** SEASON'S GREETINGS ** SEASON'S GREETINGS ** Hello to everyone. This is the last issue of the SDI Africa Update in 2002. I have enjoyed getting feedback from people on the newsletter. I do wish, though, that more people would contribute information. In fact, I ask that everyone, as a New Year's Resolution, send me at least one message in early 2003. Okay? Please, share information about your GIS/Remote Sensing/Spatial Data Infrastructure activties! That's my mantra. Be well. Kate -------------------------------------------------------------------- SPATIAL DATA INFRASTRUCTURE AFRICA UPDATE VOL 1, NO. 13 - 10 DECEMBER 2002 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Spatial Data Infrastructure Africa (SDI-Africa) is a free email newsletter for people interested in GIS, remote sensing, and data management issues in Africa. To subscribe to SDI Africa, unsubscribe, or change your email address, contact: klance@usgs.gov If you're subscribing, please indicate your institutional affiliation and how you learned about the SDI-Africa newsletter. I began putting this information into a newsletter in an effort help provide information to colleagues in Africa (particularly since surfing the web can be costly in Africa). I am involved in a number of projects that aim to build SDI capacity in Africa; however, there is no project or organization that is called SDI Africa. I will send out issues as time permits. If you have news or information related to GIS, remote sensing, and spatial data infrastructure (e.g., workshop announcements, publications, reports, websites of interest, etc.), kindly send me the materials so that I can include them in the newsletter. This will ensure that issues are sent more frequently. The newsletter depends upon your continued interest and input. You are welcome to forward this message onto colleagues who may find the information useful. If you do so, please include the newsletter contact information at the bottom of this message so that others will know about the newsletter and subscribe themselves. Back issues of the newsletter are at the GSDI and GISD websites: GSDI: http://www.gsdi.org (go to GSDI newsletters) GISD: http://www.opengis.org/gisd (go to 'What's New') Best regards, Kate Please note: Some long URLs (internet addresses) may occupy 2 lines. In that case, copy both lines into your browser. -------------------------------------------------------------------- INPUT TO THIS ISSUE -------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you to Felix Muyoba, National Remote Sensing Centre (Namibia); Dan Zimble, ESRI (USA); CJ Cote, ESRI (USA); Laban MacOpiyo (Kenya, by way of Texas A&M University); Botswana National GIS Committee; Bora Masumbuko, NESDA (Ivory Coast); Paul V Desanker, University of Virginia (USA); Steeve Ebener, World Health Organization; and Rob Dollison, Federal Geographic Data Committee (USA), for their contributions to this issue. -------------------------------------------------------------------- SDI NEWS, LINKS, PAPERS, PRESENTATIONS - HAVE YOU READ? -------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.ukspace.com/press/press115.doc http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/SAP/stdm/2002_africa/presentations/session05/speaker03/ Algeria launched AlSAT satellite The first satellite in an international Earth-monitoring project, intended to monitor natural and manmade disasters such as forest fires, hurricanes and earthquakes around the globe, was launched November 28,2002, by Algeria from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia. The project, known as the Disaster-Monitoring Constellation (DMC), also involves China, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam and the United Kingdom. Each country plans to launch a satellite in the same orbit within the next two years as part of the project. The instruments on board the 90-kg Algerian microsatellite, named AlSAT-1, gradually will be turned on over the coming weeks, and the first images will be ready shortly. Current Earth observation satellites, which produce imagery covering larger areas, revisit a particular location relatively infrequently. These new satellites can take repeat images of the same location every 24 hours, cloud permitting. [Note from Kate: Botswana is making significant advances on its national spatial data infrastructure initiative] http://www.ngis.gov.bw National GIS Co-ordination Committee in Botswana The Government of Botswana has initiated a project called Establishment of a National GIS. It's main objective is for a better co-ordination of all geographic information and GIS activities in Botswana. The project is managed by Government Computer Bureau, and is being implemented by the Swedish consultant Swedesurvey AB. The duration of the project is one year and covers the first phase of the establishment process. Main issues in phase one are: - Establish a National Co-ordination Committee for GI and GIS in Botswana - Improve general knowledge about GIS and Spatial Data Infrastructure in the GI-Community in Botswana - Prepare a Master Plan for the complete establishment process - Develop a National Metadata Service for Geographic Information - Establish a standard for Metadata - Provide principles for Data exchange - Prepare for the establishment of a National Co-ordination Unit The project started in April 2002. A Workshop was held Nov. 12-13, 2002, where the National GIS C-ordination Committee (NGCC) got together for the first time. The two days were filled with presentations, mainly from the Swedish Consultant, briefing the Committee about the concept of Spatial Data Infrastructure, Standards, Metadata and Metadata service among others. There was also time for discussions, both in the whole committee as well as in smaller group discussions about different issues. The NGCC has representatives from Government Departments, Para-statals and Academia (University of Botswana). The private sector will be represented in the User/Reference Group. One of the outcomes from the workshop was that there will be five permanent Working Groups in the Committee, which also will include members from organisations not being represented in the committee. Another outcome from the workshop was a draft Memorandum of Understanding between the member organisations of the Committee, which will be further discussed before being signed. The next meeting for the NGCC will be held in late January 2003. In connection to this meeting there will also be a workshop for the GI-Community (GIC), where the Committee will brief the GIC on the initiative and invite them to discuss ways of co-operation and co-ordination of GI and GIS. This workshop is open for anyone interested in or working with Geographic Information and GIS. http://www3.who.int/whosis/gis/salb/salb_home.htm http://www3.who.int/whosis/gis/salb/salb_PO.htm The Second Administrative Level Boundaries (SALB) Project is a dataset aimed at improving the availability of digital administrative boundaries at the second subnational level. The SALB database will form part of the UN geographic database and was developed in the context of the United Nations Geographic Information Working Group (UNGIWG). The principal strengths of this product is its homogenous representativity (January 2000), its