INTRO

content introduction

Main features What’s the first thing that springs to mind when you think of the Nether- lands? Dykes, windmills, tulips or perhaps even Hollandse Nieuwe, that typi- Cycling academic network 2 cal Dutch delicacy usually accompanied by raw onions (many times a ISSDQ 5 student has been caught on camera consuming this herring in traditional Education news style at the market in Enschede). Well, perhaps not the first thing then, but surely the bicycle must feature on everyone’s list. So the ideal country to en- Participatory GIS 7 gage in research on cycling-inclusive urban planning. Recently, ITC acquired Short course ICREP 11 a large project in this respect, which will involve working together with the EM external Centre for Transport Studies of the University of Twente to coordinate the cooperation window 13 international Cycling Academic Network. If you turn to page 2, you can read all about this new venture. Research news Workshop GeoG2G 15 Naturally, it won’t have escaped your notice that the cooperative ties be- tween ITC and the University of Twente are becoming increasingly closer. Announcements However, some joint initiatives date back quite a number of years. A case in Schokland agreement 16 point is the International Course on Rural Energy (see page 11), a short Workshop SDIDM’07 16 course that, while still being known as the ICREP, has taken many twists and UN-Habitat - ITC agreement 17 turns throughout its history to reflect the changing needs of its participants Workshop Tashkent 18 and the world we live in. Since 2001, the course has focused on formulating ILWIS 3.4 Open 18 proposals for clean development mechanisms - no doubt finding favour ESRI user conference 20 with the Cycling Academic Network. Next year the course celebrates its 25th anniversary, so it must be doing something right! Workshop Guatemala 20

Staff news In April, three ITC staff members visited Uganda and Mozambique to learn about training requirements and explore the possibilities for collaboration in Award for Markus Gerke 21 these countries (see page 24). With the help of ITC alumni, they were able Eric Smaling Senator 21 to cover an intensive 10-day programme, and the benefits will be seen in Welcome/leaving 22 follow-up activities and improved education. In the meantime, collaboration with the United Nations University continues to bear fruit (pages 18 and 20), Visits while the Schokland Agreement (page 16) calls on Dutch society at large to Rector visits Vietnam 22 cooperate in striving towards those formidable Millennium Development Alumni Uganda Goals. Time is pressing, and 2015 is creeping ever nearer. and Mozambique 24

Life after Janneke Kalf Prize for Saut Sagala 26 Managing Editor Another Ilwis is born 27 Alumni gathering Hanoi 28

colofon ITC NEWS is published quarterly, by ITC, Enschede, the Netherlands

Managing Editor: Janneke Kalf Correspondence to: Managing Editor ITC NEWS Editing: Janice Collins P.O.Box 6 Design&PrePress: Henk Scharrenborg 7500 AA Enschede (Composer DTP service) Phone: +31 (0)53 487 44 11 Andries Menning Fax: +31 (0)53 487 45 54 Printing: PlantijnCasparie Zwolle E-mail: [email protected]

2007number 2 The views expressed by the contributors do not necessarily reflect those of ITC

ITC News 2007-2 1 MAIN FEATURES

Transport Research at ITC: Cycling Academic Network Launched

Mark Zuidgeest [email protected] Mark Brussel [email protected]

The urban Recently, ITC acquired a large project to con- duct academic research into cycling-inclusive infrastructure urban planning and, together with the knowledge field of Centre for Transport Studies of the University of Twente (UT), to coordinate the interna- the Department of tional Cycling Academic Network. Initially, the network will consist of the two Dutch Urban and Regional partners and three Southern partners (i.e. IIT Planning and Geo- Delhi–TRIPP (Department of Transport Planning), India; the University of Cape Town Information (UCT, Department of Civil Engineering), South Africa; and Universidade Federal do Management is Rio Grande do Sul (School of Engineering), concerned, among Brazil), but it will soon be extended to in- clude more university partners that are inter- other things, with ested in research in this field. tional demand for cycling expertise and the cycling practice rooted in Dutch society. studying the The transport system in the Netherlands is Having acquired a large project funded by application of geo- renowned worldwide, thanks to the high the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I-ce proportion of bicycle transport (in Enschede has requested ITC and the UT to set up and information in about a 30% share of all journeys), its inte- coordinate the Cycling Academic Network as grated bicycle-train transport system, and a part of the project. urban transport cycling culture (independent of personal sta- system planning tus) and awareness in civil and professional Bicycle Partnership Programme society. Developing and developed countries The Bicycle Partnership Programme supports and management. alike consider the Netherlands a role model cities and civil society organisations in Africa, for modernisation and sustainable develop- Latin America and Asia in their ambition to Non-motorised ment where the enormous demand for establish cycling-inclusive city and transport transport, transport among urban populations can be planning, e.g. to assist: mitigated without ever-increasing conges- • cities in the cycling-inclusive planning and particularly cycling, tion and pollution. It holds out a promise of design of infrastructure and facilities urban and economic quality, with controlled • civil society organisations in their stake- can play an use of public space and investments, as well holder role and in project execution. important role in as the prospect of reducing the greenhouse emissions, accidents and health impacts The four-year Bicycle Partnership Programme sustainable urban caused by motorised transport. Based on this will run until 2010, and will play a part in development. argument, the Utrecht-based NGO Interface the three intervention strategies for develop- for Cycling Expertise (I-ce) was founded in ment cooperation in the Netherlands: (i) so- 1996 as an interface between the interna- ciety building, (ii) policy influence and (iii)

2 ITC News 2007-2 MAIN FEATURES

direct poverty alleviation. Society building Cycling Academic Network (CAN) consists of capacity building and a concerted The overall aim of the Bicycle Partnership effort of all relevant actors to ensure quality Programme is to contribute to mobility op- investments in affordable and sustainable portunities for all people, reduce the nega- transport. Policy influence concerns the ac- tive impact of the traffic system on health knowledgement of the benefits of cycling and the environment, and enhance the sus- and the need for cycling-inclusive planning tainable development of cities. CAN has in order to achieve economic, social and been established within this context and will ecological aims. The contribution of the pro- focus on non-motorised transport systems in gramme to direct poverty alleviation stems integration with sustainable urban transport from the premise that increased bicycle development. This network will act as an in- usage increases opportunities for income novative and motivating research environ- generation and participation in education ment for young researchers, and will and social life, accessibility of services (e.g. contribute to: healthcare services), and other chances to in- • developing a research agenda crease the quality of life. • knowledge acquisition based on the scien- tific generalisation of best practices Within the framework of the Bicycle • providing state-of-the-art applied and sci- Partnership Programme and the intervention entific research strategies of Dutch development coopera- • capacity building through knowledge dis- tion, the Cycling Academic Network will syn- semination to practitioners thesise, further develop, and disseminate • setting up an e-learning knowledge base knowledge on the role of cycling in sustain- by developing course material. able urban development. To effectuate the research component, a Young Researcher Programme has been initi- ated in which six PhD studies will be carried Cycling as an opportunity for income generation (Tanga, Tanzania) out with CAN partners in Brazil, South Africa and India in relation to the following themes: • identification of cycling demand needs, behaviour and potential • impact assessment of travel demand man- agement related to cycling • contribution of cycling to poverty allevia- tion and social inclusion • interaction between urban form, transport networks and cycling • establishment of a pro-cycling argument related to environmental and safety fac- tors • cycling-inclusive methods and processes • design of cycling facilities • vision on sustainable cities and the role of cycling.

All PhD studies will be conducted partly in Enschede (through UT/ITC collaboration), with the Netherlands functioning as a cy- cling laboratory and, as such, being the per- fect place for North-South and South-South knowledge exchange.

In a sequence of scientific workshops, publi- cations and training sessions, research results

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will be disseminated and peers invited to help in further developing cycling research as a discipline within urban planning and man- agement, and transport planning.

The CAN agreement was signed by I-ce, ITC and UT representatives in a ceremony held at ITC on 19 June, which was attended by del- egations from Brazil and Botswana.

