Final Report Summary - SEOCA (GEO capacity building initiative in central Asia) Executive summary: Central Asia is an important Europe's partner facing critical environmental challenges. Possessing certain experiences and capabilities of Earth observation (EO) data application for solving environmental, economic, societal and other development problems, this region is better prepared for the uptake of Global EO system of systems (GEOSS) technologies than many other clusters of developing countries. Thus, the goal of SEOCA is to promote European GEOSS technologies in the region of central Asia as a platform solution for the regional development challenges. In order to achieve this goal, the following activities have been implemented: - mapping of regional needs, capabilities, stakeholders, providers and planning further GEO CB activities in the region for the period until 2020; - pilot GEO capacity building programme incl. training for stakeholders, reforming educational standards, direct brokerage between stakeholders and providers; - setting up regional network of GEO offices in all 5 countries; - pilot regional GEONETCast network; - systemic dissemination and networking activities aimed at promoting GEOSS technologies in the region, building synergies with other relevant initiatives. As a result SEOCA has radically increased the acceptance of GEOSS technologies by regional governments for national environmental services, meteorology, natural hazards prevention, geological explorations. Significant contribution has been made in integrating GEO-related aspects into regional university curricula. Moreover, the project has layed a foundation for long-term GEO CB activities in the region. Project Context and Objectives: The five central Asian countries (Kazakhstan KZ, Uzbekistan UZ, Tajikistan TJ, Kyrgyzstan KG, Turkmenistan TM) emerged at the political map as independent and dynamically developing states after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since then, the multifaceted relations between this region and the European Union (EU) have been developing demonstrating most visible results in such areas as trade, humanitarian relations, science and education. The EU is the one of the major partners for all regional countries in modernisation of their science and education systems. At the same time, central Asia is a huge region located in close proximity to the EU, with significant population, rich of natural resources and potentials for development. European knowledge and technologies can and shall play a central role in solving the most urgent problems these countries are now facing. The SEOCA project aims at further fostering cooperative ties between the countries of Central Asia and Europe in developing and applying EO technologies for effective environmental monitoring. The project consortium believes that due to a number of reasons this topic has an urgent importance for the target countries and represents an excellent opportunity for European organisations to reinforce their positions as world leaders in this area. This belief, as well as the project underlying ideas, is based on the following conceptual pillars: The region of central Asia is facing ever growing environmental problems and challenges, which require effective and efficient systems of environmental situation monitoring and decision-making. The list of environmental challenges includes (but is not limited to) the following: -Rapid desertification as a result of irresponsible agriculture based on excessive exploitation of limited water resources. A most visible sign the Aral Lake problem. All countries of the region are parties of the United Nation (UN)'s Convention on desertification. - Contamination of air and soil as a result of environmental protection negligence: Examples: the Semipalatinsk nuclear test fields and areas around the Baykonur rocket-launching site. - Increasing risks of floods and landslides in mountain regions caused by fast melting of glaciers as a result of climate change. - Considerable worsening of drinking water volume and quality: This question is now considered as a political rather than pure economic issue. - Constant threat of earthquakes and vulnerability of population. Clearly, the size of the region and its geographic peculiarities justify the fact that all countries of the region need a monitoring system, which must be heterogeneous to combine various sources of data. At the same time, the system shall be economically viable taking into account the very limited economic capabilities of the countries in question. Before 1991 all countries of the region used the EO data from integrated monitoring system of the Soviet Union, every country built its monitoring capacities. In 1991-1992 after obtaining independence, the CA countries lost the direct access to remote monitoring and sensing data, like space images of 250 m (or better) resolution. The countries of the region have started the development of their own national plans of EO capacities development. For instance, Uzbekistan has adopted ?The programme of Earth and space peaceful explorations for 2007-2013 which includes several tasks directly relevant to GEO. Similarly, in 2010 Kazakhstan plans to adopt the law on space activities which will lay a fundamental for national activities in this area, including application of Geographical information system (GIS) for decision-making. In general, in all countries there are efforts aimed at development their own GIS and other information resources of EO, but these efforts are not coordinated, based on different technological and methodological standards and are, thus, not compatible. As a result, all these efforts are not harmonised with European and international standards and this makes impossible the access to centralised databases of geo information. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan were already represented in GEO before the project start, Tajikistan joined GEO thanks to the project, the remaining countries explicitly expressed their interest in joining. At the same time, the level of public awareness of GEO and the services it provides is extremely low, also amongst decision makers and major stakeholders. All the considerations above allow drawing the following conclusions: 1. There is a strong demand in central Asia for international cooperation in the framework of GEO. At the same time, if integrated, central Asia may be a valuable source of information for European users. The project facilitates direct information exchange, mutual visibility and partnering. 2. The region has possessed certain elements of the GEO-related capacities (elements of organisational and technological infrastructure, capable human resources, potential users) which makes the region better prepared for the real integration into GEO than many other clusters of developing countries. The project sets up national GEO offices as primary information and facilitation infrastructure for GEO promotion. 