specific coding scheme, its validation though the country National Mapping Agency, and its redistribution policy allowing extensive use of the data. http://allafrica.com/stories/200211200259.html UN Integrated Regional Information Networks Electronic maps, which could be vital to humanitarian monitoring and planning, were launched in Bujumbura on Wednesday, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported. "In humanitarian situations such as Burundi, GIS technology provides an excellent tool for tracking population displacements, returnees and monitoring general social trends," Raquel Wexler, head of UNICEF's Burundi Planning Project, said. The maps are being made available in Burundi, for the first time, for use by planners in the government, UN agencies and NGOs. These documents will enable planners to monitor social indicators and trends at the provincial, communal, "colline (hill) and subcolline" levels, UNICEF reported. "There is a great deal of demand from the government and UN agency partners for these maps and we are pleased to finally make them available, at no cost and for humanitarian purposes," Wexler said. The Population Department of the Interior Ministry and UNICEF Burundi's Planning Project launched Version 1 of the electronic administrative maps of the country "at the fifth sub-national level". Present at the ceremony were government officials, the UN and donor representatives. UNICEF said the next phase of its GIS project would focus on updating and collecting information on social infrastructure, in collaboration with government and UN partners. For example, Wexler said, by obtaining the location of schools nationwide, a comprehensive database could be built to analyse comparative data and trends in school enrolment or girls education at the community level. "We can also better understand the geographic distribution of events - such as mine victims, or recent population displacements," she said. http://www.grid.unep.ch/activities/sustainable/wateratlas Water Resources and Wetlands e-Atlas The first phase of the Water Resources and wetlands e-Atlas has taken off and the first task of preparing an Overview has been completed. The Water Resources and Wetlands e-Atlas, a collaboration between UNEP, IUCN, IWMI, Water Systems Analysis Group and WRI, is an interactive web-based information service that forms a part of the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture. The e-Atlas portal will rely heavily on dynamic maps, vital graphics, statistics and annotated text to explain the complex issues involved. In the first phase, the objective is to develop a functional prototype that consists of several static and animated maps addressing multi-disciplinary issues relating to climate change, food-nature conflicts and river basin management. http://gsdi.org/SDIA/towngis.txt Town must release GIS data [Note from Kate: the following articles recently published in a local newspaper in the state of Connecticut (USA) give an 'inside view' to the evolving status of public access to non-federal geographic information in the United States. While there is a U.S. executive order establishing a policy on access to data produced by federal agencies (see http://www.fgdc.gov/publications/documents/geninfo/execord.html, http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a016/a016_rev.html), the policies and practices of data provision by state, municipal and city agencies is not as clear. I encourage you to review these articles to see SDI development in action!] http://www.arcus.org/gis/GIS_Phase_I_Report.pdf Recommendations for a Geographic Information Infrastructure to Support Arctic Research: Outcomes of the Arctic GIS Workshop (380K). [Note from Kate: though the focus of the report is the Artic, the SDI recommendations are valid for Africa as well] http://www.gsi.go.jp/PCGIAP/brunei/seminar/malaysian_sdi.pdf Seminar on Implementation Models of Asia and the Pacific Spatial Data Infrastructure (APSDI) Clearinghouse. April 17, 2002, Brunei Darussalam. Rapid development in Malaysia, while contributing to high growth, has also exerted heavy pressures on the utilisation of land and the nation’s natural resources. To ensure that the progress made is sustainable, spatial data infrastructure is being established with the eventual goal of facilitating effective management of the country’s resources. This paper describes the initiatives taken to develop the infrastructure and some of the issues involved with its development. http://www.gsdi.org/SDIA/grantees.jpg This graphic shows the countries in which Global Map/GSDI Grants have been awarded. These grants are meant to support framework data development by national mapping agencies. If your country is not colored, then the national mapping agency of your country still should be encouraged to apply. ESRI will still accept applications. The Grant consists of software (ArcGIS) and a credit for training. More information about the grant program, and the online application, can be found at: http://www.esri.com/sdigrant http://www.gsdi.org/SDIA/gis-course_UVA-UEM.doc University of Virginia (UVA) and the University of Eduardo Mondlane (UEM) Mozambique: Partnership project on GIS/RS Title of Project: Mainstreaming Use of GIS and Remote Sensing in Environmental Assessment and Sustainable Development An education partnership, funded by the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. State Department, will develop a course in GIS and Remote Sensing in Environmental Modeling to be offered at both institutions. See link for more information about the specific objectives of the partnership. It is expected that a total of 9 people will visit the other institution of the next two years, comprising both students and faculty. This project will strengthen collaborations between UEM and UVA, initiated more than four years ago through joint workshops and exchanges by individual faculty members. In addition, the two universities will offer a regional integrated modeling workshop in February 2003 for 2 weeks, in Zambia, to support activities of the Miombo AIACC project and Southern Africa Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.For more information, contact Dr. Paul V. Desanker, Center for Regional Environmental Studies, Department of Environmental Science, University of Virginia, desanker@virginia.edu http://miombo.gecp.virginia.edu, http://www.africaclimatechange.org Dr Almeida Sitoe, Department of Forestry, FAEF-UEM, Maputo, Mozambique, sittus@zebra.uem.mz http://www.itc.nl/library/Papers/WOLDAI.pdf Woldai, T. (2002) Geospatial data infrastructure: the problem of developing metadata for geoinformation in Africa. In: Proceedings of the 4th International conference of the African Association of Remote Sensing of the Environment AARSE: Geoinformation for sustainable development in Africa : Abuja, Nigeria, 14-18 October 2002. In this paper, some of the problems envisioned affecting the development of metadata in Africa are outlined and discussed. -------------------------------------------------------------------- GIS TOOLS, SOFTWARE, DATA -------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.cybertracker.org/ http://www.biodiversityscience.org/xp/CABS/research/global_planning/info_tools/toolhardware.xml Conservation