensing techniques and is supported by the World Bank. The project is a cooperation between the University of Sana'a (WEC/SUS) and ITC.

WB Analysis of Crop Water Use

The project strengthens the capability  in the Eastern and Southern Africa region in the field of environmental information management for sustainable development. It does so by strengthening the existing capacity at the University College of Lands and Architectural Studies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to give short courses in this field. A training program is developed on the application of GIS and remote sensing techniques for environmental information management. The first part of the program covers the basic concepts of GIS and remote sensing, whereas the second part focuses more on the application of the fools and techniques for specific purposes. Possible application areas included in the training program are (I.e.) land evaluation and land use planning, wildlife and livestock management, land degradation, environmental impact assessment, coastal zone management, urban development and waste management, deforestation, desertification and marginal lands management.

Description of Actual Services

1-Development of curricula for short application courses in various environmental fields and implementation of a number of these courses.
2-Development and organization of a number of awareness seminars to sensitize decision makers to the advantages of the use of GIS and remote sensing for their organizations.
3-Design and implementation of a marketing strategy including the determination of a pricing structure for the courses.
4-Strengthening of GIS and remote sensing facilities of UCLAS.
5-Development of training materials (manual, guidelines) and case studies.
6-Training of staff from UCLAS and collaborating departments of the UDSM (Dept. of Geography, Institute of Resource Assessment, others) through short specialized courses and overseas training.
7-Participation in the regional network of institutions involved in environmental information management in the African continent.
8-Improvement of the library of UCLAS, e.g. purchase general reference books and text books for use by the course participants, some subscriptions to journals and magazines.

Strengthening Training Capability in Environmental Information Management

The project builds a network of research and training institutes in Europe and Latin America, in the field of natural resources assessment and environmental planning and management. The objective is to design and test a procedure for measuring environmental quality and establishing possible relationships with the pressures derived from human actions and with the level of societal response to changes in the condition of the environment. A methodology is developed for determining environmental quality on the basis of multidisciplinary, quantitative indicators and indices. The method enables meaningful spatial and temporal comparisons, so that it can be applied for both assessing the present condition of the environment and monitoring environmental change.

ELANEM: Quantitative indicators of environment. Quality

Detailed Narrative Description of Project: This work continues the Esprit4-LTR project 27781 (Assessment Phase) by further developing the techniques for representing and reasoning about "knowledge revision" in spatial datasets, and integrating them into current commercial and scientific applications.
The Assessment Phase showed the feasibility of providing the foundations for reasoning in such situations, and showed the useful roles to be played of fuzzy logic, non-monotonic logic and rough sets. Phase1 provided a unified approach to such methods, and developed criteria for the assessment of which technique to apply to which application.

The present Full Phase of the REVIGIS FET Project, will develop, from a demonstrator of the success of the foundation to a collection of industry-strength techniques, demonstrated in large-scale applications with a mix of partners in academia, commerce and national scientific organisations.

The work will also develop these techniques for the case (now usual) where the knowledge base is derived from distributed and semantically heterogeneous spatial databases, including the information extraction from primary data, such as remotely sensed imagery. This work is enhanced by the addition of new commercial and academic partners. Consequently, this requires evaluation of the impact of this work on national and European data quality standards. The project will prove the applicability of these concepts by constructing tools for application to the environmental and cadastral information bases. The theoretical and long-term foundational research strand will also be further developed.

The work plan divides the project into tasks:
(1) Reasoning under uncertainty with geographic knowledge;
(2) Land description with ill-defined spatial objects;
(3) Fusion and revision of strongly constrained spatial objects;
(4) Scientific general co-ordination, project management and information dissemination

Postdoctoral and  PhD applied research.

Topics include:
land description with ill-defined objects - Reasoning with indeterminate boundaries
Reasoning with multiply defined land classification.
Indeterminate boundaries with dynamic monitoring

Uncertainty Knowledge Maintenance and Revision in Geographic Information Systems

The coffee-growing region in Colombia was hit hard by the 25 January 1999 Quindio earthquake. The earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.1 on the Richter scale, killed more than 1,100 people and about 4,800 persons were injured.
Approximately 45,000 houses were either destroyed or damaged. The coffee region is located in the western part of Colombia, an area that contributes greatly to Colombia's economy. Armenia, witch is the capital city of the Quindio department, has a population of approximately 270,000. Pereira, another important city damaged by the earthquake, located 31 km north of Armenia, is the capital city of the Risaralda department and has a population of approximately 380,000.

In order to make a rapid assessment of the damage inflicted by this earthquake and to make recommendations for the reconstruction of the damaged areas, the Dutch government offered assistance to the Colombian authorities. The ITC and the Delft University of Technology (TUD) were subsequently requested to carry out this task.