3. In order to convert the existing cooperative potential into real and mutually beneficial cooperation there is a need for an action which would play a role of a catalyst directing local policies towards GEO-based solutions, bridging existing technological and methodological gaps, raising awareness of the benefits of active participation in GEO, building direct links to European partners. The project supports the uptake of the GEOSS technologies in the region and facilitates reforms in the regional higher education aimed at integration of GEO-relevant aspects in respective curricula. The project was directly inspired by the 7th GEO Capacity building committee (CBC) meeting, held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on 3-4 June 2008. Project results: The SEOCA project is a Supporting Action and was not aimed at obtaining science and technology (S&T) results, but rather at supporting international cooperation in the domain of EO technologies and, through that, at the uptake of currently available GEOSS technologies in one of the EU's priority international partner regions. At the same time, SEOCA represents an important contribution Europe made to the global GEO activities in the field of capacity building and spreading the affordable EO technologies with the aim to stimulate development. As for the final results / foregrounds the project was aimed at, the following has been achieved: 1. In many respects the SEOCA project is built on the Seville Roadmap milestones and contributes to its implementation. Particularly, it has extended the geographic scope of GEO capacity building activities to the region of central Asia, created coordination mechanisms with other GEO work plan tasks (e.g. through setting up a regional mechanism of resource mobilisation - engagement with major stakeholders and authorities), demonstrated added-values of GEO, reduced major risks that may impede the tasks implementation in CA. Also, the project's website will be a regional contributor to the GEO Web portal. The regional GEO White Book represents a first ever collection of information with regards to EO needs and capacities in the region. As an important indicator of the project's success and impact, it is necessary to point out that the work on the project proposal, success of the project selection and work in the project stimulated the authorities of Tajikistan to file their GEO membership application, which was accepted and starting from 1 January 2011 Tajikistan formally joined GEO. 2. The project has studied and identified potential regional stakeholders / providers, their needs and capabilities (including in terms of resources mobilisation). It served as a direct broker between regional and European stakeholders / providers enabling direct partnering (it is expected that having been initiated bilateral partnerships will be able to search for resources and raise funding for the implementation). Also, it has practically demonstrated technical capabilities and possible added-value of stakeholders / providers cooperation within GEO. In general, we believe that the project was capable of turning regional technical and other relevant policies towards GEO and its technological policy, if this happens GEO activities will be supported by the local resources being appropriated for various activities requiring EO data (first of all, public sector, but certain market opportunities also exist in central Asia). At the same time, the region has capabilities to provide valuable EO data to the European stakeholders (S&T organisations in the field of environment, meteorological services, geological explorations). In fact, the existing EO infrastructure, including human potential, formed in the Soviet period, still operates and after certain technical modernisation can become an important element of the global EO community. 3. The project has engaged with the national authorities responsible for sustainable development (list of public entities includes, but not limited to the following organisations: state committees for geology, geodesy cadastres, state committees of hydrometeorology, ministries of agriculture, state committees for natural resources, academies of science, state committees for architecture, ministries of hazard situations, ministries of defence) to inform them of the GEOSS technologies. The project demonstration activities addressed, first of all, this target group, the aim was to promote the GEOSS (one of the elements - GEONETCast) as a major global platform for solving most urgent regional problems of sustainable development. As a tangible outcome of the project 7 GEONETCast demonstration sites have been created, more than 100 local specialists have been acquainted with the technical capacities and potential of GEONETCast. It is important that GEONETCast has been recommended as a central tool for University engineering studies (such curricula as GIS, Environment protection). Building liaisons with the EU Erasmus Mundus MANECA project (EU-CA academic mobility scheme in the field of engineering), SEOCA integrates the project results into the regional higher education. 4. The pilot capacity building activities foreseen by the project, its demonstration activity and other measures implemented in accordance with the workplan, have contributed not only towards initial capacity building, but will also lay a fundamental for further activities in this direction. Moreover, the project will undertake a special action (roadmapping) aimed at regional planning of further GEO capacity building strategies. The network of national GEO offices will be the infrastructure to push forward and coordinate them in the future. We are also confident that building direct links to European partners and GEO organisations in Europe will help the region to play a more active role in GEO. Potential impact: The major structural impact of the project is visible on the cooperation between Europe and central Asia in the field of EO and related technologies. The instrument for delivering such an impact was the focused and coordinated GEO capacity building measures synchronised with the global GEO CB plan and addressing all relevant stakeholders in the region. 3. Integration of the GEOSS into national and regional planning process for sustainable development. As indicated above, the GEONETCast terminals made available and uptaken in the region thanks to SEOCA, are used for demonstration purposes. At the same time, they are already now used in all national hydrometeorological services, which, by law, are directly responsible for environmental monitoring and therefore are key stakeholders in the sustainable development planning. Thanks to the project and within the project lifetime, several regional organisations outside the project consortium and involved in sustainable development planning have acquired GEONETCast terminals and started using its product for daily activities. 4. Capability to actively participate in the further GEO capacity building activities. As a result of the project all countries of central Asia became much closer to GEO and its global activities plan. The project set up GEO national offices in 4 out of 5 countries of the region, these offices are in charge in national/regional GEO CB activities after the project end. Moreover, the offices are equipped with skills to initiate and facilitate fundraising actions and mobilise resources for GEO-related activities. As also indicated above, as a result of the project Tajikistan became the 3rd Central Asian country - member of GEO (in addition to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan). In general, in many respects the project opened up the GEO and its activities to central Asia and vice versa. 1. Regional mobilisation of capacity building resources for realising the GEOSS. The project created a demonstration and capacity building infrastructure (the regional network of GEONETCast demonstration sites) allowing systematic and focused capacity building activities aimed at stimulating uptake of available and planned GEOSS technologies. Moreover, in order to integrate the GEOSS technologies into the initial training of regional specialists in the field of EO, the project engaged with local Universities, organised the regional discussion on how to integrate the GEOSS technologies into relevant curricula and trained sufficient number of university specialists to ensure the sustainability of the impact. 2. Demonstration of capabilities of GEO and regional brokerage. Through the series of information, training and brokerage events the project managed to bring together all principle stakeholders (both users and providers) enabling dialogue and demonstrating how modern EO technologies promoted by GEO can be applied in various contexts and for solving diverse social and economic problems. The total number of representatives engaged through the project activities exceeds 200. List of websites: http://www.geo-seoca.net/ Documents connexes Final Report - SEOCA (GEO capacity building initiative in Central Asia)
