[Qgis-user] How can QGIS help to save the planet? - The Natural Capital Project

[Ben Carlson]

Hello QGIS community,



I'm writing because I'm looking for a few QGIS programmers who are
interested in using their skills to help with an important environmental
project.  Before I get into how you can help, here is some info about the
project.



The Natural Capital project, a joint venture between Stanford University,
The Nature Conservancy, and the World Wildlife Fund, is "developing tools
for quantifying the values of natural capital in clear, credible, and
practical ways".  What is Natural Capital and why is it important to value?
To use another related term, Natural Services are services that nature
typically, and historically, has provided for free.  Unfortunately, since
society is so used to getting these services for free, the services often
don't have a value attached to them.



For example, a standing forest today may only have one economic value in the
marketplace: the price of its timber once cut.  But a forest provides many
tangible benefits to society that are not measured in the marketplace, such
as water filtration, carbon sequestration, or flood mitigation.  If a real
economic value could be put on these services, would their value be greater
or less than cutting the forest for timber?



You can get quite a bit more information about the NatCap project here:

http://www.naturalcapitalproject.org

You can also read a good book on the subject by one of the projects leading
scientists:

http://www.amazon.com/New-Economy-Nature-Conservation-Profitable/dp/1559631546/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266733265&sr=8-2



So where does QGIS fit in?  As part of its strategy, the NatCap project is
developing software tools using GIS software.  Unfortunately, the only GIS
the tool runs on is ArcGIS, which presents a significant barrier to entry
for many would-be users around the world.  Based on the project's goals and
the open nature of the software it is developing, a free GIS is the more
logical choice.  I'm emailing the QGIS community since I use QGIS myself,
have found the tool to be great, and the community to be strong. For anybody
who feels this is an important use of your time, I would like to ask for
your help in making the software work for QGIS.



Now for the details.  The software, called Invest, runs as a python script
in ArcGIS.  There are around 6 different modules, comprised of 1 to 3 python
files for each module.  Each module is around 300 to 900 lines of code.  It
would be great if somebody could volunteer to analyze a few of these
modules, say - Carbon, Biodiversity, and Timber, to see what it would take
to convert them over to QGIS.  Are there any ArcGIS scripting calls that
can't be ported over to QGIS?  Can an API layer be written to abstract
different GIS?  What about the user interface?  After the assessment is
complete, we'll figure out what are next steps.


You can read more about the software here:

http://www.naturalcapitalproject.org/InVEST.html

And you can download the software here:

http://invest.ecoinformatics.org/


I'm also attaching the Timber module for you to take a look at if you want
instant gratification for your curiosity.



So, what do you say, any volunteers?  Please let me know, I really
appreciate any help!



Thanks!



Ben
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