Free Flow

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ater

ducation

and

nstitutional

evelopment

planners, teachers and students the ability to identify

various human activities and their relationships with

a water source within its own territories. In the case of

energy sources, the tools are able to identify the relation-

ships between available sources of renewable energy and

potential consumers in the same territory. Because the

management tools are made in FOSS, they enable access

even for managers who have little familiarity with GIS.

Touched by the technological gap that separates

Africa from the rest of the world, the United Nations

Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

(UNESCO) has called on international experts in

FOSS, creating a committee to suggest the best options

to African coaches. A continent the size of Africa,

living with the paradox of shortage in an abundance of

water, food and energy, needs instruments that facili-

tate management more than any other. The UNESCO

International Hydrological Programme (IHP) Hydro

free and/or Open-source software Platform of Experts

(HOPE) initiative aims to establish FOSS development

and the dissemination of innovative practices in water

management. These can be built into the Africa Water

Vision for 2025, helping prepare people to take on

the green jobs that will certainly be generated by an

initiative of this magnitude. CIH recently joined the

UNESCO-IHP HOPE programme, in an initiative to

provide African countries with GIS tools in open source

software. This is an opportunity to offer to the African

countries the same access to GIS that developed coun-

tries enjoy. CIH is part of UNESCO’s Category 2 Centre

network, and is honoured to be assisting UNESCO in

helping African managers and technicians to observe

the territories in which they live, and manage the water

resources they need.

These are related by the operating system software, and the

processed data is used to inform a list of activities in different

segments of the watershed territory. The stored and geoprocessed

data composes a set of information that can be used on different

scales for a range of regional planning activities. Thus, FOSS can be

used to draw up plans for watershed conservation, to monitor their

physical and financial execution, and then to monitor the results,

facilitating the implementation of corrective measures to establish

a cycle of continuous improvement. In relation to monitoring – a

crucial matter in watershed planning – FOSS enables, organizes and

facilitates community involvement in effective programmes, such

as the monitoring of benthic macroinvertebrates and establishing

the microfauna of rivers, as indicators of the quality of their water.

The programs developed in FOSS can be made available on the web,

reducing storage costs and maintenance and universalizing access.

Another important aspect is capacity building for the use of FOSS,

both in developing the software and customizing it for a specific use.

The International Centre on Hydroinformatics (CIH) has a good and

functional infrastructure, and a team of young and dedicated profes-

sionals committed to the development of FOSS. The centre has already

customized several GIS programs for communities with varied degrees

of capacity to manage software. Training is a major concern, and CIH

has an available computer lab with the capacity to cater to groups of

25 students. In addition to theoretical knowledge, students finish the

course with almost-complete systems to apply in real situations in their

regions. The training is done by distance learning, using the web, as

most of the trainees are volunteers who only have their spare time to

empower themselves. Collective rooms can be established with institu-

tions such as churches, clubs and public buildings so that students can

learn in groups, which always produces good results.

Based on this, CIH has been requested to cooperate with other coun-

tries in Latin America, in the management of water resources and of

renewable energy in microgeneration systems with management tools

based on FOSS technologies. This offers decision makers, managers,

Sharing FOSS development and innovative practices in water management can help prepare people to take on the green jobs that will be

generated by the UNESCO-IHP HOPE initiative

Image: CIH