- Comprehensive GIS database in llwis and ArcView format comprising:

Topography (scale 1:2,000)
Cadastral information (outline streets, housing blocks, rivers) (scale 1:2,000)
Aerial ortho-photo's February 2000
Damage inventory based on the aerial photo survey 
Geotechnical map
Geological map

- Topographic amplification map for the city of Armenia
- Seismic response zonation map for the city of Armenia
- Software written in Visual Basic which connects a three-dimensional subsurface model with a seismic response analysis programme
- Structural recommendations to adjustments for the building codes
-DIANA 3D subsurface model

Description of actual services provided by ITC:

A few weeks after the earthquake a team of Dutch experts from ITC and the TUD went to visit two cities in the Quindio area that were affected most. The task was to make a first inventory of the damage and acquire all relevant geographic, topographic and geologic information. An aerial survey was conducted during which several series of high-resolution aerial photographs were taken. It is important to carry out this kind of survey as soon as possible after an earthquake has taken place, because immediate cleaning, removal and rebuilding operations that are carried out hamper a proper assessment of the inflicted damage.

Rapid Inventory of Earthquake Damage

Development of a computer-based demonstration of the capabilities of a Geographical Information System for a database for landmines and demining activities.

Development of a computer-based demonstration of the capabilities of a geographical information system for a mine database

The problem of landmines is well known and affects a lot of countries, especially in the developing world. The current demining technology is slow, expensive, dangerous and can only cover a few hundred square meters per day. Airborne remote sensing for minefield detection can reduce the area that has to be demined with conventional methods and thus speed up the demining process considerably. To demonstrate the feasiblity of the proposed methodology a first test was carried out in Belgium and an airborne campaign was carried out in four test areas in Mozambique. Additionally, detailed maps showing the precise location of minefields are produced and the efficiency of multi-sensor data fusion for processing the data, and the level of accuracy to determine minefields are tested. The conclusions of the pilot project are:
- all minefields identified and mapped by remote sensing were confirmed to be minefields,
- no other minefields or suspected minefields are know to exist in the four test areas,
- extensions of some large minefields were found of which the precise locations were not previously known to the local demining organization,
- the digital orthophotomaps were found to be an excellent basis for integrated humanitarian demining planning purposes,
- satellite remote sensing can find larger minefields,
- under the terrain and environmental conditions experienced in the four pilot areas, aerospace remote sensing is a reliable method to rapidly detect minefields.

Services:
Project supervision and management of the consortium activities
Image processing and interpretation
Development of remote sensing tools for minefield detection
Elaboration of technical specifications for airborne minefield detection

Pilot project for Airborne Minefield Detection

The Department of Lands and Surveys (DLS) of Cyprus is the Official National Agency for all surveying and mapping operations. The Government of Cyprus and the DLS, embarked upon a program to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of departmental activities taking advantage of available information technology and modern cost effective survey instrumentation and techniques.

The general strategic objective of Cyprus is the establishment of a fixed boundary coordinated cadastre system after a systematic resurvey, the computerization of the land records and cadastral plans, the development of a number of computerized systems to support the survey, registration valuation and land management functions of the department, and the staged development and implementation of a National Land Information System where all agencies with land related activities can share available data for the benefit of the economy of the country.

ITC, under the Supervision of Drs. Barend Köbben, prepared and ran a compact and comprehensive tailor-made program that was funded by the EU to meet the training needs of the DLS. Twelve employees of different branches of the DLS came to ITC and followed intensive training courses in photogrammetry, remote sensing, digital cartography and computer-assisted valuation.

Throughout the courses, guest speakers from ARCADIS and the Netherlands Cadastre were invited to contribute to the training program. Furthermore, companies such as OrtaX, Waarderingskamer, HansaLuftbild, and PlantijnCasparie were visited to give an impression of how other European organizations are dealing with valuation models, cartography and state-of-the-art aerial surveying and mapping.

The course finished with a three days seminar to present acquired knowledge and skills to the senior management of the various Department Sections of DLS.


Detailed Description of Actual Services provided by ITC:

Tailor-made training courses in Photogrammetry, remote sensing, digital cartography and computer assisted valuation.
Seminar

Valuation courses

Like most African cities, Lilongwe also suffers from a continuous inflow of people from the rural areas, contributing to the high growth rate of the city itself. Because services are already overstretched, this results in the rapid growth of squatter areas and unplanned development. To enable the city council to better cope with these problems, it was decided to strengthen their planning capacity by installing a geographic information system.

The project is a first step towards establishing a multipurpose cadastre for Lilongwe.

