WUEMoCA Workshop sets roadmap for tool implementation
From 21st to 24th November 2016, the second workshop of CAWa Workpackage III “Water Use Efficiency Monitoring” was held in Würzburg (Germany). Project partners from SIC ICWC, CAREC, KRASS, green spin and Würzburg University reviewed the status of the WUEMoCA tool and discussed further steps in tool implementation. The workshop was organized and hosted by the project partner at the Department of Remote Sensing at the Institute of Geography and Geology, University of Würzburg.
Workshop discussions
Central Asian and German partners of CAWa WP III that have participated in this workshop were: the Scientific Information Center of the Interstate Commission for Water Coordination of Central Asia (SIC ICWC) in Tashkent (Uzbekistan), the Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia (CAREC) in Almaty (Kazakhstan), the NGO Khorezm Rural Advisory Support Service (KRASS) in Urgench (Uzbekistan), the SME green spin GmbH in Würzburg, and the Department of Remote Sensing at the University of Würzburg (Germany).
During the four workshop days, the scientific dialogue and discussions generally focused on the current status of joint work and on planning future activities and milestones in the context of further developing the online information tool WUEMoCA. A big topic was the scientific and technical transfer of the tool and knowledge to Central Asia. Numerous presentations covered the whole range of thematic foci and technical topics that build-up WUEMoCA. Thus, contributions dealt with approaches and methods on land use classification and mapping using remote sensing data and GIS, on modeling and assessing actual evapotranspiration, biomass and yield, the implementation of land and water related indicators at the regional scale, as well as with all technical aspects of the online information tool WUEMoCA (e.g., webGIS and web interface, database and server, and documentation).
The workshop was supplemented by contributions and technical expertise from the Uzbek office of the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) in Tashkent (Uzbekistan). Within the framework of the Central Asia Water Initiative (so-called ‘Berlin Process) by the German Federal Foreign Office, the GIZ supports the Central Asian states in establishing sustainable regional water management structures.
Workshop conclusions
On 25th November, conclusions drawn from the scientific exchange and dialogue of the previous workshop days were presented to representatives from GIZ, the CAWa project coordination at the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) in Potsdam (Germany), and the German Federal Foreign Office as project donor, followed by a live demonstration of the tool. Focus of the final meeting day was laid on the joint exchange of knowledge and the identification of links on the transfer of scientific results to the region and implementation of strategies.
The main outcomes of the workshop and the final meeting day stress the importance of identification and definition of specific use cases, and highlighted the value added by the open-source WUEMoCA tool: e.g., support in decision-making for regional and local water managers and deputies and further authorities, implementation of results from WUEMoCA into further models such as the ASBmm of SIC ICWC, linking of spatial and temporal information in WUEMoCA with relevant data from further programs such as data on the condition of water infrastructure in Uzbekistan collected within the GIZ programme, support in capacity building via transfer of technical knowledge, and filling of data gaps by the integration and analysis of freely-accessible remote sensing data and contribution to the current database and indicator systems in the region. Finally, the workshop and meeting days have finished with the agreement on the roadmap aiming at the main tasks and activities as well as responsibilities for the project year 2017.
Workshop materials
Attachments:
Submitted by Katy Unger-Shayesteh on