Left to right: Ir Jaap Rijnsburger and Drs Roelof Wittink (directors I-ce), Professor Martien Molenaar (rector ITC) and Professor Eising (dean UT faculty of Engineering Technology) signing the CAN agreement

Transport planning should include cycling among the various modes (Ahmedabad, India)

Meeting at the University of Cape Town in February to discuss CAN inception top, left to right: Professor Toni Lindau (UFRGS, Brazil), Dr Mark Zuidgeest and Ir Mark Brussel (ITC), Dr Marianne Vanderschuren and Dr Roger Behrens (UCT); bottom, left to right: Professor Geetam Tiwari (IIT, Delhi), Ir Tom Godefrooij (I-ce), CAN chairman Professor Martin van Maarseveen (UT) and I-ce director Drs Roelof Wittink

4 ITC News 2007-2 MAIN FEATURES

5th International Symposium for Spatial Data Quality

Alfred Stein [email protected]

From 13 to 15 June They came from 28 countries, spanning all precise and partially true data,” which pro- of the five continents. The symposium voked many stimulating discussions among 2007, we organised brought together experts from around the participants during the symposium. It was the 5th International world to present the latest developments in exceptional in the sense that it reflected 50 quantitative and qualitative approaches and years of scientific work, introduced many Symposium for information theory concerning spatial data new elements, and was delivered in an ex- quality. There were five main themes: geo- tremely transparent and accessible way. Spatial Data Quality information theory, spatial statistics, applica- at the ITC building tions, quality in geo-information acquisition, The technical committee of the symposium and dissemination/fitness for use. Each ses- had reviewed and selected the oral and in Enschede. sion was opened and closed by a keynote poster papers from full papers previously speaker who was a leading scientist in the submitted. Owing to the number of high- It was organised field. quality contributions, parallel sessions were jointly with ISPRS organised. On the first day of the sympo- At the opening plenary session, Professor sium, two parallel sessions were organised: Commission II, Martin Hale, vice-rector of ITC, Professor on geo-information theory and spatial statis- Wolfgang Kainz, president of ISPRS Technical tics. In order to discuss the subjects relating Working Group 7, Commission II, and Professor Alfred Stein, to geo-information theory and spatial statis- and was attended symposium chair, welcomed the participants. tics in greater detail, the same parallel ses- The vice-rector emphasised the long tradi- sion structure was followed after the by more than 120 tion of ITC (including its truly international keynote speech by Professor Shi from Hong nature) in the field of geo-information sci- Kong Polytechnic University. Professor Shi participants. ence and earth observation, while the other emphasised the importance of data quality speakers underlined the collaboration be- in space and time and presented develop- tween the two bodies ISPRS and ITC. ments and trends in this field. Eight oral pa- pers were presented in the geo-information The opening keynote speaker, Professor Lotfi theory session. Speakers mainly discussed Zadeh from UC Berkeley, USA, gave an ex- the necessity of uncertainty determination ceptional address under the title “Granular and propagation in application areas such as computing: computing with uncertain, im- infrastructural development, seismic assess- ments and 3D city models. The parallel ses- sion on spatial statistics presented new geostatistical approaches and their applica- tions in varying fields. Potential usage of geostatistics in image classification was dis- cussed, with results showing that perform- ance and accuracy are increased. Geostatistical methods have been tested on applications in such fields as cadastre, air quality and mobile radioactivity monitoring Professor Lofti Zadeh and con- networks, and the results were discussed. ference chair Professor Alfred Stein during the opening hour of the symposium

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The poster session included more than 30 spatial data quality were briefly described, posters and attracted many participants. The with the problem of research moving be- posters were evaluated by the scientific com- yond the standards being introduced and mittee on the basis of scientific content and discussed. presentation, and Ms Yan Gao from the Geography Institute of Mexico received the The symposium was an interesting opportu- award for best poster during the closing cer- nity for both leading international scientists emony. and young researchers to learn from one an- other. As one delegate put it: “Apparently The third keynote speech was given by Dr the field of spatial data quality has come to Gerard Heuvelink from Wageningen maturity, and the conference as now organ- University and Research Centre, the ised can compete with the main geo-infor- Netherlands. It was on the data uncertainty matics conferences in the field.” This highly engine in real-world applications, namely condensed scientific programme was com- spatial planning and water basin manage- bined with a social outing organised by Dr ment. Four other parallel sessions were held: Wietske Bijker and Ms Saskia Tempelman. on geo-information theory, applications, spa- During the visit to Ootmarsum and the con- tial statistics, and quality in geo-information ference dinner at De Watermolen, partici- acquisition. The spatial quality of remotely pants took the opportunity to build new Professor Alfred Stein sensed data is the main focus of several ap- networks and strengthen existing ones. presenting the best poster award to Ms Yan Gao from plications, and the logical consistency of spa- Mexico for her poster on tio-temporal objects and relations was Proceedings of the meeting are available on optimised image segmenta- tion and its effect on classi- discussed in several studies, with possible so- CD, and will soon be published in hardcopy. fication accuracy lutions being presented. Selected papers will also be published in a book (CRC Press) in order to share the The fourth keynote speech was given by gained experiences with all those interested Professor Wolfgang Förstner and covered in the field of spatial data quality but unable challenges in modelling uncertainty of GIS to be present. data. Three parallel sessions were held: on applications, dissemination/fitness for use, and quality in geo-information acquisition. The same parallel session structure was fol- lowed afterwards.

Professor Michael Goodchild from the University of California, USA, gave the clos- ing keynote speech. He described the chal- lenges in spatial data quality, specifically in metadata. Emphasis was laid on the forth- coming user-centric, rather than producer- centric, description of data quality. The research and progress over the last decade in

Keynote speaker Professor Michael Goodchild taking a break in front of the ITC building

Conference delegate Valentyn Tolpekin from ITC dur- ing one of the parallel sessions

6 ITC News 2007-2 EDUCATION NEWS education news

‘Participatory GIS for Effective Land Management under Transitional Conditions’ A Short Course in South Africa

Michael McCall [email protected] Jeroen Verplanke [email protected]

The Centre for Environment, Agri- and the Extension of Security of thus allows the local community to culture and Development (CEAD) at Tenure Act on the land rights of farm map their physical and socio-eco- the University of KwaZulu Natal workers in commercial farming areas. nomic landscapes and to identify the (UKZN) in Pietermaritzburg and ITC Geo-spatial information about boundaries on a more equal footing in Enschede Netherlands, have re- boundaries and competing land with spatial planners and surveyors. cently collaborated in a two week claims is clearly vital to these pro- P3DM is the participatory construc- short course in “Participatory GIS for grammes of changing land owner- tion and interpretation of large geo- Effective Land Management under ship. Moreover most of the referenced 3-D models of the Transitional Conditions” in July programmes, in South Africa and landscape. P3DM provides a unique 2007. elsewhere, have some requirements platform for people to discuss issues The joint coordinators were Denis towards sustainable land manage- around land use and land tenure, lit- Rugege (ITC PhD alumnus) of CEAD ment and improved land planning erally creating different perspectives and Michael McCall and Jeroen which will need reliable and accept- as people move around the large Verplanke of ITC. Twenty five partici- able geographical information. scale physical model and use the pants from Zimbabwe, Zambia, extra dimension of height. Tanzania Kenya, and Uganda, as well Participatory GIS (PGIS) is special be- as South Africa attended the course cause it is intended to respect the im- held at UKZN. The majority were portance and special qualities of the graduate alumni of ITC where they community’s local spatial knowledge took Masters or PhD degrees some- about livelihoods, farming systems, time in the past 10 years with fellow- land resources, and customary land ships from the Netherlands claims and boundaries. PGIS includes Government under NUFFIC. They information about local interests and came from a range of government priorities; it represents social commu- and Local Authority departments, nities, as well as individuals; it sup- NGOs, and the private sector. The ports people’s participation in South African participants were from information identification and selec- municipalities in KwaZulu Natal (KZN) tion; it contributes to capacity-build- and research students at UKZN. ing and empowerment; it elicits local (and indigenous) knowledge; and it Their mutual interest was in participa- has the potential to represent the tory use of geospatial information mental or cognitive maps of people. with local people addressing prob- lems of land allocation and land man- The course therefore began with agement where the land tenure basic revision in essential GI tools of Mobile GIS exercise regimes are in process of changing. In GPS and mapping including GIS. many southern and eastern African Then it introduced the participants to The course discussed the issues of countries there are ongoing pro- new tools of ‘mobile GIS’ and ‘partici- changing land tenure in Kenya, grammes and processes of land patory 3-D modelling’ (P3DM). Uganda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. tenure reform and/or land redistribu- Mobile GIS combines GPS with a The participants made country-spe- tion. In South Africa this includes the hand-held computer (PDA or iPaq) cific presentations about land issues Communal Land Rights Act of July running a reduced version of the in their own countries. The South 2004 (CLARA) on the claiming and le- basic GIS programme, ArcGIS, via a African contribution to this debate in gitimisation of communal land rights, Bluetooth connection. Mobile GIS the course came from a key Govt. of

ITC News 2007-2 7 EDUCATION NEWS

South Africa policy advisor, Dr Sipho Sibanda, Chief Director, Policy Legislation Development, Dept. of Land Affairs, as well as staff from UKZN.

