INTRO
content introduction Main features If you generally scan a fresh ITC News for reports on international work- DGIM in China 2 shops and conferences, then this issue won’t disappoint. If it’s details of Award for UPM student 6 courses - or particularly new programmes (page 9) - that you’re after, then Education news read on. Awards, new publications, alumni gatherings, all find their place in Land remote sensing 8 the following pages. In fact, such was the array of articles that poured Infrastructure and community through our door that it looked as though space restrictions would consign development 9 some to the holding bay. According to an old saying, you can’t get a quart Transparency in land into a pint pot. But it’s a saying that shows its age: not only because today’s administration 11 sage is unlikely to resort to the use of imperial measures but also because it GIS for spatial territory planning 12 fails to take into account the skills of Design&PrePress. So, dexterous manip- Visits ulation of mouse and menus means yet again we can deliver a newsletter State Minister of Environment varied in content. Indonesia 13 ITC News paints on a broad canvas. The devastating Wenshuan earthquake Events that struck last May, less than three months before Beijing hosted the Sum - Workshop Geomatics engineering 14 mer Olympics, dominated screens and headlines across the world. Page 2 Vietnamese on study tour 15 reports on ITC’s cooperation and activities in disaster geo-information man- Seminar academics and local agement in China, illustrating the role that the Institute can and does play government 16 when such catastrophes occur. Turning to Sri Lanka and a completely differ- Hyperspectral remote sensing 17 ent topic (page 24), the national survey department, which falls under the GEOSS workshop 18 umbrella of the Ministry of Lands and Land Development, has launched the Forty years urban studies 19 second edition of The National Atlas of Sri Lanka, marking yet another mile- AARSE conference 20 stone in its long history. The creation process makes for interesting reading. Announcements Schermerhorn street 22 Milestones were a feature on the home front too. The Dies Natalis celebra- Carranza’s book published 23 tion in December highlighted the 40th anniversary of urban studies at ITC National atlas of Sri Lanka 24 (page 19), and the seminar organised to mark the occasion provided an op- Hissinkprijs for MSc graduate 25 portunity to debate the dynamic and challenging issues facing our “urban Africa GIS conference 2009 26 age”. Within this context, indicators (page 16) are proving to be a useful tool. Partnership news Cooperation agreement CMA 27 Staff, students and alumni of ITC are all familiar with the name of Willem Staff news Schermerhorn, founder of the Institute. In an issue that brings 2008 to close while hovering on the threshold of change, it seems only appropriate to give Woldai fellow Geological Society of Africa 27 fuller coverage to his life and achievements (page 22) - and I’m sure you will Award for Gianluca Miscione 28 discover one or two surprises along the way. Stein honorary professor at CASM 28 Janneke Kalf Welcome to ITC/Staff leaving 28 Managing Editor Life after Award for Xuehua Liu 29 colofon News from ITC NEWS is published quarterly, by ITC, Enschede, the Netherlands Prasun K Gangopadhyay 30 Alumni gathering China 31 Managing Editor: Janneke Kalf Correspondence to: Managing Editor Editor: Jorien Terlouw ITC NEWS Alumni gathering Sri Lanka 31 P.O.Box 6 Alumni gathering Ghana 32 Editing: Janice Collins 7500 AA Enschede Design&PrePress: Henk Scharrenborg Phone: +31 (0)53 487 44 11 (Composer DTP service) Fax: +31 (0)53 487 45 54 Printing: PlantijnCasparie Zwolle E-mail: [email protected]
2008number 4 The views expressed by the contributors do not necessarily reflect those of ITC
ITC News 2008-4 1 MAIN FEATURES
ITC’s Cooperation and Activities in Disaster Geo-information Management in China
Cees van Westen [email protected]
In December 2007, Introduction applications, and the organisation of joint CDUT-SKLGP, which specialises in slope sta- courses and workshops. Two of their profes- the United Nations bility, was established in 1991. Since that sors, Professor Tang Chuan and Professor Xu University-ITC School time the laboratory has worked with acade- Qiang, visited ITC in April 2008 in connec- mia and industry partners to develop inte- tion with a visit to the EGU conference in for Disaster Geo- grated research into geohazards. Through Vienna. The first PhD candidate under the implementing projects, SKLGP has con- MoU, Fan Xuanmei, visited ITC for three Information Manage - tributed greatly to eliminating threats to the months in 2008 (May-July) and followed two ment (UNU-ITC DGIM) environment in China, particularly in South - short courses (advanced modelling and west China. It has been very successful in multi-hazard risk assessment). During her and the Chengdu attracting projects funded by the Chinese stay at ITC, she also translated into Chinese government concerning the stability of a part of the RiskCity training package deal- University of slopes in large hydropower projects (e.g. ing with urban multi-hazard risk assessment Technology-State the Three Gorges project). which dealt with landslide hazard and risk assessment. Key Laboratory on SKLGP has built a highly competent and dedicated team of professionals to conduct Wenshuan Earthquake Geohazard Preven- research on geohazard prevention and geo- On 12 May 2008, Sichuan was hit by an tion (CDUT-SKLGP) environmental protection, as well as to facili- earthquake with a magnitude of 8.0, a tate the implementation of the research re- depth of 12 to 18 km, and a rupture zone of signed a Memoran- sults. But it has identified a gap in applying 300 km. The epicentre, near Wenshuan, was advanced technical aspects in this work, par- located at around 100 km northwest of dum of Under- ticularly in the use of GIS and remote sens- Chengdu. The earthquake affected a wide standing ing for hazard and risk assessment. ITC and area in several provinces, with Sichuan being CDUT share an interest in applying geo-in- the most severely hit. Movement took place formation science and earth observation to along three parallel faults, with dextral- disaster management through the UNU-ITC thrust oblique displacement, and with sur- DGIM and the CDUT-SKLGP. The former vice- face fault ruptures up to 8 m vertical and rector of ITC, Dr Niek Rengers, was ap- 6 m horizontal surface displacements. The pointed visiting professor by CDUT-SKLDP maximum peak ground acceleration and visits Chengdu for a number of months recorded was between 1 and 2 g, which is each year. exceptionally large. The earthquake caused 70,000 casualties; an estimated 25,000 of In December 2007, Martin Hale and Cees these were victims of earthquake-triggered van Westen visited Chengdu while Niek landslides. Apart from the damage caused Rengers was also there, and the two organi- by groundshaking and surface fault rup- sations signed an MoU. The MoU focuses on tures, the mountainous area was severely hit research collaboration, upgrading the staff by landslides. In some parts of the area, up of CDUT-SKLGP in GIS and remote sensing to 40% of the terrain was directly affected
2 ITC News 2008-4 MAIN FEATURES
which was located on the main faultline. It was hit by the earthquake in the form of groundshaking and surface rupture. The slopes around this city failed catastrophically. On one side, a rick avalanche buried the Beichuan middle school (700 casualties), and on the other side another large landslide covered a large part of the city (1600 casual- ties). Further downstream, a major landslide caused the damming of the river, resulting in the city centre being flooded. After several months, the destabilised slopes around the city were reactivated during a rainstorm event, and debris flows covered the ruins of A rick avalanche buried the Beichuan middle school (700 casualties) part of the city.
Beichuan city will not be reconstructed and by landslides, either in the erosion zone or in has been declared a monument site by the the depositional area. Many landslides also Chinese government. The Chinese dammed the rivers. Of these, around 38 very Geological Survey and CDUT-SKLGP have large earthquake-triggered landslide dams made a rapid inventory of landslides and created temporary lakes, which also flooded counted around 10,000 landslides in the several urban areas. As a consequence, the area. The largest of these, the Daguangbao Chinese government evacuated several large landslide in Anxian county, was estimated to cities in the downstream part, as there was have a volume of 742 million m3, creating a fear of lake outburst flooding. One of these landslide dam 570 m high. A total of four cities, Mianyang, had over two million peo- million people are estimated to be homeless ple. after the earthquake, and most of the infra- structure in the area has been lost. The Most of the landslide dams have now been Chinese government has built an estimated broken by the Chinese army, using explosive one million temporary houses (often outside and heavy equipment. Nevertheless, land- the earthquake area), constructed of corru- slide-dammed lakes still exist in many places, gated iron barracks with electricity and although the danger from these has been water supply but no heating. Aid to the af- greatly reduced. Over an area of some 250 x fected counties has been distributed over 50 km, more than 80% of the buildings the various provinces of China. The Chinese have been destroyed, and many villages and government intends to reconstruct the area towns in the area have been completely de- over a period of three to five years. The first stroyed. One example is the city of Beichuan, necessity is the elaboration of hazard maps
ITC News 2008-4 3 MAIN FEATURES
for the reconstruction planning. Much of the Zealand (Gisborne) and experts on structural area will not be able to sustain the same engineering, infrastructure vulnerability and numbers of people and activities, particularly engineering geology. On 3 November, we owing to the large numbers of landslides visited a large damsite project in the and unstable slopes expected to cause prob- MinJang river, close to the epicentre, which lems in the years ahead. Therefore, the was completed only three years ago. The top Chinese Geological Survey has been re- of this huge rockfill dam had received an ac- quested to carry out a hazard mapping proj- celeration of 2 g, and showed some settle- ect taking into account the multi-hazards ment and a large crack. We also visited the (earthquakes, landslides, floods). CDUT- actual epicentral area, where existing roads SKLGP has been requested to assist in this had been completely destroyed, and the city and we are currently evaluating whether ITC of YinXiu, where 92% of the buildings, in- can also provide assistance under the current cluding a large secondary school, had been MoU. The aim is also to carry out several in- destroyed. On 4 November, we visited the vestigative projects, such as a study on the Beichuan area (see above) and on 6 failure mechanisms of the large earthquake- November we visited the Mianzhu river, triggered landslides that have dammed the along which a chain of dammed lakes had rivers. The PhD researcher Fan Xuanmei is been created by a series of very large land- contributing to this research by carrying out slides. We also visited the completely de- an inventory of landslide dams and by mod- serted city of HanWang, which originally had elling the mechanisms. an estimated population of 15,000 but, owing to the great damage, has now been Field Visits completely evacuated. At a symposium held Together with staff from CDUT-SKLGP and on 5 November, an overview was given of two other groups of landslide and earth- the earthquake and the associated hazards, quake experts, we visited the earthquake and the foreign guests delivered their pre- area on 3, 4 and 6 November. One of these sentations. On 15 November, I also visited was a group of Japanese scientists from the the very large Donghekou landslide in Qiang Japanese Landslide Society; the other was an Chuan county together with Fan Xuanmei, earthquake reconnaissance group from the as this is a potential test site for her PhD. New Zealand Society of Earthquake This landslide covered several villages and Engineering, which also included a major dammed two rivers. The Chinese govern- from an earthquake-affected city in New ment has made this into a memorial site..
