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1. The signatories to this Letter of Agreement (LoA)
declare their intention to continue the co-operation established
through the Norwegian-funded UNEP/CGIAR project on use of GIS
in agricultural research, through the establishment of a consortium
on spatial information
2. The UNEP/CGIAR project has shown that the development
of spatial data sets and tools for analyses of geographic information,
as well as spatial information management may be a CGIAR research
area well-suited for taking advantage of collaboration among and
between member centres and other institutions like the UNEP/GRID
network
3. The overall purpose of the CSI is to apply geographic
information science to crop improvement and natural resources
management for addressing food security and poverty in the developing
world. Specific goals include:
- To co-ordinate geographical data management for
the consortium members, ultimately benefiting the whole CGIAR
system and its partners
- To bridge the gap between scientists, decision
makers and the public by improving access to and understanding
of information from consortium members to decision makers and
the public
- To conduct ex-ante and ex-post impact assessment,
in particular poverty mapping
- To contribute to the understanding of the geographic
dimensions of crop varieties and distributions to improve crops
and conservation of germplasm
- To improve understanding of the physical and
socio-economic dimensions of natural resource degradation
- To integrate NARS into the consortium and to
address training needs of NARS in GIS for agriculture research
4. All members of the Consortium will automatically
constitute a Board which will meet annually, and which will elect
an executive steering committee. Members of the committee will
be elected for a period of 2 years. The executive steering committee
will develop the overall policy guidelines, work programs and
budget for the co-ordination, to be approved by the Board.
5. The Board will appoint a co-ordinating centre
to act as the executive organ of the steering committee for a
period of two years with the possibility for reappointment. The
co-ordinating centre will be responsible for:
- taking an active role in the co-ordination, management
and application of geographical information within the consortium;
- keeping the CGIAR-internal spatial information-related
communication running;
- maintaining a newsletter on a list server and
an Internet Homepage for the Consortium;
- organising an annual meeting of the Consortium;
- fostering the development of proposals to donors
for projects to be implemented by the consortium participants;
- promoting the broadening of the consortium to
include other national and international members
6. The signatories of this LoA confirm their intention
to agree on pledging an annual cash contribution not exceeding
USD 15 000.- annually for the years 1999 and 2000 to financially
support the co-ordinating and administrative activities of the
co-ordinating centre.
7. The signatories of this LoA affirm their intention
to dedicate an in-kind contribution to Consortium activities.
8. The first meeting of the consortium will be facilitated
by and take place at GRID-Arendal, Norway October 12-13 1998.
The main objective of this meeting will be to reach a final agreement
on the organisational framework, goals, strategy, work programme
and budget for the first two years. GRID-Arendal will act as secretariat
for preparation of the first meeting in the consortium and, each
signing party should appoint a responsible liaison person.
8. The LoA will take effect on being signed by at
least 5 CGIAR centres. It will remain in force until the parties
of the LoA decide to terminate the activities of the consortium
by simple majority. New parties (IARC's, NARS and related international
institutions) can join at any period. Parties can cancel their
commitment at the end of every 2 year period.
Brasilia May 28 1998,
CIAT
CIMMYT
CIP
ICARDA
ICRISAT
ILRI
IRRI
ISNAR
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