An eye-opening field work was taken in Empandwini community in the Umbumbulu area nearby Pietermaritzburg to participate with community members engaged in working on an Integrated Land Management plan. The specific inter- est of many farmers there is in ex- panding sugar cane production. The task for the course participants was Group photo given as: “The Farmers’ organisation of Empandwini community has iden- brought out concerns over converting Geospatial Information, tified sugar cane growing as one of communal grazing lands into private Governance, Participatory their priorities for community eco- cane fields, and the limits to eco- Management, and PGIS nomic development. It is important to nomic field sizes, as well as local The UKZN course is the most recent know which areas are suitable for knowledge of soils and flood hazards. example of on-going developments in growing cane and which areas are The people engaged included farmer PGIS and participatory mapping at considered not suitable. Different organisation leaders, women farmers, ITC, mainly from the PGM groups and individuals have different youths, and technicians. And for the Department; additionally the NRS, views about these locations, and dif- course participants, a highlight was GIP, and ESA departments also work ferent criteria – social, economic and the wonderfully energetic and musi- with aspects of PGIS. PGIS is a logical cultural, as well as agro-ecological - cal display of a Zulu ngoma which the development within ITC, given the by which they choose the locations.” community generously gave us. The core mission of handling geospatial conclusion of ‘our’ PGIS in information within a development The community requested the course Empandwini was a feedback discus- context, especially in the current im- participants to work with them in sion with the community about the perative of responding to governance constructing parts of a P3DM. course participants’ analysis of the issues and strengthening good gover- People’s local knowledge of the area spatial situation and further nance. An essential component of and of land suitabilities for cane- proposals. good governance is the participation growing, and the socio-cultural and of people at many levels and in many institutional constraints were elicited UKZN-ITC’s short course combined aspects of planning, policy advisory from participatory work with en- theory and practice, both of the core and decision-making in the good larged aerial photographs and con- issues of land tenure issues, especially management and use of space. ventional maps, and with cognitive where customary common property Participation itself is a contested sketch maps. These techniques land are being revised or reformed, in term, with different interpretations, half a dozen Southern and Eastern but its core elements of involvement, African countries; and also combined legitimacy, accountability, and mutual the methodology and implementa- respect are widely accepted. These tion of the geospatial tools which re- are all essential elements in PGIS inforce the use of local spatial which is an emergent practice in par- knowledge for the benefit of the ticipatory spatial planning and man- community, whilst meeting scientific agement. criteria for geo-location. PGIS therefore encompasses the processes of participation of various stakeholders and actors in the acqui- sition, interpretation, analysis, appli- cations, and ownership questions of geospatial information. PGIS deals Showing the boundaries with the actual spatial information

8 ITC News 2007-2 EDUCATION NEWS

techniques, tools, products and out- and values. They are deeply rooted in farmers work with NGOs to recognise puts which are appropriate to a par- participatory politics, principles and and map landmine hazard areas. ticipatory approach and for use by practice, and they place high value on Children in India map and investigate ‘non-professionals’. Using such ap- local or indigenous knowledge. They environmental hazards in their neigh- propriate technologies also empow- utilise methods of image interpreta- bourhoods. The Coast Salish people ers disadvantaged peoples by tion, computerized mapping, spatial in Canada and indigenous forest- developing their digital capacities. analysis and locational technologies, dwellers in the Philippines and Kenya to varying degrees in a participatory use mapping technologies to claim PGIS is made distinct and adds value manner to complement the tradi- rights for their traditional lands and to standard GIS because: it includes tional PRA spatial tools of sketch resources. information about local interests and maps and aerial photos. priorities; in particular it elicits local PGIS is a development out of Rapid (and indigenous) knowledge; it can The major applications, to date more Rural Appraisal (RRA) and represent social communities as well commonly rural than urban, have Participatory Learning & Action (PLA), as individuals; it involves multiple been for putting forward legal land therefore with participation and inclu- processes of people’s participation in and resource claims, for community sivity as the first and last component information identification; it con- natural resource management includ- of the methodology. Thus PGIS ap- tributes to capacity-building of ing ecological conservation issues, for plies a variety of information acquisi- groups involved in PGIS processes; rural or urban community-building tion, analysis and synthesis tools and it has potential to represent cog- and protection, for analysing environ- according to their utility and sustain- nitive maps of people (including the mental and spatial equity, for com- ability for specific local needs. These cultural and spiritual relationships be- munity disaster risk management, for include the common PLA tools of tween people and their landscapes, conflict analysis and management, open-ended interviews, discussion especially important amongst indige- for awareness and preservation of groups, community and cognitive nous peoples). cultural heritage, and towards com- sketch maps. But PGIS has introduced munity empowerment. Some typical digital tools: participatory use of GPS, PGIS Applications and Tools examples of community PGIS are: mobile GIS, participatory aerial photo There is rapidly-growing worldwide Brazilian Indians using Google Earth or satellite image interpretation, interest in PGIS topics. An on-going to monitor the appearance of new anaglyphs, and P3DM. PGIS also survey of applications finds over gold mines; Maori communities de- works in appropriate visualisation 1,500 examples of PGIS activities signing a GIS to preserve secret graphics to better represent local in- whose deep goals are to enable and knowledge for intergenerational terests and mental map configura- empower communities in developing transfer; village forest groups in the tions of resource knowledge, dynamic countries or amongst indigenous Himalayas using GPS and PDAs to GIS for representing process, and peoples. These PGIS applications pro- map biomass stocks to market carbon hyper-linking to photos, narratives mote practices towards the effective credits under the Kyoto Protocol; for- and sounds, to reflect the multiple di- involvement of local people in the est-dwellers in the Philippines con- mensions of cognitive space. identification, acquisition, analysis, structing P3D models to manage representation, security, and commu- conflicts between villages and PGIS in ITC nication of their spatial knowledge National Parks. In Cambodia, local PGIS has been developing at ITC for 5 years or so. It received a boost with the GISDECO Conference on ‘Governance and the Use of GIS in Developing Countries’ held at ITC in Enschede in 2002, with a follow-up GISDECO Conference in Johor in 2004. A significant activity was major support and involvement in the ‘Mapping for Change’ conference on PGIS and PMapping in Nairobi in September 2005, where ITC linked with the main sponsor, CTA (Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation) and IIED, London. The Aerial photo mapping with community Constructing the 3D model Conference was the largest PGIS

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Apart from Elective courses at ITC over the past five years, ITC has col- laborated with partners in Refreshers and Short Courses in PGIS applica- tions to: local spatial planning, NRM, community carbon forestry, urban community planning, resource entitle- ments and land management, and community disaster risk preparedness and management; as well as specific training in mobile GIS and participa- tory mapping techniques. These courses have been given in México, Community member explaining the 3D model South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Senegal, Colombia, and Uttaranchal, India, and are proposed for Thailand, nitive maps, and especially of local or Zimbabwe and Latin America. indigenous spatial knowledge; Partners in these courses have in- Handling the complex ethical issues cluded universities in these countries, of participation in spatial planning international training institutes and through PGIS; Designing institutional Building a 3D model local consultancies. structures for PGIS in planning to make it more institutionally sustain- The PGIS field links the PGM depart- able, yet still close to the community; meeting and the first in a South ment to other departments in ITC Testing and developing an array of country, bringing together nearly 200 and to key universities and institu- new technologies including mobile participants from all parts of the tions in Netherlands and globally, in- GIS with Tablet PCs, dynamic GIS, world, including representatives of in- cluding to CTA, Wageningen, IAPAD, multi-media, full-scale displays (e.g. digenous nations in North America. It Philippines http://www.iapad.org, MapTalk), Developing visualisation resulted in influential publications ERMIS-Africa, Kenya, and UKZN software which is appropriate to the translated into 12 languages, an ex- South Africa. user-specificity, and ambiguity and in- tensive ongoing accessible bibliogra- herent uncertainty in cognitive maps; phy, and a dynamic on-line discussion Where next with PGIS? and finally Evaluating the effective- group http://www.iapad.org/ppgis/. In the field of PGIS developments in ness of further applications of PGIS, There is now a parallel discussion general, and in ITC in particular, there such as in resource claims, NRM, dis- group operating in Spanish. are exciting research issues, made aster risk management, urban neigh- more complex and challenging by the bourhood spatial management, and ITC is engaged in training, research inseparability of theory and practice to ‘counter mapping’ with children. and advisory services in PGIS and par- in participatory research topics. ticipatory mapping as the key ap- These include: Investigating the on- For more information: proach and significant methodology tologies of spatial knowledge in cog- http://itc.pgis.googlepages.com/home and tools in participatory spatial plan- ning. Activities include short courses in ITC and other countries, research into tools and applications and theo- retical issues, and publications out- put. Only one PhD to date at ITC, that of Peter Minang 2007, has researched into PGIS, but there are others in the pipeline. A dozen or so MSc theses, and also IFA topics, have focused on PGIS tools and/or approaches, and ITC has generated a good number of scientific and professional publica- tions in PGIS. The community made 3D model

