Simpósio de Geotecnologias no Pantanal

Estão entre os temas de interesse a avaliação e a aplicação de dados de sistemas sensores e geotecnologias em estudos do bioma Pantanal e sua bacia hidrográfica, como agropecuária, aplicações computacionais, cartografia e bancos de dados geográficos, educação ambiental, recursos hídricos, zoneamento e planejamento ambiental etc.

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Group on Earth Observations strengthens access to data and information

The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) is holding its annual Plenary meeting in Washington on 17-18 November to assess and promote progress towards making information about global environmental change readily available to policy-makers, managers and anyone else who needs it.

"GEO is on track to make critical information about global changes widely and easily available. By making petabytes of data accessible on-line, we will dramatically improve decision-making for the benefit of society," said Jose Achache, Director of the GEO Secretariat.

The Washington meeting will review emerging monitoring and information systems, web portals and data-sharing principles.

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Asian irrigation must be revitalised - mobile phones could help

A recent article indicates that Asia's run-down irrigation systems need to be updated if the continent is to meet the challenge of feeding an extra 1.5 billion people by 2050.

Researchers from IWMI and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) modelled the water requirements of three different ways of feeding the booming population: importing food, expanding and improving rain-fed agriculture, and enhancing irrigated agriculture.

Investment is needed to encourage farmers to use new technologies, says Chartres (DG of IWMI). "The farmers themselves are using old-style systems, there's very little adoption of high-tech or efficient irrigation systems, such as drip irrigation or sprinklers ... there's a lack of capacity for the adoption of new technologies across the whole farming system."

Other new technologies could help. "There's a tremendous need for knowledge. But most farmers have a mobile phone in India and China and more and more have access to the Internet, so there's much more opportunity to get information out there."