GIS capacity building for risk management to help developing countries:Case of climate change problem in Amhara rural region (Ethiopia)

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies.

In the Ethiopian rural region of Amhara, variable atmospheric conditions and climate change are affecting the agricultural productivity and the consequences might be irreversible. However, scientific and technological advances nowadays can be more and more helpful to improve the situation. The purpose of the present work is to build the effective strategies that permit the utilization and integration of GIS technologies in the institutional and humanitarian works that are being carried out in the region. Our challenge will be to raise the geographical awareness and optimize the use of resources and tools in the region, involving the farmer communities as key stakeholders in the whole process. The work explains the first steps taken regarding the necessity of building GIS capacity for risk mapping, the data collection related to food security and the use of GIS technologies, being the training of the local staff the key point that leads to further steps such as the implementation of the mechanisms to share spatial information known as Spatial Data Infrastructures. By using SDI, combined with GIS software to access and manage the information, we may improve the understanding and interoperable utilization of geo-spatial data, and therefore contribute to the development of such a needy nation. All that, developed under the umbrella of an Inter-University Cooperation Program.