Z_GIS Cooperating with Royal University of Bhutan

The Interfaculty Department of Geoinformatics - Z_GIS and the Royal University of Bhutan (RUB) commemorate a decade of academic cooperation by jointly organising a week of Geospatial events in Bhutan. The celebration began with a 3-day Faculty Development Workshop on 'Geospatial Methodology for Assessing Climate Change Adaptation Strategies for Traditional Economy in Bhutan' (GeoM-4-CCAS) at the College of Natural Resources (CNR), Lobeysa on 30th March, 2015 and concluded on 3rd April with the completion of a 2-day Conference and Exhibition 'Climate Change, Environment and Development in Bhutan' (CCED_Bhutan) organised in the RUB Convention Hall at Thimphu.
 

The GeoM-4-CCAS workshop was conducted within the framework of a research project co-funded by the Commission for Development Research (KEF), Austria where 15 participants took 'hands-on' practical training of identifying, processing and analysing various types of GIS and Remote Sensing data related to Climate Change and Traditional Economy of Bhutan, and validated various scenarios of adaptation strategies. The workshop was delivered by a team of 4 experts including Dr. Shahnawaz and Dr. Gudrun Wallentin (both from Z_GIS), Mr. Ugyen Thinley and Ms. Ugyen Yangchen (both from CNR).

The CCED_Bhutan Conference and Exhibition was co-funded by the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) Coordination office located in Thimphu. The event provided a common platform to about 100 participants from academics, industry and organisations for sharing their Geospatial knowledge and practices as well as for disseminating the outcomes of the GeoM-4-CCAS project. Mr. Dorji Wangchuk (Director General, CNR) delivered the welcome address and  the 'Guest of Honour' Ms. Christine A. Jantscher (ADC Resident Coordinator), inaugurated the conference and exhibition. During the concluding session, the dignitaries and participants highly appreciated 26 presentations given over 6 sessions and 23 posters displayed in the exhibition section.

Prof. Josef Strobl (Head, Z_GIS) has been leading the cooperation between Z_GIS and RUB since 2005 and Dr. Shahnawaz (Director UNIGIS S/E Asia) is coordinating the activities. The 2 institutions have implemented 2 research projects, 8 Geospatial Faculty Development Workshops and 2 conferences in Bhutan over the last 10 years.

Both the institutions have committed to enhance the cooperation and expand the activities further!