News in 2015
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FIG – ISPRS Kathmandu Workshop a great success!
25-27 November 2015, Kathmandu, Nepal
Kathmandu, Nepal, was from 25 – 27th of November 2015 the host of the
International Workshop on the Role of Land Professionals and SDI in
Disaster Risk Reduction in the context of Post 2015 Nepal Earthquake.
What started as an initial idea for a possible FIG Commission 2 Workshop
resulted in a large joint event together with ISPRS Technical Commission
IV, and was supported by FIG Commission 7. Over 300 participants
attended this very successful workshop organized by the Nepal
Institution of Chartered Surveyors (NICS) and the Nepal Remote Sensing
and Photogrammetric Society (NRSPS). FIG Commission 2 is very grateful
to President Mr. Buddhi Narayan Shrestha of NICS and President Mr. Rabin
K. Sharma of the NRSPS to organize this workshop.
Chair
of FIG Commission 2, Ms. Liza Gronendijk together with
Mr. Buddhi Narayan Shrestha, President, Nepal
Institution of Chartered Surveyor
This FIG – ISPRS international workshop offered an excellent program
covering the various aspects of spatial technologies and the role of
spatial data infrastructure in the context of disaster risk reduction.
In particular, it offered a rich picture of the Nepal Post 2015
Earthquake experiences and the lessons learned, including innovative and
unique approaches and tools developed in this context. The keynote
speakers were well chosen, adding high value by placing the Nepal
experiences in the global and scientific context. It was a great honor
and pleasure that former FIG President Chee Hai Teo attended the
workshop and addressed the audience during the plenary session on the
last day. Dr. Donald Grant represented FIG Commission 7 and was one of
the plenary speakers.
It became very clear from the presentations and the discussions
during technical sessions that disaster risk reduction is a knowledge
domain of its own. Disaster risk reduction has its own particular
issues, own approaches and own technologies. To include disaster risk
reduction in the curriculum of the surveyor and land professional means
allocating enough quality time and think carefully about the set-up and
content of the program and the teaching approaches.
The FIG Young Surveyors Network, under the guidance of Eva Maria
Unger and Paula Dijkstra organized a special session for the Nepalese
young surveyors, which was attended by more than 50 participants. In
groups, four disaster risk reduction ‘tools’ were proposed and
elaborated and ‘pitched’ in a so-called market place.
FIG
Young Surveyors Network at the Workshop in Nepal
With its focus on the Post 2015 Nepal Earthquake, this FIG
–ISPRS Workshop in Nepal can be considered of having been a pre-event of
the upcoming FIG Working week in New Zealand. The contribution of
Alistair Greig and Christofer Pearson from New Zealand was much
appreciated in this regards.
What the Nepal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (NICS) and the
Nepal Remote Sensing and Photogrammetric Society (NRSPS) have achieved
can only be considered an amazing success. The resolution of the
workshop presented by Ms. Reshma Shrestha during the closing session of
the workshop has been submitted to the Minister from the Ministry of
Land Reform and Management (MoLRM) which showed the action points in
land sector and capacity building for disaster risk reduction.
Chair of FIG Commission 2, Ms. Liza Gronendijk and Co-Chair FIG
Commission 2.1 Ms. Reshma Shrestha
Considering the difficult situation in Nepal after the 2015
Earthquake and the recent fuel crisis in the country the organizers have
achieved the almost impossible. In particular the chair of the local
organizing committee, Ganesh Prasad Bhatta, did a tremendous job, beyond
expectations. He really deserves an ‘honorable membership’ of our FIG
Commission 2.
Conference website
Proceedings
Liza Groenendijk, Chair FIG Commission 2. Professional Education
Reshma Shrestha, Co-chair of Working Group 2.1. Towards educating the
land professional, FIG Commission 2.
Kathmandu, Nepal, 30.11.2015
10 December 2015
