Geospatial Technologies Assessing Socio-Economic Vulnerability due to Climate Change (co-funded by Eurasia-Pacific Uninet, Austria, 2013-14)

The social development of various societies is directly dependent on the nature of their economic activities which are significantly influenced by the natural resource endowment. The progress of agrarian economies is largely dependent on the prevailing climatic conditions which keep on varying from year to year. Recent researches on the regional climatic conditions have established that these are not simply the reflections of annual or periodic variations but the overall climate is changing and this is manifesting in various forms like increased incidences of high and low temperatures, droughts, floods, glacial melts etc. The effects of such extreme climatic events on the agricultural economies are already being recorded around the world.

 The total population of India, Nepal and Bhutan is about 1.6 Billions and app. 70 percent of this is dependent on various agrarian economic activities which are largely dependent on the seasonal climatic conditions. It is not only the future development of these societies that is being affected but also their seasonal or annual food availability is reducing. It is evident that these societies are highly vulnerable to the observed climatic changes although there are variations in their spatial distribution. It is important to understand the spatial variations in the observed climatic changes for assessing the level of socio-economic vulnerability in those areas.

• Develop institutional capacity by enhancing the understanding the methods of identifying crucial indicators of climate change in mountain environments and assess their impacts on the environment and sustainable socio-economic development.

• Organise a short intensive Faculty-Development Workshop in Bhutan.
  
• Disseminate the results through a participant level Seminar in Bhutan.
  

The reason for organising a short intensive multi-partner GIScience Faculty Development Workshop and Dissemination Seminar is to share the ’know-how’ regarding the methods of identifying crucial indicators of environmental and socio-economic changes in mountain environments, and to generate higher multiplier effect within a short period (1 week) and initiate a network for future cooperation.

• the workshop was organised from 11 to 15-02-2014 at College of Natural Resources (CNR), Lobesa, Bhutan
• 22 teachers and professionals participates in the workshop (BHUTAN: 10; INDIA: 3; NEPAL: 9)
• all the participants completed individual practical projects and presented in the dissemination seminar.