Description of Actual Services Provided by ITC:

- Establish a modern GIS facility (hardware, software and human resources ) capable of supporting the council's role in urban development.
- Design and establish a GIS training programme, incorporating extended training abroad for selected key personnel and in-house training of technical support staff and non-expert users.
- Undertake GIS pilot projects for development control and traditional housing area management.
- Identify other GIS application domains within the city council and other authorities dealing with urban development (e.g. water and electricity services, health and community services, civil engineering).
- Instigate the establishment of links in the form of data exchange agreements between relevant urban development authorities.

GIS for Lilongwe City Council

The project has established a Centre for postgraduate studies in natural resource management and Ordenamiento Territorial (territorial planning) at the Universidad Mayor de San Simon (UMSS). This centre offers professional master courses of 11 months duration and short intensive application courses. The Centre caters to the training needs of a wide variety of organizations working in the field of natural resource management and territorial planning. The wide variety of organizations working in the field of natural resource management and territorial planning. The emphasis in the training programme of the Centre is on the use of geographical information technology for management purposes. The focus is on the application of aerospace survey, remote sensing techniques and geographic information systems (GIS) to collect, analyse and present data suitable for decision making purposes. In this way, the project contributes to the environmentally sound and sustainable development of natural resources in Bolivia.
The centre runs an ambitious and very varied programme of short courses, seminars and workshops. These education and training activities are supported by relevant research and also consultancy. The knowledge and experience gained will serve as an input in education.
In the development phase of the project, priority has been given to the training of existing and newly recruited staff of the UMSS to staff the Centre. Simultaneously, the Centre has been equipped with computer hardware and software for digital remote sensing, GIS and desk top mapping. The infrastructural facilities of the Centre include a GIS laboratory space, lecturing rooms and staff offices.
The Centre enables Bolivia to avail of a trained cadre of professionals that is in a position to give expert advice to policy makers and planners and thus enhance the country's ability to plan and implement sound and sustainable development policies, programmes and activities.

Description of Actual Services Provided by ITC

Through short and long-term missions ITC staff contributes to:

- institutional strengthening of CLAS as centre of excellence;
- educational and scientific enhancement;
- creation of financial sustainability;
- curriculum design;
- training/capacity building.

Establishment of a centre for Aerospace Survey and GIS Applications for Sustainable Natural Resource Management at San Simon University

The Egyptian Survey Authority (ESA) is responsible for Egypt's national cadastre and land registration scheme. The cadastral department (sector) is one of the main departments of ESA and employs some 10,000 staff of the total of approximately 12,000 currently employed. Currently approximately 5 million feddans of agricultural land have been registered. Another 4 million feddans need to be registered.

In addition to the improvement of the agricultural production y re-allotment, land-use indicators, improvement and maintenance of the drainage- and irrigation systems, etc.,, there is a growing need to improve the availability and distribution of land. An up to date land- and geographical information system is an important basis for all these activities.

In the late 1980s ESA developed the National Agricultural Cadastral Plan to complete the digital mapping and documentation of agricultural land by the end of 2005. Fundamental to the successful completion of this plan is the modernization of ESA. GOE and a number of international donors have invested more than USD 50 million in the technical modernization of ESA. This modernization is now entering this seventh year and has provided up-to-date equipment, technical training and production support in a number of pilot areas.

A limited start has been make in 1996 to provide some general management training under a GTZ funded project responding to urgent needs expressed in ESA's 1994 Strategic Plan. Urgent attention is required to increase the managers' technical awareness and technical management skills. While good progress has been made transferring the technology and improving productivity, studies have highlighted a serious problem in he area of technical management and supervision when technical assistance staff are withdrawn. ESA lacks the first and second line managers and in order to improve the overall management infrastructure at ESA. The project focuses on the national agricultural cadastre and related mapping sectors, and provides institutional support and a sustainable training programme to upgrade technical- and general management skills of the ESA management, both at the lower and middle management levels and by upgrading senior management levels.

Technical Management Strengthening of Egypt Survey Agency

The project was conceived to introduce digital GIS capacity at APSRAC. To this aim training of 3 APSRAC scientists, a management visit to the Netherlands, and two GIS expert missions to APSRAC were envisaged, besides the purchase and installation of 3 PC based GIS systems with ILWIS software and peripherals. The immediate results are the training of 3 APSRAC staff and the installation of the 3 GIS systems. The multiplier effect is evident in the complementary purchase by APSRAC of additional Remote Sensing and GIS soft- and hardware with local financial support, and the "in-house" training of own staff during the time of the APSRAC-ITC project.

Description of actual services provided by ITC:

- Expert mission (2x).
- Education (2x).
- Management.

