UNITAR

This tutorial introduces the concept of prioritizing adaptation options during adaptation planning and implementation. 

At the outset of any adaptation initiative, it is important to assess the implications of climate change on the natural systems (e.g. biodiversity) and the human society (e.g. human health) to determine how and to what extent they will be affected.  There are a number of measures that can be implemented to reduce risk and vulnerability.  Due to financial and human capacity constraints, not all actions can be implemented simultaneously and it is important to study the implications of all measures.  Knowledge of the implications such as costs and benefits for each adaptation option will form part of the strategic decision-making process during adaptation planning.   

This tutorial will introduce the process of appraisal and prioritization and some tools that are used in the adaptation options appraisal process once adaptation options have been selected for consideration. 

Learning Objectives:

The course will enable you to:

• Describe the importance of climate information in adaptation planning and decision-making
• Identify technical resources for assessing climate risks
• Explore the role of National Hydro-meteorological Services in the NAP process
• Discuss how priority climate actions can be enhanced by climate scientific information 
• Identify climate products and services that support NAPs
• Discuss how to promote effective partnerships between climate information producers and users

Geographic information systems (GIS) can be a really useful tool for the whole disaster management cycle starting from preparedness phase, mitigation to response, recovery, reconstruction. GIS has proven to be efficient for implementing coherent disaster risk reduction (DRR) activities at regional, national and local scales. Quantifying risk and expected future losses is a key step in any disaster risk reduction program. Also the outputs and scenarios of a risk assessment contribute to structuring overall risk reduction policies and planning. Geospatial risk assessment can be performed with GIS tools and techniques which can quantify risk and also identify the locations in need of risk reduction measures. The role of GIS doesn’t stop there; in the immediate aftermath of a disaster satellite based rapid response analysis enables the emergency response agencies to respond in a better and coordinated way.

The overall aim of the course is to provide training participants with concepts and geospatial methodologies for risk assessment and satellite based rapid response analysis & mapping in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.

This training can be customized and facilitated by UNOSAT on demand.

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of the course, the participants will be able to:

• Define and describe basic concepts and terminology related to geospatial information technology
• Apply basic methods and functionalities for GIS analysis and mapping
• Identify, access, search, collect, organize and analyze geospatial data relevant to disaster risk reduction and emergency response
• Apply GIS methodologies and tools to perform impact analysis for emergency response mapping
• Apply GIS methodologies and tools to perform disaster risk assessment
• Explain the advantages and limitations of using geospatial information in disaster risk reduction

Geographic information systems (GIS) can be a really useful tool for the whole disaster management cycle starting from preparedness phase, mitigation to response, recovery, reconstruction. GIS has proven to be efficient for implementing coherent disaster risk reduction (DRR) activities at regional, national and local scales. Quantifying risk and expected future losses is a key step in any disaster risk reduction program. Also the outputs and scenarios of a risk assessment contribute to structuring overall risk reduction policies and planning. Geospatial risk assessment can be performed with GIS tools and techniques which can quantify risk and also identify the locations in need of risk reduction measures. The role of GIS doesn’t stop there; in the immediate aftermath of a disaster satellite based rapid response analysis enables the emergency response agencies to respond in a better and coordinated way.

The overall aim of the course is to provide training participants with concepts and geospatial methodologies for risk assessment and satellite based rapid response analysis & mapping in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.

This training can be customized and facilitated by UNOSAT on demand.

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of the course, the participants will be able to:

• Define and describe basic concepts and terminology related to geospatial information technology
• Apply basic methods and functionalities for GIS analysis and mapping
• Identify, access, search, collect, organize and analyze geospatial data relevant to disaster risk reduction and emergency response
• Apply GIS methodologies and tools to perform impact analysis for emergency response mapping
• Apply GIS methodologies and tools to perform disaster risk assessment
• Explain the advantages and limitations of using geospatial information in disaster risk reduction

This training module on Geospatial information technology applications for Land use and Environmental assessment can be customized and facilitated by UNOSAT on demand.

