INFORMATION ON THE COURSE
APPLICATION
FORM
Advanced Course
DESERTIFICATION FORECASTING IN THE
MEDIUM TERM
DeSurvey - Course 2
Zaragoza (
Objective
of the course
Organization
Admission
Registration
Scholarships
Insurance
Teaching organization
Programme
Guest lecturers
Desertification
is a worldwide phenomenon that affects more than 100 countries and 2.6 billion
people. Designing effective mitigation actions for desertification requires
reliable assessment and diagnosis. Desertification
surveillance is required for making one-off and periodic assessments of
desertification status, for forecasting possible trajectories (early warning),
and for evaluating the performance of management programmes. However,
assessment procedures have hitherto been largely empirical and focused on the
symptoms of desertification (land degradation) rather than on the underlying
human-environment interactions and processes. As a consequence most of the
available approaches are impractical to use at regional or global scales for
reasons of cost. Furthermore, they cannot address critical human-environment
driver and process synergies and dynamics, and only provide limited
possibilities for quantifying uncertainty.
DeSurvey is a large EU research project that has been
developing state-of-the-art prototypes for multi-scale, low cost and flexible
Surveillance Systems that will provide land managers and policy makers with
early warning and monitoring capacity to enable decisions before irreversible
desertification impacts occur. To this aim, three main tools have been
developed and tailored to the requirements of national and international user
organisations and consortia of local stakeholders.
This course focuses on the second main DeSurvey
product MP2, the Integrated Assessment and Forecasting Model (IAM), which provides
support for policymakers having to deal with desertification-driven land
degradation on short to medium timescales (up to 20 years). Using the IAM, policymakers and technical
advisers can assess the impact of external factors and policy options on a
number of indicators relevant to desertification. Problems, goals, policy
options and policy indicators have all been translated into a unified and
generic conceptual framework that incorporates socio-economic as well as
physical sub-models.
The course will provide participants with:
-
An introduction to
alternative approaches to monitoring and modelling of desertification
processes.
-
An overview of the three
main modelling products developed within the DeSurvey Integrated Project.
-
Detailed guidance on the
principles and application of one of these products MP2: Integrated Assessment
and Forecasting Model (IAM).
-
Hands-on practical
experience of running and working with this modelling product.
-
A basis for independent
application of the product for sustainable land management.
A related course on “Assessing and monitoring of desertification and land use systems
vulnerability” (28 September - 3 October 2009) will provide comparable experience with MP1: Assessing and monitoring
desertification and MP3: Assessing land use system vulnerability. Candidates can apply for either one of
the courses or for both.
The
course is jointly organized by the International Centre for Advanced
Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM), through the Mediterranean Agronomic
Institute of Zaragoza (IAMZ), and the European Commission, through
the DeSurvey Project (A Surveillance
System for Assessing and Monitoring of Desertification; FP6 – Global Change and
Ecosystems).
The course will be held at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of
Zaragoza and will be given by well qualified
lecturers from universities, research centres and consultancy firms who are
participating in the DeSurvey Integrated Project.
The course will be held over a period of 1 week, from 18 to 23 January
The course is designed for a maximum of 25 participants with a university
degree and is intended for professionals
already involved in the operational aspects of assessing and managing
desertification, working in public administrations, research centres,
universities, consulting services, etc.
Simultaneous interpretation into English, French and Spanish will be
provided for lectures. Nevertheless, in order to have an efficient
communication during practical sessions, a working knowledge of English will be
required.
Application
forms may be obtained from:
Instituto Agronómico Mediterráneo de Zaragoza
Avenida de Montañana 1005, 50059 Zaragoza (Spain)
Tel.: +34 976 716000 - Fax: +34 976
716001
e-mail: iamz@iamz.ciheam.org
Web: www.iamz.ciheam.org
Candidates
should send the completed application form to the above address, accompanied by a detailed curriculum
vitae, stating degree, diplomas, experience, professional activities,
language knowledge and reasons for applying to the course. Copies of
certificates should be enclosed with the application.
The deadline
for the submission of applications is 30
October 2009.
Applications
from those candidates who cannot present their complete records when applying,
or those requiring authorization to attend the course, may be accepted
provisionally.
Registration
fees for the course amount to 450 euro. This sum covers tuition fees only.
Candidates
from CIHEAM member countries (Albania, Algeria, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy,
Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey), UNCCD Annex IV
countries and from Chile, China and Senegal may apply for scholarships covering
registration fees, and for scholarships covering the cost of travel and full
board accommodation in the Hall of Residence on the Aula
Dei Campus.
Candidates
from other countries who require financial support should apply directly to
other national or international institutions.
It is
compulsory for participants to have medical insurance valid for
The course requires personal work and interaction
among participants and with lecturers. The international characteristics of the
course favour the exchange of experiences and points of view.
The course will be taught with a combination of
lectures and practical sessions that will provide the participant with hands-on
experience on the use of the DeSurvey Integrated
Assessment and Forecasting Model for the evaluation of policy options in
potentially desertified areas.
Participants will be required to prepare before the
beginning of the course a brief report on the current assessment practices and
future priorities related to desertification policy in their countries/regions.
A technical visit to Las Bardenas
(
1.
Introduction and
background (3 hours)
1.1. Desertification
problems, policy needs and addressing stakeholder perception
1.1.1.
Desertification and land use
1.1.2.
Scales of assessment and mitigation
1.1.3.
Forecasting needs and applications
1.1.4.
Current approaches and needs identified by
participants
1.2. Overview of existing evaluation systems
1.2.1.
Broad drivers and controls
of the desertification process
1.2.2.
Indicator systems and benchmarks
1.2.3.
Synthetic assessment systems
1.3. DeSurvey assessment products
1.4. Discussion
2.
DeSurvey Main Product 2:
Integrated Assessing and Forecasting Model: lectures (3 hours)
2.1. The
components and their inter-connections
2.2. Capability
and hands-on guided tour of the graphical user interface (GUI)
2.3. Discussion
3.
Sub-models:
Theoretical background, stand-alone potential and introductory hands-on tour of
software (6 hours)
3.1. VADAS crop dynamics model
3.2. PESERA runoff and erosion model
3.3. Dynamic suitability model
3.4. Land use change model
3.5. Macro-economic model
3.6. Micro-economic model
4.
Parallel practical
sessions providing hands-on training on one of the 3 sub-models (3.1, 3.2 and
3.3+3.4) (12 hours)
4.1. Data preparation
4.2. Practical working
4.3. Individual tutorials
4.4. Prospective utility – discussion
5.
Integrated model
synthesis (6 hours)
5.1. Carrying out impact assessment – lecture
5.2. Scenario studies – lecture and practical exercises
5.3. Data sources – lecture and practical exercises
6.
Links, complementarity and applicability of MP1, MP2 and MP3: open
discussion (1 hour)
7.
Technical visit: Las
Bardenas (
M. CHERLET, JRC-IES, Ispra
(Italy)
A. DOMÍNGUEZ, Univ. Castilla
B. HAHN, RIKS, Maastricht (The Netherlands)
U. HELLDEN, Lund Univ. (Sweden)
J. HILL, Univ. Trier (Germany)
B. IRVINE, Univ.
M. JIMÉNEZ, Univ. Castilla
M.J. KIRKBY, Univ. Leeds (
B.S. McINTOSH,
R. MORA, Univ. Carlos III de
Madrid,
J. PUIGDEFÁBREGAS, CSIC-EEZA, Almería (Spain)
H. VAN DELDEN, RIKS, Maastricht (The
Netherlands)
Please take note that from 28 September to 3 October
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