Establishment of an operational GIS for environmental planning and management

Development of a multimedia tutorial on 'Map Making from Space'. The tutorial provides the image analysts at WEUSC with background knowledge about map making from space images, but can also be used as a long distance learning tool for other target groups.

Services:
Project management
Development of training material

MAPTUTOR

Monitoring and consulting with respect to Shell activities aimed at exploring hyperspectral microseepage detection with remote sensing for the identification of hydrocarbons. Cooperation with Delft University of Technology.

Services:
Expert review of research activities by third parties Research input.

Hyperspectral Microseepage Detection

Initiator of African Magnetic Mapping Project (AMMP), (1989-1992) which compiled a digital map and database of all available aeromagnetic surveys in Africa with the support of major oil companies.

Revenue from sales of AMMP data.

AMMP Promotion

The overall aim of the project is the development and implementation of training and educational programmes for the Peruvian urban development sector. The project develops and delivers:

- Short term training and seminars/workshops for the civic society at large
- Training and education at MSc level 
- Academic and problem oriented research in the urban development field.

The training and education programes, case studies and outreach activities are organized around 5 modules:

- Urban Management 
- Urban Planning and Information Management
- Urban Environmental Management
- Urban Finance
- Urban Services

Description of actual Services provided by ITC:

Development of a number of 3 weeks MSc Urban Environmental Management course modules. Advisory services and specific on the job training to municipalities on cadastral information systems, urban environmental mapping, and municipal information systems.
Training in the Netherlands of counterpart staff at MSc level.

Peru Urban Management Education Programme

The project will develop urgently required human resources for MLRR by training a minimum of 20 land measures for the Division of Surveys and Mapping (DSM), and a minimum of 36 (assistant) development planners for the Division of Land Reform (DLR). A new land measurers corse will be developed in conjunction with the Manosuthu Tecnikon (MT) in Durban, South Africa and implemented twice. A land use planning course (which has been developed under a Danish funded project and implemented under guidance from ITC in 1995 with both regional and local inputs), will be further developed and repeated twice. Both courses will be institutionalised in the Polytechnic of Namibia, and accredited by the Namibian Ministry of Higher Education, Vocational Training, Science and Technology (MHEVTST), training for land surveyors and development planners. Each course will last 11 months and will be structured in modules, with approximately 50% theory and 50% practice. An important element of the planned course will be the field survey and land use planning final field projects which will address actual surveying and planning tasks for urban and rural communities.

Description of actual services provided by your staff:

ITC provides the project management team and co-ordinates the implementation of the land measurers course and the land use planning course. Langouste Tecnikon provides regional resource input into the land measures course and the Institute of Natural Resources of the University of Natal assists on the land use planning course. Fellowships are provided to train the trainers as part of the preparation for the institutionalization of the courses at the Polytechnic of Namibia.

Institutional Support and Human Resources Development of Ministry of Lands, Resettlement of Rehabilitation

In China many outcrops of coal seams are burning. This causes a loss of coal resources and mining productivity, very high CO2 emissions and air pollution, degradation of the environment and safety and health risks for the miners and satellite and airborne remote sensing data and other information. The project also develops a methodology to prevent the development of new coal fires. A coal fire monitoring methodology, a coal fire fighting plan and a coal fire prevention plan.

Description of actual services provided by ITC:
- Development of remote sensing tools.
- Development and implementation of a GIS system.

Development/implementation coalfire monitoring Ningxia

The aims of the project are:
-to contribute to viable long-term solutions for sustained water use and crop production in fragile agricultural ecosystems and
-to strengthen the technical and scientific research capacity of the Cape Verdean institutions involved in land and water resource management.

The project involves detailed soil mapping groundwater resource surveys and the  analysis of salinity problems in the coastal zones of the irrigated alluvial valleys on the islands of Santiago, Maio and San Nicolau.
The initial stage of the study involves an appraisal of the particular environmental and socio-economic field surveys led to the identification of key areas for detailed study.
Detailed soil and water resource surveys are combined with socio-economic and crop and water management aspects in the project areas. Field surveys are carried out using GPS (e.g. groundwater well locations, ground control points) combined with digital orthophotos (1:10,000). A sampling and laboratory analysis programme for soil and  water salinity and chemistry is being carried out by INIDA.
Crop productivity in relation to soils, water quality, irrigation management practice and land husbandry (e.g. ownership aspects) is also under investigation. ILWIS-GIS software from ITC is used for digital mapping and image analysis, and for generating cartographic output.

