Training on Geospatial Decision Support System Applications for Climate Resilience in Solomon Islands.
UNOSAT is implementing The project “Strengthening Capacities in the Use of Geospatial Information for Improved Resilience in Asia-Pacific and Africa.” (2021-2024) intends to develop sustainable capacities and implement ad-hoc and tailored geospatial solutions. These can help to improve existing policy and decision-making processes to solve priority issues in the fields of Disaster Risk Reduction. Partnership with the government is crucial to the success of the project. UNOSAT aims to develop innovative capacity development solutions and geospatial services by integrating data, technology, knowledge, and people - custom-tailored to the country's needs. This 3-year long project builds on previous experiences and aims to further enhance capacities by leveraging technological advances and innovation and providing integrated geospatial solutions for improved decision-making in the fields of Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Resilience, and Environmental Preservation in the eight target countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Fiji, Lao PDR, Nigeria, Solomon Islands, Uganda, and Vanuatu.
The Solomon Islands, an archipelago nation in the South Pacific, faces a multitude of hazards and vulnerabilities. Situated along the Pacific Ring of Fire, the region is prone to frequent earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis. Additionally, tropical cyclones pose significant risks, often resulting in widespread devastation. Climate change exacerbates these dangers, contributing to rising sea levels, coastal erosion, and coral bleaching. Compounded by limited resources and poor infrastructure, addressing these challenges is essential for enhancing the resilience and sustainability of the Solomon Islands.
In the Solomon Islands context, mitigating risks hinges on a comprehensive grasp of their spatial dimensions, making geospatial technologies indispensable. It is essential to understand factors such as hazards, exposure, and vulnerability, for decision-makers and planners to develop strategies that mitigate risks and enhance resilience. This understanding allows for the implementation of proactive measures to minimize the impact of disasters and ensure the safety and well-being of populations. For these reasons, UNOSAT is offering a technical course focusing on the decision-making of geospatial information technology for climate change resilience to government officers in the Solomon Islands. During this training, participants will learn to utilize the Decision Support System Applications developed by UNOSAT under the project.
At the end of the course, participants should be able to:
- Recall guiding principles for Geospatial Decision Support Systems.
- Utilise the Geospatial Decision Support Systems for problem-solving related to various disaster risk and climate change scenarios.
In this day-long training, participants will gain hands-on experience with the Geospatial decision support system application, enabling them to extract valuable insights from geospatial information technology that can support informed decision-making for disaster risk reduction in the context of issues faced in the Solomon Islands.
This is a full-time, face-to-face course with lectures and group exercises real case scenarios (60% lab exercises, 40% lectures and discussions). This course is divided into 3 modules with group activity with an expected workload of 8 hours.
The course is designed in a way to have a balanced approach between theoretical and practical teaching methods consisting of presentations, live demos, interactive sessions, and lab exercises. At the end of the course, UNITAR-UNOSAT will set up a community of practice platform to maximise the learning experience of participants and to provide all required technical backstopping and assistance to training participants during and after the training.
The course is designed to accommodate selected participants from the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification (MMERE), the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAL), Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology (MECDM), Ministry of National Planning and Development Coordination (MNPDC), Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MID), Ministry of Lands, Housing and Survey (MLHS), Ministry of Finance and Treasury (SIG ICT Services and Solomon Islands National Statistics Office (SINSO) and the Solomon Islands National University (SINU).
Since the main purpose of the training is to introduce the Geospatial Decision Support System, some of the requirements would be, to ensure that
- Staff who have the commitment and mandate to use the knowledge and skills acquired to support climate change resilience ;
- Basic computer literacy is required.
The course will be delivered in English