International, Ecofac, and Cybertracker have formed an organization called Cybertracker Conservation to promote the vision of a worldwide environmental monitoring system. The CyberTracker field computer is designed to be quick and easy to use in the field. A user-friendly interface developed for PalmOS computers allows field workers to record more than 300 observations per day. This software is released under the Greenware Policy license agreement. Under this agreement, it is understood that the CyberTracker software is free for conservation use, and that conservation users will submit details of their projects to CyberTracker for reporting purposes. http://dma.jrc.it/DMADataContent.htm The Digital Map Archive is a repository of the best data commercially or publicly available and related to the needs of European Commission and EU Member States humanitarian aid and assistance programs. http://dma.jrc.it/DMARasterDataInventory.htm DMA Satellite data and topographic maps inventory http://dma.jrc.it/DMADataInventory.htm DMA Geographical Data inventory http://mis.bus.sfu.ca/tutorials/MSAccess/tutorials_main.asp Microsoft Access Tutorials: On-line version http://edc.usgs.gov/products/satellite/corona.html http://edc.usgs.gov/Webglis/glisbin/guide.pl/glis/hyper/guide/disp Corona Photos. The declassified imagery provides extensive coverage of the Earth. It contains imagery collected during the period 1960-1972 from throughout the world (though with significant emphasis on Eastern Europe and Asia). After a search of the metadata, the user should inspect the browse image and its immediate neighbors in the image series for the point of interest before placing an order for photography. For example, each CORONA image is about 10 miles wide and looking at three consecutive images in a series will compensate for 10 mile errors in cornerpoint locations. http://edcsns17.cr.usgs.gov/EarthExplorer/ [Note from Kate: for the development of a geocoded settlements gazetteer, here are some places to get started]. NIMA GEOnet Names Server, http://164.214.2.59/gns/html/index.html http://164.214.2.59/gns/html/query.html GNIS, http://mapping.usgs.gov/www/gnis/, http://nsdi.usgs.gov/products/gnis.html, Roger Payne, rpayne@usgs.gov The Canadian Geographical Names Data Base (CGNDB) 1997, http://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/english/databaseinfo.html Ordnance Survey (UK) 1:50,000 Scale Gazetteer, http://www.ordsvy.gov.uk/productpages/50kgazetteer/index.htm Gazetteer of Australia 2000 - Version 3, http://www.anzlic.org.au/icsm/cgna/gazetteer.htm Alexandria Digital Library Project, http://alexandria.sdc.ucsb.edu/gazetteer/, Linda Hill, lhill@alexandria.ucsb.edu Core Elements of Digital Gazetteers: Placenames, Categories, and Footprints, http://alexandria.sdc.ucsb.edu/~lhill/paper_drafts/ECDL2000_paperdraft7.pdf UNGEGN, United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/english/ungegn.pdf ISO 19112, Spatial referencing by geographic identifiers (http://www.isotc211.org/) OGC Specs (pg. 11-12), http://www.digitalearth.gov/derm/v05/index.html [this is when you want people to be able to interact with the gazetteer online] OpenGIS Consortium Discussion Paper 01-036, "Gazetteer Service Draft Candidate Implementation Specification 0.84", http://www.opengis.org/techno/discussions/01-036.pdf) http://users.ox.ac.uk/~biommm/index.htm Biodiversity Mapping, Monitoring and Management Research of the BioMMM group, which is focused in Tanzania, contributes to efforts to inventory the biodiversity of Africa. In particular, we are interested in mapping patterns of biodiversity and in understanding natural and anthropogenic driving processes. BioMMM research is characterised by the gathering of field survey data (ecological and meteorological) and their processing, integration with remotely sensed data (primarily satellite imagery) and analysis within geographical information systems (GIS). Results of this work are used in the management planning of protected areas. The function of this website is to make freely available both raw and derived data from BioMMM research, as well as results of analyses, publications and other useable outputs. http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/9551/info4.htm GIS Gambia Page. "Now anybody can download 2Mb of my private digitized Landuse and Vegetation maps of The Gambia. Map coverages are in Arc/Info export format." The GIS landuse and vegetation coverages for The Gambia were derived from maps produced by Office of Remote Sensing, South Dakota State University in 1982. They were digitized by Geir Tyldum as part of a masters thesis study on sea-level rise. -------------------------------------------------------------------- GEOSPATIAL RESEARCH / APPLICATIONS / REFERNECE MATERIAL -------------------------------------------------------------------- [Note from Kate: These documents are very large and will take a while to download] http://www.gsdi.org/docs/SDIA/dems_and_dtms.doc Towards Employment of Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) and Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) - Surface Analyses: Southern and Northwestern Namibia http://www.gsdi.org/docs/SDIA/performing_surface_analysis.doc Towards Spatial Data Provision: surface analysis using ArcInfo, a Case of Rosh Pinah area in Southern Namibia For international communities to respond to crisis situations they require up to date, geo spatial, digital data. Namibia is fortunate in the sense that under South African Administration, quality topographic sheets were produced. These are still being used even after independence as base maps and for the extraction of contour data to produce more or less accurate DEMs and DTMs. These DEMs and DTMs were generated from 1:50000 topographic sheets of 1979. They depict elevation and terrain characteristics of each topographic sheet and are a useful tool as well in political boundaries demarcation. This data is available in both digital and hardcopy formats, and are all geo-corrected (Lat/Long). These products are in high demand in rescue operations, as well as in many applications such as telecommunications, mining, conservation, agriculture, tourism, etc. For more information, contact Felix Muyoba, fmuyoba@met.gov.na http://www.mcbcclimbe.org/downloads/boaplainmap.zip (Windows Zip format) Boa Plain Community Land Use Map This map was produced with the contribution of 'local cartographers' found in villages in the Boa Plain area since local people have intimate knowledge of their surroundings. The final map was produced by the GIS Unit in cooperation with the Central African Regional Programme for the Environment (CARPE), Innovative Resource Management (IRM), the Office Nationale de Developpement des Forets (ONADEF), and the Institute Nationale de Cartographie. These maps are then used for community based land use planning for the conservation of critical resources such as game, medicinal plants, and fish. http://www.oicc.org/seminar/papers/39-HGamily/39-HGamily-formated.htm Environmental Decision Support Modeling for the Red Sea Coastal Zone, Egypt. The main objective of this study is to build GIS-based environmental models, to be used in the decision-making processes of managing and protecting the coastal zone. In this study, two