Training on Geospatial Decision Support System Applications for Climate Resilience in Vanuatu
In the context of Vanuatu, mitigating these risks necessitates an understanding of their spatial dimensions, underscoring the vital role of geospatial technologies. Knowledge of hazards, exposure, and vulnerability empowers decision-makers and planners to devise strategies aimed at mitigating risks and enhancing resilience. By leveraging geospatial insights, proactive measures can be implemented to minimize the adverse effects of natural disasters and the impacts of climate change.
For these reasons, UNOSAT is offering a technical course focusing on decision-making of geospatial information technology for climate change resilience to government officers in Port Vila, Vanuatu. During this training, participants will learn to utilize the Decision Support System Application by UNOSAT under the project.
UNOSAT is implementing The project “Strengthening Capacities in the Use of Geospatial Information for Improved Resilience in Asia-Pacific and Africa.” (2021-2024) intends to develop sustainable capacities and implement ad-hoc and tailored geospatial solutions. These can help to improve existing policy and decision-making processes to solve priority issues in the fields of Disaster Risk Reduction. Partnership with the government is crucial to the success of the project. UNOSAT aims to develop innovative capacity development solutions and geospatial services by integrating data, technology, knowledge, and people - custom-tailored to the country's needs. This 3-year long project builds on previous experiences and aims to further enhance capacities by leveraging technological advances and innovation and providing integrated geospatial solutions for improved decision-making in the fields of Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Resilience, and Environmental Preservation in the eight target countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Fiji, Lao PDR, Nigeria, Solomon Islands, Uganda, and Vanuatu.
Vanuatu, a Pacific Island nation characterized by its volcanic landscapes, confronts a spectrum of hazards and vulnerabilities. Positioned within the Pacific Ring of Fire, the country faces the constant threat of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis, amplifying its susceptibility to natural disasters. Tropical cyclones pose significant risks, causing widespread damage to infrastructure and disrupting livelihoods. Moreover, the impacts of climate change manifest in rising sea levels, exacerbating coastal erosion and threatening coastal communities
At the end of the course, participants should be able to:
- Recall guiding principles for Geospatial Decision Support Systems.
- Utilise the Geospatial Decision Support Systems for problem-solving related to various disaster risk and climate change scenarios.
In this day-long training, participants will gain hands-on experience with the Geospatial decision support system application, enabling them to extract valuable insights from geospatial information technology that can support informed decision-making for disaster risk reduction in the context of issues faced in Vanuatu.
This is a full-time, face-to-face course with lectures and group exercises real case scenarios (60% lab exercises, 40% lectures and discussions). This course is divided into 3 modules with group activity with an expected workload of 8 hours.
The course is designed in a way to have a balanced approach between theoretical and practical teaching methods consisting of presentations, live demos, interactive sessions, and lab exercises. At the end of the course, UNITAR-UNOSAT will set up a community of practice platform to maximise the learning experience of participants and to provide all required technical backstopping and assistance to training participants during and after the training.
The course is designed to accommodate selected participants from the National Disaster Management Office, The Ministry of Climate Change, The University of the South Pacific, and various other ministries. Since the main purpose of the training is to introduce the Geospatial Decision Support System, some of the requirements would be, to ensure that
- Staff who have the commitment and mandate to use the knowledge and skills acquired to support climate change resilience ;
- Basic computer literacy is required.
The course will be delivered in English