Beichuan city will not be reconstructed and has been declared a monument site by the Chinese government
4 ITC News 2008-4 MAIN FEATURES
The Chinese government intends to reconstruct the area over a The Chinese government has built an estimated one million temporary period of three to five years houses, constructed of corrugated iron barracks with electricity and water supply but no heating
4m
1.5m
Fault displacement
Most of the infrastructure in the area of Beichuan has been lost
ITC News 2008-4 5 MAIN FEATURES
UPM student wins Young Voice Award on Urban Air Quality andClimate Change
Mark Zuidgeest [email protected] Deepty Jain [email protected]
During the Better Deepty Jain is an MSc student at the ITC lengths, lengthwise number of trips and Department of Urban Planning and modal choice. The approach also requires Air Quality (BAQ) Management (UPM), as well as a student of amendments to be considered in the institu- workshop from 12 infrastructure planning with ITC’s partner the tional framework. As a result, decision mak- Center for Environmental Planning and ers would be able to make amendments to to 14 November Technology (CEPT) University in Ahmedabad, the plans in line with the impacts and reduce India. the ever-increasing transportation demand. 2008 in Bangkok,
Thailand, ITC Deepty’s essay discusses the common prob- The approach envisaged has the following lems faced by today’s cities of degrading air benefits: student Deepty Jain quality and increasing pollutants in the at- • contributes to sustainable development mosphere. This has raised concern among • reaches out to achieve four of the eight (India) was awarded various authorities. As discovered in litera- Millennium Development Goals directly one of four Young ture, transport is a major contributor to- and the other three indirectly (see table) wards the resulting situation. Hence differ- • may eventually lead to reduced emissions Voice Awards on ent strategies have been pursued to mitigate and fuel consumption per capita the problem and these have shown signifi- • may eventually lead to reduced invest- Urban Air Quality cant results. But still, some of the compo- ments for transportation infrastructure. and Climate nents (such as NOx) have shown minimal change. The root cause identified is the spa- The BAQ meeting in Bangkok was organised Change, based on tial structure of the city, resulting in ever-in- under the theme “Air quality and climate creasing demand for transportation. Many change: scaling up win-win solutions for her essay on researches and authorities are thus talking Asia” and was the fifth BAQ meeting held transport impact about adopting integrated land use and since 2001. The meeting was organised by transport planning approaches. The essay the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities, to- assessment for sets out a proposal to deal with this. The ap- gether with the Bangkok Metropolitan proach talks about doing a transport impact Administration, the Pollution Control urban policy and assessment (TIA) for urban development Department of the Ministry of Natural planning in India. plans before approval. This implies the use Resources and Environment of Thailand, in of integrated land use and transport models cooperation with the Asian Development that are yet at the experimental stage. This Bank (ADB), the United Nations Environment then has to be developed for every city and Programme, and the United Nations hence allow the possible impacts of develop- Economic and Social Commission for Asia ment strategies on the travel behaviour to and the Pacific. The BAQ is seen by many as be studied. The impacts can be studied in one of the most important urban transport the form of changed travel distances or trip events in Asia. Also, because of available
6 ITC News 2008-4 MAIN FEATURES
sponsorships, the workshop attracts a very how Asian cities can more actively improve interesting mix of representatives from (local) air quality and mitigate climate change by governments, non-governmental organisa- adopting a co-benefits approach that inte- tions, the private sector, academia and inter- grates urban air quality management, en- governmental agencies. Over 43 countries ergy management and climate change miti- were represented from Asia and elsewhere, gation (see also www.cai-asia.org). including a large contingent from interna- tional organisations such as the ADB, World ITC staff made a presentation in the session Bank, UN, GTZ, SIDA and Cities Alliance. In on land use planning as a transport planning addition to many pre-event events, some and environmental management tool, or- 225 presentations were delivered in plenary ganised one pre-event for the INDF project and working group sessions within three (see page 9), and participated in another thematic streams: air quality management one for the Cycling Academic Network. A and climate change; transport and climate small ITC booth in the registration area change; and stationary sources and indoor demonstrated ITC’s capacity in the field of air pollution. The overarching goal of the geo-information science for infrastructure, workshop was to cultivate a consensus on transport and environmental management.
Millennium Development Goals Direct Indirect Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Achieve universal primary education Promote gender equality and empower women Reduce child mortality Ensure environmental sustainability Improve maternal health Develop global partnership for development
Mark Zuidgeest, Deepty Jain with her award, Mark Brussel and Leo de Jong (from Keypoint Consultancy)
ITC News 2008-4 7 EDUCATION NEWS
education news
Advanced Training Course in Land Remote Sensing
Lichun Wang [email protected] Laura Dente [email protected]
From 13 to 18 October 2008, a six- sensors, surface energy balance ba- The practical sessions covered: day advanced training course on sics, and advanced water resources • an introduction to ESA toolboxes land remote sensing applications applications. Professor Verhoef gave (BEAM, EOLI SA, BEST, POL- over China took place in the State four lectures on MERIS and PROBA- SARPRO) Key Laboratory for Information En- CHRIS sensors, radiative transfer ba- • land resources monitoring gineering in Surveying, Mapping sics, atmospheric correction and pa- • flood monitoring and Remote Sensing (LIESMARS), rameter retrieval, and advanced • rice monitoring Wuhan University, Wuhan, P.R. radiative transfer and retrieval. • terrain motion China. Over 60 PhD students and • surface energy balance estimation post-doctoral and research scientists The course held by LIESMARS focused and soil moisture retrieval using from more than 30 Chinese insti- on the theory and application of ILWIS. tutes attended the course. radar and optical and thermal remote sensing. In particular, it aimed at stim- The course was very interesting and The European Space Agency (ESA) ulating and supporting the exploita- well organised, and was evaluated and the National Remote Sensing tion of ESA, earth observation, and highly by the students. All in all, it Centre of China sponsored the course both SAR and optical/thermal remote was an excellent chance for students within the framework of the Dragon sensing data for land applications; in- to gain access to the latest informa- 2 Programme, which is a wide-rang- troducing available software tools tion, to acquire new knowledge, and ing research initiative designed to en- and methods for the exploitation of to master advantageous tools for courage increased exploitation of these data; and training the students land remote sensing. earth observation satellite data, in to apply tools and use the comple- particular data from the ERS and mentary remote sensing datasets for Professor Bob Su and Professor Wout Envisat missions for applications de- land use and land cover forestry and Verhoef were appointed guest profes- velopment in China. agriculture applications, disaster (e.g. sors of LIESMARS, Wuhan University, flood, fire, terrain motion) monitoring for the period 2008-2010. Eight lecturers from five different applications, and surface energy bal- European countries and China were ance, soil moisture and drought appli- invited to give lectures for the course. cations. ITC’s Professor Bob Su and Professor Wout Verhoef were involved in the The course material is available on the ESA-MOST Dragon 2 website teaching. Professor Su gave five lec- (http://dragon2.esa.int/landtraining2008/dr2_lt_programme.html). tures on AATSR, SMOS and ASCAT
Group picture in front of the LIESMARS hall Dragon Project presentation ITC’s Lichun Wang and Laura Dente provided help to students and support to students during the practicals
8 ITC News 2008-4 EDUCATION NEWS
New MSc Programme: Management of Infrastructure and Community Development
Mark Brussel [email protected] Mark Zuidgeest [email protected]
In September 2009, a new MSc remained centrally led and engineer- course will start in Yogyakarta, ing-driven, and are known to often Aim, Competence and Degree Indonesia, focusing on the various fail in fulfilling socio-economic devel- The MSc programme is research- aspects of policy, planning and man- opment objectives. based and multidisciplinary, promot- agement of physical infrastructure ing personal capacities for the realisa- and its contribution to community To improve the benefit of infrastruc- tion of equitable and sustainable development. ture provision, it is believed that a infrastructure policies and plans. The paradigm shift to community-centred aim of the programme is to develop The course results from collaboration infrastructure development is needed. highly competent professionals, with between the Universitas Gadjah Such a shift is supported by current good academic and practical abilities Mada (UGM) in Yogyakarta and ITC academic and professional debates, in policy, planning, and designing and and Keypoint Consultancy, both in where physical infrastructures are in- managing infrastructure at the system Enschede, the Netherlands. In addi- creasingly seen as systems that pro- as well as the facility level. The MICD tion to developing the postgraduate vide the physical facilities and their graduate will hold an MSc degree is- programme Management of associated services to meet social and sued by Universitas Gadjah Mada. Infrastructure and Community economic needs. These facilities and National and international profes- Development, the partners are also services are to be planned and de- sional and academic accreditation will setting up a PhD programme and a signed according to sound planning be established. short course programme. All three and engineering fundamentals, partners are working together on the guided by principles of equity and development and the first-time imple- fairness, and directed towards envi- mentation of the education pro- ronmental, economic and social sus- gramme as a whole. If successful, the tainability. This requires an approach cooperation with ITC is expected to that typically would actively involve continue into the future. The project communities in recognising infra- has received financial support by structural problems, identifying po- means of a grant from the tentials and resources, and formulat- Netherlands Ministry for Economic ing alternative planning and Affairs through its Indonesia Facility engineering solutions. Programme. To address this need for sustainable The MSc programme is managed by community-based infrastructure sys- The team working on the programme devel- the Postgraduate School of UGM and tems, organisations at all levels are in- opment will be supported by staff from differ- creasingly in need of staff with multi- ent research centres and faculties in disciplinary knowledge of UGM. infrastructure systems and their inter- action with and impact on people, Programme Background and land, the economy and the natural Rationale environment. To contribute to this Infrastructure systems are essential aim, the MSc programme for providing a range of services in Management of Infrastructure and support of economic development Community Development (MICD) has and quality of life. Although policies been developed. It is hoped that a guiding infrastructure investments are critical mass of professionals can be aimed at alleviating poverty and re- trained that will be capable of imple- ducing unemployment, success is lim- menting an integrated community- Integrated infrastructure development ited. Prevailing approaches to infra- oriented approach to infrastructure structure provision have generally development.
