March 2008:
Visit by Prof. Inga Svala Jonsdottir, Director of the Postgraduate Training Programme on Land Restoration, Reykjavik, Iceland, March 13-25, 2008
Ghana International Conference on Climate, Environment and Human Health, Elmina Beach Resort, Elmina, Ghana, March 14-17, 2008
UNU-MERIT/UNU-INRA Round Table Discussion: The Integration of Policy, Institutional and Technical Dimensions of Natural Resource Management Innovation, Centre for African Wetlands, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana, March 20, 2008
Joint UNU-INRA and IFS training workshop on improvement of skills for writing scientific research proposals, Miklin Hotel, Accra, Ghana, March 25-29, 2008
Consultative forum on the UNU initiative on solid waste and wastewater management on Africa, jointly organized by UNU-INRA and the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) of The Republic of Korea, Erata Hotel, Accra, Ghana, March 26, 2008
April 2008:
GVP Workshop on Approaches for Integrated River Basin Planning and Management and Optimization for Water Resources Use, Accra and Ougadougou, Date: TBC
June 2008:
Conference on climate, environment and health, jointly organized by UNU-INRA and the Centre for Environmental Impact Analysis (CEIA), University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana, June 17-20, 2008
September 2008
GVP Workshop on Water Use Management Scenarios relevant to Stakeholder using DSS, Accra and Ouagdougou, Date: TBC
If you are interested in more information about any of these events, please email us at unuinra@yahoo.com.
GVP Training Workshop on Hydro-meteorological Decision Support for the Volta Basin, in Accra and Ouagadougou (Jan - Feb 08)
WASiM and MM5 Training Workshop in Accra, Ghana
WASiM and MM5 Training Workshop in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Two training workshops were held, one in Accra (in English) from January 14 to 17, 2008 and one in Ouagadougou (in French) from January 22 to 25, 2008. The topics covered included 1) Model based water balance estimations, which involved training in training in the water balance simulation model WASiM and climate change scenario studies, and 2) Predicting the onset of the rainy season, which involved training in specific statistical approaches, linear discriminant analysis, and linear regression analysis.
Accra Workshop Report (MS Word 1.03 MB)
Ouagdougou Workshop Report (MS Word 1.45 MB)
GVP Training Workshops on "Data Management and Applications of GIS and Remote Sensing in Natural Resources Management", Accra and Ouagadougou
From September 26th to 28th, 2007, UNU-INRA organized a GVP Training Workshop on "Data Management and Applications of GIS and Remote Sensing in Natural Resources Management" in the premises of the Centre for African Wetlands of the University of Ghana at Legon, Accra, Ghana. This workshop dealt with (2) meteorological, and hydrological data collection, storage, processing and analysis, (2) techniques for dealing with missing data, (3) Remote Sensing and spatial information projects in Ghana, presented by staff of the Centre for RS and GIS (CERSGIS) of the University of Ghana at Legon, and (4) Remote Sensing and GIS applications in the GVP, presented by Dr Tobias Landmann of the University of Würzburg and the German Space Agency (DLR), Germany. The workshop was attended by some 40 persons.
From December 12th to 14th, 2007, UNU-INRA organized a workshop (in French) on data collection and RS/GIS in Ouagadougou, at the premises of DGRE, Ministry of Agriculture.
2nd Accra Workshop Report (MS Word 1.67 MB)
2nd Ouagadougou Workshop Report (MS Word 690 KB)
IAA Symposium in Abuja, Nigeria, 3-5 Dec 07
The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) is going to organize a Regional Conference on "Space Science for Africa: Knowledge for Development", 3-5 Dec 07, Abuja, Nigeria. The Director UNU-INRA is co-chair of the Scientific Programme Committee for this conference and will try to use this opportunity to explore whether UNU-INRA can play a role in popularizing space science applications in Africa in collaboration with IAA and possibly other organizations. So far some 60 papers have been received for presentation at the Conference.
17th ISPRS-OGC-IEEE-GEOSS Workshop - The User and GEOSS Architecture: Earth Observation to Benefit Water and Health, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 15-16 Sept 07
UNU-INRA staff participated in the 17th ISPRS-OGC-IEEE-GEOSS Workshop - The User and GEOSS Architecture:Earth Observation to benefit Water and Health, which was held in the Maison du Liptako Gourma, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, from 15 -16 September. The workshop focused on Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) engineering and implementation of the GEOSS information infrastructure. The workshop provided a forum for discussing the development and operational issues of an advanced global information system for supporting national, regional and global decisions impacting society. Specific emphasis was on the use of earth observation for management of water and health in Africa.
