UN CARTOGRAPHY AND GIS MEETING
UN HQ, New York; 28-30 March 2000
Ergin Ataman, GIS Manager
Environment and Natural Resources Service Sustainable Development Department
FAO, Rome, Italy
Major UN - FAO Policy Shaping Events
- UN Conference on Environment and Development
UNCED - Agenda 21, June 1992
- Post UNCED Environmental Conventions on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Desertification
- World Food Summit (WFS), FAO, November 1996
WFS Action Plan
- Kyoto Protocol, December 1997
- FAO Strategic Framework 2000 - 2015; 1999
The Environment and Natural Resources Service(SDRN) of FAO deals with sustainable development
and natural resources and environmental management issues
Main activities:
- development of spatial information infrastructures that enable
information access, sharing and lower costs;
- promotion integrated of data and information use for food security and sustainable development;
- development of methodologies, guidelines and policies for resource management and environmental monitoring;
- coordination of the implementation of UNCED Agenda 21, post- UNCED environmental Conventions and cross-sectoral Agreements.
Other FAO Programmes with a significant GIS and/or Remote Sensing technology components
- Monitoring, forecasting and simulation of the Nile River Basin irrigation control (FAO / USAID cooperation since 1990);
- Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA2000); Global forest resources statistics; deforestation-afforestation (FAO / donors)
- Desert Locust Monitoring and Forecasting with RAMSES remote sensing and SWARMS GIS systems; preventive control
- Monitoring and forecasting of TseTse incidence in West Africa
- Some 60 projects in 50 countries with a remote sensing and/or MIS/GIS component.
The following units in The Environment and Natural Resources Service (SDRN) of FAO
develop geo-spatial databases and/or meta-databases
1. Agrometeorology
2. ARTEMIS
3. Remote Sensing and AFRICOVER
4. GIS
5. GTOS
Activities of these Units are described in the slides follow.
How much will you How much will you harvest?harvest?
Weather is the main single factor responsible for Weather is the main single factor responsible for the year-to-year variations in crop yield.the year-to-year variations in crop yield.
Weather Weather impact can impact can
be quantified be quantified with the use with the use
ofof
FAO agrometeorologists closely monitor FAO agrometeorologists closely monitor crop conditionscrop conditions in Africa and in Africa and extreme phenomenaextreme phenomena, such as El Niño., such as El Niño.
Crop-weather models are also used for the assessment of Crop-weather models are also used for the assessment of environmental riskenvironmental risk and and climate change impactclimate change impact..
Agrometeorology can tell you!Agrometeorology can tell you!
0 50 85 115 150 252
0.78
1.06
0.75
0.55
0.31
0.72
0.55
Sahe lian C ountries - C ropping Season 1998C erea ls Y ie ld Forecast
Percentage of Average
0.75 Average Y ie ld (1993-97) in t/ha
E stim ated Y ie ld (p ercen tag e o f a vera ge )
C E R E A L S Y IE L D - 19 9 8-99 S E A S O NE stim a ted Y ie ld a s a t 3 0 A p ril 19 9 9
a s P ercen ta ge o f L a st 5 -Y ear A v erag e
10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00 30.00 35.00 40.00 45.00- 35.00
- 30.00
- 25.00
- 20.00
- 15.00
- 10.00
- 5.00
0.00
0 % 5 0 % 8 5 % 1 1 5 % 1 3 5 % 1 8 0 % 2 0 0 %
Depending on the country,
up to 70% of the yield can be lost
due to poor weather!
450
550
650
750
850
950
1961 1966 1971 1976 1981 1986 1991
Ra
infa
ll in
de
x (
mm
)
60
70
80
90
100
110
Milk
pro
du
cti
on
in
de
x
(79
-81
=1
00
)
Milk productionMilk production andand rainfall rainfall in Niger, Mali and Chadin Niger, Mali and Chad
Agrometeorology
Climate maps
Computer tools
Climate data
ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES SERVICE - SDRN
DATABASES OF THE AGROMETEOROLOGY GROUP
•CLIMATE TABULAR DATABASES•CLIMATE MAPS•VARIOUS TABULAR SUBNATIONAL CROP PRODUCTION DATABASES
ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES SERVICE - SDRN
Environmental Data and InformationARTEMIS
Since August 1988, the Africa Real-Time Environmental Monitoring Information System, ARTEMIS, has been operationally receiving, processing, archiving and disseminating low-resolution remote sensing imagery in support of FAO’s programmes on early warning for
food security, migrant pest and disease control.
The ARTEMIS system was implemented by FAO in close co-operation with NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre, USA, the National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) of the
Netherlands and the University of Reading, U.K. with funding support from the Government of The Netherlands. The ARTEMIS archive contains products derived from
four different series of satellites by a number of processing centres and are available at daily, 10-daily, bi-weekly and/or monthly intervals. They can be seen at
http://ARTMET.FAO.ORG.
ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES SERVICE - SDRN
FAO - ARTEMIS
SSCKiruna, Sweden
NASA GSFCGreenbelt,
USA
NOAA/NESDISSuitland, USA
CNESToulouse, France
EC/JRC/SAIIspra, Italy
NASDA/JMAJAPAN
EUMETSATDarmstadt, Germany
USAIDFEWS
VITOMol, Belgium
University of MiamiMiami, USA
NOAA-CPCSuitland, USA
Japan Met. Agency
Tokyo, Japan
USAID FEWS
USERS
FAO Global Informationand Early Warning System
on Food and Agriculture (GIEWS)
FAO Emergency Centre forLocust Operations (ECLO)
FAO Animal Health Service(AGAH)
Southern Africa DevelopmentCommunity, RegionalRemote Sensing Unit
(SADC)
Various national and internationalresearch organisations
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index
Africa
Cold Cloud Duration Africa
Estimated Rainfall Africa
Estimated RainfallAfrica
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index Central America
Normalized Difference Vegetation IndexSouth America
Cold Cloud DurationSouth East Asia
Short Wave Infrared(VEGETATION)
FAO - GIS
GIS is used to integrate, process, analyse and display digital spatial and non spatial data. Layers of thematic information can be integrated to provide new insights into sustainable development problems.