ITC News 2008-4 9 EDUCATION NEWS
Content Career Perspectives Eligible Participants/Students The MICD curriculum is based on the The graduates of the study pro- The MSc programme is open to BSc- philosophy that infrastructure devel- gramme will have the capabilities of level graduates of relevant disciplines opment is a multidisciplinary process. both a process manager and a system who have graduated from either for- It provides an innovative combination analyst. As a process manager, the eign or domestic universities. Eligible of theory, methods and techniques graduate has the capability to oversee participants for this MSc programme relevant to infrastructure develop- the development process of infra- are typically officials from institutions ment from various disciplines, such as structure and to understand and working in infrastructure develop- engineering, planning, social sci- manage the performance of infra- ment and management, such as ences, economics and geography. structure systems. As a system ana- transportation, water supply and san- Another innovative element is the lyst, he or she has the capability to itation, irrigation, settlement, social role of geo-information science, analyse the infrastructure system in its services such as education and which provides an umbrella of con- physical, social and natural environ- health, local economic development, cepts, methods and tools to help to ment. Such an analysis contributes to public service improvement and envi- analyse, plan, design, optimise and vi- developing effective policies and pro- ronmental preservation. sualise infrastructure systems in their grammes based on the contribution local geographical, social and physical of infrastructure and community de- (thus environmental) context and velopment. support decision making in infrastruc- Further Information and Student ture planning and management. The It is expected that graduates possess- Admission conceptual framework governing the ing these qualities will have a variety For further information on programme programme content is given in the of employment opportunities: as con- content and organisation and on following chart. sultants and engineers for infrastruc- student admission procedures, ture development, infrastructure de- please visit the programme website: velopment policy analysts, community http://pipm.pasca.ugm.ac.id development specialists, infrastruc- e-mail: [email protected] ture process managers, academics in or [email protected] infrastructure planning and manage- [email protected]
e ment, and staff of NGOs advocating [email protected] equitable infrastructure.
A: Course Context and Fundamental s l l
Spatial and i
B: Spatial Planning and Development economic k
development s t n e s e m u e
q The g i C: Community Development community a n n h a c e m Conceptual framework governing the T d d n programme content n The a D: Impact Analysis environment a s n d o i o t h a t c e The curriculum is built up of 10 blocks i Governance of n M E integrated : : Governance of Infrastructure Development u infrastructure m of varying duration, and these are G m
shown in the following schedule, o c ,
The physical c which also indicates the dominant re- F: Infrastructure Systems infrastructure i m
lation to the elements in the frame- e d a
work. c I: Integrated Infrastructure and Community Development Project A :
For more details on content, please H Spatial and The Governance of economic The integrated The physical The curriculum is built up of 10 consult the complete study guide on development community environment infrastructure infrastructure blocks of varying duration (the the website given below. dominant relations to the elements are shown) J M.Sc. Research: and Thesis
10 ITC News 2008-4 EDUCATION NEWS
Transparency in Land Administration Training in Francophone Africa
Source: GLTN News, November 2008 (www.gltn.net/en/gltn-newsletter.html)
The fourth and final edition of Trans- training with a keynote address. sources to promote the sustainability parency in Land Administration (TLA) A substantive presentation that fol- of the initiative. With these resources, training was successfully executed in lowed the opening session anchored stakeholders interested in running the M’bour, Senegal, from 9 to 11 Sep- the training agenda in generic land training course at local, national and tember 2008. The training is a joint governance and transparency con- regional levels will be able to do so initiative of the Global Land Tool cepts. This paved the way for the in- without waiting for the expert inputs Network (GLTN) / Training and Ca- troduction of tools that have always currently coming from institutions pacity Building Branch (TCBB) of UN- been the centrepiece of the pro- partnered to execute the training. HABITAT and the International Insti- gramme. The tools were presented in tute for Geo-Information Science and a simple and user-friendly “how to” On the margins of the training, lead- Earth Observation (ITC). The recent format: how to assess the level and ing partners of the TLA initiative, event in Senegal was implemented in nature of land corruption; how to im- GLTN/TCBB and ITC, held meetings cooperation with ENDA Ecopop of prove information and public partici- and discussed pertinent issues related Senegal, which is a part of Enda Tiers pation; how to enhance ethics and to post-training support (as a strategy Monde, an international non-gov- professionalism; how to reform insti- to sustain initiative gains) and ways ernmental organisation. tutions and organisations. The skills and means of further scaling up of and knowledge aspect of the training the Sub-Saharan Africa experience The training attracted 28 participants has always been premised on sharing (i.e. taking the training outside from five Francophone countries: these tools, which are meant to im- Africa). After additional consultations Benin (6), Burkina Faso (7), Chad (4), prove transparency in land adminis- and depending on budget availability, DR Congo (4) and Senegal (7). Training tration and/or prevent and cure land regional partners and demand for the participants represented a wide range corruption. Exercises on the relevance training, these may well constitute el- of professional groups and organisa- and utility of the tools were provided ements of forthcoming activities. tions: central government (6), local au- using real-life regional case studies ob- thorities (3), customary chiefs (2), civil tained from Benin, Burkina Faso and With the implementation of the society organisations (4), professional Senegal. As always, the training con- Francophone edition, partners in- association (1), academia (7) and the cluded with event evaluation and the volved in designing and implementing media (5). Further, 11 of the partici- award of certificates of participation. the training have completed second- pants were women. But this number phase activities and, in doing so, have belies the real representation of women’s A shorter version of the training reached an important milestone. The concerns, which were more vocally and course will feature as one of the 23 training programme that entailed run- convincingly expressed both during training events of World Urban Forum ning four successive events in four dif- breakout group and plenary sessions. IV (WUF IV). Further, a training toolkit ferent regions of Africa has to date and trainers’ development guide, trained 114 change agents (73 men Mr Pape Mor Ndiaye, director of de- which are the final outputs of the pro- and 41 women). This has been made centralisation, Ministry of Decentrali- gramme at this stage, are expected to possible by the generous financial sup- sation and Local Government Authori - be made available at the end of the port GLTN received from the Swedish ties of Senegal, officially launched the year and should provide valuable re- and Norwegian governments.
Participants at work Awarding Certificates of Attendance by Mr. Chris Paresi
ITC News 2008-4 11 EDUCATION NEWS
GIS for Spatial Territory Planning: A Tailormade Course in Hanoi, Vietnam
Dick van der Zee [email protected]
At the special request of the Devel- in translating instructions on the spot pants may come with suggestions on opment Strategy Institute (DSI) of and facilitating discussion sessions how to introduce the use of GIS in Vietnam, which falls under the Min- was especially valued. their daily work and what require- istry of Planning and Investment, a ments have to be met to make that tailor-made training course on the The course evaluation, all in all, was successful. The DSI now has to review application of geographical infor- quite positive. At times there were the findings of the staff members mation systems for land use plan- some problems with computers and that it allowed to participate in the ning (spatial territory planning) in software, but these could eventually course and then decide to what ex- Vietnam (shortened to GIS for Spa- be solved. The teaching approach tent and for what activities it wants tial Territory Planning), was organ- and the balance between theory and to introduce the use of GIS. On this ised for 20 of their, mostly junior, re- practice were highly appreciated. basis, it can then be assessed which search staff members from 6 to 24 However, many participants found and how many people need to have October 2008. that the time had been too short. further training in which aspects of Nevertheless, the objective of raising GIS and/or remote sensing and at Support in the implementation was awareness of the possibilities of GIS what level. When this is known, it obtained from the Remote Sensing for activities with respect to spatial can be determined where such train- Center of the Ministry of National (territorial) planning at the partici- ing can be obtained - in Vietnam or Resources and Environment of pants’ institute was certainly met. abroad. Vietnam, which provided us with a The enthusiastic core of the 20 partici- lecture room/computer cluster at their premises and a section of a recent SPOT image covering the area to the west of Hanoi and including Hanoi it- self.
The course aimed to create aware- ness of the usefulness and effective- ness of the application of GIS in spa- tial planning and to enable the trainees to start applying basic GIS routines in their day-to-day work. The course tried to achieve this by letting Participants get some hands-on experience with GIS through exercises and by giving some lectures the participants get some hands-on on particular application fields. Short field trips served to support the exercises experience with GIS through exercises and by giving some (guest) lectures (two of which by ITC alumni) on par- ticular application fields. Short field trips served to support the exercises. In their final presentations, some of the participants showed practical ex- amples on how to use GIS for one of their planning assignments. Many participants showed keen interest in the potential of GIS for their work.
