Development Ecology Information Service

619 Upland Place

Alexandria VA 22301 USA

703 944 9726

hansfree@comcast.net

During 2003 the Devecol map-based information system moved completely onto the world wide web as Geo e-Links Africa, accessed from the welcome page menu of www.devecol.org. Base and thematic maps at various levels of detail have been prepared for all of Sub-Saharan Africa and additional site-specific documents have been posted. The database of geo-referenced case studies now contains 135 entries. The site contains over 50 different map views.

Geo e-Links maps continue as static map images rather than interactive maps. This is a deliberate choice made to favor internet users in Africa who do not enjoy the high speed connectivity which is required for interactive maps.

An important advance in 2003 was the development and testing of an online database of the geo-referenced documents. It allows the user to search and access documents via a query form, and the search routine will link database document records to the Geo e-Links maps and vice versa. The trial version was programmed by Jonathan Freeman, and will be added to Geo e-Links Africa in early 2004. The solution devised will facilitate the updating of the Geo e-Links map images and geo-referenced documents. Users will be able to search for documents corresponding to site elevation, agro-climate, and soils, as well as subject, country, author, date, or key word.

USAID contnues to support the development of Geo e-Links albeit at a somewhat reduced level. The possibility of putting the Devecol map and case study resources on a map server housed in USAID’s Global Bureau was seriously considered by USAID during 2003 but ultimately the map server idea was shelved.

Many individuals and organizations in the USA and Europe as well as Ethiopia,Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, South Africa, and Namibia have helped by offering case study materials and helping to accurately locate case study sites. This collaboration is essential and very much valued. Wayne Twine of the Wits Rural Facility in South Africa noted that most of the recommendations that I offered in the 2002 paper on CBNRM and AIDS (mentioned above) are being implemented through his center. The Wits Rural Facility is a field research station near Kruger National Park, affiliated with the University of Witswatersrand.

Contacts were made with the University of Berne (home of WOCAT) and several of the International Agricultural Research Centers: CIMMyt, CIAT, IFDC, to request documents and propose collaboration. I met with WRI’s Norbert Henninger and IFPRI’s John Pender and Stan Wood to discuss an assessment of fragile or less favored lands, that combines small scale GIS analysis with the site-specific geo-referenced observations displayed and accessed via Geo e-Links Africa.

In June 2003, I took part in the USAID-sponsored Frame Contact Group meeting held in Alexandria, Virgina. During this week-long meeting of Africans, European and North Americans working in the fields of natural resources management in Africa I presented a geographic assessment of experiences in developing fragile lands in Sub-Saharan Africa. (http://www.devecol.org/devecolafrica/MarginalLands/Contents.htm). This is an on-going assessment, and I later examined NRM experiences in Burkina Faso against a background of analytical maps prepared by IFPRI (Wood, Stan et al. 1999. Spatial aspects of the design and targeting of agricultural development strategies, EPTD Discussion Paper No. 44. Washington DC: IFPRI). The essence of these assessments is to explore the utility of geo-referenced site-specific documentation for understanding and interpreting small scale GIS-assisted analyses of Africa’s land resources....joining regional quantitative analyses with locality-specific qualitative (descriptive) information.

Ecoagriculture Partners, a new initiative arising from the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, could become an important partner for Geo e-Links. Most of the persuasive justification for an ecologically oriented agriculture that favors and supports biodiversity conservation is contained in case studies about different experiences around the world. I attended a November 2003 meeting of Ecoagriculture Partners that explored ways to advance acceptance and actions within the Washington D.C. development assistance community.

During 2003 Dr. Ray Meyer and Tom Catterson continued as valued advisors to Devecol and the design of Geo e-Links. Chris Reij’s encouragement and advice were most welcome.

The number of visitors (‘hits’) each month to the web site has almost quadrupled in the past year - from 2,500 to 8,800. Several web sites in Europe point to the Devecol site as do sites in the USA: Frame, Food Aid Management , the Bushmeat Crisis Task Force, and OpenGIS. About 10% of the hits are from international visitors, including from South Africa, Kenya and Zambia. In addition about 20% of the total hits are typically of unknown provenance, possibly including other countries in Africa. A search for ‘Devecol’ on Google now yields about 80 results.

The number of direct hits on the Geo e-Links pages is increasing over time as is the number of repeat visitors. Many case studies in the site’s digital library are downloaded every month. In addition to the map views, some of the more frequently visited pages are the descriptions of the FAO soil classification, linked to the soil maps. Many visitors downloaded the background papers on the site: The Use of GIS in Information Management in Africa (1999), Mapping the Range of Proven Soil Management Practices in Africa (2000), and CBNRM and AIDS in Bushbuckridge, Northern Province, South Africa; an Exploratory Geographic Analysis. 2002.

Our main goals in the year ahead are to build the geo-referenced digital library to 200 cases with appropriately scaled map views, harmonize the NRM-Tracker database with Geo e-Links, add the query function to Geo e-Links Africa, incorporate as a non-profit research foundation, and obtain financial support to supplement the $20,000 that USAID is providing for the year.