Layer 1: HydrographyRivers and lakes.
Layer 3: Infrastructure
Original data can be from a range of projections and scales.
Layer 4: Soils
Layer 2: Elevation contours
In this example, many thematic layers were integrated to obtain a GIS information infrastructure for Burundi.
Layer 5: Major land-covertypes
FAO GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM (GIS)FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
GIS refers to computerised information storage, processing and retrieval systems, specifically designed to cope with spatial data and its corresponding attribute information.
GIS is an important tool for sustainable development, bringing together spatial and statistical data from different sectors. It can help promote communication between different sectors such as agriculture, forestry, climate monitoring and rural development.
Several layers are combined in this GIS output. The 3D effect is generated by the GIS from the elevation data.
FAO Geographic Information System (GIS) and FAO corporate GIS databases are managed by SDRN.
ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES SERVICE - SDRN
Some Examples of FAO GIS Datasets
For more detailed information see:http://www.fao.org/sd/Eldirect/GIS/EIGIS000.htm
World Soil Resources Map
Map of problem soils in Continental Southeast Asia
National and Sub-National Administrative boundaries are a key dataset because they can be used to spatially represent socio-economic data such as population.
Vegetation Map of South America
Layers of thematic data are combinedto model a specific factor.Additional data layers relevant to sustainable development include:- Geology Protected Areas Population DensityFactors which can be modelled include:- Suitability for a particular crop Food Insecurity Vulnerability Soil Degradation, Desertification Deforestation, Environmental Impact
The core data holdings of the FAO GIS Unit are described in in an MS-Word document provided. FAO GIS Unit also
intends to update/enhance or developthe following global GIS database:
1. Subnational boundaries
2. Geo-referenced socio-economic datasets
3. Climate
4. Soils and soil degradation
5. Soil constraints and problem soils
6. Agroecological zones
7. Potential food self-sufficiency at low and high input levels
8. Land-cover
9. Ecofloristic zones
10. Physiography (Africa)
11. Topography (DEM)
12. Hydrography
13. Water resources ( Africa)
14. Watershed basins
15. Irrigated lands
16. Infrastructure
17. Protected areas18. Population and population density (rural/urban
projections for 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015)
Global Terrestrial Observing System
linking the world’s terrestrial monitoring systems to provide a global vision of the
Earth we share
Focuses on five issues of global concern:
1. Changes in land quality
2. Availability of freshwater recources
3. Loss of biodiversity
4. Impacts of climate change
5. Effect of pollution and toxicity
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
International Council of Science Unions (ICSU)
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
United Nations Educational, Scientific andCultural Organization (UNESCO)
World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
GTOS SponsorsGTOS Sponsors
AFRICOVER- Eastern Africa ModuleAFRICOVER- Eastern Africa Module
Land Cover Classification System
and
Africover Interpretation and Mapping System
Africover - Eastern Africa ModuleAfricover - Eastern Africa Module
Africover initiative:
The only existing regional mapping project specifically set up to fill the identified gap of absence of baseline homogeneous information on
natural resources at a detailed level.
New approach:
What it is:a set of detailed/homogeneous land cover and environmental information that can be used by a large community of specific end-users.Why:because this database is functional to the new database management trends, it reduces costs and improves efficiency at local, national and regional levels.
Multi-Purpose Africover Database for Environmental resources (MADE)
Planning
Wild life
UNIQUE SOURCE OF BASIC ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION
Standardization process - Comparability- Increasing efficiencyCost reduction - Easy to update - Conform international standards
MULTIPURPOSEAFRICOVER
DATABASE FORENVIRONMENTAL
RESOURCES
Rangeland Agriculture
Africover - Eastern Africa ModuleAfricover - Eastern Africa Module
Forestry
From the concept to the practical application:- a set of new dedicated tools is developed that are explained below-
Africover Interpretation and Mapping System (AIMS) is a new concept of on-screen interpretation software that combines the advantages of the digital automated classification and traditional visual interpretation in a synergetic way. It improves the interactive use of ancillary data and any other type data.
Land Cover Classification System (LCCS) is a new concept of land cover classification system that is flexible, able to describe any type of land cover feature in the world, at any scale or level of detail, in a standardized manner. It provides a common language to bridge users and existing systems.
Africover - Eastern Africa ModuleAfricover - Eastern Africa Module
Africover - Eastern Africa ModuleAfricover - Eastern Africa Module
Project facts:
Countries that are at present participating to the project:Egypt, Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Eritrea
Total project area: 8.5 millions km2
Cost of the project per square Kilometre: 0.64 USD/km2
National Experts under training: 42 persons
Africover - Eastern Africa ModuleAfricover - Eastern Africa Module
ObjectivesImmediate Objective 1Production of a current regional assessment of land cover of E. Africa as a basis for regional and national level planning.
Outputs: A 1:1 000 000 colour and 1: 250 000 B&W satellite interpreted land cover
maps of the whole of E. Africa (12 countries). A consistent hierarchical land cover classification legend for E. Africa at
mapping scales of 1:1M and 1:250 000. A digital database of land cover units of E. Africa based on interpreted
1:500 000 and 1:250 000 scale satellite imagery.
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