Indian |
International | Geographic Information Infrastructure
ICIMOD's Approach Towards a Regional Geo-Information Infrastructure (RGII) in the Hindu-Kush Himlayan (HKH) Region Inception Phase MENRIS was established in 1990 with the basic concept of making a regional and coordinated effort to facilitate the potentials of GIS technology to the institutions in the HKH region. Its objectives were - to improve environmental and natural resources management and promote sustainable economic growth by facilitating solutions to common problems and ensuring the communication of results on a compatible GIS platform; to assist in the promotion of information exchange; and to act as a clearinghouse for the existing knowledge in mountain resource management. The Continuing Efforts Since its inception, MENRIS has focused in the capacity building of the national institutions in the HKH countries in the use of GI technology. In its early days, the activities of MENRIS were mainly concentrated in generating awareness about the technology among the professionals, scientists and policy makers in region focussing on bridging the human resource gap. The adoption was the technology was somewhat slower at that time as the computer hardware and software were expensive to be affordable for the government organizations in the regional member countries. Introducing GIS into the organizations was something looked upon as an expensive and extravagant step and people were skeptical about its real use in the existing environment of the region. Realizing that educating the managers and policy makers were the most urgent task, and to fill the gap of people who could really work on the system, MENRIS designed special training packages targeted to professionals, managers and policy makers. Special arrangements with United Nations Environment Prpgramme (UNEP) and Environment Systems Research Institute (ESRI) made it possible to provide GIS softwares to ICIMOD partner institutes at the educational discounted prices. This model of combining training program and affordable software made it possible for the trainees to continue working with the system after completing the training. 
Fig 2: Number of Trainees and Institutions from different member countries (1997-2000) Further on, the project on "Strengthening of Training Capabilities for GIS Applications in Integrated Development in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan Region" funded by the Netherlands Government provided further boost to the training activities of MENRIS. New courses were designed focusing on the four pertaining issues of sustainable mountain development. The courses are application of GIS and RS to Basic Infrastructure and Facility Planning; Mountain Agriculture and Land Use Planning; Monitoring, Assessment and Planning of Mountain Natural Resources; and Slope Stability Analysis and Hazard Mapping. Regional and National level trainings were conducted on each of these themes in Nepal, India, China, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Pakistan. Under this programme, it had already trained more than 200 people with various professional backgrounds from more than 100 institutions and assisted in setting up more than 40 GIS facilities in these institutions in the region (figure 2). A significant awareness on the usefulness of the technology had been generated among the professionals and decision-makers and there is a growing demand of these facilities in the region. Some national institutions have started offering these courses in a cost recovery basis hence giving such efforts continuity in a sustainable manner. |