Description of actual services provided by ITC:

-Project management
-Organization & supervision surveys
-GIS mapping

Agro Pedological Support to Land Management

It was tried to develop a medium-scale alluvial gold mine in the context of resocialization of the so-called "jungle commandos" after termination of their conflict with the central government in Paramaribo. Exploration comprised (1) establishment of a base camp and 2 auxiliary camps, (2) gridding (106,4 line -km), (3) soil geochemistry in part of the concession and (4) anger and Banka drilling (249 and 52 holed, respectively). Paleo-channels with gold -bearing basal conglomerates were encountered but the lack of continuity of the gravel horizons and the low gold contents did not permit further exploration.

Description of actual services provided by ITC.

Overall design and supervision of exploration activities. Assessment of potential of the area for alluvial gold in paleo walleys within the drainage area of the Grand Creek.

MER Margo Mining

The "SULAMA" (Sustainable Land Management) project is a joint research and training/education project of China Agricultural University (CAU) in Beijing, Wageningen University and ITC. The project seeks to identify packages for sustainable land management in the North China Plain. The project involves field experimentation combined with dynamic crop growth modelling, data base management, GIS and remote sensing.

Towards Sustainable Land Management in China

The project consists of an elaboration of a tutorial for WEUSC on the subject of image and data fusion in the form of a decision support environment demonstrator.
The aim is to supplement conventional photo-interpretation with:
- an interpretation/feature extraction capability, primarily using SAR data, beyond that achievable from standard interpretation techniques using monochrome optical data,
- a capability for both small-scale infrastructure analysis, i.e. port structures and also large-scale environmental disaster monitoring i.e. humanitarian disaster analysis and support.

Services:
Development of training material

Decision Support Environment Demonstrator

Four Ethiopian students from Ministry of National Defence attended regular GFM4 course.

Diploma in Geoinformatics, GFM4+

The overall objective of the IT-2 project is to strengthen the capacity in Namibia and South Africa in land management  to achieve strategic objectives related to the effective implementation of land reform programs, through the development of a comprehensive educational program in Land (Information) Management in Southern Africa.

The immediate project objectives are:
- To further develop the education and training capacity in Land Management at the Polytechnic of Namibia to ensure the sustainable provision of staff required by land managing organisations at managerial, professional and para-professional levels;
- To further develop the education, training and research capacity in Land Information Management at CEAD/NU to ensure sustainable provision of professional and academic staff required by land managing organisations and their supporting training suppliers;
- Institutional strengthening of the MLRR to improve organisation's performance in terms of efficiency and professionalism, through managerial capacity (general and technology management) development of the MLRR managerial staff.

The project is carried out by the Ministry of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation (MLRR, Namibia), Department of Land Affairs (DLA, Republic of South Africa), Polytechnic of Namibia, University of Natal (Centre of Environment and Development (CEAD/NU, Republic of South Africa), ITC (Leading Partner), Maastricht School of Management (MSM, Netherlands), and the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS, Netherlands).

IT-2 is a continuation of the INSHURD & TELMSA Projects. At the end of the programme the following degree, diploma and certificate courses will be available:

At the Polytechnic of Namibia:
5 National certificate courses (12 months) - land measuring, land use planning, land valuation, urban land use management and land registration.
2 National Diploma courses (3 years) - cadastral surveying and land use planning.
1 B.Tech Degree programme (4 years) - Land Management.

At the Centre for Environment and Development, University of Natal:
Masters Degree in Land Information Management (12 months);
Pg Diploma course in Land Information Management (12 months);
Pg Certificate course in Land Information Management (6 months).

At MLRR:
A series of 14 management workshops have been developed and implemented with MLRR staff.

Land Information Management in Southern Africa

This project was started in 1987 with sub-project PD 2/87 (F) which was contracted to (JOFCA) as from November 1987. The immediate objectives of this sub-project were to design a classification system for the tropical logged-over forests and consequently to define the silviculture activities required to restore the timber producing capacity of the forest land. After a successful result from sub-project I, the second sub-project was stared in 1990. The second sub-project aimed at developing a classification system for logged-over forest in the Asia/Pacific Region, at developing techniques to rehabilitate the logged-over forest and at developing remote sensing methodology based on optical satellite data to detect different classes of forest density that should lead to various rehabilitation applications or techniques. After a successful end to the second sub-project a third sub-project was initiated in 1993 which concentrated on developing a methodology of forest site assessment using remote sensing to plan a rehabilitation Density Map Using Satellite Optical Images of "Rikimaru Approach."

According to the project document "Large areas of tropical forests, especially in Asia-Pacific region, have been logged without adequate control or subsequent silviculture treatment. Such logged-over forests may not be able to produce marketable timber in the next cutting cycle, and in many cases the continues productivity of such forests, with regard to valuable species is doubtful. This problem needs an immediate attention of the al countries involved. It is essential  and urgent that the extent, location, and the condition of these forests be determined. Therefore, the problem of these forests can be analysed and guidelines for appropriate treatments through silviculture operations, enrichment planting, etc. can be achieved." 