GVP Stakeholders Workshop on "Stakeholders' Capacity Needs Assessment", Ouagadougou, Sept 12-13, 2007
UNU-INRA organized a GVP Stakeholders Workshop on "Stakeholders' Capacity Needs Assessment" in the premises of the Institut International d'Ingénierie, de l'Eau et de l'Environnement (2iE) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. This workshop was conducted in French and was organized in close consultation with the Directorate General of Water Resources (DGRE) of the Ministry of Agriculture, and The Volta Basin Authority (VBA), Ouagadougou. The workshop was attended by 50 participants from institutions and organizations in the fields of water, meteorology/climate, soils, agriculture, and others. Topics discussed were similar to those in the Accra Workshop.
1st Ouagadougou Worksop Report (MS Word 200 KB)
WA-Net Conference, Accra, Ghana, 26-27 June 2007
UNU-INRA staff participated in the 1st Annual General Meeting of the West Africa Network for Capacity Building in Integrated Water Resources Management (WA-Net), jointly organized by WA-Net and the Dept of Civil Engineering of KNUST from 26-27 June 2007 in the Erata Hotel, Accra, Ghana.
GLOWA Volta Project (GVP) Stakeholders Workshop on "Stakeholders' Capacity Needs Assessment", Accra, May 31 - June 1, 2007
UNU-INRA organized a GLOWA Volta Project (GVP) Stakeholders Workshop on "Stakeholders' Capacity Needs Assessment" in the Noguchi Memorial Institute, Legon, Accra, Ghana. Some 60 participants drawn from different stakeholder research and development institutions, including civil society groups, discussed topics related to stakeholders' needs in the water sector. Topics included: climate and meteorology, water demand and allocation; hydrology, water supply & water availability; water politics, policy, law and supply financing, etc. The main objective was to share GVP's outputs and scientific tools with stakeholders in the water sector within the Volta Basin in order to assess their needs for capacity development.
1st Accra Workshop Report (MS Word 5.91MB)
Launching of RCE, Kumasi, Ghana, 8 May 07
On May 8, 2007, the Regional Center of Expertise (RCE) in Kumasi, Ghana, was officially launched by the Rector, UNU. This RCE is organized by Prof. Emmanuel Frempong and his colleagues of KNUST and brings together several stakeholders in the field of education and environment in the Kumasi Region. The organization of this RCE has been supported by IAS, Yokohama, Japan, in several ways: through visits of staff, by making available documents and PR materials, by sharing expertise, and by making available financial support for the launching event.
UNU Global Seminar in Kumasi, Ghana, 19-22 March 07
From 19-22 March 07 a UNU Global Seminar was held in Kumasi, Ghana. The Seminar was on "Environment and education for sustainable development". The organizing committee was chaired by Prof. Emmanuel Frempong of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, Ghana, and was funded through the Rector's Office by a special grant. UNU-INRA participated in the conceptualization and organization of the Seminar and the Director UNU-INRA participated in the opening session and chaired the plenary sessions during the first day of the seminar. The Global Seminar was highly successful in achieving its objectives; a report on this Seminar can be accessed through the following:
UNU Global Seminar Proceedings (MS Word)
Expert Consultation Food Insecurity: A great threat to human security", at MSSRF, Chennai, India, 29 Jan - 1 Feb 07
The Director UNU-INRA was invited to present a paper at an Expert Consultation on Food Security organized by the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai, India, from 29 January - 1 February 2007. The Expert Consultation resulted in the "Chennai Declaration: Towards a Hunger-free World", which can be access below and is also available from the MSSRF website. South-south collaboration in the field of application of ICT and biotechnology at the village level was discussed with staff of the MSSRF (Prof M S Swaminathan, Dr. M Velayutham, Prof Venkatesh Athreya and Prof Subbiah Arunachalam).
Chennai Declaration (75 KB PDF)
ASSS conference in Accra, Ghana, 8-12 Jan 07
UNU-INRA participated in the organization of the International Conference of the African Soils Science Society (ASSS) in Accra, Ghana, from 8-12 January 2007 in Accra, Ghana, which brought together a large number of Africa's established soil scientists as well as students and young scientists in soils. The conference was opened by the Ghanaian Ministers of Science, Education & Sports, and of Lands & Forestry, and was considered successful by most participants. The Director UNU-INRA co-chaired a plenary session with Dr Lamourdia Thombiano of FAO, Ghana.
