The Coastal Resource Information System:

An Approach to the Development of a Decision Support System

Ian C King

Project Officer

Adapting to Climate Change in the Caribbean (ACCC) Project

kingcpacc@sunbeach.net tel. (246) 417-4579

The CPACC Project

• Caribbean Planning for Adaptation to Global Climate Change (CPACC) Project– 12 countries– 9 components – 4 regional and 5 pilot– 1997 – 2001 – US $6.9 million (~$6.4 million)

• to support Caribbean countries in preparing to cope with the adverse effects of global climate change (GCC), particularly sea level rise, in coastal and marine areas through vulnerability assessment, adaptation planning, and capacity building linked to adaptation planning

CPACC Components - Regional

1. Design and Establishment of Sea Level/Climate Monitoring Network

2. Establishment of Databases and Information Systems

3. Inventory of Coastal Resources and Uses 4. Formulation of a Policy Framework for

Integrated Coastal and Marine Management

5. Coral Reef Monitoring for Climate Change – Bahamas, Belize, Jamaica

6. Coastal Vulnerability and Risk Assessment –Barbados, Grenada, Guyana

7. Economic Valuation of Coastal and Marine Resources – Dominica, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago

8. Formulation of Economic/Regulatory Proposals – Antigua & Barbuda, St. Kitts & Nevis

9. Enabling the preparation of national Communication in Response to Commitments to the UNFCCC – St. Vincent & the Grenadines

CPACC Components - Pilot

Component 3 Objectives

• Originally, the Inventory of Coastal Resources and Uses– Enhance participating countries’ inventories of coastal

resources so as to provide the necessary baseline data for the execution of other project activities

– Capacity building based on a regional workshop

• Revised goals– Develop a facility to enable wide access to spatial and

monitoring data for the purpose of decision making in a format that the users understand and can utilise

– Develop the capacity within local institutions to apply and adapt the facility – CRIS, to meet institutional and national needs

– Promote sustainable data management

CRIS Facts

• Regional/Canadian consultants selected after RFPs – Alleyne Planning Assoc, Barbados; Centre for Geospatial Studies, Trinidad &Tobago; ESSA Technologies, Canada

• Contract signed in 1999 and final products delivered in 2001

• National Repositories identified as main beneficiaries of training and recipients of CRIS products

CRIS Process (1)

• Data Assessment– To assess the status of coastal resources management

data in each of the participating countries.

• Metadata creation– To establish a data catalogue for coastal resource

inventories of each participating country.

• Database Design and Management– To develop a database system design and management

strategy for the coastal resource inventory.

• Data Collection– To collect baseline coastal resource data for each

participating country.

CRIS Process (2)

• Data Automation/Conversion– To convert the baseline coastal resource data

collected for each participating country into digital form.

• Database Implementation– To implement the CRIS and deliver it to the

appropriate agencies in each participating country.

• Training– To develop the capacity to create, use and maintain

a coastal resource inventory in each participating country.

CRIS System Objectives

• Facilitate storage, retrieval, updating, analysis and manipulation of coastal resource data

• Facilitate the sharing of coastal resource data within each country

CRIS Functionality

• 2 types of functionality:– Entry, storage, updating and retrieval of coastal

resource data; and– Manipulation of these data

• Users– Regular end users– Systems administrators

CRIS Structure

• Spatial database– Includes both raster and vector data, to be

stored directly within a GIS (i.e., ArcView).

• Attribute database– Non-spatial data stored in a relational database

(i.e., Microsoft Access).

CRIS Interface

Access to CRIS Data

Report Generation

Displaying maps

Development of a Spatial Database

• CRIS database utilizing:– A generic dataset (e.g. coastline, coastal

landuse, bathymetry)– Pilot specific data sets– Country/theme specific datasets– Existing analog and digital data– RS imagery (to meet pilot & country needs)

• Development of metadata

Context for the CRIS• Meeting of coastal resource managers in 1998 with resource

persons to identify broad goals of Component 3

• Data categories for coastal resource information system prepared by regional consultants – 1998

• Meeting of regional GIS practitioners to identify needs and priorities – 1999

• Build on experience of similar activity in Trinidad and Tobago

• OECS/NRMU study on GIS capacity adapted

• OECS/NRMU DFID funded initiative for St. Vincent, Dominica and one other termed CRIS with same concept, features, software and end users at same time initiated independently

• CEPNET approach for metadata development adopted

Capacity Building• Strategy

– ID key agencies at national level for participation in the process - repositories

– Involve agencies in CRIS process where capacity exists

– Training addressing major elements of CRIS process – generally 2 persons per country, 1 from National Repository and 1 from major coastal resource management institution

– Provision of tools to facilitate application and management of the CRIS

– Support complimentary activities to the CRIS development where strategically advantageous (SIDSnet training)

Capacity Building continued

• Focus on utilizing regional capacity where appropriate

• Support development of a GIS laboratory in the CERMES Building, UWI Cave Hill Campus to facilitate the extension of the UWI CGLIS program

• Sponsoring regional participants for the CGLIS course

• Encouraging and sponsoring participation and presentation in relevant conferences

Challenges• Varying capacities amongst countries to absorb

technology transfer and participate in process• Lack of national data access policy almost universal• Uncertainty about existence and status of data generally• Limited monitoring data and where exists, uncertainty

over quality• Differing stages of pilot components and therefore

understanding of data needs• Limited budget to serve 12 countries and 4 pilot

components• Priority of project activities and limited uptake

Successes• Establishment of a community of GIS practitioners

• Development of national and regional capacity to the extent that some of the trainees have been able to offer technical support to other national and regional institutions as well as the Component 3 generally

• Development of metadata for the countries

• Development and delivery of the country CRISs

• Creating a foundation upon which countries can develop their own coastal/environmental resource decision support systems

• ESRI 2000 Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Award • Adaptation of CRIS approach in a pilot activity in Guyana -

SDLIS

Limitations• An independent review of the CRIS and

associated activities indicated several key issues– CRIS not rigorously tested in terms of data

management and how well it can serve managers’ needs

– Cannot expect to change even institutional approaches to data collection and management within the time frame

• Limited resources did not allow adequate promotion, testing and follow-up support

• Did not fully integrate satellite imagery

CRIS Potential

• The main potential is to build on the concept: – capacity building at national and regional levels

– data management

– access to information by a wide range of users in a fashion they can easily utilise

• Move towards a web-enabled approach• Sector specific applications

Conclusions

• Improving access to and management of information for decision-making– Need for national policy on data and information as ad hoc,

institution specific approaches create tremendous challenges

– Proper management of data – metadata, data dictionaries required (many agencies have very pretty maps of which little can be said of the information being displayed)

– Given limited national resources, regional approaches can be useful for support and guarding against loss of capacity by changing personnel.

Examples of the Way Forward

• Guyana Sea Defenses Management Information System (SDMIS)

• Online Mapping for Vulnerability Assessment www.csc.noaa.gov

• BVI Island Management GIS

Additional Information

• www.caribbeanclimate.org

• www.cpacc.org

• Ian C King, kingcpacc@sunbeach.net