To consistently and repeatedly monitor Natural Resources over large areas, it is desirable to use remote sensing data and automated image analysis techniques. Several types of remote sensing data, including aerial photography, Multispectral Scanner (MSS), Simulated Thematic Mapper (TMS), Thematic Mapper (TM), SPOT Multi-Linear  Array (MLA), laser, and radar data have been utilized to identify, classify, and evaluate various cover types.

The idea of Rikimaru approach is to identify the type of under story cover (e.g. whether it is soil of vegetation) and the use of the shadow and thermal indices which lead to the Canopy Density Index. The final output will give a map shows different level of forest canopy densities. Depending on this map a methodology for rehabilitation can be defined and applied.

Description of Actual Services Provided by ITC

In compliance with the term of reference, the following activities were achieved:

1. Review all relevant project documents in ITTO and JOFCA,
2. Have several meetings with all administration and technical personnel concerned with the project.

Rehabilitation of logged over forest

Institution building in water resources management. The project activities are:
- Completion of the training programmes for DWEE (water department of Sana'a University) staff embarked upon for DWEE's capacity building.
- Input in the implementation of DWEE programmes, in particular the Diploma, MSc course on water and environmental engineering and short courses on selected topics.
- Expand the facilities as required for an operation DWEE.
- Establish an income generating training and research centre within the Faculty of Engineering of Sana'a University.
- Gradual and complete transfer of tasks and responsibilities form project staff to DWEE staff.

Description of actual services provided by ITC:

- Training
- Curriculum development

Sana'a University Support project III

This joint venture inter-institutional re-activate cooperation between ITC and RECTAS first initiated in 1972 and ensures coordination with the activities of GDTA envisaged in a protocol agreement concluded in October 1988 between GDTA and RECTAS. This project aims to strengthen RECTAS-training (and research) capability and consequently to increases the independence of African countries for training in photogrammetry, cartopraphy/phototgraphic reproduction and remote sensing for resource surveys and management.
The following African countries are involved in the activities of RECTAS:
-As member states: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal
-As countries of origin of RECTAS alumni: Algeria, Benin Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, Zaire and Zambia.

Description of actual services provided by ITC:

ITC provided the overall project management. The project covers the training of RECTAS staff in the Netherlands and in France both via scholarships to formal courses and by specially designed on the job attachments (short missions) geared to specific updating activities. The counterpart staff on return to Nigeria will be supported by expert missions from ITC and GDTA staff to assist in the upgrading of courses and equipment. These exchanges will have two way mutual benefits and will provide modern equipment and up to date teaching materials and methods. Teaching at RECTAS is both in English and in French. The EC/RECTAS/ITC/GDTA project becomes the corner stone of RECTAS' second five-year development plan. The project consists of:
-Training of counterparts; 14 RECTAS staff by ITC/GDTA (31.5 man months)
-Upgrade of curricula and syllabi, redesigning of courses and introducing new courses
-Equipment upgrade
-Supply of modern equipment.
Running in parallel and almost integrated in the EC project are the Dutch Government South to South Fellowship Assistance and the French government bilateral assistance in Remote Sensing (staffing, fellowship and equipment).
The following results are expected to be achieved at the end of the project:
-16 long courses for 200 students
-15 short courses and seminars for 200 students
-RECTAS; training capacity should be
-45 students per year in Photogrammetry
-20 students per year in Cartography
-30 students per year in Remote Sensing.

Regional Center of Training in Aerospace Surveys

The project's objective is the development of a natural resources database and the establishment of a GIS network for Bolivia. The database and the GIS network are considered as imperative condition that will help the different government levels with land use planning and the socio-economic sustainable development at national and regional level.

Description of actual services provided by ITC:

The development of a GIS and its database was carried out in four pilot areas that represent the most representative bio-physical and socio-economic zones of Bolivia. The implementation was based on a diagnostic and prospective analysis. The software used were ARC/INFO, ERDAS and ILWIS.

Simultaneously, a development and training program was implemented for database and GIS, for staff members of the project and the government. Additionally, a special advanced course was propose at ITC in The Netherlands.
Counterpart staff was trained 'on-the-job' and received more formal training at the ITC/CLAS training centre in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

Agro-ecological zoning and the establishment of a database and GIS network in Bolivia

ITC and Kadaster are giving assistance to the "Servicio de Catastro e Informaccion Territorial", in the processes of implementing a new GIS system.

Description of actual services provided by ITC:

Management of quality control of:
- Information
- data and products

Assist in the evaluation of different possible applications and define the requirements.