Anticipating that not all participants would have a sufficient command of English, two ITC alumni were en- Group photo gaged as “local experts”. Their help
12 ITC News 2008-4 VISITS visits
Visit of the State Minister of Environment from Indonesia
Tom Loran [email protected]
At the beginning of December, the Presentations were also given on the On behalf of ITC, presentations were State Minister of Environment from applications of membrane technology given by Dr Mannaerts of the Indonesia, Professor Rachmat (e.g. in water purification), on water Department of Water Resource Witoelar, visited Enschede. After the engineering (focusing, for example, Science (WRS) and Professor de Gier World Climate Conference in Bali, on water and vegetation roughness of the Department of Natural which took place at the end of for flood research and river basin Resources Science (NRS). WRS is carry- 2007, the Indonesian government management) and on the Twente ing out research on the relationships launched an action programme on Water Centre. The Twente Water between water issues and climate the environment and climate Centre, in which the UT and ITC have change (including managing water change. The National Action Plan, in been working together since the end scarcity, water cycle–climate interac- which both government institutions of 2007 (www.water.utwente.nl), tions, and earth observation applica- and universities are taking part, was brings together both technical and tions). Dr Mannaerts also gave an im- officially announced by presidential social scientists in order to study pressive presentation on the current decree. The Ministry is developing water systems and river basins from a ITC capability of real-time satellite ob- an international consortium of uni- broad perspective that encompasses servation around the world. Professor versities to support the initiative. governance as well as technology. de Gier presented an overview of the On his way to the Climate Conference ITC research programme on the car- in Poznan, Poland, Professor Witoelar The Minister and his entourage were bon cycle and climate change (includ- paid a visit to the University of invited to a buffet lunch, which was ing the carbon cycle, the use of re- Twente and ITC to discuss opportuni- also attended by all the Indonesian mote sensing techniques in mapping, ties for capacity building, research students from the UT and ITC. modelling and monitoring biomass, and expert exchange on the subjects and carbon sequestration). of water management, climate change and environmental assess- ment. The UT and ITC brought to- gether a group of scientists who are actively involved in research on vari- ous aspects of climate change.
On behalf of the UT, a presentation was given on IMPACT, a multidiscipli- nary research institute that is carrying out research on sustainable energy and greenhouse gas emissions, and on minimising the environmental ef- fects of products and processes. IM- PACT is currently focusing its research on such issues as energy-efficient and clean conversion of fossil fuels, bio- mass conversion and the utilisation of Professor Martien Molenaar meeting Professor Witoelar biofuel, sustainable production, and materials for sustainable energy (see More information on the ITC research themes: also http://www.impact.utwente.nl/). http://www.itc.nl/research/themes.asp For further information, please contact Tom Loran ([email protected]) or Hanna Lange ([email protected]).
ITC News 2008-4 13 EVENTS
events
Workshop on Developing Academic Programme in Geomatics Engineering in Nepal
Rabin K. Sharma, Land Management Training Centre, Nepal [email protected] Dr Arbind Man Tuladhar [email protected]
In view of the environmental pro- ised and the outcomes of each group sions and meetings with professors tection programmes and socio-eco- were then presented and discussed in from Kathmandu University and nomic development in Nepal, there a wider audience. Additionally, LMTC. The main results of the work- are various demands for new GIS smaller group meetings were held. Dr shop are the framework for designing knowledge for such fields as land, K. Tempfli and Dr A. Tuladhar from the curriculum and the suggestions agriculture, natural resources, urban ITC attended the workshop, con- and recommendations for the con- and rural planning, infrastructure tributed by delivering key lectures, tent of the BE Geomatics Engineering development, water resources and and participated in all group discus- syllabus. geology. To meet such demands, the education programme Geomatics Engineering, leading to academic degrees at the Bachelor and Master levels, is now being launched in Nepal. Currently the Bachelor of En- gineering (BE) programme is being jointly implemented by the Land Management Training Centre (LMTC) of the Ministry of Land Reform and Management and the School of Engineering of Kathmandu University. During the month of April 2008, ITC was invited to con- duct a fact-finding mission and ad- vise on these education programmes.
Recognising the new policy shifts and Inauguration ceremony the needs for new geo-information technologies, a four-day workshop was initially organised during the month of November 2008 at Kathmandu University to identify the required curriculum for a BE in geo- matics engineering. Around 65 par- ticipants from various ministries, de- partments, local governments and other universities, including ITC alumni and experts from private schools and consulting companies in- volved in geo-information science and land administration, attended the workshop. During the workshop, sev- eral technical papers were presented by experts and discussed. Four ses- sions of group discussion were organ- Core group meeting
14 ITC News 2008-4 EVENTS
Vietnamese on Study Tour
Dick van der Zee [email protected]
The Sweden Cooperation Pro- of the Netherlands, starting in the old arranged to the Dutch Cadaster in gramme on Strengthening Environ- polders around Giethoorn, with a Apeldoorn, again involving Professor mental Management and Land Ad- short walk in this Venice of the North, Paul van der Molen. This visit had to ministration in Vietnam (SEMLA), and then passing on to the much be cut short owing to special circum- which is also operating in the Min- younger Northeast polder, with stops stances. After that, the group contin- istry of Environment and Natural at the former islands of Schokland ued their journey through Germany Resources (MoNRE) Department of and Urk. Next, the even newer and France. Natural Resources and Environment Flevoland was visited, with its exten- in Ha Giang province, Vietnam, is sive modern windmill park, the new Our input into the study tour pro- very interested in studying the way town of Lelystad, and the new nature gramme was highly appreciated, in in which land administration and reserve Oostvaarders plassen. On exit- particular the proper mix of theory environmental management is prac- ing the polder, a short stop was made and real-life examples. tised in the Netherlands, and espe- at the medieval town of Elburg. On cially in learning from ITC’s experi- Thursday morning, a visit was ences.
Considering the long period of coop- eration between ITC and the MoNRE of Vietnam, it was decided to accept the request to assist in organising a study tour in the Netherlands. So it happened that a small group of five persons arrived in a big bus on Mon - day afternoon (3 November) and, after being welcomed by Mark Noort, they were given an introduction to land administration by Professor Paul van der Molen.
On Tuesday, following a lecture by Dr Jan de Leeuw on policy for the use of remote sensing in environmental Picture time on the dyke of Flevoland with the modern electricity-generating management, they visited the dairy windmill farm of Mr Smelt near Buurse and in the afternoon rambled through the Haaksbergerveen, while listening to Mr Roy Dear, who explained about nature conservation and nature man- agement in this part of the Nether- lands. Wednesday was reserved for a trip under the guidance of Dr Dick van der Zee through the polder areas
In the Haaksbergerveen with Mr Roy Dea
ITC News 2008-4 15 EVENTS
Indicators Bring Academics and Local Government Together
Javier Martínez [email protected] Emile Dopheide [email protected]
On the afternoon of 5 November, lation to the various techniques that learning approach, which are both ITC’s Department of Urban and Re- could be used to construct indices of present in government and academic gional Planning and Geo-informa- multiple deprivation. circles. tion Management, together with KISS (Kennis Instituut Stedelijke Karin Pfeffer, GIS researcher at the Overall, the seminar touched on a Samenleving), an urban policy University of Amsterdam, gave a pres- number of relevant issues concerning forum of universities, local govern- entation on the so-called the use of indicators and stimulated ments and the private sector in the Regiomonitor, explaining its use and the debate between academics and province of Overijssel, organised the outlining experiences. The local government representatives on seminar “Indicators: interplay be- Regiomonitor is an instrument that actual daily practice - leading to pos- tween policy and methods”. indicates the status of neighbour- sible further strengthened coopera- hoods in the municipalities in the tion in research and education be- During the seminar, participants dis- Amsterdam region in terms of spatial tween ITC, the University of Twente cussed conceptual, methodological, concentration of specific societal and the local governments in the re- practical and institutional issues con- themes such as unemployment and gion of Overijssel. cerning the use of indicators in urban ethnicity. The Regiomonitor is a good and regional planning. The seminar example of how to open up various numbered more than 50 participants, available databases for public use. including local government officials, Furthermore, it is an illustration of academic staff, and PhD and MSc how academics could cooperate with students. local governments in the field of pol- icy information. Central and local governments in many countries are involved in indica- Finally, Cecilia Wong, professor of tor projects to support area-based ini- spatial planning at the University of tiatives with an evidence-based plan- Manchester and author of the book ning approach. Likewise in the Quantitative Indicators for Urban and Netherlands, on the basis of a set of Regional Planning: The Interplay of 18 debated indicators the Ministry of Policy and Methods (Royal Town Housing recently selected 40 deprived Planning Institute Library Book Series, neighbourhoods that are now receiv- Routledge, London, ISBN: ing additional support to improve 0415274516) reflected on the usage their local situation. Within the of indicators and the changing ethos province of Overijssel, a similar exer- of indicator usage for urban and re- cise has been conducted to identify gional planning. the most deprived neighbourhoods in the five major cities of the province. Based on the UK experience, Cecilia Mr Peter Scheltinga, policy researcher Wong stated that, despite ongoing for the municipality of Hengelo, pre- conceptual, methodological and insti- sented the basic idea of the indicator tutional challenges, indicators remain exercise in Overijssel. Ms Evy very attractive to policy makers as Trisusanti, MSc student of the Urban they often act as an interface be- During the seminar participants discussed conceptual, methodological, practical and in- Planning and Management pro- tween the technical and more politi- stitutional issues concerning the use of indi- gramme and part of ITC’s double-de- cal rationality. Besides, stronger em- cators in urban and regional planning gree programme with the Institut phasis on user engagement in the Teknologi Bandung in Indonesia, re- development of indicators helps to viewed this exercise in terms of the bring together the rational paradigm sensitivity of the final outcome in re- and the more communicative, social
16 ITC News 2008-4 EVENTS
One-Day Tutorial Hyperspectral Remote Sensing during ACRS 2008
Harald van der Werff [email protected]
On 13 November, Professor Freek van der Meer and Dr Harald van der Werff gave a tutorial on hyperspec- tral remote sensing at the Galadari Hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka. This tu- torial was held in parallel with the 2008 ACRS conference and was sponsored by ITC.
The tutorial was designed for stu- dents, researchers and practitioners in remote sensing with a background in earth and/or life sciences who wanted to learn the basics and prospective applications of hyper- Participants working on an assignment spectral remote sensing. Hyperspectral remote sensing deals with data from instruments acquiring reflectance images in a large (>40) number of narrow (<0.01 to 0.02 µm in width) contiguous spectral bands, allowing the derivation of chemical information concerning objects. More specific for earth and life sciences, spectroscopy allows information to be obtained on soil, water and bio- chemical composition.
Twenty-six participants, of which 15 were ITC alumni, had been selected Each participant received a certificate from over 60 applications. The partici- pants were exposed to the basic physics of spectroscopy, and learned how to interpret field and laboratory spectra and how to process image data. The entire processing chain, from data acquisition through calibra- tion and up to thematic mapping, was covered in the tutorial. Case studies were shown to introduce par- ticipants to the various uses of hyper- spectral data, covering the fields of geology and exploration, environ- mental sciences, geo-engineering, vegetation science, agriculture and Group picture of all tutorial participant water quality studies.
Drs Sjaak Beerens, ITC’s director ex- afternoon with drinks and a cere- ternal affairs, opened the tutorial in mony where certificates were pre- the early morning and closed it in the sented to all participants.
ITC News 2008-4 17 EVENTS
Participants Applaud Successful GEOSS Workshop
Tsehaie Woldai [email protected] Rob Lemmens [email protected]
Dr Chris Mannaerts, Dr Ben ISPRS, OGC, 52N, and the University hope that the efforts made by GEO Maathuis and Dr Rob Lemmens con- of Johannesburg, South Africa. and its partners would be sustained ducted a very successful and highly in a way that would make African praised three-day pre-conference The workshop was opened by Dr professionals and policy makers self- workshop with the title “GEOSS in- Tsehaie Woldai, who introduced Her sufficient and proficient in the use of teroperability and application to Excellency Mrs Cecilia Dapaah (MP), geo-based technologies and products water security and governance” (24 the Minister of Water Resources, for the effective management of that to 26 October 2008) during the 7th Works and Housing. In her opening most valuable, but also very vulnera- African Association of Remote Sens- address to the GEOSS workshop, the ble, resource: water. ing of the Environment (AARSE) Minister commended the organisers Conference in Ghana. ITC is a GEO for choosing the highly relevant In addition to the presentations on capacity building committee mem- theme of water. The need to develop GEOSS, OpenGIS and open-source ber and global task lead for several strategies for an effective earth-ob- software development, hands-on capacity-building-related activities servation-based assessment and mon- training was provided on the latest within GEO. itoring system for the sustainable and open-source software releases of integrated management of water re- ILWIS (52 North, This three-day AARSE2008 pre-con- sources in Africa, taking into account http://52north.org/ilwis) and ference workshop focused on human in-continent applied research capac- Terralib/Terraview (INPE, Brazil). The capacity building for the Global Earth ity, could not be over-emphasised. An participants learned how to use ILWIS Observation System of Systems effective strategy would need to be for water security monitoring, based (GEOSS) and provided the latest up- drawn up for the development and on satellite images from date on the implementation of the sustainability of human resources, in- GEONETCast. GEOSS information infrastructure. frastructure and institutional capacity Special attention was given to devel- within Africa. Ghana had taken sig- oping operational end-user applica- nificant steps towards integrated tions and actively working with end water resource management with the users to facilitate informed decision creation in 1996 of the Water making for water security and gover- Resources Commission, in which all nance. The workshop was organised main stakeholder groups and sectors in collaboration with AARSE, involved in water resources are repre- IEEE/IGARSS, ICEO, INPE (Brazil), sented. The Minister expressed her
Over 60 people from various parts of Africa attended the workshop. The workshop was opened by Dr Tsehaie Woldai (right), who introduced The participants were well balanced in terms of the countries they Her Excellency Mrs Cecilia Dapaah, the Minister of Water Resources, represented, of high calibre, highly motivated and engaging Works and Housing
18 ITC News 2008-4 EVENTS
40th Anniversary of Urban Studies at ITC
Richard Sliuzas [email protected] Emile Dopheide [email protected]
December is always a busy month at session of the seminar, Ms Christel ITC and December 2008 was no ex- Hoogland from the Dutch organisa- ception. The day of the traditional tion Cordaid spoke about its Urban Dies Natalis celebration was used to Matters programme, providing a draw attention to another mile- good example of the growing impor- stone, that of the 40th anniversary tance of non-government organisa- of urban studies at ITC. To mark the tions within contemporary urban de- occasion, a seminar was organised velopment. for past and present students and staff. Naturally much has changed The final session of the seminar fo- over 40 years. Not the least of the cused on some examples of current most recent developments is that research activities in the urban plan- we now live in a world in which ning and management field. In a more than 50% of the global popu- lively presentation, Ms Regina lation lives in cities. We can now Muchai, Kenya, explained some as- Ms Sarah Kyessi speak of an urban age and there are pects of her research on community considerable needs and opportuni- participation in spatial planning, con- ties for capacity development re- centrating particularly on her field- lated to geo-information technol- work experiences in Kisumu, Kenya. ogy application in the urban studies There are now increasing research domain. links between ITC and Dutch, European and other universities. For The seminar comprised a mix of short example, Benno Bock, a student at presentations on past and current ac- the Technical University of Berlin, is tivities related to urban studies, plan- now conducting research on the use ning and management; discussions of remote sensing to supply data for on future trends in the field; and op- transportation modelling at ITC. His portunities for social exchanges be- presentation was followed by an ex- tween participants. After a brief his- planation by Dr Mark Zuidgeest of torical overview of the development the Cycling Academic Network, one Dr Roos Akbar of urban studies at ITC by Richard of the major new research initiatives Sliuzas, two alumni provided partici- that combines the expertise of ITC pants with insights into some recent with that of the Interface for Cycling developments in their organisations. Expertise (I-CE), the University of Ms Sarah Kyessi (USH.2 1993) from Twente, the University of Cape Town, the Ministry of Lands, Housing and the Federal University of Rio Grande Urban Development, Tanzania, spoke Do Sul, Brazil, and the Indian Institute about the use of geo-information in Of Technology, Delhi. The last speaker issuing a new form of land tenure for at the seminar, Professor Isa Baud informal settlements called residential from the University of Amsterdam, licences and the process of decentral- drew attention to the issue of urban ising this activity to local government poverty and how geo-information level. Dr Roos Akbar (USH.2 1991) of can be used to address poverty, and the Institute of Technology Bandung, reflected on the value of the recently Indonesia, informed the audience established research partnership with Ms Regina Muchai about ITB’s partnerships in capacity ITC in urban poverty alleviation. The building, in which ITC recently be- seminar was concluded with a short came engaged. To round off the first but lively discussion, combining re-
ITC News 2008-4 19 EVENTS
flections on the historical develop- Yola Georgiadou, both of whom will ment of urban studies over the last have a leading role to play in future 40 years by Drs Victor Pollé, founding urban research at ITC. member of urban studies at ITC in 1968, and other contributions ori- The PGM department is very pleased ented towards the future challenges to have had the opportunity to bring that the field is facing in dealing with several alumni and former colleagues dynamic and complex urban develop- together with current staff, students ment processes. This is an ongoing and some of our partners on this oc- debate and provided a fitting intro- casion. We are grateful to all who duction to the afternoon’s Dies helped to make the seminar and the Natalis programme, which included related social events a big success. the inaugural addresses of Professor Martin van Maarseveen and Professor Victor Pollé cuts the birthday cake
AARSE Conference: Application of Earth Observation and Geo-information for Governance in Africa
Tsehaie Woldai [email protected]
The 7th biennial conference of the by the US Department of State; (iii) 30 exhibition stands emanating from African Association of the Environ- African Reference Framework by national and international organisa- ment (AARSE) took place at the the UN Economic Commission for tions in Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle Accra Conference Center, Accra, Africa; (iv) Un-SPIDER by UNOOSA; East, North America and Russia. The Ghana, from 30 October to 2 No- (v) University Network for Disaster conference was opened by His vember 2008 and was hosted by the Risk Reduction in Africa by ITC; (vi) Excellency Dr Alhaji Alieu Mahama, Centre for Remote Sensing & Geo- ESRI USER and Application by the vice-president of Ghana, who graphic Information Services (CERS- SAMBUS, Ghana; (vii) GeoEye and was introduced to the conference GIS), University of Ghana, Legon, (viii) ERDAS participants by Mr Alhaji Ahmed Accra, Ghana. The main theme of • a half-day youth forum on space Yirimea Awudu, the deputy minister, the conference was the application science and applications organised Ministry of Local Government, Rural of earth observation and geo-infor- by ISPRS and CERSGIS, involving Development and Environment. In his mation for governance in Africa. more than 100 Ghanaian university keynote address, the guest of honour and high school students commended the conference for its fa- The conference featured: • in addition to the four meetings cilitating role in increasing awareness • over 300 presentations and 40 (AARSE Council, AARSE General of the benefits of geo-information for posters, 10 keynote addresses in Assembly, EIS Africa, UNEDRA), good governance. He said that it was four plenary sessions, 31 technical three round tables and many busi- essential to develop innovative ways sessions representing eight sub- ness meetings to bridge the geospatial science-pol- themes on various aspects of geo- • the installation of a full icy gap in Africa and devise strategies information sciences and earth ob- GEONETCast reception facility for to effectively educate and sensitise servation, two poster sessions, and the whole conference period (the African policy makers regarding the a GEOSS workshop on water secu- antenna being provided by the role of geospatial technologies in the rity and governance in Africa or- Ghana Meteorological management of sector-wide plans ganised by AARSE, IEEE/IGARSS, Organization and the other neces- and programmes. He concluded by ICEO, ISPRS, ITC, OGC, 52N and sary components through EUMET- suggesting that many important the University of Johannesburg SAT). questions should be asked concern- • eight special sessions: (i) TIGER ing such topics as the extent to which Project by the European Space The 7th AARSE conference was at- geo-information tools were being Agency; (ii) Global Dialogue on tended by 540 registered participants used by African policy makers to plan Emerging Science and Technology from 40 countries, and included over and manage natural resources in their
20 ITC News 2008-4 EVENTS
respective countries; the monitoring This year’s AARSE Merit Award went of land cover and land use change, to Professor Ian Dowman for his un- climate change, deforestation and flinching support for AARSE and its desertification; and the efforts being ideals in promoting geo-information made to strengthen the human and sciences and earth observation in institutional capacities of African geo- Africa. His Excellency Dr Alhaji Alieu information scientists, researchers Mahama, the vice-president of and practitioners to build decision Ghana, presented the award (a support databases for use by planners plaque and commemorative award) and policy makers to understand the to Professor Dowman. Nominations Accra workshop participants take a usefulness of geo-information tools for the awards were made by African picture break and space-based technologies for dis- national organisations and individu- aster and emergency management, als, which were subsequently ap- as well as marine surveillance and proved by the AARSE Executive pollution control. The vice-president Council after the deliberations re- expressed his hope that these issues quired by the constitution. would be addressed if African coun- tries were to move forward as devel- The conference organisation and lo- oping nations towards the achieve- gistics were very good. The LOC had ments of the Millennium devoted a great deal of thought, time Development Goals, particularly Goal and energy to the planning - not only 7 on environmental sustainability. to selecting the excellent facilities, the Partial view of one session technical programme and the scien- Before the vice-president’s speech, tific exhibits, but also to arranging both the chairman of the Local the social activities. Despite the long Organizing Committee, Mr Foster duration of the sessions (sometimes Mensah, and the president of AARSE, up to 18.30 hrs), attendance was rea- Dr Tsehaie Woldai, welcomed partici- sonable and constant right up to the pants to the conference. The presi- end, with short focused oral presen- dent pointed out the significance of tations followed by lively discussions. natural resources in Africa as the The technical programme was accom- most important potential source of panied by visits to various exhibition wealth in a continent that is paradox- stands, while the social events (such ically the richest in terms of endow- as the conference reception, the ITC exhibition stand during the conference ment of natural resources but poorest AARSE gala dinner, the ITC alumni in terms of development. He sug- party) stimulated better social interac- gested that the geo-information spe- tion and fruitful discussions. cialists attending the conference had a responsibility to innovatively influ- ence policy to change this situation.
Immediately after the welcoming ad- dress of the AARSE president, con- gratulatory messages followed from the 1st vice-president (and past presi- dent) of the ISPRS, Professor Ian Stay informed about educational, research, project developments and op- Dowman, and the president of IEEE- portunities in the field of geo-information science and earth observation by GRSS, Professor Tony Milne. This was subscribing to the ITC Update. then followed by an address by Dr The ITC update is the electronic newsletter for alumni, staff and students Giovanni Rum, on behalf of GEO di- giving you information on recent and upcoming ITC events in Enschede and rector Dr José Achache, entitled across the world. “Global Earth Observation Systems (GEOSS) build-up in Africa”, and the Subscribe to ITC’s electronic newsletter at: award ceremony. www.itc.nl/alumni/itc_update.aspx
ITC News 2008-4 21 ANNOUNCEMENTS
announcements
Street in Delft Named after ITC’s Founder
Homme Martinus [email protected]
Earlier this year, the city council of Delft. In 1921, Schermerhorn started HRH Queen Wilhelmina to lead the Delft decided to name a new street his own geodetic consulting agency first new parliament as prime minis- after Willem Schermerhorn. This for land surveying, which later ter. Schermerhorn became a con- new street is located near the for- formed the basis of the Dutch Land - tested politician because of his role in mer ITC building in Delft. ITC was lo- meetkundige Dienst van Rijkswater - the discussions on the decolonisation cated in Delft from its inception in staat (Land Surveying Service of the of the Netherlands Indies. He aimed 1950 until 1999 when the last re- Public Works Department). for an independent federation for maining department moved to En- Indonesia. This was not understood schede. The building was sold and In 1926, Schermerhorn succeeded his by the Dutch people and the results with that the tight bonds with the master Heuvelink as professor at Delft of the elections of 1946 can be seen city of Delft were loosened. By nam- Polytechnic in the field of surveying as a firm “No” to the policy pursued ing the new street after Willem and geodesy. In the late 1920s, pho- by Schermerhorn. Schermerhorn, the relation between togrammetry became an important Delft and ITC will last forever. field of interest in Europe. Schermer - He became president of the Com - horn, who was one of the first to mittee General for the Netherlands Some of ITC’s alumni of earlier years recognise the possibilities of this new Indies to negotiate on the future po- may recall Willem Schermerhorn. To technique, dedicated most of his sci- litical status. This resulted in a con- others the name of Schermerhorn is entific career to the development of cept agreement signed in Linggadjati bound with the ITC Guesthouse this part of science. by the Committee and Indonesian where they lived during their stay in leaders. Through this agreement, Enschede. Later alumni might remem- Schermerhorn’s social interest was fos- Indonesia would become an inde- ber the statue of Schemerhorn in the tered by his Liberal Protestant convic- pendent federation that would be meeting room in the ITC hotel or the tion and focused on the relation of the bound to the Netherlands by a kind plaque that can be found in the hall consequences of the technical devel- of union. Shortly after the signing, of ITC’s building at Hengelosestraat. opment of society with agriculture. In riots broke out, leading to military ac- the 1930s, he established the move- tion in 1947.The Committee General For the benefit of all readers of ITC ment Eenheid door Democatie (Unity was dissolved and Schermerhorn News, I will try to give a brief sum- by Democracy), a non-parliamentarian mary of Schermerhorn and his life. movement that fought against grow- ing anti-democratic developments. Willem Schermerhorn was born on 17 December 1894 in Akersloot, a During the Second World War, small place in the province of North Schermerhorn was arrested and held Holland. He was the first son in an prisoner in St Michelsgestel. There he old farming family, and therefore ini- played an important role in discus- tially destined to continue the farm of sions on the necessity of renovating his father. As he had a small accident the political structure of the Nether- with his hand in his youth, he was lands. After his release from prison, unable to milk cows and therefore he became a member of the Com - unqualified for farming work. mittee of Professors resistance and Consequently, he was allowed to went into hiding in Amsterdam, study and in 1918 he graduated from where he cooperated in many resist- Delft Polytechnic. Ending his study, he ance activities. became assistant to Professor Heuvelink, who taught land surveying After the liberation of the Nether- ITC’s founder Professor Willem Schermerhorn and geodesy to civil engineers in lands, Schermerhorn was asked by (1894-1977)
22 ITC News 2008-4 ANNOUNCEMENTS
Netherlands. Before the end of 1949, the ITC building until his resignation. Schermerhorn had presented his Until his death in 1977, he remained ideas that were to become part of adviser to the ITC Board of Governors the Dutch programme for interna- and the Directorate. tional technical aid. And so ITC was established in 1950 and embarked on For his work, Schermerhorn was hon- the first introduction course in oured more than once. He received September 1951. In those days, ITC the decorations of Knight in the did not have a building of its own but Order of the Dutch Lion, Great used various rooms in the geodesy Officer in the Order of Oranje Nassau, building of Delft Polytechnic at Officer in the Crown Order of Kanaalweg in Delft. Belgium, and Officer Legion d’Honneur (France), and was hon- When in 1952 the Dutch government oured with the Medal of Freedom granted ITC a loan, preparations were with Golden Palm (USA). In addition, made to build its own premises, espe- he received six honorary doctorates The former ITC building at Kanaalweg in cially designed for training students in and many honorary memberships of Delft was opened in 1956 by HRH Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands photogrammetry and photo interpre- national and international scientific tation. The new ITC building was societies. built at Kanaalweg in Delft and in withdrew from politics. During his ne- 1956 it was opened by HRH Prince Schermerhorn died on 10 March gotiations, Schermerhorn kept a diary Bernhard of the Netherlands. 1977 in Haarlem, where he had lived and this was published in 1970. since leaving Delft. After his crema- Not only were the training facilities of tion on 14 March, his ashes were In July 1948, Schermerhorn returned the new institute located in the new buried on 25 March in Stompetoren to Parliament and in 1951 he became building, but accommodation for the in the Schermer in the province of a member of the Senate, serving until students also occupied the top floors. North Holland. 1965. After his political duties, A central dining room and a meeting Schermerhorn took up his scientific room were also included. All these fa- The name of Schermerhorn remains work. In 1949, he visited the head- cilities accorded with Schermerhorn’s alive within ITC. Every two years, the quarters of the United Nations at social conscience: the new Institute Schermerhorn Lecture is presented by Lake Success. He advised the UN on should not only have a responsibility a prominent scientist and the Institute the use of cartography in the eco- for the educational and scientific con- still celebrates its foundation day nomic and social development of hu- tent but also care about the wellbe- (Diës Natalis) on 17 December: mankind. He was asked whether he ing of students during their stay at Schermerhorn’s birthday. saw possibilities for establishing a the Institute. Schermerhorn himself training centre for aerial survey in the lived in the penthouse at the top of
Emmanuel John M. Carranza’s Geochemical Anomaly and Mineral Prospectivity Mapping in GIS Published by Elsevier
Description GIS. Part II demonstrates GIS-aided mapping and mineral potential map- The book, in three parts, documents and GIS-based techniques for the ping are highly specialised yet diverse, and explains geochemical anomaly analysis of robust thresholds in map- the book explains only methods in and mineral prospectivity mapping by ping of geochemical anomalies. Part which GIS plays an important role. using a geographical information sys- III explains GIS-aided and GIS-based The book avoids using language and tem (GIS). Part I reviews and couples techniques for spatial data analysis functional organisation of particular the concepts of (i) mapping geo- and geo-information synthesis for commercial GIS software, but ex- chemical anomalies and mineral conceptual and predictive modelling plains, where necessary, GIS function- prospectivity and (ii) spatial data mod- of mineral prospectivity. Because ality and spatial data structures ap- els, management and operations in a methods of geochemical anomaly propriate to problems in geochemical
ITC News 2008-4 23 ANNOUNCEMENTS
anomaly mapping and mineral poten- maps or spatial datasets. The book tial mapping. Because GIS-based provides adequate illustrations for methods of spatial data analysis and more thorough explanation of the spatial data integration are quantita- various concepts. tive, which can be complicated for non-numerate readers, the book sim- Audience plifies explanations of mathematical Professional geochemists, geologists, concepts and their applications so geoscientists, mineral explorationists that the methods demonstrated and researchers and graduate stu- would be useful to professional geo- dents in fields that involve the analy- scientists, to mineral explorationists sis and integration of maps or spatial and to research students in fields that datasets. involve the analysis and integration of
The book can be ordered from http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/bookdescription.cws_home/710888/description#description
Second Edition of the National Atlas of Sri Lanka
K. Dayananda [email protected] Senior Deputy Survey General (Mapping) ITC alumnus Cartography 1983/84 Survey Department, Sri Lanka
Marking yet another milestone in its In view of the above, and the avail- maps and 207 other map figures, as long history of 208 years, the Survey ability of more recent data from the well as numerous tables and 80 texts. Department of Sri Lanka, which 2001 Population Census and numer- Colourful photographs have been functions under the Ministry of ous other surveys conducted since used for visual impact where neces- Lands and Land Development, is the publication of the first edition of sary. Within the 80 sub-themes, spe- proud to launch the second edition the National Atlas, the Survey Depart- cial emphasis has been laid on the of the National Atlas, following its ment embarked on this challenging physical and biological environment. first publication in 1988. task of producing a more detailed It is an important milestone for many and comprehensive publication. This reasons. During the past two task involved an editorial board and decades, the country has undergone authors - eminent personalities and significant social and economic academics with considerable experi- changes that have had an impact on ence and expertise in their respective the physical, social and economic fields drawn from the national univer- conditions of the nation. Apart from sities and government institutions. that, remarkable changes have taken place in the fields of agriculture, de- Despite many constraints, the new mography, transport, industry, com- edition of the National Atlas has been merce, administration and infrastruc- published. The nine themes in the ture development. Two unfortunate first edition have been increased to events, namely the civil unrest in 12 and the 58 sub-themes have been some parts of the country and the increased to 80, with each section unprecedented impact of the 2004 being devoted to well-documented tsunami, have also contributed to the and authentic information. The atlas changes in the socio-economic sce- comprises 253 pages, with 31 colour- Mr K. Dayananda and Mr Sjaak Beerens dur- nario. ful full-page maps, 27 multiscale ing the ACRS, November 2008
24 ITC News 2008-4 ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Survey Department is thankful to all those who were involved in this Apart from a few reproductions of noble task and is confident that a wide range of people in Sri Lanka and early maps, all the maps and dia- overseas will share our proud belief that the task has been well accom- grams have been specially prepared plished. At present, this atlas is available to international communities at for this atlas, and most of them are US$ 250 from the Sri Lanka Survey Department (see www.survey-dept.slt.lk completely original.
As in the case of the first edition, this Atlas thus presents a snapshot picture edition too is truly an indigenous ef- of historical and current events as fort. No foreign experts have been in- seen in more recent periods. volved, which once again has proved Another concern for the publishers the ingenuity of our experts. It is our was the pricing of the new edition. fervent belief that the new edition of Though the cost of producing the the atlas projects authentically and atlas was high, for the benefit of the comprehensively the identity of Sri users it has been moderately priced at Lanka, and we hope that readers will Rs 6,000 per copy. Having in mind find it a useful source of information the wider English-language reader- on a wide array of subjects concern- ship worldwide, it was decided to ing our country. As far as possible, print the National Atlas in English. As the information contained in the atlas in the case of the first edition, how- A copy of the Second National Atlas of was the most up to date at the time ever, it is also planned to publish an Sri Lanka was presented to Mr Sjaak Beerens of text preparation. There are some abridged school edition in the na- by the surveyor-general of Sri Lanka texts and maps dealing with general tional languages of Sinhala and Tamil subjects where data change was min- and also in English at an affordable imal, whereas others required consid- price, so it can reach the student erable modification. The National population.
NBV Hissinkprijs Again Won by an ITC MSc Graduate
Abbas Farshad [email protected]
A few years ago, Dante Margate (Philippines) received the Hissinkprijs of the Dutch Soil Science Society (Nederlandse Bodemkundige Vereni- ging (NBV)), and now once again an ITC MSc thesis has carried off the prize.
This time the winner was Juan Francisco Sanchez Moreno (Colombia), and he received an award and a cheque for €500. Juan’s thesis is entitled “Applicability of knowledge-based and fuzzy theory-oriented approaches to land suitability for upland rice and rubber, as compared to the farmers’ The thesis is available from the ITC Library at Juan Francisco Sanchez Moreno perception: a case study of Lao PDR”. www.itc.nl/library/papers_2007/msc/gem/sanchez.pdf Juan, who enjoyed the Alban fellow- ship when doing his MSc in environ- has come back to ITC and been of- the DESIRE project (in the ESA depart- mental modelling and management, fered one of the PhD positions within ment, with Professor Victor Jetten).
ITC News 2008-4 25 ANNOUNCEMENTS
Africa GIS Conference 2009: Kampala, Uganda, 26-30 October 2009
Geospatial information and sustainable development in Africa: Facing the challenges of global change
The 2009 edition of the Africa GIS Conference (the ninth since its in- ception) is scheduled to take place in Kampala, Uganda, from 26 to 30 October this year. The conference was first organised in 1993 in Tunis and has been held biennially since then.
The 2009 Africa GIS Conference is being organised by the Department of Geography of Makerere University, which is home to a large group of ITC alumni. Several of them are deeply in- volved with the organisation. The conference will take place at the Commonwealth Resort Munyonyo in Kampala. Recently announced, the central theme of the conference is: “Geospatial information and sustain- The 2009 Africa GIS Conference is being organised by the Department of able development in Africa: facing Geography of Makerere University, which is home to a large group of ITC alumni. Several of them are deeply involved with the organisation the challenges of global change”. In general, the conference will address developments and applications of GIS time realising the development goals will be flanked by an exhibition, and and remote sensing in application of its people. will be preceded by a number of pre- areas such as climate change, disaster conference training workshops. reduction, agriculture, the environ- The conference will centre on four ment, natural resources manage- broad sub-themes: ment, education, business communi- • geospatial information for climate General information on the con- cation, spatial data infrastructure, and change, vulnerability and disaster ference, as well as on registra- visualisation. risk reduction tion, abstract submission and • spatial data infrastructure in Africa: registration for pre-conference It has generally been acknowledged geo-visualisation enhancing sci- training workshops, is now avail- that the timely and accurate provision ence-policy interface able on the conference website of information is an essential aspect • geospatial information science for (www.africagis2009.org). of informed decision making at all business solutions, intelligence, Abstracts should be submitted levels in society. The acquisition, pro- communication and education through the website by 30 May cessing, sharing and dissemination of • earth observation and geospatial 2009 and interested contribu- this information plays a very impor- technologies for integrated envi- tors are encouraged to visit the tant role in this respect and the key ronment and natural resources website regularly for updates or question right now is how the broad management for Africa’s develop- contact the organisers for fur- potential of geospatial information ment. ther details at the following ad- technology can be harnessed to en- dresses: able Africa to counter the challenges Cross-cutting issues that will be ad- [email protected], that it is facing. The conference dressed during the conference in- [email protected] or theme focuses exactly on that: facing clude poverty, urbanisation, rural de- [email protected]. the challenges of global change, facil- velopment, gender, health, the land itating sustainable development question, displacement and refugees, across the continent, and at the same water and energy. The conference
26 ITC News 2008-4 PARTNERSHIP NEWS partnership news
CMA Signs Cooperation Agreement with ITC
On 8 July 2008, the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) signed a cooperation agree- ment with ITC that aims to strengthen the exchange of talents. CMA Vice-Director Xu Xiaofeng was present at the meeting.
Yu Jixin, the director of the Department of International Cooperation of CMA, and Sjaak Beerens, ITC´s director external af- fairs, signed the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in ed- Yu Jixin, director of CMU´s Department of International Cooperation, and Sjaak ucation, training, research and coun- Beerens, ITC director external affairs, signing the Memorandum of Understanding between CMA and ITC selling service between CMA and ITC. According to the agreement, the two sides will continue to cooperate on Source: China Meteorological News Press (www.cma.gov.cn/english/) talent training and ITC will provide By: Li Xin professional training for CMA. Editor: Zhang Yong staff news
Tsehaie Woldai Fellow of the Geological Society of Africa
Tsehaie Woldai [email protected]
During the 22nd Colloquium of Tunisia, and was attended by many presentation was made by Dr S. Felix African Geology in Tunis, Africa, a scientists and Tunisian dignitaries. The Toteu, president of the society. most prestigious society honoured Dr Tsehaie Woldai, associate professor at ITC’s Department of Earth Systems Analysis, by making him a Fellow of the Geological Society of Africa in recognition of his contributions to the geology of Africa and for promoting geosciences in Africa during the past few years.
The award ceremony took place at
the Grand Palace, Hammamet, Award given by Professor Felix Toteu, A few of the award winners GSAF president present during the conference
ITC News 2008-4 27 STAFF NEWS
Diane Forsythe Award for Dr Gianluca Miscione
Dr Gianluca Miscione, staff member Association. This award is given yearly The winning paper is: Miscione, of the Department of Urban and to a paper that best exemplifies G. (2007), Telemedicine in the Regional Planning and Geo-informa- scholarship at the intersection of upper Amazon: interplay with tion Management, has won the 2008 medical informatics and social sci- local health care practices. prestigious Diane Forsythe Award of ences. In: MIS Quarterly, 31(2007)2, the American Medical Informatics pp 403-423.
