itc news 2001-1 · crop monitoring of china paul schoonackers 17 joint educational programme with...

ITC News June 2001 1

A remarkable sign of the times is that professionals the world over seemto be in constant pursuit of personal goals and new challenges. And the staffof ITC - and that includes the editorial staff of ITC News - are certainly no ex-ception. Hendrik Prins, managing editor of ITC News and indeed the personwho actually laid its foundations, recently left ITC to take up a new position.We regret, but at the same time respect, his decision and wish him all the bestin his future career.

Priority was given to finding a replacement for Hendrik, but in the shortterm without success. A rather unfortunate situation when so many impor-tant changes are taking place at ITC - changes we think you should knowabout.

Fortunately, we found Janneke Kalf, secretary to the Directorate, willing totake on the role of acting managing editor for the current edition of ITCNews. We think she has done a great job in compiling and editing this issue,which allows us to keep you abreast of developments at ITC.

Sjaak J.J. Beerens MSc, ITC Director External Affairs

The first quarter of ITC’s 51st year of existence witnessed a major changein its management structure. On 1 March 2001, with the assignment of a Director for External Affairs and a Director for Internal Affairs, the manage-ment team of ITC became complete. Both directors make their appearance inthis issue.

ITC’s emphasis on adjusting its orientation to address the needs of itsclients is confirmed in articles on short courses in Spain and current fieldworkconditions in the Philippines, and a report on the start of the JIK Joint Inter-national Educational Programme with partners in Iran, which leads to Profes-sional Master and Master of Science degrees.

Marjan Kreijns, ITC representative in the People’s Republic of China, re-ports extensively on the visit of ITC’s new rector, Prof. Dr. M. Molenaar, tothat country, which coincided with the visit of the Netherlands’ Minister ofEducation, Cultural Affairs and Science.

Other interesting features this time round include a report on a seminaron debt and the environment (the concluding activity of ITC’s 50th anniver-sary), reports on various projects and long-term fellowship arrangements, andseveral announcements.

I’d also like to draw your special attention to the article on Theo Rijnberg -well-known to alumni and other ITC relations alike - and the occasion of hisretirement from ITC

Janneke Kalf, Acting Managing Editor

Acting Managing Editor: Janneke KalfDesign&PrePress: Henk Scharrenborg

Composer DTP serviceAndries Menning

Printing: PlantijnCasparie Zwolle

Correspondence to: Managing EditorITC NEWSP.O.Box 6

7500 AA EnschedePhone: +31 (0)53 487 45 31Fax: +31 (0)53 487 44 43E-mail: [email protected]

colofonITC NEWS is published quarterly, by ITC, Enschede, the Netherlands

The views expressed by the contributors do not necessarily reflect those of ITC

introduction

I N T R O

contents

New management team at the helmJanneke Kalf 2

GIS courses for students of applied geosciencesRob Soeters 5

Planning and Co-ordination in BagacDick van der Zee 6

Successful visit of the newITC rector to ChinaMarjan Kreijns 9

Debt and environment:measuring the environmen-tal impacts of internationaldebt burdensMike McCall 13

Italian Air Force shortcourseJohn Horn 16

Crop monitoring of ChinaPaul Schoonackers 17

Joint educational programme with partners inIranAli A. Abkar, Sjaak Beerens 17

Long-term fellowshipsPaul Schoonackers 19

Urban geoinformatics international conferenceWuhan, ChinaMarjan Kreijns 20

Alumni associations 22The problems of combiningresearch and realityGerard Bocco 23

We bid farewell to Theo RijnbergJanneke Kalf 24

Roelof Schoppers wins theHenk Scholten Award 2000Corné van Elzakker 25

Calendar 28

2001number 1

2 ITC News June 2001

A new rector, a new

director of external

affairs and a new

director internal affairs -

the new management

team is now complete,

ready to steer ITC along

the paths ahead.

M A I N F E A T U R E S

In his inaugural address (published inthe 2000-4 issue of ITC News), the newrector, Prof.Dr.Ir. Martien Molenaar,highlighted the changing role of ITCboth within the Dutch integrated sys-tem of higher education and in re-sponse to the current market climate.New challenges demand new mea-sures, and with this in mind the direc-torate has been restructured to meetthe tasks ahead.

Director External AffairsSjaak J.J. Beerens MSc (23-12-1951), aname already well known within ITCcircles, was recently appointed directorof external affairs, reason enough tolearn something more of his career todate.

"I studied geography (specialising inthe geography of developing countries)

at the University of Utrecht and com-bined this with agricultural develop-ment economics at Wageningen Agri-cultural University - as it was then stillcalled. After extended study assign-ments in Malawi and Tanzania, I even-tually graduated from the University ofUtrecht in 1978. Not many peopleknow this but following graduation. Ijoined ITC for a six-month stint as anassistant lecturer with the IntegratedSurvey Department, to support studentfieldwork in Tunisia. It was my first ac-quaintance with international educa-tion in general and with ITC in parti-cular, and I was immediately impressedby the dedication and commitment ofboth staff and students.

I then joined one of the largest consult-ing firms in the Netherlands, the DHVGroup. After a range of short assign-ments across the world, working as aspecialist on projects in Chad, Suriname,Tanzania, Bangladesh, Sudan andMyanmar (then still known as Burma), Imoved to Indonesia in 1981, initiallyfor an eight-month assignment buteventually staying on till 1992. Duringthis period, I worked on a series of pro-jects, first as a specialist but later asteam leader and project manager onlarge integrated rural developmentprojects. Finally, I was appointed pro-ject director, with responsibility for pro-ject marketing and direction.

After returning to the Netherlands in1992, I became project director withDHV Consultants and was responsiblefor project acquisition and supervisionin South and Southeast Asia. This fre-quently entailed short missions toPakistan, India, Indonesia and the

New Management Teamat the Helm

Janneke Kalf [email protected]

ITC’S rector Prof.Dr.Ir. Martien Molenaar (middle) and his new Management Team.

3ITC News June 2001


Philippines. Throughout my employ-ment at DHV, I remained in touchwith ITC, either through joint projectsor through project counterpart staffwho participated in courses at ITCand kept me abreast of ongoing de-velopments.In 1995 I rejoined ITC, this time asHead of the Bureau Project Coordina-tion (BPC). Supported by the ITC man-agement, and through the combinedefforts of the dedicated and enthusias-tic staff of BPC and the scientific divi-sions, we managed to double theturnover of ITC’s project operationswithin three years. During this period, Iexperienced the strengths, capabilitiesand potential that enable ITC to oper-ate in a market environment. I also ob-served the onset of change in political(funding) support for international ed-ucation, which spelled challengingtimes ahead for ITC.

During my term as head of BPC, I wasregularly called on by the directorate toprovide advice and support on policymatters related to ITC’s external fund-ing position and strategy. When theBoard of Governors decided that thenew directorate was to be strength-ened by a director of external affairswho would be responsible for external

relations and funding, I could not resistthe opportunity to pursue the interestsof ITC at directorate level.

ITC is a rather complex organisation,with a combination of academic andprofessional staff. To guide such an or-ganisation through the prevailing polit-ical and funding storms and enable itto become a key player in the Nether-lands’ internationalisation of higher ed-ucation is a very interesting task. Wemust understand, however, that thecoming period will also demand adjust-ments from not only the ITC organisa-tion but also the individual staffmembers. Orientation towards theclient, flexibility to adapt to competitivemarket conditions, and improved disci-pline to meet the various administrativerequirements of external clients are justsome of the aspects that ITC will face.

With a background combining experi-ence in the commercial sector in thedeveloping world with experience ofinternational education over the pastfive years, and supported by motivatedand committed staff, I feel confidentthat we can face the challengesahead."

Director Internal AffairsAnd now to the third member of theteam, Gerard W. van Dorp MSc (2–7-48),ITC’s new director of internal affairs.

"Born in Haarlem, I come from a bois-terous family (one brother and threesisters) which now extends across theNetherlands. Two characteristics seemto have left their mark. I tend to comeacross as somewhat high-powered - atleast so I’m told - and extending myhorizons, yes that’s certainly somethingthat appeals.

After my time at teacher training col-lege in Gorinchem and Zwolle, where Imet my wife, we both took up teach-ing appointments in Rotterdam. Ourdaughter was born there. An eveningcourse in economics opened the wayfor me to become a teacher at thenewly established HEAO in Zwolle. It

Sjaak J.J. Beerens MScDirector External Affairs

was here that our son was born, mak-ing our family complete. From 1984, ashead of the Hogeschool Drenthe, I wasclosely involved in establishing theHEAO in Emmen. Three years later, Ihad the opportunity to become chair-man of the board at the Chr.Agrarische Hogeschool in Dronte. Agri-culture then - a fascinating world offoreign contacts, possibilities and dan-gers that we can read about in thenewspapers every day.

And then it seemed time for somethingcompletely different. As an indepen-dent interim manager, I have carriedout various tasks over the last threemonths … but that didn’t quite fit thebill. Excitement, spectacle, yes, but ohso lonely. I missed the contact with col-

leagues. I’m someone who likes to bepart of an organisation, to embark on aventure together with others. Whetherit be sport, sailing or playing in a band,I think it’s more rewarding when youcan give of your best with and for yourfriends and colleagues. That’s what at-tracted me to teaching.

For me ITC is a challenge in two ways:getting to know education at universitylevel and getting to know a totally newgroup of students and colleagues. ForITC the challenge is to maintain its po-sition as a "little university" within theexisting order. In the function of direc-tor of internal affairs, I hope to make acontribution by drawing on the knowl-edge and experience I have gained inthe past."

So a new rector, a new director of ex-ternal affairs and a new director inter-nal affairs - the management team isnow complete, ready to steer ITC alongthe paths ahead.



Gerard W. van Dorp MScDirector Internal Affairs

In view of these needs, demand hasrapidly increased for intensive shortcourses that introduce students to thecapabilities of GIS. Consequently, overthe last six years intensive GIS coursesof short duration have been given tostudents of applied geosciences at theUniversity of Salamanca (Spain) and theTechnical University of Delft. The objec-tive of these courses has been to initi-ate students in the application of GISas a tool for integrating data in thephase of data acquisition, as well as formanipulating and analysing geo-data.

The simplicity and user-friendliness ofthe ILWIS system make it an ideal in-strument for students. In just a fewdays, they can obtain sufficient hands-

on experience to gain an understand-ing of the applicability of geoinforma-tion systems within a particular field.

Two former ITC MSc students, MontseFerrer and Eduardo Garcia, organisethe one-week courses at the Universityof Salamanca. Course participantscome from a wide range of profes-sional backgrounds, from geology andgeography to landscape ecology andwater management. In view of thebroad spectrum of interests, subjectson image processing, data manage-ment, data analysis and data presenta-tion are part of the programme,offering students an overall view of GIScapabilities. The courses have alwaysbeen evaluated extremely positively

5ITC News June 2001


GIS Courses for Students of

Applied GeosciencesRob Soeters [email protected]

Geographers, geomor-

phologists and geolo-

gists are more and more

involved in dealing with

multidisciplinary prob-

lems where the natural

environmental setting is

the basis of the problem.

In projects related to the

sustainable management

of natural resources, the

development of urban

areas, the design of in-

frastructural projects or

the mitigation of natural

hazards, GIS has become

an indispensable tool for

adequately analysing all

the parameters involved

in solving these prob-

lems.

and many participants have chosen theILWIS system for their further explo-rations into the field of GIS.The courses at the Technical Universityof Delft, with a duration of about twoweeks, were initially designed based onexisting tutorials in the User’s Guideand Application Guide. Although stu-dents were generally impressed by thepotential of GIS, it was noticed thattraining based on exercises in the ILWISUser’s Guide was often considered tobe a demonstration of a toolbox of GISoperations. Less experienced studentshave difficulty in translating GIS opera-tions that are demonstrated in theguide by examples outside their partic-ular professional fields into applicationsrelated to their own work. Therefore,new cases have been constructed inwhich students apply all the basic GISoperations directly related to their ownfields of specialisation. A case studybased on a data set obtained over sev-

eral years of fieldwork and consistingof all kinds of GIS operations has beencompiled for the engineering geologystudents of the Technical University ofDelft. The exercises involve aspects ofthe image processing of satellite im-ages, the georeferencing of these data,the reclassification of a geological mapinto an engineering geological mapbased on field observations, and theadaptation of this engineering geologi-cal map based on geomorphologicaldata. Furthermore, the outline and vol-ume of a dam lake are calculated in aDTM, and a road along the dam lake isreallocated.

A similar development, taking as sub-ject the environmental assessment ofan area in the south of the province ofSalamanca, is under consideration forfuture courses at the University of Sala-manca.



Planning and

Co-ordination in BagacDick van der Zee [email protected]

Fieldwork is a very important part of the Professional Master’s

degree courses of the NRM programme. All the knowledge

and skills acquired in earlier modules can be practised in a real-

life case study - and simulations can be no substitute. For the

planning and coordination team last year, this meant a project

in the municipality of Bagac, in the province of Bataan, the

Philippines.

To organise such a fieldwork project -the third of its kind in succession inthe Philippines - a good counterpart isessential. In this particular case, that

good counterpart was the NationalEconomic Development Authority(NEDA) of Region III, where a numberof ITC alumni are currently working,one being the director. They found usa suitable study area with sufficientaccommodation and cooperativelocal authorities. Mr. Allan Arciaga, astaff member of NEDA III, assisted usduring the actual fieldwork period.The mayor of Bagac explicitly invitedus to do our research in his municipal-ity, so that we could assist in develop-ing a comprehensive land use planand solving the problem of the inade-quate investment.

Preparations were carried out at ITC,and on arrival the team presented itsterms of reference and working planto the mayor. The mayor and his staff- the planning officer, Ms. EugeniaGalvez deserves special mention - re-ceived us with warm hospitality. Incooperation with municipal staff, aseries of discussion sessions was or-ganised with the various stakeholdergroups involved. These sessions en-abled an inventory to be made of theproblems as perceived by the stake-holders. The team then constructed aproblem tree, translated it into anobjective tree, and on this basis de-signed a logical framework with fivedifferent but interrelated strategiesfor further development. All more orless according to the book, exceptthat the theory ill equips you to copewith the different reactions of differ-ent stakeholders. Planning and coor-dination is very much an activityinvolving people, discussion sessionsand office work. People cooperatedenthusiastically in all the discussionsessions. However, office work alone

is not enough, and a number of sitevisits served to visualise some of theproblems identified. Successive daysof heavy downpours in the wake of atyphoon kept us grounded longerthan we liked, though.

Some team members noticed howthe municipal planners were strug-gling with their map for the compre-hensive land use plan and offered toassist them with the aid of the GIS ontheir laptops. In a few days, they hadsucceeded in producing a land useplan map acceptable to the munici-pal planning officer and according tothe specifications required. They hadto rely on the facilities in the NEDA IIIoffice to produce a hard-copy print.

At the end of the stay, the resultsand a preliminary report were pre-sented to the mayor and his staff andto all other persons that had cooper-ated. Back at ITC, the report was fi-nalised. As usual, the foreword statesthat "the opinions expressed in thisdocument do not necessarily repre-

7ITC News June 2001


Presentation of the team's findings

The team leader handing over the (preliminary) report tothe planning officer of Bagac

Presentation of the land use map compiled with the helpof a laptop

The team leader dancing with the mayor of Bagac

sent those of the Institute". How-ever, the teaching staff that have re-viewed the report are impressed byits high quality and professionalism,and believe that the authors (thecourse participants) deserve to becomplimented on their achieve-ments. It is hoped that the contentsof the report can make a real contri-bution to the further development ofthe beautiful municipality of Bagac.

Fieldwork is of course work, but notexclusively so. Good fieldwork is im-possible without a good atmosphereand a good team spirit. Several ex-cursions and parties served to createthese essentials. The Guesthouse ofthe National Power Corporation wasan excellent base, with good facili-ties, good food and, in particular,very friendly and hospitable people.For some of the participants, certainexperiences outside the work contextmay have left a lasting impression -our computer specialist, for example,who was dragged onto the dancefloor and discovered some talents he

had previously been unaware of …and one mother who can proudly tellher children that she "swam" in theocean. All in all, it was a pleasantgroup of likeable people and I wishevery one of them all the best, aswell as success in their careers.

The problems of the area have cer-tainly not been exhausted by this oneshort fieldwork project. There is aneed and the scope for further stud-ies - by other specialisations too.Bagac may serve as a suitable train-ing ground for combined fieldwork,with mutual benefit to both. There-fore, it has been decided that thisyear three specialisations of the NRMprogramme will go to the same areaand continue on the basis of the re-sults of last year’s work. In a laterissue of the ITC News, I may reporton that.



Discussions with a group of stakeholders Team discussions

Discussions with a group of stakeholdersThe team during a visit to one of the villages

Martien Molenaar has visited Chinaseveral times during the last few years,always returning highly enthusiasticabout current developments in thecountry. It is certainly no coincidencethat his first trip abroad as rector wasto China. ITC has always enjoyed a spe-cial relationship with China and almost400 Chinese alumni have studied atthe Institute. Furthermore, since Chinaopened its doors to the outside worldin 1979, ITC has been engaged in sev-eral projects. Mr. Paul Schoonackers(ITC project officer to China) and Ms.Marjan Kreijns (ITC representative inChina) organised and accompaniedMartien Molenaar throughout his visit.He had discussions with several impor-tant ITC partner organisations, includ-ing the Ministry of Land and Resources,the State Bureau of Surveying andMapping, Wuhan University and Xi’anUniversity, and also participated in vari-ous activities that had been speciallyarranged.

Education FairThe China International Higher Educa-tion Tour (CIHET) was held in February.This exhibition tour organised educa-tion fairs in five cities across China,with ITC participating in the two-dayfairs in Beijing and Shanghai. In total,22 higher education institutions fromthe Netherlands took part, forming astreet of Dutch booths (the HollandPavilion). A huge number of people vis-ited both fairs (26,000 in Beijing and22,000 in Shanghai) and many foundtheir way to our booth. Several alumniassisted in providing information topeople interested in studying at ITCand living in Enschede. This clearlyshows that Chinese interest in overseasstudies is on the rise. We attach greatimportance to this development andour operations within China will conse-quently intensify. Martien Molenaarand Minister Hermans visited the ITCbooth on 18 February, when ITCalumna Wu Run presented an ITCbrochure to the minister. The colourfulHolland Pavilion and the minister’s visitattracted plenty of media attention.

9ITC News June 2001


Prof. Dr.Ir. Martien

Molenaar’s first visit

abroad as rector of ITC

was to the People’s

Republic of China from

18 to 24 February 2001.

During this period,

the Netherlands

Minister of Education,

Culture and Science,

Drs. L.M.L.H.A. Hermans,

also paid an official

visit.

Successful Visit of the

New ITC Rector to ChinaMarjan Kreijns, ITC representative China [email protected]

Mr. Hermans, the Netherlands Minister of Education, Culture and Science,and ITC’s Rector, Professor Molenaar visited the ITC booth

Ms. Wu Run, ITC alumnus, presents an ITCbrochure to Minister Hermans



Match-Making ConferenceThe Sino-Dutch Higher Education Match-Making Conference on 19 February wasorganised by the China Center for Inter-national Education Exchange and TheNetherlands Organization for Interna-tional Cooperation in Higher Education(NUFFIC). This match-making confer-ence was held to promote cooperationand exchanges between China and theNetherlands. In the opening speech ofthe conference, Minister Hermans stres-sed the important relationship betweenthe two countries. Zhang Tianbao, theChinese Vice-Minister of Education, saidthat Chinese universities were undergo-ing a shake-up and, in order to success-fully carry out educational reform, theywanted to learn from and build on theexperiences of other countries.

Martien Molenaar, in conjunction withProf. Liu Jingnan (vice-president ofWuhan University), gave a presentationon ITC’s successful association with theWuhan Technical University of Survey-ing and Mapping (WTUSM). Coopera-tion dates back to 1979, to a timewhen WTUSM was the only universityin China specialising in the field of sur-veying and mapping. WTUSM recentlymerged with Wuhan University (WUDA),creating one of the key comprehensiveuniversities in China, with some 40,000students.

In 1986, ITC and WTUSM embarked ona joint project to establish the Educa-tional Center for Urban and Rural Sur-veys, Planning and Management(ECURSPAM). This project, funded bythe Dutch Government to the tune of10 million guilders, was in response toan urgent need within China for plan-ners, particularly urban planners, tocope with the dramatic increase in therate of urbanisation. These plannersneeded to be equipped with knowl-edge of modern and more efficientplanning tools and techniques, such asgeographical information systems andremote sensing. To transfer such knowl-edge, the Center developed courses inurban planning and management at BScand MSc levels.

Within the framework of the project,WTUSM staff were trained at ITC, ITCstaff assisted in designing the curricu-lum and in initial lecturing, and a com-puter lab was set up. The projecteventually resulted in a thriving Schoolof Urban Studies, which offers a four-year BSc programme on urban plan-ning and a three-year MSc programmeon urban planning and management.The total number of teaching staff is53, with the number in urban planningbeing 33. So far, 372 BSc students, 66postgraduate students and 50 MSc stu-dents have graduated. In October2000, there were 313 BSc and 85 MScurban planning students attendingSUS.

In conclusion, Martien Molenaar saidthat the cooperation between ITC andWuhan Technical University had beenvery successful to date, and he wasconfident this excellent relationshipwould continue to grow with WuhanUniversity as well.

Netherlands Alumni ReceptionDuring his visit to China, the Dutch Min-ister of Education invited all Chinesealumni who had graduated in theNetherlands to a reception at the GreatWall Sheraton Hotel. In his speech,Minister Hermans stated that thesealumni were important ambassadors

The Match-Making Conference,keynote speech by MinisterHermans

Minister Hermans at the Netherlands Alumni reception

for the special relationship betweenChina and the Netherlands. In reply,Prof. Yang Kai, one of the first Chinesealumni of ITC, expressed gratitude onbehalf of his fellow alumni for the op-portunity to study in the Netherlands.Furthermore, he confirmed that thishad had a tremendous impact not onlyon their personal careers but also onChina.

A large number of ITC alumni and sev-eral ITC staff attended the reception -an excellent opportunity to introduceITC’s new rector to the alumni and todiscuss their current activities. In turn,Martien Molenaar introduced some ofthe alumni to Minister Hermans, andsome interesting discussions ensued re-garding the impact of their studies ontheir current jobs. Although most ofthe alumni had not seen one anotherfor a long time, some did remember

fellow students from their days at ITC.It was very nice for them to meet upagain with old friends, and to ex-change stories and reminiscences ofthe Netherlands

Wuhan UniversityThe Wuhan University of Surveying andMapping (WTUSM), one five official sis-ter institutes of ITC, recently mergedwith Wuhan University (WUDA). Mar-tien Molenaar is an honorary professorof the University and has visitedWuhan on a number of occasions. Asthe new rector of ITC, he went toWuhan to discuss with the universitymanagement the ongoing cooperationbetween the two institutes. A newMemorandum of Understanding wassigned, linking ITC and WUDA as sisterinstitutes of higher learning.

ITC would like to increasingly involveits sister institutes throughout theworld in its educational programmes,and for good reasons: (1) it is morecost-effective and (2) it leads to higherproductivity. Moreover, a problem fre-quently encountered is the difficultymid-career professionals experience inbeing away from their work and fami-lies for periods of up to 18 months.Therefore, ITC wants to pursue a strat-egy of decentralisation of education.This will offer participants programmesor parts of programmes in their homecountries. Students can collect creditpoints both at home and at ITC, whichwill eventually result in a joint logodiploma.

11ITC News June 2001


ITC’s rector introduces some of the ITC Alumni to Minister Hermans

Chinese alumni who graduated in the Netherlands during the reception

The ongoing project of strengtheningthe School of Urban Studies will end inDecember 2002. Martien Molenaar iscurrently discussing with Wuhan Uni-versity the modalities of such a jointeducational programme. These discus-sions focus primarily on (1) quality as-surance and (2) the monitoring system.Prof. Hou Jiechang, president ofWuhan University, expressed his satis-faction regarding the new link withITC.

ShanghaiFollowing his visit to Wuhan, MartienMolenaar went to Shanghai, where heparticipated in a round-table confer-ence on "Education and Business in In-teraction". This conference wasorganised by the China-Holland Educa-tion and Research Center and was at-tended by the Dutch Minister ofEducation, the vice-mayor of Shanghai,a limited group of top Chinese andDutch university officials, as well as bysome business leaders. As mentionedearlier, ITC was also represented at theeducation fair held in Shanghai.

ConclusionThe support ITC gives to China has hada tremendous impact and MartienMolenaar’s visit underlines this. Chinais developing quite rapidly and ITC at-taches great importance to continuingto support China in several areas of de-velopment. The establishment of jointeducational programmes, as well asproviding continuous support to or-ganisations, is of high priority. ITC willfocus on the creation, interpretationand management of reliable informa-tion, especially when dealing with thecomplex transition process towardssustainable development - a processthat encompasses food security, sus-tainable industrial and urban develop-ment, land policy, poverty reduction,environmental protection and globalchange.

In August 2000, ITC established a per-manent office in Beijing to supportthe ongoing activities, and appointedMs. Wu Run (ITC alumna) as localassistant on a part-time basis ([email protected]).



A new Memorandum of Understanding was signed in February to link ITC and WuhanUniversity

For more information on ITC inChina, please contact:

Marjan Kreijns, ITC representative inChina ([email protected]) Paul Schoonackers, ITC project offi-cer for China ([email protected]).

Motivation for the seminar was pro-vided by the ongoing world-widegrassroots campaign to cancel, or atleast to reduce, the unsupportable in-ternational debts of the developingcountries in Africa and elsewhere,called the Jubilee 2000 Initiative.

The sub-title of the seminar reflectedthe specific interests and expertise ofthe ITC - "Exploring and measuring theimpacts of the international debt bur-den on the bio-physical environmentand socio-economic conditions of theindebted countries".

ITC’s mission statement includes "....contribute to meeting the develop-ment co-operation goals of the Nether-lands government & internationaldevelopment agencies with regard to… geographic information in the reso-lution of development problems." ITCendeavoured to meet these objectivesfor half a century by training students

in a wide range of subjects connectedto the acquisition, analysis and utilisa-tion of spatial information for humandevelopment based in the use of physi-cal resources. ITC has always had a de-velopment purpose and public serviceperspective. ITC’s 50th birthday semi-nar therefore emphasised the scientificacquisition, collection and use of geo-information for the resolution, or atleast the assessment, of a primary de-velopment problem - that of the crip-pling sovereign debt of so manycountries in the South.

Nine speakers came from institutions inthe Netherlands government, interna-tional research centres and NGOs, andfrom ITC. They presented in three ses-sions; the first being to position the sig-nificance of environmental impactswithin the wider setting of unsustain-able debt burdens and the SAPs (struc-tural adjustment programmes) im-posed on debtor countries.

After the opening and introduction bythe Rector of ITC and the Seminar Co-ordinator, Greetje Witte-Rang of Oikosset the scene with an eloquent accountof the Jubilee 2000 arguments and itsjustification of and proposals for debtreduction. J. Smeets of the Ministry ofForeign Affairs, Dept. of UN & Interna-tional Financial Institutions, informedthe seminar of the Netherlands govern-ment position that the HIPC (Highly In-debted Poor Countries) programme ofthe World Bank and IMF should be fullyand comprehensively implemented.


A final event of the

official 50th birthday

celebrations of the ITC

was the public seminar

held on 18th December

2000 on "International

Debt Reduction and the

Environment".


Debt and Environment:Measuring the Environmental Impacts

of International Debt BurdensMike McCall [email protected]

Greetje Witte-Rang of Oikos

Reinhoud Post from the CMER (Nether-lands Commission for EnvironmentalImpact Assessment) critiqued the Bankand IMF’s avoidance of carrying outSEAs (strategic environmental assess-ments) of the impacts of SAPs in debtorcountries. The first session ended withan insider’s account of how NGOs andcivil society in the Dominican Republicutilised ‘debt-for-nature’ funds, told byJosé Martinez-Guridy, MSc student atITC.

The second session examined researchfields directly related to identifying andmodelling environmental impacts ofdebt and SAPs. Damanjit Singh ofWWF-UK reviewed the seminal WWFwork of David Reed and others onmeasuring and explaining the environ-mental impacts of structural adjust-ment in 9 specific countries - notablythe unmitigated ‘mining’ of natural re-source stocks of fish, forestry, wildlife,the land degradation due to both ex-tensification and intensification of agri-culture, and the many associateddamages to human health.

Sven Wunder of CIFOR (Center for In-ternational Forestry Research) pre-sented research on modelling howprivate and public capital flows anddebts relate to "green" (resourcelosses) and "brown" (pollution) envi-ronmental problems. Case studies re-ferred to countries facing resource‘booms’ in Latin America and Africa, aswell as high indebtedness, like Indone-sia. An important conclusion was thatdebt reduction could likewise lead tohigher levels of deforestation and landdegradation.

Jan Joost Kessler of AIDEnvironmentalso presented an Indonesian study, offorest conversion to oil palms, as a con-crete example of how SAPs affect nat-ural environment. He emphasised thatthere are positive as well as negativeimpacts, especially the removal of per-verse agro-chemical subsidies. He in-troduced the issue of appropriateenvironmental indicators, and arguedfor the incorporation of SEA in struc-tural adjustment strategies.

Laurent Sedogo and Mohamed Said,PhD students at ITC, provided anoverview of how geo-information toolsand remote sensing are already widelyused to measure indicators of environ-mental impacts. This was illustratedwith several African studies fromwithin ITC, many of which were alsoon poster presentations outside the au-ditorium. They argued for further de-velopment of these geo-informationtools for application to debt and SAPimpact studies.



Damanjit Singh of WWF-UK

Sven Wunder of CIFOR (Center for Interna-tional Forestry Research)

Finally, there was time for a short ques-tions and answers session from the au-dience to all the speakers and for theirsummary ‘recommendations’. TheQ&A session brought out much criti-cism of current SAPs and HIPC initia-tives, as directly experienced by ITCstudents from South countries. Butconcern was also expressed at themethodological problems facing iden-tification and measurement of appro-priate indicators of environmentalchanges.

Interesting though brief recommenda-tions came from all the speakers. Oneconsistent theme was the absolute ne-cessity to include SEAs or EIAs of struc-tural adjustment and HIPC strategiesbefore they are implemented; more-over these assessments should bemade by the Bank and national gov-ernment and civil societies together. Asecond theme was for the opportuni-

ties and threats from global trade to beconsidered. Finally, the call was forrapid and practical measures using thetools and models that we have already.

As for the positioning of ITC, it hasspecialised expertise and experiencewhich are directly relevant. There aremany data acquisition and analysistechniques applicable to the identifica-tion, measurement and evaluation ofenvironmental impacts. ITC’s missionand expertise in the application of skillsin geo-information acquisition, han-dling and use towards developmentgoals sit at the interface between thecollection of sound reliable environ-mental data, their interpretation intospatial information, and the analysis ofthe implications of environmentalchange. There are therefore needs andopportunities for ITC to apply its sci-ence and its special capacity to moni-tor, measure and evaluate theenvironmental impacts resulting fromdebt repayment programmes.

The seminar had an audience of aboutone hundred altogether. As well as ITCstaff and students, other visitors camefrom DGIS, IUCN, universities, consul-tants, and NGOs in Enschede and theregion.

A document summarising the presen-tations and the discussions is beingproduced.

For further information [email protected]



Mohamed Said, PhD students at ITC


project news from Bureau Project Coordination

Italian Air Force Short CourseJohn Horn [email protected]

For over a decade ITC has maintainedclose links with the mapping and aero-nautical charting sections of the ItalianAir Force. This has included offeringboth regular and short courses in “Pro-duction Photogrammetry” and “Inte-grated Geoinformatics” at ITC Enschedeand running tailor made courses in“Aerial Photography Quality Control” atthe “Centro Informazioni Geotopogra-fiche Aeronautiche (CIGA)” near Rome.

ITC was recently delighted to welcomeback two of its alumni, LieutenantColonel Giancarlo Saporito and MajorStefano Gusmano (of the Scuola di Ae-rocooperazione, Guidonia), for a onemonth course in Remote Sensing andImage Processing.

The School hopes to set up its ownsuch training courses in the near futureand these two senior officers werekeen to update their knowledge in thetechnical aspects of the subject.

A broad range of expertise from a num-ber of different ITC staff and divisionswas co-ordinated to provide the course,which was largely held in the facilitiesof the newly established Remote Sens-ing and Geoinformatics Laboratory.

Apart from extensive theoretical andpractical exercises in the core subjects,an element of Educational Technologywas included in the programme to as-sist the participants in their task ofpreparing their own teaching modules.

ITC is frequently asked to assist in the“Training of Trainers” and this activityis now considered to be an importantpart of the Institute’s role in promotingthe application of Remote Sensing andGIS technology to a world-wide audi-ence.

P R O J E C T N E W S


ITC will shortly start a joint interna-tional MSc/ PM Programme in RemoteSensing and Geographical InformationSystems in Iran. To this end ITC has en-tered into an agreement with the Iran-ian Ministry of Jahad-e-Sazandegi andthe Khajeh Nasir Toosi University ofTechnology in Tehran, Iran.

Jointly these partners have formed JIKan Iranian advanced school officiallyaccepted by the Ministry of Science,Research and Technology of Iran, mak-ing it the first Iranian internationalschool for advanced studies in remotesensing and geographical informationsystems.

The JIK programme follows a long-term collaboration on joint education

between the Soil Conservation andWatershed Management ResearchCentre (SCWMRC) of the Ministry ofJahad-e-Sazandegi and ITC. The suc-cess of this collaboration has resultedin expanding the partnership with theFaculty of Civil Engineering of K.N.Toosi University of Technology and ex-panding the specialisations of the pro-gramme now covering:• Watershed and Environmental Mana-

gement• Rangeland and Agricultural Mana-

gement• Geoinformatics

In all three specialisations, the focus ison the application of remote sensingand geographical information systems.Successful completion of the pro-

Crop Monitoring of ChinaPaul Schoonackers [email protected]

An International Advanced School in RS & GIS

ITC StartsJoint Educational Programme with Partners in Iran

Ali A. Abkar [email protected] Beerens [email protected]

The Institute of Geography and Resour-ces (IGR) is an organisation under theaegis of the Chinese Academy of Sci-ences (CAS). It is mandated to imple-ment the project "Crop Monitoring ofChina". The purpose of this project isto provide instant information on thedistribution, the growing condition,and the yield of the main crops beforethey are harvested. This will allow thegovernment to take decisions on pric-ing, imports, and planning for crop fail-ure in the case of insect pests ordrought. The project is very importantfor the food security of China, but it isalso very complicated in terms of thetechnology and skills involved. In thefirst phase, the focus was on the collec-tion of data and straightforward yieldestimation. However, the emphasis has

now shifted to monitoring and fore-casting. As the staff charged with im-plementing the project lackedknowledge in this field, a proposal wasmade for a special three-month courseon crop monitoring (hence CROMO).This proposal was accepted underNUFFIC‘s Special Fellowship Pro-gramme. Ten IGR staff members werenominated for the training pro-gramme. They started the course inOctober 2000 and returned to Chinajust before Christmas. Part of the pro-ject was to produce a "back-home ac-tion plan" to ensure that what hasbeen learned is applied as efficiently aspossible. The participants were very en-thusiastic about the course.




gramme leads either to a ProfessionalMaster’s (PM) degree or a Master ofScience (MSc) degree acknowledgedboth by ITC and its Iranian partnersunder double logo. The Programmewill all be in the English language.

JIK is one of the examples of ITC’sstrive for “decentralisation” of its edu-cational programme. The 12 monthsPM programme is entirely conducted inIran by staff of Iranian partners and

ITC. The 18 months MSc Programme ispartly taking place in Iran (some 13months) with the thesis writing andgraduation (about 5 months) takingplace at ITC in Enschede.

By decentralizing its educational pro-grammes (at this moment actively pur-sued in Bolivia and Iran) ITC attemptsto better cater for the needs of themid-career professionals in managerialpositions who have difficulty in beingabsent from their work and their familyfor extended periods. Moreover theoverall expenses related to the decen-tralised programmes compare favou-rably to those organised entirelyoverseas.

The programme is targeted at partici-pants from Iran and surrounding coun-tries, the Central Asia region inparticular. The starting date for theProgramme 2001/2002 is July 23rd

2001 and will be repeated every year.

More information can be obtained from:

The JIK website: http://jik.kntu.ac.ir

JIKP.O. Box 15875-4416 Phone: +98.21.8770006K.N.Toosi University of Technology Fax: +98.21.87794761346 Vali Astr Avenue, Postcode 19697 E-mail: [email protected], Iran

Or

ITC Student Registration Office Phone: +31.53.4874205P.O. Box 6 Fax: +31.53.48742387500 AA Enschede E-mail: [email protected] Netherlands


As part of its mission in the field of ca-pacity building, ITC is increasingly tryingto establish structural relationships withorganisations in developing countries.One mechanism in this respect is the so-called "Cost-Sharing Fellowship Agree-ment". Under this agreement, ITCcommits itself to allocating a number offellowships for a period of several yearsto the same partner organisation, withthe provision that the partner organisa-tion makes a financial contribution (tick-ets and tuition fees). The advantage forthe partner organisation is that it canrealise its long-term manpower devel-opment plan in a more structured man-ner (no ad hoc fellowships). The

advantage for ITC is that it can trainmore people with the fixed number offellowships. A number of such cost-shar-ing fellowship agreements are already ineffect. The counterpart organisations arethe Ministry of Land and Resources(MLR), the State Bureau of Surveyingand Mapping (SBSM), the Hubei Provin-cial Department of Land and Resourcesand the Heilong Jiang Bureau of Survey-ing and Mapping - all from China. Simi-lar agreements have been concludedwith the Urban Development Authority(UDA) in Sri Lanka and the General De-partment of Land Administration (GDLA)in Vietnam.

Long-term fellowshipsPaul Schoonackers [email protected]


F r e e o f f e r

New Image Viewing Environment available free from

PCI Geomatics

PCI Geomatics announces the official release of their free software viewing envi-ronment technology, Geomatica FreeView, available for immediate downloadfrom the PCI Geomatics web site (www.pcigeomatics.com).

Geomatica FreeView is a new viewing environment for working with a variety ofdata, including imagery, vectors, and ancillary data such as graphical bitmaps.Geomatica FreeView allows the viewing, enhancing, and examination of re-motely sensed imagery such as LANDSAT, SPOT, RADARSAT, IKONOS, ERS-1,NOAA AVHRR, and aerial photography.

Readable geospatial data formats include Oracle 8i Spatial® (with Oracle GeoIm-age® data management), MrSID®, TIFF, NITF, Arc/Info shape files, and SICAD,just to name a few. Users can employ FreeView to integrate GIS data with im-agery and view the associated attribute data. Geomatica FreeView also offersbasic enhancement features, cursor controls, efficient roam capabilities, and de-tailed online help.

Geomatica FreeView provides seamless access to the most complete range ofgeospatial data formats in the market – free. Geomatica FreeView is availablefrom the PCI Geomatics web site (www.pcigeomatics.com) where updates willbe made available.

PC

I


A N N O U N C E M E N T S

The School of Urban Studies (SUS)at Wuhan University will host an in-ternational conference on urbangeoinformatics from 16 to 19 Octo-ber 2001 in Wuhan, China.

The conference will be organised bythe School of Urban Studies (SUS) andthe Chinese Society of Urban Planning.SUS is one of ITC’s five sister institutesThe long relationship between the twoinstitutions was further strengthenedduring the visit to Wuhan in February2001 of ITC’s rector, Prof.Dr.Ir. MartienMolenaar (see article in this issue of ITCNews).

Geographical information systems (GIS)and remote sensing provide reliableand relevant spatial information forplanning and managing fast-growingcities. In line with this, the conferencewill focus on the following topics:1. Urban Geoinformatics2. Theory and Design for Urban Planning

3. Design, Development and Applica-tions of Urban Planning & Manage-ment Information Systems

4. Development Strategies of UGIS5. UGIS Education6. Strategies for Urbanisation in Devel-

oping Countries7. Sustainable Development for Cities

For ITC alumni there is an additionalreason to attend the conference. It willgive them the opportunity to renewtheir contacts with ITC and meet ITCstaff and fellow alumni.

WuhanThe conference will take place inWuhan, capital of Hubei Province andone of the top 10 largest cities inChina. It has a population of 8.31 mil-lion. Situated at the junction of theYangtze River and its biggest tributary,the Hanshui River, the city is dividedinto three parts: Wuchang, Hankouand Hanyang. Geographically, it lies atthe centre of China, with air, land andriver links to all major cities in thecountry, such as Beijing, Shanghai,Chongqing, Xi’an, Guangzhou, Shen-zhen and Hong Kong. In addition tobeing the industrial and commercialcentre of central and southern China,Wuhan ranks third nationwide as re-gards the number of institutions forhigher education and scientific re-search. A rapidly developing city itself,Wuhan forms a "gold bridge" linkingdeveloped coastal China with the un-derdeveloped interior in the country’s"Go-West" campaign. One of China’sfour photoelectronics valleys is locatedin Wuhan’s East Lake New TechnologyDevelopment Zone. This attracts flowsof capital, information and technology

announcements

Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province

URBAN GEOINFORMATICS International ConferenceWuhan, China 16-19 October 2001

Marjan Kreijns, ITC representative China [email protected]


A N N O U N C E M E N T S

and presents a new facet of the coun-try’s industrial development. Among thescenic sights of the city are the YellowCrane Tower, the Guiyuan Temple, EastLake Park and Moshan Hill, the AncientChu Culture Town and the AncientLute Platform.