10 ITC News 2007-2 EDUCATION NEWS

Short Course on Developing and Writing Proposals for CDM Projects under the Kyoto Protocol for Developing Countries

Joy Clancy and Wendie Klieverik, University of Twente Mike McCall [email protected]

At the beginning of March, energy and knowledge about environmental CDM. So since 2001, the course has experts from all over the world impact assessment (a topic also in its focused on formulating proposals for came to ITC for five weeks to partic- infancy in those days) were particular CDM finance. This new topic also ipate in the annual short course strengths of ITC, while TSD provided brought another change in its wake. Formulating Proposals for Clean inputs on a range of topics, including ITC and TSD teamed up with the Development Mechanism (CDM) project planning, criteria for techno- UNEP Risø Centre on Energy, Climate Projects, which is organised by ITC’s logical assessment, and dissemination and Sustainable Development to offer Department of Urban and Regional of technologies. the course. UNEP Risø at Roskilde in Planning and Geo-information Denmark supports UNEP in its aim to Management and the Technology It is not surprising that over 20 years incorporate environmental aspects and Sustainable Development (TSD) the training requirements of the tar- into energy planning and policy section of the Center for Clean get audience have changed. There is worldwide, with a special emphasis Technology and Environmental a lot more experience with renewable on assisting developing countries. Policy, University of Twente (UT). energy technologies, and so there are UNEP Risø’s mission includes develop- new demands emerging to meet ing institutional and human capabili- This course is one of the oldest joint changing circumstances. Energy sec- ties required to formulate and initiatives of ITC and the UT. It was tor liberalisation was very much the implement CDM projects, so joining held for the first time in 1983 and topic of the 90s, so the ICREP took as forces with the Enschede team makes since then has evolved in response to its focus rural electrification. More re- good sense. changing circumstances. Energy has cently, climate change has globally always been the core focus and the come to the forefront, politically and This year, 16 course participants from course is still known by its original scientifically, and thus both the UT 10 different countries came to acronym: ICREP (International Course and ITC are currently developing their Enschede to learn about the causes on Rural Energy Planning). In the be- research and training capacities in and effects of climate change, current ginning, the course ran for nine global climate change issues. international policy concerning cli- weeks and took as its main theme mate change, possible solutions to rural energy and environmental plan- TSD has an extensive six year ‘climate combat climate change, funding reg- ning. At that time, ITC had an MSc change’ research project contracted ulations related to CDM, project for- specialisation in Rural Energy and by DGIS. TSD’ s main partner in the mulation for CDM projects, Development with a shared professor Netherlands in this project is ITC, to- calculating the possible CO2 savings from UT which produced 30-40 grad- gether with university and NGO part- of a project, and general aspects of uates. In the early 80s, renewable en- ners in Tanzania, Nepal (ICIMOD), proposal writing. After these sessions ergy technologies were starting to India, Senegal (ENDA), Mali and given by TSD, UNEP Risø and ITC emerge as a serious alternative to fos- Guinea Bissau. The research, training staff, and from a wide range of visit- sil fuels, but the technologies were and policy advice activities are aimed ing lecturers from key institutions in virtually unknown in developing at developing carbon sequestration fi- the Netherlands and abroad, the par- countries, so there was a high de- nance opportunities for local forest ticipants had the task of writing their mand from government and NGO communities under the Kyoto own CDM proposal with feedback professionals to learn more about the Protocol and other carbon modalities. from course staff and fellow-partici- options. Not only did the course par- Developing countries lack sufficient pants. ticipants want to know the advan- capacity to deal with the opportuni- tages and disadvantages of different ties the Kyoto protocol offers, partic- The background of the participants renewables, but they also wanted to ularly in terms of CDM finance. A has changed. There has been a know how to assess the resources major challenge is training in pro- growth in the private sector, with and the social, economic and envi- posal writing - not so much in terms small local companies springing up, ronmental impacts. The remote sens- of project ideas for funding but so there are also representatives of ing and GIS skills for land use rather in terms of formulating such the private sector among the partici- planning and biomass assessment ideas in the manner required the pants. The ICREP therefore deals with

ITC News 2007-2 11 EDUCATION NEWS

the involvement of both the public time. Mr Somathilaka lives in Ratna - Ms Nanyunja explains why she was and the private sectors in energy, en- pura, Sri Lanka, where he works as a prepared to make that sacrifice: “My vironmental and climate change chief engineer for the Ceylon Electri - goal is to improve my skills in pro- projects. city Board. His research interests in posal writing, especially for fundable energy and water are carried out in CDM proposals. I hope to improve The length of the course has also cooperation with the International the contribution of my organisation changed. Employers are more reluc- Water Management Institute in Sri to sustainable development, as well tant to release staff for long periods, Lanka. Mr Somathilaka was particu- as to the field of environment, energy and funding agencies are not always larly interested in this course because, and climate change in Uganda. The willing to pay for more than two within the Ceylon Electricity Board, at training course is necessary because months of training in the Nether lands. the Samanalawewa Power Station there are still very few countries that Therefore ICREP has now been re- where he works, there are many op- attempt CDM projects. Potential in- duced to five weeks. This makes for portunities for CDM projects, such as vestors for these kinds of projects are very intensive training and the course mini hydro projects, water diversion hard to find. When I return to Ugan - organisers work at making the pro- to the Samanalawewa reservoir, re- da, I intend to train my research assis- gramme as varied and interesting as duction in irrigation releases from the tants and community development possible with field visits and social ac- dam, and watershed management officers so they can improve their tivities. These short course partici- projects. His employers were so skills in proposal writing as well.” pants have always appreciated the pleased with the outcome of the working facilities offered in the ITC training he received during another Participants are generally impressed building, and especially the social and short course offered by TSD and that by the amount of attention given to cultural opportunities of mixing with they were prepared to release him energy management and the environ- compatriots and dozens of other na- again to come to Europe, and to send ment in the Netherlands. Ms Nanyunja tionalities in the ITC ‘family’ in the other staff members. describes the situation in Uganda: ITC Inter national Hotel (IIH), some- “At the moment it seems that only thing they would miss if staying on Another course participant, Ms the people who have studied the en- the UT campus. Robinah Nanyunja, is a project super- vironment care about it. However, it visor for Pilot International and for is becoming more important in our A new feature this year was the Save Our Planet Earth in Kampala, country. A positive development is “Twente Protocol”. Here, the partici- Uganda. This was her first visit to the that our children are learning at pants took part in a role-playing exer- Netherlands and she made an impor- school to be more conservative to- cise where they were required to tant sacrifice to attend the course – wards the environment.” negotiate new agreements on CDM. she had to leave behind her two-year- Mr Somathilaka justifies the relative This exercise was acted out in a very old son. lack of attention shown in Sri Lanka: competitive manner, but at the same time it was a lot of fun to have a par- ticipant from China playing the part of the delegate from the USA and someone from India playing the dele- gate from a small Pacific island. Nevertheless, not only are there seri- ous learning objectives about under- standing the other point of view, the exercise also reveals just how difficult it is to get a consensus – even when it is only for “fun”!

