Abstract:

Different types of disasters such as draughts, floods, landslides, debris flows, earthquakes, and extreme temperatures have struck the region of Central Asia and other parts of the World as well. Spatial Information Science and Technologies, including Geographical Information Systems, Remote Sensing, and Spatial Data Infrastructures have proven to be crucial for environmental protection and disaster risk management. “Environmental Protection in Central Asia (EPCA): Disaster Risk Management using Spatial Methods (EPCA)” is a European Commission funded project under ERASMUS+: Higher Education – International Capacity Building programme (Project No 585382-EPP-1-2017-1-SE-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP). It began in October 2017 and will run until October 2020. Initiated by the Lund University and partners from the Central Asia countries, the EPCA project is an ambitious project aiming to match labour market needs with geospatial education offer both in Europe and Central Asia countries.

The aim of this three-year project is to build capacity using spatial methods for better environmental protection and disaster risk management in Central Asia.

The objectives of the project are:
• Developing innovative and blended courses in Spatial Information Science and Technology (SIST) for environmental protection and disaster risk management (EP-DiRiM): The developed courses will be taught at the partner universities with the aim of skill formation and filling knowledge gaps. The graduated students will be skilled professionals, who can potentially be employed by relevant stakeholders to develop and improve the application of spatial methods in EP-DiRiM.
• Training of trainers: Faculty members at the regional partner universities will be trained on how to teach the developed courses.
• Improving quality of education and teaching: Online learning techniques/tools have revolutionized the pedagogic world. CA partners
will be equipped with e-learning and open network learning (ONL) tools.
• System development: Internet-based information Management System for Environmental Protection and disaster risk management (iMSEP) will be developed and implemented. The aim is to make a GIS system widely available for stakeholders to be able to use it for data collection, storage, analysis, and decision-making.
• Dissemination of the outcomes: Environmental protection and disaster management authorities, at policy-making, planning, and operational levels, will become aware of the advantages and applications of SIST in environmental protection and disaster risk management to support the development and use of SIST in their countries.

In total 3 distance learning courses will be developed jointly by partner institutions in Europe and the Central Asia. The main aim of the network is to promote the use of spatial information and earth observation for environment protection and disaster risk management and modelling through capacity building and institutional development, via a network in which all partners would contribute from their own positions of strength.

All 3 courses to be developed will follow EU higher education standards regarding e.g. ECTS, and learning outcomes. The outcome of the project, in terms of courses, will be freely used among the partners. At the end of the project, all produced material will be evaluated and quality controlled by an external evaluation group.

Keywords:

Higher education, geospatial education, geoinformation system, environmental protection, disaster risk management, distance learning system.