Geographic Information for Sustainable Development
Executive Summary
The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)
was held August 26 - September 4, 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
It was a forum for world leaders to address progress made on the "Agenda
21" issues raised at the previous summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. In
addition, leaders charted a course for the next decade by supporting practical,
results-oriented programs to alleviate poverty, environmental degradation,
food insufficiency and natural resource mismanagement.
While many of the problems covered by Agenda 21 remain severe, the past
decade has seen a significant improvement in earth observation data and
information management systems that can help address those issues at global,
national, regional, and local levels. A key challenge for the international
community during the next decade is to make geographic information more
accessible and useful to decision makers working on sustainable development
problems, especially in regions such as Africa.
Over the past decade, the public and private sectors have successfully
collaborated in
- the collection of earth observation data (from LandSat to IKONOS)
- the technologies that allow such data to be accurately geo-referenced
(global positioning system [GPS]), organized, and displayed (geographic
information system [GIS])
- application of geospatial tools for development and disaster mitigation,
e.g. FEWS (Famine Early Warning Systems),
- testing new approaches to "bridging the knowledge divide" and harnessing
telecommunications media that allow data and information to be broadly
and quickly disseminated locally and internationally (Internet), e.g.
the Leland Initiative.
Scientists around the world have undertaken pioneering work in applying
these data and technologies to a wide range of pressing natural resource
management problems - from forest fire prevention to soil conservation
and famine early warning systems (FEWS). The United States has also committed
significant resources to working with the United Nations (UN), other governments,
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and the private sector on developing
the decision making tools and earth science-based information needed by
local and national resource managers to make environmentally and economically
sound decisions. A priority for the future is sustainable agricultural
production and natural resource management to feed a growing world population,
reduce poverty, and promote trade competitiveness.
The Geographic Information for Sustainable Development (GISD
) initiative outlines a USAID-U.S.
State Department-led international collaboration and alliance whose objective
is to apply a new generation of earth observation data, state of the art
GIS-linked technologies, and field-tested geographic knowledge to ongoing
sustainable development problems in diverse target
areas Africa. This alliance is being done in collaboration with activities
and funding by many partners both within and outside of the continent
of Africa.
The aim is to assist local, national, and international agency users working
in Africa to better address long-term challenges such as disaster mitigation,
natural resource management, trade, and poverty alleviation. The results
and lessons-learned will demonstrate the value of international collaboration
in using geographic information for a broad range of sustainable development
challenges over the next decade. Some of the lessons-learned were shared
online and at exhibits and side-events at the WSSD
in Johannesburg--August 2002, at AMCEN
in Kampala, July 2002 and other venues to be announced.See some of the
presentations from the GISD Sidevent. A Powerpoint presentation with
an overall report is available HERE.
Contact: State Department: Fernando Echavarria (echavarriafr@state.gov)
or Marleni Ramirez (ramirezmx@state.gov)
Tel. 202-663-2395 or 202-663-2393 Fax. 202-663-2402 or 202-647- 5136.
USAID contact: Robert Ford (rford@usaid.gov),
Tel. 202-712-5073 Fax. 202-216-3579 or 202-216-3010. For the MyCOE-GLSD
project contact ESRI, Inc. and the AAG/NGS: Geographic
Learning for Sustainable Development: Carmelle J. Cote, Wendy Warren
or Dan Zimble, ESRI, Inc. International Relations/GIS Consultant ESRI,
Inc., 8620 Westwood Center Drive, Vienna, VA 22182 USA Tel. 703-506-9515
ext. 8013 Fax. 703-506-9514 Email: ccote@esri.com,
wwarren@esri.com or Dan
Zimble Africa Mosaic, courtesy of EarthSat 20011130