The training ITC and the UT offer is valued by the participants. Many rec- ommend colleagues for the training, and the two institutions have built up strong relationships with a number of organisations over the years. For ex- Short course participants hailing from India, Indonesia, Rwanda, Ghana, Uganda, Sri Lanka, China, Colombia, Tanzania and Kenya, including Mr Somathilaka (front row on the stairs, ample, Mr Henagge Sunil Somathilaka fourth from top), Ms Nanyunja (standing below at the back, fourth from left), and course di- was visiting Enschede for the second rector Joy Clancy (front row on the stairs, second from top). (Photo: Arjan Reef)

12 ITC News 2007-2 EDUCATION NEWS

“In developing countries there is proposal on Jatropha as a diesel fuel alumnus from the World Bank has al- more attention to economic and substitute with the Tanzania Traditio- ready agreed. On 10 April, a special political issues. In underdeveloped nal Energy Development Organisation seminar will be held by UT and ITC countries we still have to deal with TATEDO, the director of which partici- which will look at how capacity build- corruption, hunger and poverty. pated in the ICREP in 1985 and con- ing in the energy sector has changed People who have to cope with these tinues to send staff members. Next over the 25 years and how ITC and issues survive by the day; they cannot year, there is the possibility of giving a TSD can continue to work together in afford to use their energy to think refresher course in Nepal for alumni the future. There will be debates on about the future.” from Asia, and a special joint course climate change and biofuels to profile of ITC and TSD is under consideration the expertise of the two institutions The ICREP has been running for more with ITC’s partner institutes in Bolivia. with regard to current issues. We than 20 years now, and an extensive hope to see more of you there! alumni network has been built up. Next year is an important year for the The network ensures that there con- ICREP: 2008 marks its 25th anniver- tinues to be a steady flow of partici- sary and special celebrations are pants for the course, and also that planned. During the course, the in- other opportunities develop. For ex- tention is to invite back a number of ample, TSD has submitted a research ICREP alumni to give lectures; one

Erasmus Mundus: External Cooperation Window for Iran, Iraq and Yemen

Ali Abkar [email protected]

The European Union (EU) has launched a scheme that provides 110 scholarships for students and nine for academic staff from Iran, Iraq and Yemen to study at European higher education institu- tions, as well as nine scholarships for EU nationals to study at partner universities in these three countries.

The EU’s new Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window offers more than 1,300 scholarships to Russia, Central Asia, Iran, Iraq and Yemen for purposes of studying, training or carrying out research abroad in the academic year of 2007- 2008. The scholarships are targeted at undergraduate, master’s, doctorate and post-doctoral levels, as well as at the exchange of academic staff for teaching, training and research pur- poses.

ITC is coordinating this special EM7: ITC has formed a partnership of 10 European universities (holding an Erasmus Charter) Erasmus Window programme for the located in 10 different European countries and 10 universities located in Iran, Iraq and Yemen (and associations and networks of universities) implementation of the 119 scholar-

ITC News 2007-2 13 EDUCATION NEWS

ships (Euro 3 million). ITC has formed Organisation Country a partnership of 10 European univer- Coordinator International Institute for Geo-Information Netherlands sities (holding an Erasmus Charter) lo- Science and Earth Observation (ITC) cated in 10 different European Partner 1 University of Bordeaux I France countries and 10 universities located Partner 2 Free University of Berlin Germany in Iran, Iraq and Yemen (and associa- Partner 3 University of Warsaw Poland tions and networks of universities). A Partner 4 University of Algarve Portugal list of the partner institutions is given Partner 5 University of Deusto Spain below. Partner 6 Lund University Sweden Consequently, students or scholars Partner 7 Erasmus University of Rotterdam Netherlands from Iran, Iraq and Yemen can now Partner 8 Middle East Technical University Turkey apply via the website Partner 9 University of Southampton United Kingdom http://www.erasmusmundus7.net/ Partner 10 University of Dohuk Iraq and choose from a wide variety of ac- ademic fields. They have the choice Partner 11 IBB University Yemen of a number of study levels, as well as Partner 12 Sana’a University Yemen the option to study at 10 leading Partner 13 Thamar University Yemen European Universities. The pro- Partner 14 University of Tehran Iran gramme will finance mobility ex- Partner 15 Shahid Beheshti University Iran penses (i.e., travel costs, subsistence Partner 16 Islamic Azad University Iran allowances, tuition fees, and insur- ance costs). Partner 17 Shiraz University Iran Partner 18 Ferdowsi University of Mashad Iran For more information: Partner 19 Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz Iran http://www.erasmusmundus7.net Associate 1 Dutch Council for Refugees Netherlands Associate 2 Scholarship Department and Overseas Iran Students Affairs, Ministry of Science, Research and Technology Associate 3 Agricultural Research and Education Iran Organisation Associate 4 Water Research Institute Iran Associate 5 Iranian Hydraulic Association Iran Associate 6 Water and Watershed Management Research Iran Company Associate 7 Yemen Remote Sensing and GIS Center Yemen Associate 8 University of Science and Technology Yemen Associate 9 University of Mosul Iraq Brief description of the Erasmus Associate 10 University of Salahaddin Iraq Mundus Lot 7 (EM7) programme Title Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window for Iran, Iraq and Yemen (EM7) Countries targeted Europe: France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Turkey Lot 7 Countries (L7C): Iran, Iraq, Yemen Number of scholarships 119 Type of scholarship Undergraduate, master’s, doctorate, post-doctorate, teaching staff Website and application form http://www.erasmusmundus7.net/ Application deadline 1 October 2007 Expected results L7C-to-EU scholarships: 110 EU-to-L7C scholarships: 9 • Teaching staff: 11 • Teaching staff: 5 • Post-doc: 19 • Students: 4 • Students: 80 Scholarships for ITC: 26 • Iran: 15 • Iraq: 5 • Yemen: 6

14 ITC News 2007-2 RESEARCH NEWS research news

Workshop GeoG2G Project

Walter de Vries [email protected]

On 28 June 2007, 15 professionals is important that each partner in any • The degree of societal relevance and academics gathered for a work- cooperation agreement remains au- and adoption by society is a major shop organised in the context of the tonomous in their operational deci- condition for successful public in- GeoG2G research project. This re- sions, and that the relationship formation exchange programmes. search project, funded by the remains based on different rationali- • Efficiency plays a major role in Netherlands programme Ruimte ties. There is, however, an important choosing GeoICT in the public sec- voor Geoinformatie, looks at the role for people such as information tor, although often it is not known role of geo-information within pub- managers, who are able to link these to what extent efficiency is im- lic sector cooperation and public different rationalities. proved by the use of GeoICT. governance in the Netherlands. It is • Public collaboration in GeoICT proj- using four cases in the Netherlands The presentation was followed by ects seems similar to other public where geo-information exchange is two discussion sessions based on a cooperation in ICT, yet there are at the core of a public sector coop- number of propositions. Among the often technical, professional and eration agreement. important findings were the follow- cost implications that seem to be ing: of a specific nature. The workshop objectives included: • Technology is not the main driver • exploring the experiences of pro- of cooperation in the public sector, The GeoG2G project will use the re- fessionals dealing with public geo- even though technological differ- sults of this workshop to further re- information exchange ences between organisations may view the four cases. In addition, the • testing theory with practice give rise to the initiation of cooper- results are expected to be tested in- • creating a pool of professionals in- ation. ternationally. volved in this field. • Autonomy of organisations and improvement in internal perform- Further information on this project The workshop included a presenta- ance indicators seem to have a sig- is available from Walter de Vries tion by Professor Victor Bekkers from nificant influence on information ([email protected]). the Centre of Public Innovation at the exchange contracts. University of Rotterdam. He argued that there are often conflicting mo- tives and agreements underlying the practice of public sector cooperation, each with its own emphasis: • political-administrative agreements focus on the autonomy of organi- sations • information-technical agreements focus on the quality and type of in- formation and data exchange • financial-economic agreements focus on initial investments and tariff structures.

Often, successful public contracts on information exchange are based on a transparent, yet minimalist, set of The workshop participants agreements on information types and The GeoG2G project will use the workshop results to further review the four case standards. At the operational level, it

ITC News 2007-2 15 ANNOUNCEMENTS

announcements

The Schokland Agreement

Janneke Kalf [email protected]

On 30 July 2007, Rector Martien consultations during the 100-day dia- established eight measurable (millen- Molenaar, on behalf of ITC, signed logue of the Cabinet, in which, be- nium development) goals, such as the Schokland Climate Agreement. sides several government members, school for all girls and boys, access to Dutch companies, public organisa- some 350 representatives of compa- clean drinking water, and reduction in tions and knowledge institutes, as nies, public organisations, churches, the mortality of mothers and children. well as the Dutch Cabinet, recognise trade unions and knowledge insti- Each year progress is measured and that the effects of climate change in tutes participated. reported internationally, and this developing countries are of per- shows that we are behind schedule. sonal concern and, in order to reach 2015 The Cabinet wishes to reduce the the Millennium Goals, are commit- The Ministry for Foreign Affairs or- backlog and, with this in mind, is ap- ting themselves to optimal coopera- ganised the event. The Schokland pealing to society. tion to reduce the risks of climate Agreement originated from Project change. 2015, one of the 10 Cabinet-wide Schokland projects from the coalition agree- The choice of Schokland is not acci- Schokland Agreement ment. Minister Koenders, acting on dental. Schokland serves as a symbol On Schokland, Minister Koenders, behalf of the Cabinet, was in charge for winning the battle against water, together with Cabinet colleagues, of this project. poverty and disease (Millennium requested Dutch society to help in Goals). Since reclamation of the reaching the Millennium Development In 2000, 189 government leaders Northeast Polder (1942), the former Goals in 2015 (http://www.un.org/ agreed to halve world poverty before island in the Zuiderzee has been part millenniumgoals). On the former is- 2015, and 30 June this year marked of the mainland and is now on the land, companies, organisations, the halfway point in the timeframe UNESCO list of world heritage sites. knowledge institutions and private for this international promise. They parties signed the so-called “Schokland Agreement”, in which they gave concrete shape to how, in- dependently or jointly with others, they would bring attainment of one or more of the Millennium Develop - ment Goals closer. A large part of these agreements are the result of

Workshop on Design Methods for Sustainable SDI 2007 (SDIDM’07)

12 September 2007 Kampala, Uganda

Just before the Second East Africa ESRI User Conference, ITC’s research group on SDI Technology will be organizing a workshop under the title “Design Methods for sustainable SDI 2007”. This half-day workshop will take place on 12 September 2007 in Kampala, Uganda.

For more information, see the workshop’s website http://www.itc.nl/sdidm07

16 ITC News 2007-2 ANNOUNCEMENTS

UN-Habitat Signs Agreement with ITC

Janneke Kalf [email protected]

UN-Habitat and the International important building blocks for sound ise in spatial information manage- Institute for Geo-Information urban management practices in rela- ment complements the concerns and Science and Earth Observation (ITC) tion to land management, environ- expertise of UN-Habitat, and we look are clustering their knowledge in mental issues, housing, transport, forward to a long and fruitful cooper- the field of urban development in service delivery and poverty allevia- ation with UN-Habitat in this impor- developing countries. On 29 June, tion, among other areas. Our expert- tant field.” director of UN-Habitat Dr Anna Tibaijuka and ITC rector Professor Martien Molenaar signed an agree- ment relating to cooperation in the fields of capacity development, training and research.

According to the UN, one billion peo- ple live in slum areas, and this num- ber will rise to two billion by 2025. “If we wish to combat poverty in the world, then greater attention to urban development is imperative,” explains Molenaar. “In the Netherlands, there is a great deal of knowledge available in the field of urban development. No less than 280 organisations are working in this do- main, but knowledge exchange and harmonisation between the parties concerned leaves much to be desired. From left to right: Dr Richard Sliuzas (ITC), Bert Diphoorn (Ag. director Human Settlements Finance Division), Dr Anna Tibaijuka (UN-Habitat director), Professor Martien Molenaar (ITC In this respect, change is essential. rector) and Chris Paresi (ITC) The Netherlands must raise its profile as an expert in the field of urban de- velopment and management - as it is already doing with regard to our water and agricultural expertise.” ITC has taken an important step by sign- ing an agreement with UN-Habitat.

“This cooperation agreement be- tween ITC and UN-Habitat reflects the importance of relevant informa- tion in the effort to achieve sustain- able urban development,” Professor Molenaar continues. “Information as a resource for faster and smarter de- cision making but also information for citizens and organisations, and in- formation that informs the processes of urban governance in a wider sense is sorely needed. ITC’s niche is the According to the UN, one billion people live in slum areas, and this number will rise to two bil- lion by 2025 production and use of spatial infor- mation, which is seen as one of the

ITC News 2007-2 17 ANNOUNCEMENTS

International Workshop: Land Policies, Land Registration and Economic Development - Experiences in Central Asian Countries

Organised by: United Nations University-ITC School for Land Administration Studies In cooperation with: Goskomzemgeodescadstre, DHV Location: Tashkent, Uzbekistan Date: 31 October - 3 November 2007

History and geographical conditions make the Central Asian countries dif- ferent from other parts of the former Soviet Union. Since their independ- ence in 1991, they have implemented changes in land policies, property reg- istration, cadastre, and socio-eco- nomic development. This workshop will bring experiences and latest de- velopments together. Invited speakers from Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and other CIS countries will present their views on these developments, with a focus on tenure regimes, successes, failures and lessons learned. Satellite image of Uzbekistan For more information and registration: (Source: www.geology.com) http://www.itc.nl/unu/la/meetings/0003.asp or contact: Drs Johan de Meijere ([email protected]).

ILWIS: Remote Sensing and GIS Software

Rob Lemmens [email protected]

The Integrated Land and Water Information System (ILWIS) is a PC- based GIS and remote sensing software that was developed up to its last release (version 3.3) in 2005 by ITC. ILWIS comprises a com- plete package of image processing, spatial analysis and digital mapping. It is easy to learn and use, and has full online help, ex- tensive tutorials for direct use in courses, and 25 case studies from various disciplines.

On 1 July 2007, ILWIS software became freely available (“as-is” and free of charge) as open source software (binaries and source code) under the 52°North initiative (GPL licence). This software version is called ILWIS 3.4 Open.

For more information and downloads: http://52north.org

18 ITC News 2007-2 ANNOUNCEMENTS

ITC News 2007-2 19 ANNOUNCEMENTS

ESRI User Conference 2007

Lyande Eelderink [email protected]

A delegation from ITC attended this presentation before thousands of at- year’s ESRI User Conference held tendees during the afternoon session from 18 to 22 June in San Diego, of the user conference plenary. California. This time round, ITC rep- Wangari Maathai is the founder of resentation consisted of Pieter Beck, the Green Belt Movement, based in Lyande Eelderink, Wim Feringa and Kenya, which advocates human rights Mark Noort. and supports peaceful democratic change through the protection of the ITC was present in information environment. booths at both the Education Fair and the Show Case, and organised an ITC Wim Feringa won second prize with a alumni reception attended by some poster entitled The environmental 20 alumni at the conference. atlas of Lima in the category Cartographic Design: Atlas. Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, provided an inspi- rational and educational keynote

ITC organized an alumni reception attended by some 20 alumni

Guatemala: Research for Rural Development

Paul van der Molen [email protected]

Within the framework of an ITC The University of San Carlos, Faculty wants to enhance the development project, the School for Land of Agronomy (FAUSAC), observed process by substantial high-level re- Adminis tration Studies (a coopera- that, while many countries are under- search, with new building blocks for tion between ITC and Kadaster for going immense social, political, eco- the implementation of the Peace the United Nations University) re- nomic and environmental changes, in Treaty being delivered as output. The cently provided input into a work- Guatemala such changes seem to workshop revealed the considerable shop in Guatemala City. stagnate. Quite a worry for a rural support of relevant government economy such as Guatemala! stakeholders, so the university feels Furthermore, the land issue is an in- encouraged to move forward. ITC will trinsic part of the Peace Treaty of cooperate in the research activities. 1996. As a consequence, the distribu- (Source: Abroad, periodical newslet- tion of land continues to impair rural ter Kadaster International, June 2007) development. The university now

20 ITC News 2007-2 STAFF NEWS staff news

Carl Pulfrich Award for Markus Gerke

Janneke Kalf [email protected]

Dr Markus Gerke of ITC’s Depart - The award was presented on 29 May cation-oriented design and/or manu- ment of Earth Observation Science 2007 during the ISPRS Hannover facturing activities in the field of pho- (formerly with IPI at the University Workshop “High Resolution Earth togrammetry and remote sensing, of Hannover), Sönke Müller (TNT) Imaging for Geospatial Information”, including earth imaging applications. and Andreas Busch (BKG, Frankfurt) and Markus Gerke, Sönke Müller and It honours the memory of Dr Carl have received the Carl Pulfrich Andreas Busch received a monetary Pulfrich, a member of the scientific Award 2007 for their work on the gift of US$ 7,500 and the distin- staff at Carl Zeiss from 1890 to 1927, image-based verification and up- guished 2007 Carl Pulfrich Award during which time he directed the de- date of geospatial data. plaque. This biennial award is spon- sign of the first stereo photogram- sored by Intergraph Z/I® Imaging® to metric and surveying instruments The three developed the WiPKA sys- promote outstanding scientific appli- from Zeiss. tem, which was installed at BKG in 2003. Using this system rather than working manually achieves a produc- tivity gain by a factor of three.

From left to right: Markus Gerke, Andreas Busch and Sönke Müller

More information is available at http://www.ipi.uni-hannover.de/html/forschung/laufend/wipka/wipka.htm

Eric Smaling Appointed to the Senate

Janneke Kalf [email protected]

Professor Eric Smaling, professor of sustainable agriculture at ITC’s Department of Natural Resources, has been appointed member of the Senate (Eerste Kamer) of the Dutch Parliament for the Socialist Party (Socialistische Partij).

Eric is the second senator in the history of ITC since our founder Eric Smaling Professor Willem Schermerhorn. (picture from Anja Meulenbelts’ weblog)

ITC News 2007-2 21 STAFF NEWS / VISITS

staff news

Welcome Dr Ing. M. Gerke Assistant professor Department of Earth Observation Science 1 April 2007 to ITC Dr A.A. Abkar Assistant professor Department of Natural Resources 18 April 2007 Dr M.F. Morgan Assistant professor Department of Earth Observation Science 20 April 2007 Dr J. Flacke Assistant professor Department of Urban Regional Planning and Geo-information Management 1 May 2007 Prof. Dr A. van der Veen Professor Department of Urban Regional Planning and Geo-information Management 1 June 2007

Staff Ir J.E.M. de Lange Department of Personnel and Organisation 1 May 2007 leaving Ir R.J. Sporry Department of Earth Systems Analysis 1 June 2007

visits

First Visit of an ITC Rector to Vietnam

Marjan Kreijns [email protected]

During the long period of coopera- today there are about 84 million peo- cuted and is implementing consulting tion with Vietnam, there has never ple in Vietnam; and it is a major re- and research projects in Vietnam. In been an official visit by a rector of cipient of ODA resources, although it recent years, the cooperation be- ITC … until now. In May 2007, is not an aid-dependent country. tween Vietnamese organisations and Professor Martien Molenaar became ITC has been intensified, and ITC’s the first ITC rector to pay an official ITC has been active in Vietnam for project portfolio in Vietnam is ex- visit to this country. over three decades. The first student, panding. Therefore, the first visit of Ms Le Thi Dinh, graduated from ITC an ITC rector to Vietnam seems to Although many Westerners still imag- in 1973. The number of alumni from have come at a very opportune mo- ine Vietnam through the lens of war, Vietnam stands at 150, and they ment. in reality it is a country filled with cap- come from a wide variety of organisa- tivating natural beauty and tranquil tions. These alumni form the back- village life. Three decades have bone of ITC’s network in Vietnam, passed since Vietnam was officially and many now hold important posi- united, and in that time it has done a tions. remarkable job of healing its wounds. Today, Vietnam is one of the best-per- ITC has a very close relationship with forming developing economies in the the Ministry of Natural Resources and world. It is going through a far-reach- Environment (MoNRE), having trained ing transformation, moving from a substantial numbers of its staff planned inward-looking economy to through tailor-made short courses one that is globalised and market- and regular degree courses. Other based. It has the potential to become client organisations in Vietnam in-

one of the great success stories in de- clude other ministries and related Meeting with Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Mau, velopment. Real income has grown agencies, universities and academic Rector HUS 7.3% per year over the last 10 years; institutes, and NGOs. ITC has exe-

22 ITC News 2007-2 VISITS

The purpose of Professor Molenaar’s • Netherlands Education Support sessment, while preparations are visit was to meet personally with im- Office (NESO) going on for the involvement of ITC portant partners and client organisa- • Royal Netherlands Embassy in the Pro-poor Forestry in Upland tions of ITC and discuss further • SNV-Vietnam North Central Agro-ecological Zone collaboration in the field of research • Asian Development Bank (ADB) Project, in cooperation with SNV, and education. During his visit, he • The Swedish-funded SEMLA proj- Tropenbos International and met with representatives from a num- ect (Strengthening Environmental Queensland University. ber of organisations, discussing such Management and Land collaboration and reconfirming our Administration). As a follow-up to the visit of intentions and ongoing activities. Professor Molenaar, Professor Martin Professor Molenaar was accompanied The discussions revealed not only the Hale, vice-rector of ITC and head of by Ms Marjan Kreijns, ITC representa- great interest of Vietnamese partners research, will visit Vietnam later this tive for Vietnam and Thailand, and in cooperating with ITC but also the year to identify joint research partners Mr Tran Nhu Trung, ITC alumnus and interest of donors in ITC’s capacity and develop a programme for joint ITC contact person in Vietnam. and expertise. research activities between Vietnamese organisations and ITC. The delegation visited the following On his last evening, the ITC alumni organisations: gave Professor Molenaar a very warm Professor Molenaar was impressed by • Ministry of Natural Resources and welcome at a dinner-cum-reception Vietnam, its people, the delicious Environment (MoNRE) (see page 28). Vietnamese cuisine, and the profes- • Ministry of Agriculture and Rural sional organisations he visited. During Development (MARD) The programme in Vietnam is flour- the visit, we came across a propa- • Disaster Management Center ishing. At the moment of writing, a ganda poster with the encouraging (DMC), Department of Dyke delegation of ITC staff is in Vietnam slogan “Work hard, study hard, fol- Management, Flood and Storm for the final workshop of the project low Uncle Ho’s principles,” and we Control (DDMFSC) on strengthening capacity within the have seen that the motivation of • Hanoi University of Science (HUS) – framework of clean development Vietnamese professionals and stu- Vietnam National University mechanisms; a refresher course in the dents is indeed still very much in line • Vietnam Academy of Science and field of land administration is being with this philosophy. Therefore, it has Technology (VAST) executed; and preparations are in been, it is, and it will be a great • Vietnam Institute of Geology and progress for a delegation of ITC staff pleasure for ITC to work with Mineral Resources (VIGMR) to visit Vietnam in early July for a Vietnamese organisations. • Forest Science Institute of Vietnam training needs analysis mission to (FSIV) / Research Center for Forest identify possibilities for education in Ecology and Environment (RCFEE) the field of land administration. In For more information on ITC in Vietnam, please contact: • University of Communication and September, a new consulting project Transport (UCT) funded by ADB will start in the field Marjan Kreijns, ITC representative in Thailand and Vietnam ([email protected]) • Water Resources University (WRU) of geo-information for hazard risk as- Paul Schoonackers, ITC project officer for China ([email protected]).

Meeting with Rector University of “Study Hard, Work Hard, Follow Uncle Ho’s Principles” Transport and Communication

ITC News 2007-2 23 VISITS

Meeting with Our Alumni in Uganda and Mozambique

Sabine Maresch [email protected]

In April 2007, three ITC staff mem- all the organisations. Further assis- our alumni are working, about how bers, Dr Mark van der Meijde, Dr tance was given by Mr Denis Tugume, the knowledge they had acquired at Ernst Schetselaar (both from Earth who had just finished his MSc studies ITC is being implemented, and about Science Analysis), and Ms Sabine at ITC and also works at the Depart - the problems and challenges they are Maresch (Marketing and Projects) ment of Geography, Makerere facing. At some organisations, we visited Uganda and Mozambique. University. The visit would not have gave presentations on ITC, and guest The main reason for this trip was to run so smoothly without the help of lectures on recent developments in promote ITC’s education, research these two alumni and the excellent earth sciences in general and mobile and project activities in applied earth introductions at each organisation. mapping in particular. We often dis- sciences, specifically in geoscience cussed possibilities for project collab- mapping and mineral exploration ex- During our busy two-day working oration, and follow-up visits will pertise. We also wanted to visit our programme, we visited seven Ugan - certainly be scheduled in the near fu- alumni working with organisations dan organisations, including the Geo - ture to work on the materialisation of active in the field of geology and logical Survey, the Department of some of our plans for collaboration. mineral exploration, and learn more Surveying & Mapping, the universities about their working environment, of Kyambogo and Makerere, and pri- Our stay in Uganda concluded with training requirements, and other vate companies such as GIC and an ITC alumni gathering. More than needs and problems of their organi- EIMCO. In all organisations, we were 50 ITC alumni attended the party or- sations, as well as to explore possibili- warmly welcomed by many ITC ganised at a restaurant in Kampala, ties for collaboration. With regard to alumni. We explained about the lat- and we were also happy that Harry promoting the Applied Earth Sciences est ITC courses and educational pro- Abels, the NFP fellowship and NPT of- (AES) programme, and in particular grammes and we learned a lot about ficer of the Dutch embassy in Ugan - the Earth Resource Exploration (ERE) the working environments in which da, was able to enjoy the event. stream (which includes geoscience mapping and mineral exploration), we had selected Uganda and Mozambique for specific reasons. Uganda has a large number of alumni (over 250); we have good contacts with Makerere; and Uganda has a growing market in mineral explo- ration. Mozambique too has a boom- ing market in mineral exploration, with all the related environmental problems and training and awareness We visited seven Ugandan organisations, including the Geological Survey, the Department of needs. Furthermore, ITC has accumu- Surveying & Mapping, the universities of Kyambogo and Makerere, and private companies lated sound project experience in such as GIC and EIMCO Mozambique through several proj- ects, of which the latest was a large geological mapping project in sup- port of the Geological Survey organi- sation in Mozambique.

Uganda Our marketing visit to Uganda was coordinated by ITC alumnus Yazidhi Bamutaze, a lecturer at the Depart- ment of Geography, Faculty of Arts, Makerere University. Yazidhi arranged Our stay in Uganda concluded with an ITC alumni gathering. More than 50 ITC alumni at- the meetings and accompanied us to tended the party organised at a restaurant in Kampala

24 ITC News 2007-2 VISITS

Mozambique therefore encouraging to learn from fective, and we have learned a lot. With regard to our visit to Mozam- Ms Jeannette Vogelaar during our With the help of ITC alumni Yazidhi bique, we received coordination sup- visit to the Dutch embassy in Maputo Bamutaze and Denis Tugume port from Daniel Ibraimo, a geologist that the embassy welcomes new NFP (Uganda) and Daniel Ibraimo from Eduardo Mondlane University applications, that the NPT pro- (Mozambique), we were able to meet and a graduate of the EREG pro- gramme will be continued in with many ITC alumni and learn gramme (2005). Daniel had prepared Mozambique with a second phase, about their working environment, an interesting programme, with visits and that the sectors mining, land use problems and needs. This knowledge to the university, government authori- planning and local governance are can improve our education at ITC. We ties and mining companies. the preferred sectors for support. This updated them and their employers on

The visit started with a meeting at Eduardo Mondlane University with representatives of the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of Agronomics and Forestry, and the Directorate. We met with members of different de- partments and learned about the new educational structures and up- coming changes because of the SADEC agreements on education (four years BSc honours programme and English as language of instruc- tion). We discussed in great detail the content of education within the dif- ferent departments, the interest for Geological field trip in Mozambique. From left to right: Dr Ernst Schetselaar (ITC), Dr Daud Jamal and Daniel Ibraimo (both Eduardo Mondlane University) and Dr Mark van der Meijde shared education and research, and (ITC) the possibilities for joining forces in future projects. We gave a presenta- tion (similar to that given at means there are good possibilities for the latest ITC education products and Makerere) to an audience composed extending our collaboration in capac- raised new interest in our courses. of staff from Eduardo Mondlane ity building with organisations in The visits to commercial companies University and students and staff Mozambique. And ITC would be par- were very useful, and their interest in from MICOA and the Geological ticularly keen to provide support with our education was surprising. At the Survey. respect to capacity building in envi- same time, many thoughts and ideas ronmental issues related to the on new projects and capacity building In the wrap-up session at Eduardo booming mining activities in the re- efforts were shared and discussed, Mondlane University, we agreed with gion. which will lead to several follow-up the academic vice-rector, Orlando activities, especially with the ITC Quilambo, to draw up a memo of un- We also visited several commercial AES/ERE group. It was highly appreci- derstanding between the university mining companies, such as Rio Tinto. ated that ITC had made the effort to and ITC. This can be used as a basis Rio Tinto is very interested and willing visit and sit down at the table with for further discussions with the to support geology- and mining-re- the organisations concerned. Ministry of Education and will facili- lated education in Mozambique. The tate future cooperation between the company is in urgent need of well- two parties. trained and well-qualified staff, par- ticularly for solid geological field We also visited organisations such as mapping activities, and invited ITC the Direccão Nacional de Geologia, and Eduardo Mondlane University to the Direccão Nacional de Minas and submit training proposals. CENACARTA, the national remote sensing and cartography centre. All Conclusion organisations stressed their strong We feel that this 10-day marketing need for more better-qualified and and identification mission, with its in- well-trained staff members. It was tensive programme, has been very ef-

ITC News 2007-2 25 LIFE AFTER ITC

life after itc

ITC Alumnus Saut Sagala Receives Belgium Development Cooperation Prize

Nanette Kingma [email protected] Emile Dopheide [email protected]

Last June, ITC alumnus Saut Sagala The jury report on Saut Sagala´s re- (Strengthening Local Authorities in from Indonesia, together with search stated that the work “… puts Risk Management) research project, 19 other laureates, received the forward and tests a simple but effec- was supervised by Paul Hofstee and Development Cooperation Prize in tive methodology, which can easily be Nanette Kingma and received support the Royal Museum for Central Africa transposed to urban environments in from Naga City. in Tervuren, Belgium. Saut Sagala developing countries. […] Further- received this prize for his MSc re- more, Mr Sagala’s findings can be The prize, in the sum of € 1,250, was search “Analysis of flood physical used in the future for the whole of awarded on 14 June by a representa- vulnerability in residential areas - Naga City. This will allow the risk of tive of the State Secretary for case study: Naga City, the flooding to be better assessed, the Development Cooperation. The cere- Philippines”. He performed this re- damage to be properly estimated, mony was attended by ITC staff search during his studies in the MSc and ultimately coping mechanisms to members Paul Hofstee, Nanette programme Urban Planning and be developed.” The MSc research of Kingma and Emile Dopheide, who Land Administration 2004-2006. Mr Sagala, which took place within also presented him with some gifts the framework of the SLARIM on behalf of ITC on this occasion. To be eligible for this prize awarded by Belgian Development Cooperation to students and young scientists, the submitted research should show “suf- ficient relevance for development, i.e. should provide an important contri- bution to the knowledge which can be applied in the pursuit of sustain- able development in the South.” Participation is open to both Belgians and citizens of the South (“develop- ing countries” as defined by the OECD).

The jury consists of representatives from Belgian universities and from Belgian Development Cooperation, and external experts are also called upon to evaluate the works submitted.

This year the prize was awarded to 14 MSc students and six researchers from a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, international relations, molecular biology and geo-informa- tion science. Thirteen of the laureates came from countries from the South. Saut Sagala, with his poster presented during the All laureates presented their research Development Cooperation prize-giving ceremony during a poster session and during the prize-giving ceremony.

26 ITC News 2007-2 LIFE AFTER ITC

Another ILWIS born!

ILWIS is not only a popular infor- mation system but a popular boy’s name too.

On 29 May of this year, ITC alumna Patricia Eiyo Tassas from Uganda was delivered of a healthy boy and called him Ilwis.

Patricia Eiyo Tassas

Joel Jason Elotu - Ilwis, 8 hrs old

Hearing this news, we dived into the ILWIS newsletter archive and found the picture in the February 1999 issue of alumna Rosina Mali from Nepal with her firstborn called .... Ilwis.

ITC’s Cees van Westen met Ilwis and his mother Rosina Maldi again in 2004

The proud parents with their son Ilwis

ITC News 2007-2 27 LIFE AFTER ITC

ITC Alumni Reception-cum-Dinner in Hanoi

Marjan Kreijns [email protected]

An ITC alumni reception-cum-dinner was held in Hanoi on 17 May to mark the first visit of Professor Martien Molenaar, rector of ITC, to Vietnam.

At a typical Vietnamese-style restau- rant, Professor Molenaar gave a guest lecture entitled “The world on your laptop”, which dealt with new tech- nologies and new applications. And he certainly succeeded in amazing Professor Molenaar giving a guest lecture on new technologies and new applications many alumni with the impressive sim- ulations, models, and beautiful im- ages that he conjured up using his laptop.

After the lecture, and while enjoying the delicious Vietnamese food, some 35 alumni indulged in lively discus- sions with old friends. Mr Tran Nhu Trung gave a special speech in which he explained that his dream had come true: his teacher from the Typical Vietnamese-style restaurant A gift for the ITC representative for Thailand and Netherlands had finally visited Vietnam, Ms Marjan Kreijns Vietnam. On behalf of the alumni community, Mr Trung presented Professor Molenaar with a beautiful hand-embroidered painting of a Vietnamese landscape. It was a re- markable evening, and for Professor Molenaar a warm welcome to Vietnam. Although this was his first visit to Vietnam, it most certainly will not be his last.

For more information, please contact Professor Molenaar was presented with a hand-em- Lively discussions at the typical Vietnamese-style the ITC representative for Thailand broidered painting on behalf of the alumni community restaurant and Vietnam, Ms Marjan Kreijns ([email protected]).

Pictures of the evening are available on ITC’s website: http://www.itc.nl/alumni/alumni_news.aspx

Some 35 alumni attended the gathering

28 ITC News 2007-2