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Illustrated
Atlas of the Himalaya
 MENRIS
has established partnership and signed a MoU with University of Eastern
Kentucky, USA to prepare an Illustrated Atlas of the Himalaya. This is aimed at filling the gap in the literature for both
reference and general public purposes. The atlas will present
up-to-date, substantive information in a large, coffee-table volume that
integrates full-color maps, color photographs, and text. The atlas is in
the final stage of production after several revisions and an external
review has already been completed.
Nepal
Census 2001 Indicators and Trends
 In
collaboration with CBS and SNV-Nepal, ICIMOD is undertaking a joint
study to produce Nepal Census 2001 indicators and trends. The study
looks at various socio-economic expressions of the country using GIS
tools and techniques based on the new census data. The study also looks
at the comparison of the past three census data and presents the trends
over time, which will be of great interest to policy makers and
development practitioners. Further, efforts are being made to integrate
other thematic data such as agriculture census data, natural resources
information and others to generate indicators of development of Nepal.
MENRIS has received a commendable and favourable response to both of
these studies and plans to publish in the year 2003. There have been
internal discussions to expand similar studies in other member countries
of the HKH region in close collaboration with the concerned national
partners.
Transboundary
Biodiversity Application
MENRIS has
been supporting the GIS/RS needs for the
Transboundary Biodiversity
Conservation Project under the Natural Resources Management Integrating
Programme of ICIMOD. Stakeholders’ consultations are being conducted
for identification of the possible biodiversity corridors based on which
detailed mapping and GIS analysis will be carried out. Acquisition of
satellite imagery and a compilation of GIS databases is underway.
This will enable to study the changes in land cover over time and
will help in formulating policy recommendations for conservation
activities.
Regional
Land Cover Mapping
MENRIS is
continuing its efforts to complete the landcover mapping of the whole
HKH region. Indian satellite remote sensing data (WiFS – 180m
resolution) are being used for this purpose. ICIMOD is approaching in a
way to complete this country by country basis and to date, Nepal and
Bhutan have been completed and successfully integrated the field data.
This year, Myanmar data has been processed and collaborating with
Department of Forestry, Myanmar. This activity needs separate project
funding to complete the study of the entire HKH region and will be of
immense value for the regional datasets.
Assessing
the water tower function of Tibet
 In the
framework of an International Potato Centre funded project a two weeks
research trip was undertaken by MENRIS staff to Tibet. The objective of
the study is to develop and apply tools and models to provide decision
makers with scientifically based information related to water resources
management and agricultural production. Variety of GIS, RS and modelling
tools will be applied and developed. Several field sites were visited,
and an appropriate watershed for the project was identified and a
project plan developed.
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