Assist in the organization of the new cadastre system.

Define steps to guarantee that the system is sustainable.

Implementation of cadastral information system

WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT RESEARCH IN THE EASTERN KALAHARI-KAROO BASIN TRANSBOUNDARY AQUIFER
The SADC Secretariat, through the Directorate of Infrastructure and Services – Water Division, in Gaborone, Botswana received a grant through the World Bank to implement the Sustainable Groundwater Management in SADC Member States project. The grant is allocated for the call “Water resources management research in the Eastern Kalahari-Karoo Basin transboundary aquifer” and the call is handled by Southern African Development Community Groundwater Management Institute (SADC-GMI). The SADC-GMI is a regional centre of excellence on groundwater management. It is hosted by the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa on behalf of, and under the strategic guidance of the SADC Secretariat, Directorate of Infrastructure – Water Division, in Gaborone, Botswana. Dr Lubczynski (ITC) was requested to provide advisory service as consultant to Aqualogic company based in Botswana, shortlisted in the m above-mentioned call.
Although the SADC region is believed to have about 30 Transboundary Aquifers some comprehensive research work has been undertaken by various stakeholders in only 4 TBAs, Stampriet, Ramotswa, Shire-River and Tuli-Karoo (see Figure below). The study area of this project call is the 5th TBA called Eastern Kalahari Karoo Aquifer shared between, Botswana and Zimbabwe. This TBA lies in the Okavango Basin between the Nata and Zambezi Rivers and has an estimated area of 34000Km2. The aquifer is characterized by low surface runoff and high moisture deficits. There is a possibility for flow to occur in the Karoo Strata towards the centers of abstraction, thereby inducing trans-border flow, degradation and even for one side of the border to pollute the other. It is also expected that rainfall and river recharge constraining aquifer replenishment is affected by climate change and that impact increases.

Water Resources Management Research in the Eastern Kalahari-Karoo Basin Transboundary Aquifer

The Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), located in Dehra Dun, and ITC have a collaboration that goes back into the seventies, when IIRS was established with the support of the Dutch government and at the pattern of ITC. IIRS is the training institute under the National Remote Sensing Agency, Department of Space of the Government of India. IIRS trains professionals at postgraduate level in remote sensing and geo-informatics, and its applications in natural management, GIS and GPS technology.

The current four-year project, funded by the Dutch government, is titled "Geo-information for Environmental Assessment and Disaster Management, Institutional Strengthening of IIRS, phase 2" and will end in June 2004. The project focuses on three aspects:

*Capacity building of IIRS staff, via their participation in short courses, MSc studies and postgraduate programs at the Netherlands, and via exchange of teaching staff
*Course development, specifically the development of a joint MSc course in Geo-informatics and a postgraduate course in Disaster Management
*Research, mainly via inverted sandwich PhD programs

Further, some funds are made available for further improvements of the educational tools, lab set-ups etc.

Besides ITC, as the leading partner, also IHE and Wageningen University, both located in the Netherlands, are involved in the implementation of the project. 

IIRS has been selected as one of the main decentralization partners of ITC.

Geo-information for Environmental Assessment and Disaster Management, Institutional Strengthening of the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Phase 2

The Netherlands Kadaster is executing a project for the design and implementation of a rural cadastre information system in the Department of Chuquisaca in Bolivia. The project is being executed in a partnership with the Bolivian Institute for Agrarian Reform (INRA) and funded by the Dutch Government.

Chuquisaca is one out of 9 provinces (departamentos) in Bolivia. Several international donors are currently carrying out rural cadastral projects in other Bolivian provinces, also in partnership with INRA. Part of the Chuquisaca project is the training and development of human resources a) within the province of Chuquisaca and b) at a national and inter-provincial level for INRA. The strengthening of human resources at a national level is of great importance given the need for common ground among INRA technical managers, who are involved in the monitoring of a number of rural cadastral projects, funded by different countries and executed with a variety of methodologies.

To address the urgent need for better trained staff at INRA, ITC was commissioned to design a training program for technical supervisors of INRA national and provincial offices. To tailor the training to the specific needs of the INRA staff ITC carried out a Training Needs Assessment Mission and designed the Training Programme based on the outcome of this mission.

Description of actual services provided by ITC:

*Training needs assessment
*Design training programme
*Develop curriculum and programme and give the following courses:

Course 1: Information system development and quality management
Course 2: Database design and management
Course 3: Geodetic processes and quality
Course 4: GPS cadastral surveying and quality control
Course 5: Photogrammetric processes and quality control
Course 6: Data integration, data products and visualization

*Final impact assessment of training programmes.

