Use of Geographic Information Systems in Agricultural Research
The joint UNEP/CGIAR project implemented by GRID-Arendal aims at establishing long-term links between UNEP and the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). In its first phase, which ended in April of the reported year, the project successfully brought together individuals and institutions involved in GIS in agricultural research and could give an overview over needs and areas of major interest. The second phase is planned to bring a consolidation of these efforts by creating a sustainable GIS network within the CGIAR as well as continuing the policy of enabling concrete GIS projects to be carried out by subcontracting to applicants from the CGIAR.
After having accomplished the first project phase by April 1996, the project was extended with renewed funding from the same donor, the Norwegian Government, for a 2-year period, with the condition to reach a sustainable status when the project ends.
Project Homepage at http://www.grida.no/prog/global/cgiar/
All documentation, newsletters and reports produced by and in connection with the project are placed on Internet as well as the datasets and metadata catalogues are directly downloadable from this site. An idea of GIS use in agricultural research can be gained by looking at the examples posted there.
ARENDAL III workshop
This year's project workshop held in Arendal in June gathered representatives from 13 of the 16 CGIAR institutes. UNEP and other international and private institutions (ICIMOD (Nepal), USAID, FAO (GTOS), WCMC, CIESIN, UN Statistical Division) completed the list of participants. The agenda was mainly set based on the results of the requirement study. In contrast to the 1995 workshop, the contents focused more on internal and organisational topics than on scientific discourse. A main demand resulting from the working sessions was that the project provide an information package showing the possibilities and constraints of GIS use in agricultural research by a set of examples (see above 'Awareness building Package'), as GIS experts expressed a certain isolation within the research community at their institution due to the lack of understanding of GIS.
Proceedings from the workshop are available both in printed and electronic form.
Newsletter /List Server
The newsletter, until July sent to a list of about 100 recipients, was from then on being sent to a list server in regular intervals. This change in information exchange allows a multi-direction communication rather than just one-way from the project management. The idea expressed by the plenary at the workshop, where this change had been decided, was that by this way joint projects could be discussed. Traffic however has so far been low. (subscription: cgiar-gis-l-request@grida.no)
Meetings/Contacts with Related Initiatives/Donors
Meetings with people from the USAID/World Bank initiative on Research Impact Assessment Indicators, known as the 'Athens process' took place in January in Arendal, April in The Hague, June in Arendal and again in October in Washington. So far no concrete agreements resulted, constant information exchange is however important and will continue.
Impact Assessment and Evaluation workshop
A presentation at the CGIAR Impact Assessment and Evaluation workshop in The Hague, Netherlands, April 15-17 introduced the project to a wider audience within the CGIAR beyond the actual GIS users at the Centers. It was generally accepted that GIS can be a valuable tool for impact assessment and evaluation, a routine which becomes increasingly important as donors are asking for presentation of results of their engagements.
Workshop on Resource Management Domains (RMD)
The project was also presented at the workshop on Resource Management Domains (RMD) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, organised by IRRI and IBSRAM, where GIS was identified as the major tool to implement the RMD concept. In this context the importance of a sustainable GIS network in the CGIAR ( i.e. system-wide initiative in one or another form) becomes obvious.
'Land Quality Indicator' programme (LQI)
The newly started 'Land Quality Indicator' programme
by World Bank, FAO,
UNDP and UNEP sought for our assistance in identifying data sources
(as the project already has collected a stock of information from
the CGIAR centers, some of the most important clients and players
in the LQI programme, for the data catalogue) for the implementation
of their yet to be developed set of indicators. Harmonisation
of the LQI and UNEP/GRID metadatabase criteria is another ongoing
topic of discussion. Representatives from the LQI programme were
present at the Arendal III workshop and at ICW, and regular information
exchange with the UNEP LQI focal point is taking place.
ACIAR
Discussions with the Government of Australia have been ongoing regarding support for some project-related activities in the Southeast Asian region.
Ecoregional Fund to Support Methodological Initiatives
The project management will further investigate on possibilities for obtaining funding for sub-projects through this fund. Preliminary meetings took place in The Hague.
Center Visits
The series of visits to CGIAR centers was continued in early 1996 with consultations at WARDA, Côte d'Ivoire (Feb) and IITA, Nigeria (April) and short meetings with representatives from ICRAF and ILRI in Nairobi and ISNAR at The Hague, increasing the number of centers visited to 10. The Requirement Study Report served as a basis for the programme development of the Arendal III workshop. It is available both in printed version and on Internet.
Awareness Package
One of the most urgent needs identified during the
Center visits was a compilation of examples which show the variety
of possible applications of GIS in agricultural research. It is
addressed both at scientists and management at the Centers to
create a better understanding of the possibilities and restrictions
of the tool and at donors interested in funding projects utilising
GIS in agricultural research. A first version has been prepared
for the International Centers Week in October 1996. It is planned
to expand the collection considerably for a presentation at the
CGIAR mid-term meeting in Cairo in May 1997.
Asia Population Database
The Asian administrative boundaries and population database is part of an ongoing effort to improve global, spatially referenced demographic data holdings. This sub-project has pooled available data sets, international boundaries and coastlines were replaced with a standard template, the attribute database was redesigned, and new, more reliable population estimates for subnational units were produced for all countries. From the resulting data sets, raster surfaces representing population distribution and population density were created.
Along with the datasets, Uwe Deichmann provided a documentation of the database and a theoretical paper 'A Review of Spatial Population Database Design and Modeling'
Latin America Administrative Boundaries Dataset
The object of this activity was to significantly improve the existing administrative data for Latin America by producing an integrated dataset for the whole of the continent down to th ethird administrative level.
Spatial Data Catalogue
The catalogue of existing spatial datasets in the
CGIAR system collected during the center visits and by electronic
mail was made available on WWW and in a paper edition. It is however
to be completed and adapted to the UNEPMetadatabase/Housekeeping
tool standards.
The following activities are planned for 1997: