Consortium for Irrigated Area Mapping and Assessment (CIAMA)

During the GIAM 2006 International workshop, an Consortium consisting of informal group of interested researchers in the area of irrigated area mapping and assessment was established. It will be a community of practice (COP) facilitated by IWMI, between researchers working in different countries and regions of the world. The specific goals of CIAMA will be to:

1. Extend and refine the mapping of irrigated areas throughout the world, using appropriate combinations of remote sensing, statistical and GIS approaches, with a strong regional and national focus.
2. As far as possible conduct self-funded work at regional and national scales, facilitated by an exchange of publications, methods, data and approaches from other members. This work will include detailed groundtruth and contribute to an expanded and truly international groundtruth database.
3. Seek funding in activities related to mapping, in particular irrigated area mapping and assessments and related topics. This may require writing grant proposals;
4. Conduct workshops and symposia.

There was surprisingly strong and real support for the idea of a consortium on irrigated area mapping. Nearly all those present (during the meeting in Colombo on the 25^th September, 2006) expressed an interest in collaboration, data exchange and method sharing.

In practical terms, the partners have agreed to do the following:

1. Associate some or all of the consortium members in project proposals. It was noted that consortia or well established and connected partnerships have a greater chance of success in bidding for research projects in the US, and that this is a good model to follow.
1. The consortium will investigate sourcing funds from private foundations in the USA.
2. All partners will contribute groundtruth and reference data to the broader group. This data will be made available publicly through the IWMIDSP (http://www.iwmidsp.org) or the GIAM web-portal (http://www.iwmigiam.org), with proper attribution.
3. A promoter/”organizer” is needed to keep the consortium alive, and IWMI has agreed to take on this role and provide “institutional support”.

In general, University partners will contribute methods, data, examples and technical back-stopping, whereas national agencies are more likely to be involved in “bulk” processes – i.e. regional and national mapping.

Much of the work on irrigated area mapping is a spin-off from climate change work or other programmes (say in US), but can feed national agencies in other countries, with more focus on food and water applications.

The overall agenda for the consortium is as follows:

1. Identify potential members and groups
2. Identify specific topics for collaborative research and their locations
3. Identify preferred techniques to be used or tested and define who will provide back up for them.
4. Investigate the likelihood of local funding in key areas: China, India, Central Asia, Iran, Japan and Korea.
5. Identify where funding is needed- who, where and for what. Engage consortium members in joint funding proposals.
6. Establish a good communications, through an email list, a dedicated workspace and the GIAM web-portal.

The preliminary list of CIAMA members, as of 25/09/2006 is as follows:

1. International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
2. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
3. Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)
4. Yale University (YU)
5. International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA)
6. Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI)
7. Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Research Institute of the Agricultural Research and Education Organization (SCWMRI-AREO)
8. University of North Dakota (UND)
9. Science Applications International Corporation, United States Geological Survey (SAIC-USGS)
10. Food and Agricultural Organization of United Nations (UFAO)
11. CAAS (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)
12. Canfield University (CU)
13. University of Tokyo (UT)

Next steps

1. Establish email list
2. Collate GT data and notify.
3. Follow up with ICAR, CAAS and SCWMRI
4. Organizing users meeting for 2007?

Email List:

psminhas@icar.org.in
obireddy@nbsslup.ernet.in  
e.de-pauw@cgiar.org
roland.geerken@yale.edu
ozdogan@hsb.gsfc.nasa.gov
drroohi@hotmail.com  
sasif71@yahoo.com  
qureshi_iran@yahoo.com
jaishree_kumkar@rediffmail.com
seelan@aero.und.edu
bkurz@undeerc.org
senay@usgs.gov
yousc@igsnrr.ac.cn  
wataru@iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp
j.knox@cranfield.ac.uk
h.turral@cgiar.org
p.thenkabail@cgiar.org
c.biradar@cgiar.org