CONVENERS
- Carolina Adler (Mountain Research Initiative) & Elisa Palazzi (National Research Council of Italy)
- James Thornton, Mountain Research Initiative
- Yaniss Guigoz, University of Geneva / GRID-Geneva
- Nina Shatberashvili, Sustainable Caucasus / Scientific Network for the Caucasus Mountain Region
ABSTRACT
The discoverability, accessibility, and usability of a wide range of environmental and socio-economic data are crucial prerequisites to both the advancement of science and a range of more practical applications related to sustainable development, higher quality tourism, climate change adaptation, and natural hazard mitigation.
Building upon previous efforts, this workshop, jointly convened by the Mountain Research Initiative (MRI), GEO Mountains, the University of Geneva, UNEP/GRID-Geneva, Sustainable Caucasus, and the Scientific Network for the Caucasus Mountain Region, seeks to better understand the current interdisciplinary “data landscape” across the Caucasian region.
This will be achieved through open discussion with a wide range of stakeholders including researchers, practitioners, representatives of local authorities, NGOs and so forth. The following questions are of particular interest: i) what requirements do users of mountain data have with respect to online database(s)/portal(s) through which mountain data is made searchable and downloadable?, ii) which organizations and institutions are major providers of relevant data in the region?, iii) what disciplines / regions currently benefit from a good or satisfactory coverage and availability of data (i.e. examples of good practice)? and iv) what are the major gaps in terms of data discoverability, accessibility, and usability that are currently experienced by data users?
Ultimately, it is hoped that through this dialogue, future possibilities for strengthening crucial data-dependent applications and efforts will be identified and acted upon, including by GEO Mountains under the Adaptation at Altitude Programme. For instance, we hope to expand our data and resource inventories with contributions from the region and identify opportunities collaborations and exchanges that support the overlapping objectives of SNC-mt, the MRI, GEO Mountains, and UNEP.
BACKGROUND
GEO Mountains is an Initiative of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and one of several partner organizations involved in Adaptation at Altitude – a global programme funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). This proposed workshop will primarily address GEO Mountains’ first objective: to identify the needs of diverse users of data and information pertaining to global mountain environments and, as far as possible, satisfy these needs by making relevant data freely discoverable, accessible, and usable. In line with scope of Adaptation at Altitude, specific emphasis will be placed on data related to climate change drivers, processes, impacts, and adaptation in the region, but other topics and corresponding types of data and information can also be discussed.
PROGRAMME
Date: 30 September 2021 | Time: 09:00-11:30 CEST | Location: Online
1. Welcome and introduction | The organizers
2. Earth Observations in support of the Caucasus Regional Research Agenda 2020-2030 - The state of play | Mamuka Gvilava, GIS and RS Consulting Center GeoGraphic
3. Invited presentation (Title TBC) | Dr. Serhat Şensoy, Turkish State Meteorological Service
4. Opportunities to contribute to global and regional data inventories | James Thornton (GEO Mountains) and Yaniss Guigoz (UNEP GRID-Geneva)
4. Open discussion of the questions
6. Data survey
Please complete the registration form below before 27 September 2021. Upon registration, you will receive a Zoom webinar link and passcode automatically, along with a copy of your responses. You will also receive the link again prior to the workshop.
For any questions, please contact james.thornton@unibe.ch.
Register
Image by Svetlana.
