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"Non-specialist GIS: delivering GCM output to a
whole new community".
Dr. John Corbett
President of Mud Springs Geographers, Inc.
Time: 10:30am
Location: Foothills Laboratory 2 - 1001
The debate on climate change ranges from the
emotive to the practical. A practical perspective is found in the
planning efforts underway by the UN. The NAPA (National Adaptation
Program of Action) is the mechanism to support development of
mitigation strategies in the event of climate change targeted
specifically toward LDC's (Least Developed Countries). These groups
require a range of information to meet their goals - and that
information includes scenarios on climate change. Managing such data is
yet another challenge and easy-to-use GIS tools offer some capacity to
contribute. The delivery of GCM output to this community of NAPA teams
will serve to highlight the multiple ways in which specialized science
and tools, when disseminated and shared, can contribute and make an
impact far beyond the community of origin.
Dr. Corbett began his career with the Consultative
Group for International Agricultural Research and was first based in
Mexico then in Kenya. As an agricultural climatologist, mapping
technology is a natural fit for the research and development efforts
pursued by the CGIAR system. Crop, weather, soil interaction research
contributes to development through implementation of appropriate
methods and technology. The same efforts reach all the way to planning
and the mitigation of the effect of climate change. After 6 years, Dr.
Corbett joined Texas A&M and the Blackland Research Center based in
Temple, Texas. From Texas A&M, Dr. Corbett and team continued the
effort to deliver mapping systems of use for sustainable development
with an emphasis on agriculture. Five years later, in 1999, a private
company was formed focused on crop-climate interactions and the
development of user-friendly mapping tools.
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