Six staff from the Timor Leste Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and Ministry of Social Solidarity attended BIOTROP’s Training on Hazard and Risk Mapping for Watershed Management on 06-17 November 2017 as part of the Strengthening Community Resilience to Climate Induced Disasters in Dili - Ainaro Road Development Corridor (DARDC) Project funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The participants were Ms Adina Alves, Mr Albino da Silva Barbosa, Mr Domingos Soares Mo’ok and Mr Nilton J.A. de Carvalho Ribeiro from Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries; as well as Mr Joao de Sousa Filipe and Mr Severino da Costa Oliveira from Ministry of Social Solidarity.
This training program was aimed to increase the knowledge and skills of the participants in: 1) carrying out analyses for developing functional database for the Agriculture, Land use and Geographic Information System (ALGIS); 2) determining characteristics of a watershed to improve the condition of watersheds; 3) applying GIS and Remote Sensing in hazard and risk mapping for other watersheds in the country; 4) relating certain watershed and risk mapping in the field to their respective conditions; and 5) presenting final maps and findings to key stakeholders along with recommendations for further improvement. The training was also designed to strengthen the capacity of the participants’ respective institutions in accordance with the mandates of their Ministries.
The DARDC Project aims to strengthen the resilience of communities living along road infrastructure in DARDC to climate-induced disasters such as floods and landslides and to reduce the risk of damage to road infrastructure. The purpose will be accomplished by specifically targeting and strengthening institutional and technical capacities of sub-national government officials to plan for and implement disaster risk management (DRM) measures using ecosystem-based approaches.
In his opening remarks, BIOTROP’s Deputy Director for Resource Management, Prof Arief Sabdo Yuwono, emphasized that performing capacity building activities related to remote sensing and GIS is important for strengthening the resilience of communities to climate-induced disasters such as floods, erosion, fire and landslide, as well as improving community livelihood, food security and landscape stability.
Topics covered in this training were: 1) Climate mitigation and adaptation on water resources management; 2) Hydrology and watershed management; 3) Climate mitigation and adaptation on agriculture management; 4) Application of GIS and remote sensing in hazard and risk mapping for watershed management; 5) Landscape restoration methodology in improving community livelihoods, food security and landscape stability; and 6) Field practicum on rapid mapping monitoring for disaster observation in watershed area using GPS.
The resource persons included Dr Iwan Ridwansyah from the Research Centre for Limnology of Indonesian Institute of Sciences; Dr I Putu Santikayasa and Ms Sri Malahayati Yusuf from Institut Pertanian Bogor/IPB; and Dr Impron, Dr Irdika Mansur, Dr Jess Fernandez, Mr. Harry Imantho and Mr. Armaiki Yusmur from SEAMEO BIOTROP.
A field work to Katulampa dam and “Organic Forest” was also carried out for the participants to have a field practice of the theory they learned from the classroom. At the end of the training, all participants presented the final maps and analysis they generated.
