Geospatial data for development

http://www7.nationalacademies.org/gdest/GDEST

HOORC Senior Research Fellow Cornelis VanderPost attended the GDEST 2008 Conference on Geospatial Sciences for Sustainable Development in Africa in Cape Town, South Africa from March 17 to 19, 2008. The aim of the Global Dialogues on Emerging Science and Technology is to increase partnerships and networking among scientists and experts in the United States and across other world regions by building upon and reinforcing existing networks among international partner scientists and governments. The conference highlighted challenges, opportunities, and potential steps toward the effective use of geospatial science for sustainable development in Africa. The conference addressed three broad themes: (1) Observing Africa, including examining trends and opportunities in monitoring the environment and sustainability issues; (2) Analysis of regional challenges to Africa, how decisions and policies have been directly influenced by modeling, analysis, and visualization tools; and (3) The African data stream, constraints and approaches for getting valid data in a timely and affordable manner in a useful format, and how it can be shared among collaborators. The GDEST activities are intended to contribute to global security, to address human aspects of sustainability, and to advance opportunities for shared knowledge on emerging science and technology. They facilitate interactions between leading U.S. scientists and engineers and their foreign peers, with a special emphasis on involving young investigators. Dr Vanderpost presented a paper titled
Integrated data for integrated planning for the Okavango Ramsar site: challenges and prospects.