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Research
and Documentation
DIN's
action and focus has been largely dictated by socio-economic and
ethno-botanic research. The results of which have shown
a close correlation between poverty, hunger and environmental
degradation. It raised concern about the loss of bio-diversity
and traditional knowledge. It also highlighted the important
contribution of women in deforestation, food security and income
generation. This information has been used to develop projects
aimed to address poverty and deforestation.
DIN
also identified that to have a greater impact at village level,
this research must also have an impact at the macro-level, influencing
policy and governance. With this in mind, DIN established
the Research, Documentation and Policy Unit (RDPU). The
goal of the RDPU is to contribute to policy debate and review
for the sustainable management of Natural Resources in Cross
River State. Review of Government policies on forest and
land use will complement and be supported by field-based research
over next three years. This will be achieved primarily using
participatory rural appraisal and participatory action research
methods.
The
RDPU also aims to provide technical assistance to community groups,
CBO's and other NGO's and government institutions toward the goal
of building a sustainable natural resources management network
in the area.
Using
participatory monitoring and evaluation methods, the RDPU will
also monitor and document DIN's impact in the field, measuring
effectiveness and ensuring the link between research and action
is not lost.
The
RDPU also has a significant GIS capability which when fully developed
will enable us to monitor vegetation change in the endangered
montane and lowland tropical forests. When fully developed
DIN's GIS capability will be used to integrate social and environmental
research data generated through through field research with remotely
sensed data. This will provide us with the capacity to monitor
changes over time, particularly in areas of interest such as vegetation
and societal changes, poverty level, conservation value, hydrological
capacity and biodiversity.
At
present RDPU has the following software packages; ArcView GIS
3.2a (with support extensions for image and spatial analysis),
Edrisi for windows for data capture and analysis and ILWIS (Integrated
Land and Water Information System).
Although
we have technical capacity, the unit is currently limited in its
function due to limited resources and equipment. There is a identified
need for a large sized plotter (A0 or A1) as well as a digitizing
tablet.
View
the notes from a GIS workshop conducted by DIN for NGO's and government
agencies in Calabar (December 2002).
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