models are introduced. The first environmental sensitivity model is designed to set systematic procedures for mapping environmental sensitivity of shoreline and foreshore natural resources and habitats. The second one is an analytical tool for determining the most suitable sites, for building new tourism villages and hotels. Thus, the power of GIS, as an analytical tool, is used to handle some environmental issues, related to the coastal zone, in the form of cartographic models. http://www.geoniger.com/gnl_proj1_vege_land_use.htm Geomatics International (in collaboration with Geomatics Nigeria Ltd.) conducted the World Bank funded project, "Assessment of Vegetation and Land Use Changes in Nigeria between 1976/78 and 1993/95", during an 18 month time frame from 1994 to 1996 for Forestry Management, Evaluation and Co-ordinating Unit (FORMECU), Nigeria. The objective of this project was to develop current and reliable information on vegetation change and degradation from 1976 to 1995. Work involved the interpretation of land use and vegetation classes from a variety of satellite data; creation of a GIS database; production of a variety of hard copy map products; and conducting a change analysis to identify trends and the extent of vegetation and land use change. http://bara.arizona.edu/sixcities/Urban2.htm Creation of an Urban Tracking GIS for Africa and the Near East: Brief Discussion Paper. Thomas K. Park, Mamadou Baro, Stuart E. Marsh, Gary Christopherson, The University of Arizona. We propose to generalize a methodology whose initial development has been funded by NSF to facilitate(s) mapping, monitoring, and planning of urban land-use through the creation of a geographical information system (GIS) database built up from historical remote sensing images. Our current NSF funding ($500,000) has enabled us to begin the development of this system in six cities in Africa (Marrakech, Dakar, Bamako, Niamey, Dodoma and Gaborone) and we have encountered such enthusiasm from our African colleagues that we would like to broaden and strengthen this effort in three ways- 1) extend the study to additional cities in the six countries, 2) add new countries in the near term, and 3) add new (and recently released) high resolution Ikonos 1-4 meter satellite imagery to our analysis. Remote sensing image analysis for urban land-use classification is highly dependent on the spatial resolving power of the satellite system utilized. Though our work was pioneering in many ways, it relied on images at 20-m spatial resolution, which was the best available at the time, and our efforts can clearly benefit from the added resolution now available. This new imagery can be used to refine the current urban land-cover classes and these refinements can then be extended to better interpret the historical satellite data from the 1980s. http://www.saplanners.org.za/SAPC/pa-papers.htm http://www.saplanners.org.za/SAPC/pa2002.htm Papers are online from Planning Africa 2002, Regenerating Africa through Planning, 18-20 September 2002. International Convention Centre (ICC), Durban, South Africa -------------------------------------------------------------------- FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES / AWARDS / SUPPORT -------------------------------------------------------------------- http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-TW-03-005.html Fogarty Request for Applications for developmental research grants on health, environment and economic development. Note that the receipt date for applications has been extended to Jan. 14, 2003. Letters of intent are not necessary. http://www.baringfoundation.org.uk The Baring Foundation - International Grants Programme - To improve the capacity and enhance the effectiveness of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and community-based organisations (CBOs) in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. The Programme's current theme is on problems arising from long-term migration and displacement of people, particularly that caused by political, economic and environmental circumstances. The Foundation will accept applications from registered charities, voluntary and constituted not-for-profit organisations in the UK that have close working partnerships with non-governmental and community-based organisations in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and are seeking to benefit people disadvantaged or marginalised by long-term migration and displacement. Deadline for submission of outline proposals, end of January 2003. Selection of applicants for second stage (full proposals and presentations) will be made by April 2003. For further information, visit the website or contact baring.foundation@uk.ing.com http://www.water-forum3.com/contest/ Water Action Contest: 50,000 US$ Awarded to the Winner Organization Applications accepted until December 20, 2002 The Water Action Contest is conducted in order to provide various organizations in the world with the opportunity to present their actions/activities at the grassroots level towards the resolution of the world water issues at the 3rd World Water Forum (see Conferences, March 16-23, 2003, Japan). Participation is encouraged through the possibility to attend the third World Water Forum to present the action. For more information see the Guidelines. http://www.iscgm.org/html4/index_c1_s1_ss3.html#doc3_242 Call for Papers - Young Authors Award will be granted to a few people based on the excellence of their submitted paper. The award will provide for travel expenses to the Global Mapping Forum 2003 in Okinawa, Japan (GMF03), including accommodation. http://www.iscgm.org/html4/index_c1_s1.html#doc2_org.iscgm.schedule.gmf03 Applicants for the award should be 40 years old or younger. Those who wish to apply should submit a full paper by February 1st, 2003. http://www.doylefoundation.org/fellowships.htm Doyle Fellowship. Applications are invited from young scientists for the first Doyle Fellowship in international agricultural research. The inaugural fellowship will consist of a research fellowship to be taken up at a laboratory in the United Kingdom and/or Africa and a bursary to cover travel and accommodation, for a period of three to six months, depending on requirements. The fellowship is established in memory of the late Dr Jack Doyle, formerly Deputy Director General of the International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases (now part of the International Livestock Research Institute) in Nairobi, Kenya. Dr Doyle died in 1999 at the age of 55, after an outstanding career in international agricultural research and veterinary medicine. Dr Doyle was one of Britain's finest scientists in the field of international agricultural research and played an important role in developing a cadre of outstanding researchers in tropical animal health. The trustees of the Doyle Foundation will award the inaugural fellowship to the applicant who submits the best proposal, in English, for research on a topic relevant to increasing livestock production in Africa. Preference will be given to applicants who reflect Jack's broad interests and spirit of innovation. Applications should consist of a research proposal (maximum 6,000 words), a curriculum vitae, and a covering letter