Conference organizers, the PGRSC Board of Directors, back row, from left, Arti Pratap (treasurer), Dr Wolf Forstreuter, Kasaqa Tora (secretary), Lanieta Rokotuiwakaya (vice chair). Front row, from left, Maria Kottermair, Bradley Eichelberger (chair), Salote Viti and Rémi Andreoli.
Contributed photo
MORE than 300 delegates, many from the region and around the world, will meet on November 24 through November 27 at the annual Pacific Islands GIS and Remote Sensing or PG&RS User Conference at the Japan Pacific ICT Centre, University of the South Pacific, in Suva, Fiji.
With the theme, “Building and Enhancing Geospatial Networks in the Pacific,” the importance of this year’s PG&RS User Conference cannot be overstated, according to Bradley Eichelberger, board chair, Pacific GIS and Remote Sensing Council.
In the simplest terms, GIS and Remote Sensing provide images and data, supplying the baseline information needed, for example, for effective urban, rural and coastal planning; for strengthening fisheries and agricultural development; for sustainable forest, land, and water management; to protect cultural resources, and to plan and build resilient communities that are able meet the challenges of climate change, and to anticipate and effectively recover from extreme weather events.
“The PG&RS User Conference is recognized as one of the largest GIS and Remote Sensing conferences attended by Pacific Islanders, where they network with the large contingent of invited international researchers, professionals, academics, NGOs, private-sector partners and government officials. This year the president of ISPRS (the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing), Prof. Lena Halounova, will travel from Prague to meet Pacific Island GIS and RS users, in recognition of PGRSC’s effort,” said Eichelberger
He emphasized the value of in-person collaboration, where scientists and companies learn from Pacific Island users and adjust methods and research accordingly. He said that around 70 presentations are anticipated during the four-day program.
He said, “As the name implies, the conference is a platform for people from Pacific Island Countries who are already using GIS and Remote Sensing systems to address many of the questions they, and indeed the rest of the world, are asking.
“For example, how do we plan to mitigate against the impact of extreme weather events? How do we build resilient communities that will withstand the challenges of climate change? How can we measure changes to our vulnerable coastlines? Where, how large, and how accessible are our water resources? Where and how can we establish environmentally friendly, sustainable agricultural development?
“The conference has evolved since the two-day National GIS Conference in Suva, co-organized in 1998 by USP and the Fiji Lands Department. By 2004, catering to the increasing regional interest in and use of these technologies, it had become the Pacific Islands GIS and Remote Sensing User Conference, until today, it is an internationally recognized annual event,” said Eichelberger.