Training programme for INRA

RDISAT aims at building up institutional capacity for the production and presentation of electronically accessible learning packages in the field of rural development within three South African Universities (Natal, Zululand and Fort Hare). The Dutch partners in the project are Wageningen University and ITC.

Within the broad theme of rural development, focus is on three sub-themes: 
- rural enterprise development,
- household resource management and food security,
- sustainable land use systems.

Apart from in-service training of RSA university staff related to the above, the project also comprises training at MSc and PhD level for RSA university staff in The Netherlands (Wageningen and Enschede)

Description of actual services provided by ITC:

Management and co-ordination of the project is done by a' project management team' (PMT). Development of the learning packages is the responsibility of 3 "international thematic working groups"  (ITWGs) (one for each of the 3 themes) and a "technical and design committee" (TDC).

ITC's input in the project is in all 3 of these teams/groups/committees: one staff-member in the PMT,  one in the ITWG on sustainable land use systems and one in the TDC.
The project moreover, will use ITC's PRONET as the service platform for the eventually to be produced and presented learning packages.
In addition, two of the MSc and one of the PhD studies foreseen within the project are taking/will take place at ITC (Forest Science Division).

Rural Development Information in RSA through Telematics

As part of FAO's special programme 'emergency prevention system against transboundary animal and plant pests and diseases' (EMPRES) a user face for the transboundary animal disease information system (TADINFO) is developed.
Computerized spatial data handling using GIS technology contributes to successful action against spreading of diseases.

Services:
Software development and documentation
Discussion of technical details of the assignment
Software installation and training

Development of a user interface for a Transboundary Animal Disease Information System

The Brazilian State of Rondonia (the size of Great Britain) forms part of the Amazonian Basin. It saw its population increasing from 20.000 to over 2 million in the last 25 years. The settling process and construction of an infrastructure was highly criticized by the WB and it was decided to carry out a macrozoning study of the state. The aim was, apart from taking sock of existing problems, to provide the government with a huge database that the government could assist in decision-making. ITC, as a subcontractor to DHV Consultants, was responsible for the earth science part of the study, I.e. geology plus mineral resources, geohydrology and geomorphology.

Updating of existing geological maps based on satellite image interpretation, air-borne geophysics and ground control (18 sheets, 1:250,000).  Establishment of a geological legend for the state which allowed geodynamic modelling of the area, followed by metallogenic modelling and a reassessment (4 sheets 1:500,000 metallogenic maps) of the state's mineral potential. Update geomorphology and geohydrology (deep and shallow aquifers, water quality etc. ) The above study, together with the results of the soil survey will help to better implement the settlement process.

Socio-Economic-Ecological zoning of the state of Rondonia

During the Gulf war a lot of oil spills and fires occurred. In cooperation with the Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Research Centre an environmental impact analysis of the oils spills and fires during and after the Gulf war is carried out.
The activity includes analysis and processing of satellite data.

Services:
Advisory work
Training

EIA Oil Spills and Fire

Review of four regional training courses on RS/GIS application in integrated development in the Hindukush Himalayan Region implemented by ICIMOD.

Review of curricula of 4 training courses

The assessment and monitoring of the environmental impact of improved irrigation schemes forms part of the large Irrigation Improvement Project in Iran, funded by the World Bank. In the framework of this project, a data and information processing facility, called "Environment and Land Resources Information System" (ELRIS), is developed as a tool to assist environmental management, not only in the pilot areas of this project (lake Urumieh and Shadegan Marshes) but also in the other watersheds of Iran. At the request of the FAO, ITC reviewed and analysed information requirements related to the preparation of environmental management plans for the two pilot project areas, reviewed available data resources, existing models, existing hard- and software and training needs regarding RS/GIS/modelling related to ELRIS and as the main output, developed a detailed of concepts of ELRIS. The project runs from 2000 to 2002.

Environment and Land Resources Information System

Forestry Sector Project

The Government of the Republic of Indonesia intends to strengthen existing institutional capability in the collection, collation, management and evaluation of land resources data, and its application to physical resources planning, which will result in the enhancement of both the data base in qualitative and quantitative terms and the acquisition of necessary analytical skills so as to ensure the more effective and efficient utilization of land resources. To this purpose, the Land Resource Evaluation and Planning Project II was developed. One of he components of this project is 'Strengthening the National Geographic Land Resource Information System' for which BAKOSURTANAL is the coordinating agency.

Description of actual services provided by ITC:

ITC was involved in all aspects of the establishment of the geographic land resource data base, such as analysis, design, implementation and procurement of hard- and software. ITC-experts also provide on-the-job training.

Projects over time

Space time cube

Timeline

The traditional timeline not only shows the temporal distribution of the over thousand projects executed but also their duration