WA Task Report Prepared by Rick Lawford Presented by Ted Engman February 13, 2008

WA Task Report Short Background and objective (Strategy Actions/GEO CB Targets being addressed) This task arose from a Workshop on Capacity Building hosted by CONAE in Argentina in October The workshop was one of three planned and organized by IGWCO and TIGER. Task WA was initially included in the 2006 Work Plan with a Latin America only focus. Subsequently the objective was broadened to include the excellent work being undertaken by ESA in Africa (through the TIGER project) and by JAXA in Asia (through the Asian Water Cycle Initiative).

WA Task Report Milestones achieved to date: - A small workshop was hosted by CONAE in Buenos Aires in 2006 to develop the Latin America proposal. Work has continued on developing this draft plan, although not all inputs have been received. -A number of briefings and discussions about the plan have taken place at IGWCO and GEWEX meetings. The latest took place at a GEWEX meeting with CONAE staff present in February JAXA has developed a set of capacity building demonstration projects in conjunction with the Asian Water Cycle Initiative. - ESA is completing the first phase of TIGER activities and established a Secretariat in Africa. They are now working with UNESCO to determine how these activities can best be made self-sustaining. - NASA has developed a draft plan outlining the capacity building activities they plan to undertake in Latin America. This plan will be a major contribution to the GEO Capacity Building efforts.

WA Task Report Expected milestones for 2008: June 2008: - Completion and distribution of the draft Latin America CB proposal. October 2008: - Completion of the Latin America CB proposal November 2008: - Workshop in Washington DC to inform potential donors of CB opportunities in the water sector. Extent of Participation/Recommendations for additional participants - New partners, particularly in Latin America, will be sought as we move to the implementation phase of the Latin America (LA) CB activity. - The LA CB project looks forward to having more active participation by NASA and ESA in the coming months.

Extent of Participation Portugal: Portugal is also starting a related project with Peru, Bolivia and Chile in association with Spain and UK. UNESCO: UNESCO has expressed an interest in participating in the November 2006 Buenos Aires workshop and its follow-up. Italy: (ASI). One of the principal aims of the hyper-spectral mission is the monitoring of internal water and coastal areas for the water management. Our direct collaboration with the Argentinean Space Agency (CONAE), in particular with the Gulich Institute will contribute to the definition and development of tools for using satellite data in Latin American for water management. JAXA: Through its support of IGWCO and will assist in the development of the proposal

Potential Contributors to the Task Germany: WTZ Space Coordinator for South America; Remote sensing in exploration for water resources. (BGR) Netherlands: ITC in the Netherlands and Universidad Mayor de San Simón (UMSS) and Centro de Levantamientos Aeroespaciales Aplicaciones SIG para el Manejo de los Recursos Naturales (CLAS) in Bolivia conduct a joint education program on GEO- INFORMATION SCIENCE AND EARTH OBSERVATION. ITC and the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) conduct a joint education programme on GEO-INFORMATION SCIENCE AND EARTH OBSERVATION. Both activities can be integrated into the GEO capacity building program in L.A.

Potential Contributors to the Task USA: Mexico workshop (May 2006) by NOAA climate Program and Climate Prediction Center. IRI for Climate and Society CB activities in the region and to establish climate risk management work NASA and USGS has made available wall-to-wall Landsat data for Central America (SERVIR)

WA Task Report Coordination points with other GEO work plan tasks: - This activity serves as the Capacity Building component of IGWCO and GEO Water Tasks, consequently it is strongly coordinated with these activities. Potential risks that may impede completion of task: - The lack of resources and commitment for supporting a coordination or secretariat service in Latin America has slowed the development of this project. Gaps that have been identified that need to be addressed independently: - The task lead has recently reduced his role in GEWEX and needs to find other support to continue his work in leading this effort. (This situation is currently being discussed with NASA) Potential Contributions to the CB portal /GEO Portal: - Opportunities of contributions will be explored as Task participants become more familiar with the opportunities.

WA Task Report Expected products: - Tools and analysis techniques that users can apply to Earth Observation data sets to facilitate analyses needed to support water management decisions. - Training programs to show how to access and apply various satellite products, - Demonstration projects to show how remote sensing data can be applied to water resources in various parts of Latin America. Expected date of completion of task: - It is expected that most of these actions will be complete with the implementation of the LA Capacity Building program in late 2009 or early Expectations of task lead from CBC: - None specified to date.

PROPOSED ELEMENTS FOR IMPLEMENTATION: MANAGEMENT GROUP: REPRESENTATIVES OF SPACE AGENCIES AND USER AGENCIES WHO SUPPLY THE DATA, TRAINING, FUNDS, ETC. (POSSIBILITY: PROGRAM PARTNERS) AN IMPLEMENTING AGENCY THAT PROVIDES A FOCAL POINT FOR THE PROJECT AND COORDINATES CALLS FOR PROPOSALS, RESPONSES, FOLLOW-UP, ETC. (CONAE) ADVISORY GROUP: TECHNICAL EXPERTS WHO PROVIDE ADVICE ON THE PROGRAM, TECHNICAL COMMENTS AND REVIEWS. (IGWCO AND SOUTH AMERICAN WATER EXPERTS)

HOW A CAPACITY BUILDING INITIATIVE COULD WORK SPACE AGENCIESADVISORY GROUPUSERS/ WATER EXPERTS PROPOSES TOPIC PRIORITIES AND DRAFTS CONTENT OF A CP. ACCEPT AG’S RECOMMENDATION AND ISSUES A CALL FOR PROPOSALS. 23 USERS AND EXPERTS DEVELOP AND SUBMIT PROPOSALS UNDERGO PEER REVIEW 4 AGENCIES DECIDE ON PROJECTS TO BE “FUNDED” AND PROPOSE AN AGREEMENT WITH THE UERS 5 USERS SIGN AN AGREEMENT WITH LEAD SPACE AGENCIES 6

HOW A CAPACITY BUILDING INITIATIVE COULD WORK SPACE AGENCIES ADVISORY GROUPUSERS/ WATER EXPERTS USERS/ EXPERTS COMPLETE THEIR WORK AGENCIES RECEIVE AND EXPLOIT REPORTS FROM THE USERS/EXPERTS REPORTS ON THE BENEFITS OF EARTH OBSERVATIONS SYNTHESIS OF KNOWLEDGE OF REGIONAL APPLICATIONS EFFICIENCIES REALIZED THROUGH BETTER INFORMED RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 1-3 YRS