indicating where the research would be done and the proposed supervisor(s). Entries should be sent to: Chair, The Doyle Foundation, g.persley@doylefoundation.org. The fellowships are being supported by the members of the Doyle Foundation. There is no specific deadline for the fellowship applications - the Doyle Foundation is open to applications throughout the year. For further details, contact g.persley@doylefoundation.org -------------------------------------------------------------------- TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES -------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.birdlife.org.za/news/news_front.cfm?ipkNewsID=385 Nominations invited for NGO management course Applications now being accepted for Organisational Development Programme for Effective Conservation, run by BirdLife South Africa. The training, which will be conducted in Wakkerstroom, Mpumalanga, South Africa, will enable conservation organisations to operate in a businesslike manner to achieve their objectives. The training is based on needs which highlighted the managerial difficulties faced by small, often science-based NGO's. This lack of managerial capacity is often a crucial limiting factor in the growth and sustainability of NGO's. Successful applicants will be fully sponsored by the British High Commission. For more information, contact André Botha, Manager: Conservation & Training, BirdLife South Africa, ajbotha@dorea.co.za http://www.uneca.org/about_eca/jobs/va/index.htm ECA Fellowships for Young African Professionals. The fellowship programme targets young African professional under the age of 31 who have completed, or about to complete their Masters Degree programs. The objectives of the programme are three- fold. First, to familiarize the Young Professionals with the Commission's broad programmatic focus, services rendered and service- provision modalities to member States and sub- regional bodies in addressing various facets of Africa's development challenges. Second, to facilitate practical and on the job- environment experience to the Young Professionals as they prepare for their doctoral studies. Third, to prepare the Young Professionals for possible career assignments at African development institutions, teaching and research think tanks or member States' government institutions upon completion of their higher degrees. For more information and to apply, contact George Alibaruho, galibaruho@uneca.org http://www.ifs.tu-darmstadt.de/gradkoll/Bewerbung-e.html#Annoucement http://www.ifs.tu-darmstadt.de/gradkoll/index.html Technology and Society Doctoral Fellowships The interdisciplinary post-graduate college / graduate school "Technology and Society" at the University of Technology Darmstadt, Germany, announces 18 doctoral fellowships, starting April 16, 2003 and running for a maximum of 3 years. Applications due before Jan. 8, 2003. The program is primarily financed by the German Research Council (DFG). According to its rules, applicants should generally not exceed 28 years of age, but exceptions may be granted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- TRAVEL GRANT OPPORTUNITIES -------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.ictp.trieste.it/%7Etwas/SM_Form.html Grants for Scientific Meetings in Developing Countries The Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) with generous funds from the Italian Government (through the Direzione Generale per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo) encourages the organization of high level international and regional scientific activities in developing countries by offering financial assistance to the organizers of conferences, workshops, symposia and special meetings held in these countries. The support is normally provided in the form of travel grants for principal speakers from abroad and/or participants from developing countries other than the country where the meeting is held. The amount provided normally does not exceed US$4,000. Scientific institutions and organizations in Third World countries holding meetings in their countries may apply for grants to cover the travelling expenses of lecturers from abroad and/or young scientists from the region. Organizers of international conferences being held in developing countries may apply for grants to assist with travelling expenses of eminent scientists from developing countries, the travelling expenses of principal speakers who are unable to obtain sufficient funds from other sources or travelling expenses for young promising scientists from the region. Grants are offered for meetings in the following fields of Natural Sciences: Agricultural, Biological, Chemical, Engineering, Geological and Medical Sciences. The closing dates for receipt of completed requests are: 1 June for meetings to be held during January-June of the following year; 1 December for meetings to be held during July-December of the following year. -------------------------------------------------------------------- CONFERENCES - YOU'RE INVITED! -------------------------------------------------------------------- December 10, 2002 http://www.gsdi.org/docs/SDIA/Landscapes_of_Africa4.doc Call For Oral And Poster Presentations For A Special Session On "The Changing Landscapes Of Africa". International Association of Landscape Ecologist, (IALE) World Congress. Contact hbulley@calmit.unl.edu by December 10, 2002 to express your interest in participating in this special session and/or inauguration Africa-IALE chapter. All abstracts for oral and poster presentations need to be submitted through the IALE 2003 conference web site at http://www.iale.ntu.edu.au by January 31, 2003 December 2002, Yaoundé, Cameroon http://www.paris21.org/htm/regional.htm#africa Central Africa Workshop - Statistics The workshop will comprise the six members of CEMAC (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon) plus Sao Tomé and Principe; each country delegation will include up to six participants. January 2003, Dakar, Senegal (third week of January 2003 proposed) http://www.paris21.org/htm/regional.htm#africa West Africa Regional Workshop(s) -- Statistics. The workshop will be split into two parts comprising seven to eight countries each. The two parts will be held on different dates and in different locations. Every country will be invited to attend both parts, but the delegations for countries to which the workshop relates directly will include up to six delegates, and the other countries will send one or two delegates. The first group will be composed of: Cape Verde, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Sierra Leone. The second group will include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, and Togo. The second West African workshop has been proposed for February 17-21, 2003 in Abuja, Nigeria January 22-24, 2003, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa http://www.cig.ensmp.fr/~iahs/conferences/2003Stellenbosch.htm 2nd International Symposium on Integrated Water Resourcs Management - "Towards Sustainable Water Utilisation in the 21st Century. February 17-21, 2003 in Abuja, Nigeria http://www.paris21.org/htm/regional.htm#africa West Africa Regional Workshop(s) -- Statistics. See above (January 2003) February 17-21, 2003, Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand http://www.iucn.org/themes/fcp/activities/transboundary1.htm Increasing effectiveness of Transboundary Conservation Areas in tropical forests. Upcoming workshop organized jointly by ITTO (International Tropical Timber Organization) and IUCN. The workshop will bring together practioners involved in the implementation of ITTO's transboundary conservation areas (TBCA) programme, and experts from IUCN and other interested organizations. TBCA Meeting Secretariat: transboundary@iucn.org February 18-21, 2003, Lusaka, Zambia http://www.melissa.org/english/about%20us/main2.htm http://www.melissa.org/english/about%20us/AgendaLusaka.htm (provisional agenda) The MELISSA Program Regional Workshop on "Managing Sustainable Development Locally: Fighting Poverty and Environmental Degradation" The Workshop,hosted by PAES (Partnership for African Environmental Sustainability), aims to advance the participants' knowledge of the broad range of poverty reduction and sustainable development issues confronting local governments. The meeting is an interactive platform to share experiences and knowledge. Recognizing that the success of this event depends on the participants' contribution, the MELISSA Program has set aside a very limited amount of grant funds to facilitate participation of African stakeholders from the public and the private sectors, as well as from the civil society. If you would like to be considered for a grant, please indicate this clearly when registering. However, bear in mind that it is unlikely that the MELISSA Program will be able to meet all grant requests; only those who meet the selection criteria will be eligible for consideration. February 19-21, 2003, Accra, Ghana http://www.cto.int/ http://www.cto.int/frame.php?dir=02&sd=10#Ghana Commonwealth Telecommunications Network (CTO) Digital Africa Summit: Building Digital Opportunities through Public-Private Partnerships. For more information, contact Rowan Waddelow, Conference Director, rw@worldsummits.com March 2003 http://www.gisig.it/coastgis/call_for_papers/callforpaper_def.pdf Call for papers: Submission of abstracts due by beginning of March 2003. Fifth International Symposium on GIS and Computer Cartography for Coastal Zone Management, October 16-18, 2003, Genova, Italy http://www.gisig.it/coastgis/home.htm March 10-12, 2003, Paris, France http://www7.nationalacademies.org/usnc-codata/OpenAccessWorkshop.html International Workshop on Open Access and the Public Domain in Digital Data and Information for Science March 16-23, 2003, Japan http://www.water-forum3.com/ta/ The 3rd World Water Forum March 24-28, 2003, International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy http://ugamp.nerc.ac.uk/promise/research/conference2003/index.html Monsoon environments: Agricultural and hydrological impacts of seasonal variability and climate change. Currently sponsored by EU PROMISE, ICTP, WRCP and START/CLIMAG PROMISE comes to an end in March 2003. An international conference is planned to disseminate the results of the project. PROMISE research is inter-disciplinary and applicable to end-users and policy-makers. The aim is to include presentations from development agency representatives and end-users as well as from leading resesarchers in meteorology, hydrology and agriculture. May 12-16, 2003, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia The 3rd Meeting for the Committee on Development Information Theme: Information for Governance United Nations Conference Center (UNCC), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia http://www.uneca.org/eca_resources/Conference_Reports_and_Other_Documents/di sd/codi/codi_iii__advance_announcement.htm http://www.uneca.org/codi May 14 - 16 , 2003, Cape Town, South Africa http://www.ausimm.com.au/whatsnew/apcom.doc The South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy will host the 31st International Symposium on Computer Applications in the Minerals Industries (APCOM). Karen du Toit, The Symposium Co-ordinator, APCOM 2003, apcom@saimm.co.za, http://www.saimm.co.za May 18-23, 2003, Montreal, Canada http://network.idrc.ca/ev.php?URL_ID=3964&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC International Forum on Ecosystem Approaches to Human Health The goal of the Forum is to provide a platform for a discussion of the ecosystem approach to human health, the evidence from the field, and the relevance of the approach to improving health and well-being. The Forum offers the opportunity for researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and civil society representatives from around the world to share knowledge, and for institutions to consider strategies for a way forward. May 22-23, 2003, GFAR Conference in Dakar, Senegal http://www.egfar.org/tools/special2002/specialcontents.htm#2003 Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the Senegalese National Organising Committee to hold the 2003 GFAR Conference on May 22 & 23, 2003. The GFAR Conference follows closely behind the 2nd FARA General Assembly which will now take place on May 19 & 20th, 2003 in Dakar, Senegal. In between the FARA and GFAR meetings, there will be an Agricultural Day scheduled for May 21st, 2003, during which the host, the Senegalese NARS, will show us some of the work they have been doing. GFAR Secretariat, gfar-secretariat@fao.org May 22-23, 2003. Berlin, Germany http://tlc.unipv.it/urban_2003/index.html 2nd Joint Workshop on Remote Sensing and Data Fusion over Urban Areas (URBAN 2003) May 26-30, 2003, Bonn, Germany http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/shared/template/livelihoodconference.asp International Conference on Rural Livelihoods, Forests and Biodiversity. An international conference on the role of forests in supporting rural livelihoods in developing countries and on the maintenance of biodiversity. Key objectives are to survey current knowledge and identify policy lessons and a future research strategy. May 27-30 2003, Semmering, Austria http://isess.crle.uoguelph.ca/2003.html International Symposium on Environmental Information Systems (ISESS 2003) is the 8th event in the conference series organised by IFIP (International Federation for Information Processing) Working Group 5.11, "Computers and Environment". The purpose of the symposium is to present and discuss the progress and actual trends in Enviromatics in terms of methods, tools and state-of-the-art applications. July 9-11, 2003, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA http://www.spatial.maine.edu/~ssdbm03/ SSDBM2003, 15th International Conference on Scientific and Statistical Database Management June 14-20, 2003, Marrakech, Morocoo http://www.iaia.org/ IAIA '03 Conference: Impact Assessment and Capacity Building July 7-11, 2003, San Diego, CA, USA http://www.esri.com/events/uc/index.html ESRI International User Conference 2003 July 12-14, 2003, Okinawa, Japan http://www.iscgm.org/html4/index_c1_s1.html#doc2_org.iscgm.schedule.gmf03 Global Mapping Forum 2003 in Okinawa (GMF03), sponsored by the International Steering Committee for Global Mapping. The objective of the Forum is to exchange ideas, experiences and information among data users and data providers concerning global or regional scale geographic information. July 13-17, 2003, Darwin, Australia