Alfred Stein Appointed Honorary Professor at CASM, China
Alfred Stein [email protected]
Professor Alfred Stein was appointed On accepting the distinction, pressed in particular when the conse- honorary professor by Prof. Dr Zhang Professor Stein said, “It is an honour quences of the big earthquake in Jixian, president of the Chinese and pleasure for me to receive this southern China were shown. These Academy of Surveying and Mapping appointment and I expect to be able were put on the map by the modern (CASM), during his visit to China at to serve the questions raised during Chinese satellites using the best the end of June 2008. the working processes and projects at methods. It shows how the methods CASM. We hope to improve upon the that are developed at ITC may find a CASM (Bejing) was established in scientific output of CASM and in this place in very important and relevant 1959 and is the largest multidisci- way to increase the level of our col- disaster-related research.” plined comprehensive research insti- laboration. Meanwhile, we are confi- tute in China in the field of surveying dent that the working relations will and mapping. ITC has a longstanding continue and that these will help the relationship with CASM and in spring Department of Earth Observation 2008 a delegation from this institute Science to further focus on relevant visited ITC. Honouring Alfred Stein issues in developing countries. As I fits in with the tradition of awarding have presented in my speech of ac- mutual professorships. CASM re- ceptance, contributions from the side search and education fields are data of ITC would typically consider image mining, image mining and data qual- mining issues related to uncertain ob- ity, and Martien Molenaar, John van jects. Methodology to be developed, Genderen and Wolfgang Kainz are implemented and applied to issues among former and current honorary addressed by CASM will rely on prob- Professor Alfred Stein was appointed honorary professor by Prof. Dr Zhang Jixian, professors. abilistic and fuzzy logic. I was very im- president of the Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping (CASM)
Staff
Welcome R. Zurita Milla Assistant Professor Department of Geo-information Processing 1 October 2008 to ITC Dr G. Miscione Assistant Professor Department of Urban Regional Planning and Geo-information Management 21 October 2008 Drs C.C.H.M. Nelissen Head Information Technology Department 1 November 2008 Dr C.E.B. Benneker Post Doc Researcher Department of Urban Regional Planning and Geo-information Management 13 November 2008 Dr S. Frigerio Post Doc Researcher Department of Earth Systems Analysis 1 December 2008 Dr G. Peters Guarin Post Doc Researcher Department of Urban and Regional Planning and Geo-information Management 15 December 2008
Staff leaving Dr. R. Slootweg Department of Natural Resources 1 November 2008
28 ITC News 2008-4 LIFE AFTER ITC life after itc
NANC Distinguished Alumni Award to Prof. Xuehua Liu
Ms. Selano Li [email protected]
The NANC Annual General Event Vliet welcomed all participants and Professor Xuehua Liu was presented (AGE) was initiated as a review of introduced the ongoing projects initi- with the Distinguished Alumni the alumni events and activities or- ated by NESO China. Ambassador Award. She did her PhD at ITC and ganised throughout the year. The Rudolf Bekink gave a speech and pre- wrote a thesis entitled Mapping and purpose is to get all alumni to- sented the prizes to the winners. Modelling the Habitat of Giant gether to recall the cheerful memo- Pandas in Foping Nature Reserve, rable times they have enjoyed in the After a dinner buffet, more than 100 China. past, and to stimulate them to play people took part in the lucky draw. the role of image ambassador in Six alumni with lucky numbers on The Distinguished Alumni Award is their field or profession. The second their name badges answered the awarded to individuals who have dis- NANC AGE was organised on 13 De- questions related to Dutch and tinguished themselves by their excel- cember 2008 in Beijing - with great Chinese culture that had been pre- lent contributions and achievements success! It was sponsored by NESO pared by the sponsors, and memo- in their field of expertise (e.g. in the China and other business concerns rable presents were given as encour- public community; in arts, sports, cul- and the highlight was the Alumni of agement. Four of the seven best ture or entrepreneurship; or in a the Year Awards. nominees residing in other places scholarly field), preferably playing a travelled to Beijing especially for the role in promoting the Sino-Dutch re- More than 180 people attended this AGE’08. Furthermore, one of the two lation to some degree. event - in fact we have never had so nominees for the Distinguished many participants at an event before. Alumni Award travelled all the way In addition, some NANC alumni Many alumni newly returned from from Tilburg to Beijing (sponsored by based in Sichuan, Dalian, Shenyang the Netherlands have registered and her host institution, Tilburg and other closer regions also travelled become members of NANC. The par- University) to accept her prize. The to Beijing to attend this event. The ticipants were NANC alumni, CSCSE winners expressed their appreciation whole event lasted more than three colleagues, NANC business partners, at being selected as alumni of the hours and all participants had a mem- prospective students with their par- year. orable and joyful evening. ents, sponsors, and Dutch students studying in China. Mr Jacques van
NANC staff and best nominees Professor Xuehua Liu (right) Ambassador Rudolf Bekink gave received the Distinguished a speech and presented prizes to Alumni Award from NANC the winners
ITC News 2008-4 29 LIFE AFTER ITC
Development, Environment and TERI
Prasun K Gangopadhyay [email protected] [email protected]
After my PhD defence in June 2008 at south India) and Mukteshwar (in the spective agency to take initiatives. Utrecht University (promotor Profes- Himalayan mountains) along these Here my first project is to estimate sor Freek van der Meer, co-promotor lines. Resource- and energy-efficient, CH4 emissions (CBM) from coalmin- Dr Paul van Dijk), I came back to India these premises are exemplary con- ing and this will be achieved using and joined the Energy and Resource structs that demonstrate the sustain- secondary data such as degree of Institute (TERI) (www.teriin.org) in able implementation of green prac- coal (or gassiness), coal production, November 2008 as an associate fel- tices. In order to popularise this etc. The second part of my research is low in the Energy Environment Pol- initiative, TERI has also introduced to estimate CO2 emission from coal icy Division. GRIHA (“home” in Sanskrit), a rating fires at national level (India). TERI is a non-profit research institute system to assess the greenness of Knowledge of remote sensing and and works on climate change, sus- buildings. GIS will be used extensively in the tainable energy and the like and is di- second part, along with secondary rectly supervised by Dr R.K. Pachauri, It was 2001 when I first joined ITC as data such as coal quality/type and the the IPCC chairman. TERI was formally an MSc student, and later I went on relating capability to emit CO2. established in 1974 for the purpose for a PhD. I am now quite happy to of dealing with the immense and continue my research life that started acute problems that are likely to face at ITC here. It is really interesting to humankind in the years ahead on ac- find that my independent research count of skills improved during my time at ITC. • the gradual depletion of the Earth’s As a research professional, my re- finite energy resources, which are sponsibilities include research project largely non-renewable execution and reporting to the re- • the existing methods of using them, which cause pollution.
The institute is located in the Indian Prasun Gangopadhyay Habitat Centre (IHC), which itself is an energy-saving building. TERI, which has several regional offices lo- cated in different cities in Asia, Europe and America, works in highly specialised fields such as engineering, economics, natural and social science, biotechnology, architecture, public policy, information science and ad- ministration. I am based in TERI’s headquarters in New Delhi. Besides the research institute, TERI has a uni- versity that is located in a green belt and this building is highly energy- and water-efficient.
TERI fulfils its mandate of sustainable development by advocating the con- cept of green buildings that register The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI) minimal impact on the environment. In practising what it preaches, TERI has constructed its buildings in Gurgaon (near Delhi), Bangalore (in
30 ITC News 2008-4 LIFE AFTER ITC
ITC Alumni Gathering Nanjing, China
Chang Zheng [email protected]
Held by UN-HABITAT every two Jeroen Verplanke, Paul Schoonackers The ITC alumni gathering was held years, the World Urban Forum and Chang Zheng (ITC representative on 5 November 2008. All the above (WUF) is the world’s summit forum China) from ITC. ITC delegates attended the gathering, of urban development and an im- as well as 10 alumni from mainly portant conference concerning Furthermore, in addition to ITC in- China and certain African countries. It human habitation. volvement in the organisation of a was a successful and well-appreciated WUF4 was held in Nanjing from 3 to training session, workshop and pres- reunion. Everyone had an enjoyable 6 November 2008, and more than entation, the Institute had a booth in evening sharing their knowledge, ex- 6,000 participants from all over the the exhibition hall. Many young par- periences and good memories. world participated in the event, in- ticipants visited the booth, displaying cluding Chris Paresi, Richard Sliuzas, a real interest in ITC courses.
ITC booth at the WUF exhibition ITC alumni at the alumni gathering
ITC Alumni Gathering during ACRS 2008, Colombo
Jorien Terlouw [email protected]
In the week of 10 to 14 November, the ACRS 2008 (Asian Conference for Remote Sensing) conference was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka. During the conference, ITC hosted an ITC alumni reception in the Galadari Hotel. The gathering was attended by approximately 50 alumni from Sri Lanka and other countries who were present at the conference.
Mr Sjaak Beerens opened the gather- ing with some words of welcome, re- serving a special welcome for Ms Leonie de Cuelenaere, ambassador of the Netherlands in Sri Lanka, and Mr Gerrit Noordam, First Secretary Alumni enjoying the reception with former classmates and current colleagues
ITC News 2008-4 31 LIFE AFTER ITC
Development Co-operation of the a member of the Netherlands Alumni ideas were discussed to form an ITC Embassy of the Netherlands in Sri Association. After the official alumni chapter in cooperation with Lanka. Ms Leonie de Cuelenaere speeches, everyone enjoyed them- the Netherlands Alumni Association spoke some words to all the ITC selves talking to former class mem- in Sri Lanka alumni present and Mr Sarath bers and friends, renewing contacts Jayatilaka invited everyone to become and forming a new network. Initial
Group picture at the ITC alumni gathering ACRS 2008 Ms Leonie de Cuelenaere in discussion with an ITC alumnus
ITC Alumni Gathering Accra, Ghana
Arthur Neher [email protected]
During the 5th AARSE Conference in The evening was further graced by Two ITC alumni voiced the feelings of Accra, Ghana, a very successful some speeches and anecdotes that all present when they said that being alumni meeting was organised. The conjured up both the past and the fu- professionally groomed at ITC was advantage of the international ture, while the participants were duly something to be proud of and was a gathering meant many alumni from fortified with plentiful drinks and big advantage when it came to pur- across the region could attend. snacks. The ITC rector, Professor suing a professional career. Because Molenaar, took the opportunity not such a gathering was felt to be ex- On a balmy evening around the pool only to thank the many alumni for tremely important in maintaining the in the beautiful setting of Accra’s their presence, but also to give a brief unique ITC network, the establish- Coconut Grove Regency Hotel, some sneak-peak into the near future, ment of a Ghanaian alumni initiative 100 alumni and ITC staff came to- when the long-established Institute was announced. After this encourag- gether on 28 October. It was good to will join the University of Twente. ing news, the rector brought the see the still-warm contacts between Although ITC’s previous rector, evening to a conclusion. old classmates being renewed. Seeing Professor Karl Harmsen, was on his familiar faces brought back many home turf in his present position as All in all, the alumni gathering in good memories of ITC, as well as pro- director of UNU-INRA, it was also Accra was a great success and once viding the opportunity to re-establish clear that he thoroughly enjoyed the again showed the veritable signifi- useful and up-to-date networks. opportunity to dive back into his past. cance of these social gatherings.
The vice-president of Ghana, accompanied by ITC alumni gathering alumnus Foster Mensah, visited the ITC booth
32 ITC News 2008-4