Environmental Areas of Responsibility (EAOR) · Environmental Areas of Responsibility (EAOR) Lars...
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Environmental Areas of Responsibility (EAOR) Lars Bromley International Office American Assoication for the Advancement of Science 202.326.6495 [email protected]
Transcript of Environmental Areas of Responsibility (EAOR) · Environmental Areas of Responsibility (EAOR) Lars...
Environmental Areas of Responsibility(EAOR)
Lars BromleyInternational OfficeAmerican Assoication forthe Advancement of [email protected]
The EAOR Project – Work in Progress
Semi-participatory mapping of environment and development science and policy activities at the landscape to regional scale – applicable globally
One component and offshoot of a broader international sustainable development research activity, the Plata Project
The EAOR Project
The Plata Project focused on the Plata River Basin (PRB) of South America -developed research agendas on critical questions of sustainability
Main component was funded by the National Science Foundation’s Biocomplexity Initiative
The EAOR Project
The Plata River Basin:Roughly the size of the US east of the MississippiIncludes parts of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and UruguayIntergovernmental coordinating committee (CIC) and numerous national and international environment and development projects (Pantanal)Fascinating sustainability issues – landscape conversion and human impacts
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Research component involved dozens of science and policy organizations –
UniversitiesGovernment research labs / institutesGovernment resource management agencies (local and national)Non-governmental conservation organizations, activist groupsInternational institutionsEtc…
The EAOR Project
Common theme among all parties was:a lack of knowledge regarding where other groups were working
‘We don't know who's working next door, much less in the next valley or country‘
Theme echoed in our other projects in Russia and Southeast Asia, and also here in the US
Locational decoherence….
The EAOR Project
Obviously an issue for geography and GIS.
With a small grant from a NOAA, and software support from ESRI and in-kind support from AAAS, we undertook EAOR
The EAOR Project
EAOR:makes use of ESRI ArcIMS 9 (Sun Solaris / Apache / Tomcat)
gathers and serves spatial data describing where different organizations are working
linked to standard info on each organization (contact points, website, etc)
The EAOR Project
Proof of concept being developed during this pilot project. Setup:
Starting with AAAS Plata Basin ‘contact list’developed during research project
Local partners (Fundacion Proteger) expand the AAAS PRB database and add spatial data
Attribute data held on MySQL/PHP database here in DC
Spatial data entered into ArcIMS hosted here in DC
NGO
Individual
Commercial Business
Foundation
International Organization
Humanitarian
Other
Government Agency
University/College
Grade School
Research Institute
Professional Association
Museum
Media
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Classifying organizations in 14 types:
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Workflow:Facilitated by simple instructions and animated demonstration (ViewletCam)
Local partner interviews organizational rep, expands each record
Gathers spatial data from them via faxed / emailed map
Inputs spatial EAOR coverage into ArcIMS via the EditNotes function on the Java viewer
The EAOR Project
Workflow (cont’d)A primary key number links the MySQL record with the spatial coverage
I compile outputs of both into a master coverage
I split the coverage according to organizational types
Upload to public facing prototype website
The EAOR Project
Results to date:96 distinct polygons (policy coverages)
59 distinct organizations
11 different types of organizations
Note: slow due to personnel changes, etc. Process itself is rather speedy…
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Key problem is when organizations say they cover huge areas.
To make results more useful we display them according to organization type
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Challenges:
Technical portion of this project relatively easy
Classifying organizations by type a real challenge, no real taxonomy describing such a broad range of organizations.
Our list thus far combines elements of the UN registered NGO list, the IRS 501(c)(3) taxonomy, and the CIESIN human dimensions taxonomy of the NASA Global Change Master Directory
The EAOR Project
Challenges (cont’d):
Concisely mapping areas of operation a real challenge for some organizations. Some mandates are continental, and figuring out where the real activity very tough for a survey sort of activity.
When asked where they work, many say ‘everywhere’
Ad-hoc nature has presented some problems which hopefully would diminish - or perhaps increase- with a full project
The EAOR Project
Next steps:Aesthetic wash of the public EAOR (2 - 3 buttons max, map and table centric)
Full documentation
Outreach (paper / presentations)
Report to NOAA, ESRI, Global Environmental Facility, and CIC
Requesting further funding - EAOR Global?
Lars Bromley
Senior Program Associate
International Office
American Association for
the Advancement of Science
202.326.6495