International Association for Landscape Ecology (IALE) World Congress. A special session on Africa is being planned for 2003. The proposed theme for this session is, "The Changing Landscapes Of Africa". The session is also intended to be a starting point for an Africa-Chapter of IALE. All those with interest in landscape analysis, resource data and projects in Africa are encouraged to be part of this process. If you are interested in the special session and Africa-IALE, contact: Henry N.N. Bulley, CALMIT, University of Nebraska - Lincoln Tel: 402-472-4973; Email: hbulley@calmit.unl.edu July 20-25, 2003, Cambridge, U.K. (by invitation only) http://www.cambridgeconference2003.com/index.htm National Mapping - Shaping the future. A newsletter, giving more details about the conference, has been sent out to potential delegates. Ordnance Survey hosted the first two conferences (1995, 1999), which by design aims to get together the senior people in national mapping to discuss, in a relatively informal setting, the challenges facing national mapping around the world. In recent years, the conference has also, not surprisingly, focused on SDI's, training, public private relationships etc. for senior representatives of national mapping organisations of the world. Each time, about 200 delegates from 70 to 80 countries were represented at the conference July 21 - August 1, 2003, Durban, South Africa http://www.ru.ac.za/institutes/rgi/irc2003/IRC2003.htm International Rangeland Congress August 4 - 11, 2003, Bloemfontein, South Africa Water Conservation Technologies for Sustainable Dryland Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa (WCT). This event is organized jointly by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), the Water Research Commission of South Africa (WRC), South Africa's National Department of Agriculture (NDA) and the ARC-Institute for Soil, Climate and Water (ISCW). This event was initiated by ISCW and the Optimizing Soil Water Use (OSWU) Consortium which is part of the Systemwide Soil, Water and Nutrient Management (SWNM) Programme of CGIAR. August 10-16, 2003, Durban, South Africa http://www.icc2003.gov.za/ 21st International Cartographic Conference & 12th General Assembly of the International Cartographic Association ICA and the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Association will offer spatial data infrastructure workshops in conjunction with the International Cartographic Confernce August 12-16, 2003, Nairobi, Kenya http://www.jkuat.ac.ke/other/ce2003/default.htm International Civil Engineering Conference on Sustainable Development in the 21st Century. Organized by: Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology (JKUAT) August 17-22, 2003, Kruger National Park, South Africa http://safnet.umd.edu/implementation/events/meetings/index.asp Fourth Meeting of Southern Africa Fire Network (SAFNet). Contact: Diane Davies, ddavies@hermes.geog.umd.edu August 13-20, 2003. Berlin, Germany http://www.isi-2003.de International Statistical Institute, 54th Biennial Session (includes meetings of the Bernoulli Society, the International Association for Statistical Computing, the International Association of Survey Statisticians, the International Association for Official Statistics and the International Association for Statistical Education). Email: isi@cbs.nl September 8-17, 2003, Durban, South Africa http://wcpa.iucn.org/wpc/wpc.html Vth World Congress on Protected Areas September 17-19, 2003, Quebec, Canada. http://www.gfis.net/showannoun.php?id=24 Information Interoperability and Organization for National and Global Forest Information Systems. The goal of the conference is to bring together international scientists, practitioners, administrators, and information professionals to discuss and announce recent research and advances in the use and organization of information within national and global forest information systems. October 16-18, 2003, Genova, Italy http://www.gisig.it/coastgis/home.htm Fifth International Symposium on GIS and Computer Cartography for Coastal Zone Management. CoastGIS is a collaborative initiative of the International Geographical Union's Commission on Coastal Systems and the International Cartographic Association's Commission on Marine Cartography. October 19-31, 2003. Bonn, Germany 6th Conference of the Parties to the Convention to Combat Desertification. Contact: CCD Secretariat; Tel 49-228-815 2800; Fax 49-228-815 2898/99; secretariat@unccd.int; www.unccd.int November 2003, Dakar, Senegal. AfricaGIS '03. Check EIS-AFRICA website for more details as they become available. http://www.eis-africa.org November 4-7, 2003, Washington, DC, USA http://gsdi.org/SDIA/gdinfinal.pdf http://www.gdin.org GDIN2003, Sixth Annual Conference of the Global Disaster Information Network. For questions on gdin2003, send an email to gdin2003@hotmail.com. For questions on GDIN, send an email to gdin@hotmail.com [the GDIN Secretariat is pleased to announce that the Government of South Africa has offered to host GDIN2004]. November 10-14, 2003, Honolulu, HI, USA http://www.symposia.org 30th International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment December 1- 5, 2003. Morocco FIG Regional Conference for the Arab Countries and Francophone Africa. Organised by FIG, Ordre National des Ingenieurs Geometres - Topographes ONIGT. Co-sponsored by FIG Commissions 2, 3 and 5. Contact: FIG Office, email: fig@fig.net -------------------------------------------------------------------- EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES -------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.gsdi.org/docs/SDIA/CETRAD_job-announcment.doc GIS/RS Assistant, CETRAD, Nanyuki, Kenya. He/she will work with ArcInfo, ArcView and Erdas Imagine software. Applications should be submitted by Dec. 12, 2002. Information Systems Specialist, Angola, Mozambique and Tanzania, 18 mths (Quote EUR016 IT). Hub Consulting is looking for an Information Systems Specialist. Interested candidates should send their updated CVs, quoting the job reference number in the subject line of their email, to admin@hubconsult.com. The post requirements specified are strictly observed - in all cases local experience and not less than 5 years of relevant experience in total is required. The ISS shall, under the supervision of the National Director of DNF and MCSOS, initiate activities aiming at creating an integrated and harmonised information system between departements closely related to MCS. * Citizen of EU or ACP State. Technical qualifications in the areas of Information Management and Information Technology, the areas of relational database design and network applications being a pre-requisite. * Working knowledge of Portuguese, next to good command of English are requisites. * A working knowledge of French will be considered a plus. * Five years working experience in developing countries and a track record in the design and implementation of IT-based information within the fisheries sector will be considered an advantage. Hub Consulting would appreciate only receiving replies quoting the vacancy reference from candidates whose CVs demonstrate all of the attributes requested. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. http://www.wn.org East Africa Area Representative, World Neighbors, Inc. World Neighbors seeks an East Africa Area Representative based in East Africa. Responsibilities include program development, strategic planning, budgeting, evaluation, reporting, administration and fund-raising. Travel 30-40% of the time. Position supports WN activities in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya . Requires 5-10 years experience in direct field level program development within East Africa and at least a Master's degree or equivalent level of education. Solid analytical, documentation, and communication skills needed. Experience with integrated programs in 2 or more of the following areas essential: Sustainable Agriculture, Natural Resource Management, Reproductive and Community-based health, or Capacity building/organizational development. Fluency in Swahili and English required. For job description/applications instructions, see web site or request by email: Personnel@wn.org. Application Deadline: December 31, 2002. http://www.ndi.org/employment/current/sat/it_101102.asp Southern Africa: ICT Senior Program Officer http://www.uneca.org/about_eca/jobs/va/current/DISDRVAICTI%20L5200229Nov2002eng.doc http://www.uneca.org/about_eca/jobs/va/current/DISDRVAICTIL5200229Nov2002eng.htm Regional Adviser on Promoting Information and Communications Technology Initiatives, L-5. U.N. Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Deadline for applications: 10 January 2003 http://www.uneca.org/about_eca/jobs/va/current/DISDRVAICTPL5200229Nov2002eng.doc http://www.uneca.org/about_eca/jobs/va/current/DISDRVAICTPL5200229Nov2002eng.htm Regional Adviser on Information and Communication Technology Policy, L-5. U.N. Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Deadline for applications: 10 January 2003 Deliver advisory services to regional institutions in African member States, and in particular, to Regional Economic Communities; Liaise and collaborate with regional organisations that support ICT infrastructure development and ensure harmonisation of work objectives; Undertake needs assessments; Identify regional information and communication technology applications; Develop guidelines, standards and information packages. http://www.whoafro.org/vacancies/af-02-47.html http://www.whoafro.org/vacancies/af-02-50.html http://www.whoafro.org/vacancies/af-02-53.html WHO Regional Office for Africa ,CONGO (Brazaville) Development and maintenance of the AFRO web based services, including the full deployment of the AFRO Intranet and Internet, hosting and/or mirroring of Country Office web sites. Installation and support of web servers and web technology tools. Closing date for application: 10 January 2003 http://www.unep.org/Vacancies/Display.asp?PostID=FB/8000-99-01-1118 Project Manager (Enabling Activities), Division of Global Environment Facility, UNEP, Nairobi, Kenya. Develop and implement a communication strategy for the exchange of information and experiences between task managers of various regions and acting as focal point for the exchange of information. Liaise with task managers to identify and initiate actions to secure partnerships and collaboration with other UNEP divisions, UN agencies, the private sector, NGOs to develop opportunitie s for capacity development activities. Deadline for applications: Dec. 23, 2002. Advanced university degree(s) in natural or social sciences. Knowledge of modern computer applications and software including advanced use of spreadsheet and database applications. Six years working experience at the international level. http://www.wcs-congo.org Director-Lac Tele Community Reserve(LTCR) Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Congo Republic Management of daily operations of LTCR, designing and implementing biological and socioeconomic monitoring programs, and incorporating local traditions into the management of LTCR. Strengthen relationships with stakeholders including the 22 villages present. Develop and oversee a law enforcement team to reduce poaching of protected species and mitigate effects of neighboring logging companies. Work with WCS Director for the Republic of Congo, governmental and non-governmental organizations including financial management and sustainable fundraising for the LTCR. Collaborate with staff from other projects to implement and test the WCS Landscape Species Approach. Full job description available upon request, e-mail: wcsafrica@wcs.org. Deadline: Dec. 14, 2002. -------------------------------------------------------------------- OTHER -------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.nesda.kabissa.org/ http://www.gsdi.org/docs/SDIA/nesda-PR.txt http://www.gsdi.org/docs/SDIA/nesda-PRf.txt (francais) Abidjan, 27 November 2002 - N°. NESDA/14-2002 The Parliamentarians of West Africa contribute to the sub-regionl State of the Environment reporting process Les Députés d'Afrique de l'Ouest contribuent au processus d'élaboration d'un rapport sous-régional sur l'état de l'environnement A workshop for Policy Level Officials was held from October 28-30, 2002 in Dakar, Senegal within the framework of the project: "Development of a collaborative institutional and data framework for integrated environmental assessments and reporting for West Africa",jointly implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Network for Environment and Sustainable Development in Africa (NESDA). The workshop brought together about fifteen parliamentarians, Presidents of the Environmental Commissions within the National Assembly of the sub-region countries, and the representatives of institutions such as CILSS and IUCN as well. http://esl.jrc.it/envind/dashbrds.htm http://esl.jrc.it/envind/csdriojo.exe (to download the executable) The "Dashboard of Sustainability" is a free, non-commercial software that allows one to present complex relationships between economic, social and environmental issues in a communicative format aimed at decision-makers and citizens interested in Sustainable Development. -------------------------------------------------------------------- The inspiration for this newsletter came from the Forest Information Update (www.foresters.org/portal), and follows the same format. Thank you Gyde! You are welcome to forward this message onto colleagues who may find the information useful. If you do so, please include the newsletter contact information at the bottom of this message so that others will know about the newsletter and subscribe themselves. If you have news or information related to GIS, remote sensing, and spatial data infrastructure (e.g., workshop announcements, publications, reports, websites of interest) kindly send me the materials so that I can include it in the newsletter. This newsletter depends upon your continued interest and input. This newsletter is supported through Geographic Information for Sustainable Development, GISD (http://www.opengis.org/gisd). -------------------------------------------------------------------- Kate Lance EROS Data Center/International Program Address: Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Secretariat USGS 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive Mail Stop 590 Reston, VA 20192 Email: klance@usgs.gov Tel: 703-648-4564 Fax. 703-648-5755 Website: http://edcintl.cr.usgs.gov/ http://www.gsdi.org/