India needs geospatial revolution

HYDERABAD: "With Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh having contributed a great deal to IT revolution, we now need to think of a geospatial revolution. Geospatial is a technology that permeates into all fields and helps them to work more profitably," said M Shashidhar Reddy, vice-chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority.

Speaking at the valedictory session of the 'World Geospatial Forum 2011', Shashidhar Reddy said that 58.6 percent landmass of the country is vulnerable to earthquakes while 40 million hectares of land is vulnerable to floods and another 5700 kms of coastline is vulnerable to cyclones. The climate change also adds another dimension to the vulnerability.

"Apart from the natural and man-made disasters, one of the biggest challenges that lies ahead of us is the swelling urban population. This is an area where the use of geospatial technology can be of immense help," Reddy said.  While the Survey of India is planning to have a 1: 10,000 mapping of urban areas in the next ten years to tackle urban flooding, NDMA is striving to map 1: 2,000 and 1: 1,000 in GIS platform in the next five years.

Referring to the announcement by the Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi about the setting up of the country's first Geospatial Technology Park, he assured the stakeholders of the geospatial industry that more such parks will be set up elsewhere in the country.
source :Geospatial world

Ghana produces flood risk maps

Ghana: CARE International has produced flood risk maps for the western region of Ghana that would be useful for the government and other agencies during disaster. In a statement, CARE mentioned that the region was one of the areas affected by the floods with more than 20,000 people feeling the impact.

The maps were produced from data collected by CARE in July and November 2010, National Disaster Management Organisation’s (NADMO) historical flooding data, a digital elevation model, and satellite images showing the extent to which towns are likely to be flooded when water level in rivers rises.

CARE said, “The data collected was fed into a GIS computer programme, which provided accurate calculations and precise mapping of flood prone areas. With the support of a GIS Volunteer from Denmark (Thomas Kristian Andersen), CARE has produced a map which identifies flood prone areas and provides information on towns likely to be affected in the wake of a flood.”

"It is expected that the map would be used by government agencies such as NDMO, district assemblies and other institutions with a stake in disaster management to provide emergency response plans, warning systems and flood protection mechanisms to minimise the high level of damage as a result of flooding in Ghana."

The Senior Programme Co-ordinator for CARE Ghana's Agriculture and Natural Resources Portfolio, Godfrey Mitti, observed that flooding had affected the output of CARE's work in some communities such as Enchi in the Western Region by eroding most of the gains in development people had made.

"The Flood Risk Map will enable us take precaution when implementing a development programme and teach people how to respond during flooding.  The map for Western Region is the first step as part of plans to map out flood prone areas in the entire Ghana."

source:Geospatial world 

Rwanda:Cabinet approves land use master plan

The Cabinet meeting chaired by President Paul Kagame, Wednesday approved the National Land Use and Development Master Plan, which will guide landowners to appropriately use their land.

The master plan displays various features such as ecosystems management, population distribution and development of networks for rural and urban settlements, social services and infrastructure, and protected areas such as wetlands.

The master plan was initiated by the government and SwedeSurvey, a Swedish consultant firm, was hired to carry out the architectural design.
The plan provides planning standards and guidelines that will be used by all the implementing parties and will form the basis for decision making in this regard.

It also reflects a move from old methods of conventional planning that were more product-oriented with limited stakeholder interaction to contemporary planning methods that are continuous and more action oriented, with maximum stakeholder participation.

Speaking to The New Times, the Director General of the National Land Centre, Dr. Emmanuel Nkurunziza said that having the National Land Use and Development Master Plan and the land registration will effectively help in the implementation of the land policy.

“The National Land Use and Development Master Plan will be implemented in three phases, the first one will be merging the district land usage policy together with the District development plan to form an Integrated Development Plan for the district,” said Nkurunziza.

He hastened to add that; “the second phase will be the urban development plan while the third will be the area action plan.”

Meanwhile, the Minister of Land and Environment, Stanislas Kamanzi, said that the land use and development master plan is a national tool that aims at ensuring rational, efficient, equitable and sustainable use of the country’s limited land resource.  

“It is meant to facilitate availing land to various important economic activities that involve inherently competing land uses. It assures guided and clear cut mediation,” he said.

Kamanzi added that: “The general public certainly will benefit from the existence of this planning tool. Rational land use implies optimisation of production and efficiency in all sectors, including agriculture, infrastructure development, rural and urban settlements, and environment management.”

Meanwhile, the cabinet meeting also approved the draft law relating to land usage and development in Rwanda, and the National Meteorology Policy.
The meeting also appointed Nathan Gashayija as the Director of Policy and Programs Coordination in the Ministry of East African Affairs.

Christine Mukakiramba was appointed Director of Cooperatives Supervision the Rwanda Cooperative Agency with Joseph Nzakunda and Beera Rutaremara named directors of Registration and Legal Affairs, and Planning and Capacity Building respectively.

The Minister of Local Government, James Musoni, presented before the cabinet meeting the current situation of thatched houses in the country indicating that, there are 61,134 thatched houses that will be replaced by May 31.
Source:Newtimes