[Ica-osgeo-labs] I need your help to Success Nigerian Resettlement

[Hogan, Patrick (ARC-PX)]

Dear Prof. Kalum Priyanath Udagepola,

The environmental conditions of the world are in fact deteriorating and exacerbating already difficult circumstances. When there is less to fight over, the fighting is more a symptom than the source of the problem. We must find ways for working ^with^ the Earth in natural sustainable ways versus ^extracting^ all we can from it without regard for sustainability. Easy enough to say, but not easy to do, whether for the unsustainable fertilizers and suicide-seeds of big agri-business or simply the local community needs overwhelming the available resources, in addition to poor agricultural methods. As you suggest, we need tools that will allow for strategic planning of communities livelihood, for agriculture and other related infrastructure needs.

Is this Yacouba Sawadogo  story something we should be modeling solutions after?
http://blogs.worldwatch.org/nourishingtheplanet/the-man-who-stopped-the-desert-what-yacouba-did-next/
http://www.odditycentral.com/news/meet-yacouba-sawadogo-the-man-who-stopped-the-desert.html

ESA has standardized on www.WebWorldWind.org<http://www.WebWorldWind.org> and I am sure that if we describe what is needed for Nigeria, we could make a strong case for access to available satellite data that could be useful in considering agricultural interests. Even better, UAVs are proving very powerful for collecting much higher quality data for moisture content and NDVI-type analyses. See work being done for education by Ron Fortunato, http://aworldbridge.com/.  Ron could establish this program with the American University of Nigeria. You will also find other agriculture-related activities at that website for accelerating the natural restoration of the soil’s micro-fauna.

It would be wonderful to see Nigeria’s computer science students building solutions that the larger world community could also benefit from. We are encouraging that kind of collective global-approach to problem-solving with the Europa Challenge, http://eurochallenge.como.polimi.it/

If you believe I can help with any of these ideas, please feel free to ask.

-Patrick
(650) 604-5656 (office)
(650) 269-2788 (cell)

From: ica-osgeo-labs [mailto:ica-osgeo-labs-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of kalum udagepola
Sent: Sunday, November 29, 2015 10:57 AM
To: ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org
Subject: [Ica-osgeo-labs] I need your help to Success Nigerian Resettlement

Dear All,

Two important objectives in the sustainable redevelopment of disaster-affected regions are to (1) improve the qualities of life for surviving or returning residents and (2) increase the resilience of human and natural systems to future disturbance.  A window of opportunity to realize this objectives is fast approaching in Northern Nigeria, where more than 300,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) are gradually returning to homelands they fled during the Boko Haram insurgency.  The disaster that prompted the massive emigration and abandonment of villages was violence perpetrated by Boko Haram.

However, the chronic disaster that has affected the area for decades, and that potentially precipitated or exacerbated the terrorism, is desertification.  Desertification has progressively damaged food production systems, water availability, livelihoods, and  environmental quality.   Agroforestry will abate if not reverse desertification by stabilizing soil against erosion, among many other beneficial influences.  Agroforestry systems will be easier to establish, and will be much more productive if supported with at least small amounts of supplemental irrigation because the climate of the affected area is sharply limited to one five-month rainy season each year.

However, the returning IDPs will find it difficult to affordably and reliably irrigate their plantings if they must rely on petrol-powered pumps; they require periodic maintenance and fuel that must be purchased and transported.  Foot- or hand-powered pumps offer an attractive alternative. However, human-powered pumps typically don’t draw water from more than 15 meters deep or move it laterally more than 30 meters. For this reason,  the initial agroforestry developments should take advantage of small vernal or permanent water courses. Whether presenting year-round surface water or not, each of these water courses is paralleled by potentially wide margins underlain by near-surface ground water, shallow enough for harvest using human-powered pumps in hand-dug wells (locally known as wash bowls).

GIS is a powerful tool for identifying and delineating these areas with near-surface ground water.  Compilation and analysis of present and historical aerial and satellite imaging – including both visible and invisible spectra --  will  identify areas that meet the requisite criteria. It will be important to map and model using remote sensing on a large- scale given the vastness of the area, which is both scarcely populated with limited accessibility.

Please write to me if you can help in this project.

Respectfully yours,

Kalum Priyanath Udagepola
PhD, MSc,BSc,Sur.Dip.,Reg. Surv.,FBCS,FACS,CP,SMIEEE,GISP
Professor and Head of Department Computer Science & Software Engineering
School of Information Technology and Computing
American University of Nigeria
Chair, Educational Activities
IEEE Queensland Section
Education Liaison Officer
The Chartered Institute of IT: Middle East Section
http://www.americanuniversitynigeria.org/about/administration/faculty/29-school-of-information-technology-and-computing/118-kalum-udagepola
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kalum_Udagepola/stats

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