The aim of these e-courses is to introduce the basic concepts of flood forecasting practices and Early Warning Systems in ECOWAS region. Participants will go through selected case studies of operational Early Warning Systems services and Geospatial Information Technology applications for Disaster Risk Reduction relevant to support operational decision making for enhanced flood management in ECOWAS region.

The course is designed to accommodate participants from a variety of backgrounds and early career technical staff from governmental institutions of ECOWAS member states working in disaster risk management sector and hydro-meteorological services. Registered participants should have an academic background and/or professional knowledge of hydromet numerical applications and basic knowledge in GIS and Remote Sensing Technology.

This training can be customized and facilitated by UNOSAT on demand.

In the past decade, countries in East Africa have experienced several flood and drought related disasters. These events have led to severe economic and livelihood loss, which in turn greatly influenced food insecurity and civilian conflicts in the region. It is of high importance to understand and continuously monitor these hazards. Geographic information systems (GIS) combined with the prowess of Remote Sensing (RS) has proved to be a very useful tool for the whole disaster management cycle, starting from the preparedness phase, mitigation to response, recovery and reconstruction.

Effective disaster management and response demand rapid utilization of information and data from many sources. Geospatial information and the ability for data visualization are critical during pre and post-disaster management and response. However, the ability to seamlessly integrate and distribute digital data into spatially explicit forms for situation / rapid assessment during and after a disaster as well as identifying the associated risks before the disaster, still remains to be a challenge. This course will focus on utilizing geospatial technologies to meet this challenge, especially in the context of flood and drought management in the Greater Horn of Africa.

This training can be customized and facilitated by UNOSAT on demand.

Learning Objectives:

• Define basic concepts and terminologies related to geospatial technology
• Apply basic methods and functionalities for GIS and Remote Sensing analysis and mapping
• Identify, access, search, collect, organize and analyse geospatial data relevant to flood and drought management
• Apply relevant GIS methodologies and tools for flood and drought management
• Explain the advantages and limitations of using geospatial information technology for flood and drought management

Geographic locations and Information about these locations shows us where social environmental and economic conditions occur, where people at risk from natural disasters are located, how many people need assistance following a conflict and do not have access to good health care, education, freshwater or public transports.

Over the last two decades Geo-spatial Information Technology (GIT) has rapidly developed and is now being also called an “enabling technology” due to the benefit it offers across different application domains. GIT can help us to analyse and to better understand why and where things have happened in the past and it can also show us why and where they might happen in the future allowing us to make informed decision and better use of our resources.

To meet this challenge, UNOSAT is offering an introductory course in the use of Geo-Spatial Information Technology applications relevant to different application domains such as land-use, urban planning, forestry, environmental monitoring, hazard mapping and disaster risk reduction. The course is designed to accommodate selected participants from line ministries of the Royal Government of Bhutan with variety of backgrounds and professional experiences, with no previous GIS experience.

Learning Objectives:

• Recall basic concepts and terminology related to Geospatial Information Technology (GIT)
• Identify, search, collect, organize geospatial data/information
• Apply basic methods and functionalities of GIS software (ArcGIS) to manage and analyse spatial data
• Perform geospatial disaster risk analysis
• Apply multi-criteria decision making techniques for hazard sensitive landuse zonation
• Undertake the process to create desktop maps for supporting smart actions

This training module on Geospatial information technology applications for evidence-based decision making in DRR can be customized and facilitated by UNOSAT on demand.

This training module on Geospatial information technology applications for DRR, Climate Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation can be customized and facilitated by UNOSAT on demand.

This e-learning course was created as part of the Earth Observation for Sustainable Development: Fragility, Conflict and Security project funded by the European Space Agency and aims to give a short but practical introduction to Geospatial Infomation Technology (GIT) in states affected by fragility, with a focus on remote sensing.

The e-learning course is structured into 4 modules:

• Introduction to GIT in Fragile Contexts
• What Can Satellites See?
• GIS analysis for Fragile States
• How To Use Our Online Platform (E04SDFCV)