Wuhan University, host of the confer-ence, is the largest and most influentialuniversity in central and southernChina, with a history dating back 108years. Its campus on Luojia Hill along-side East Lake covers an area of 3.6km2. More than 40,000 full-time stu-dents follow some 200 different pro-grammes at bachelor’s, master’s,

doctoral or post-doctoral level in the sixfaculties (humanities, social science,sciences, engineering, informatics andmedical science) and several nationallaboratories and research centres.

For more information and registrationforms, please contact the organisingcommittee:

Prof. Lan YunchaoSchool of Urban StudiesWuhan University129 Luoyu Road, Wuhan 430079P.R. ChinaTel: +86 27 8788 5922 x 2181Fax: +86 27 8786 4683E-mail: [email protected]: www.wtusm.edu.cn

A new Memorandum of Under-standing was signed in February tolink ITC and Wuhan University.

Special Offer for ITC Alumni

In co-operation with ITC, Eurimage is pleased to announce anextension of its special offer on satellite data valid until Sep-tember 30, 2001.

• In order to enable the Alumni of ITC courses to start real exploitation of data in their pilot initiatives weare offering 50% discount on the first 10 ERS products ordered

• For operational application projects with ERS, we are offering up to 40% discount with no limitationon data volume

• A special discount will also be applied to Landsat5 and Landsat7 data, depending on data volume andavailability from the archive (up to 30%)

These discounts are applicable only to single scenes from selected archives and the offer cannot be com-bined with other special offer or discounts.

For more information, please contact Luciana Di Domenico at Eurimage- tel.+39.06.40694224, - fax +39.06.40694232, - e-mail [email protected]

ARGENTINAAsociacion Cultural Argentino-Neerlandesa de Ex-Becarios (ACANEB)c/o Royal Netherlands EmbassyAvda. de Mayo 701, Piso 191084 Buenos Aires, ,ArgentinaPhone: 54.1.3343474 Fax: 54.1.3342717

BANGLADESHNetherlands Alumni Association ofBangladeshMr. Qazi H. Kabir, Secretary General42/7 Block F, Babar RoadMohammadpur, Dhaka 1207,BangladeshPhone: 880.2.323855

BULGARIABulgarian-Dutch Alumni AssociationP.O. Box 1196Sofia - 1000, BulgariaPresident: Dr. Tihomir B. MustakovPhone: 359.2.769230 Fax: 359.2.518601

ECUADORAsociacion Ecuatoriana de ex-Becariosy Amigos del Reino de los Paises BajosAvenida 10 de Agosto 3815 y Mariana deJesusTercer piso, Oficina 302, Edificio VillacisPazosQuito, EcuadorPresident: Srta. Sigrid VasconezPhone: 593.2.552124

EGYPTNetherlands Alumni Associationc/o Dr.Wadid Erian54-Ahmed El Sawy StreetMakram Abide, Nasr CityCairo, EgyptPhone: 012 213 7004 and 2746513Fax: (202)5884066

GHANAGhana Netherlands AlumniAssociation (GNAA)P.O. Box 8148Accra-North, GhanaInterim President: Mr. S.A. AmoahPhone (Netherlands Embassy):233.21.773664Fax (Netherlands Embassy):233.21.773655

INDIANetherlands Alumni Association ofIndiaProf. C.P. TewariC-3/3004, Vasant KunjNew Delhi 110 070, IndiaPhone: 91.11.6897773

INDONESIAIKANEDp/a Nederlandse AmbassadeJalan H.R. Rasuna Said-Kavel S3Kuniga, Jakarta 12950, IndonesiaPresident: Prof.Dr. Koesnadi Hardjasoe-mantriPhone: 62.21.511515 Fax: 62.21.5700734

KENYANetherlands Association of AlumniKenyap/a Royal Netherlands EmbassyBox 41537Nairobi, KenyaChairman: Mr. I.M. KilonzoPhone: 254.2.227111 Fax: 254.2.339155

KOREAKorea Netherlands Alumni Association(KNAA)C.P.O. Box 7173Seoul, Korea Final InformationPresident: Dr. Woo, Hae SeungPhone: 82.2.2524597 (office),82.342.702.8606 (home)

MALAYSIAAlumni Association of Malaysiac/o Royal Netherlands Embassy4 Jalan Mesra55000 Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaPhone: 60.3.2485151 Fax: 60.3.2411959

NEPALNetherlands Alumni Association ofNepalc/o SNV NepalP.O. Box 1966Kathmandu, NepalPhone: 977.1.522915

NEPALITC Alumni Association of Nepalc/o GPO Box 9046Kathmandu, NepalPhone: 977.1.251.625; 482.903Fax: 977.1.482.957(attn: Mr. R.R. Chhatkuli)Email: [email protected]@wlink.com.np

PAKISTANNetherlands Alumni Association ofPakistan53, Plaza Fazalul Haq RoadAdjacent PIA Building, Blue AreaIslamabad, PakistanPresident: Mr. Syed Waqua HaiderPhone: 92.51.214336; 214337

PERUAsociacion de Ex-BecariosLos Abedules 261Urb. CamachoLima, PeruPresidente: Sra. Teresa BarbaPhone: 51.14.358474; 337800

PHILIPPINESNetherlands Fellowship Foundationof the Philippines Inc. (NFFPI)Land Geology DivisionMines and Geoscience BureauNorth AvenueDiliman, Quezon City, The PhilippinesPresident: Dr. Ricarte JabelosaFax: 63.2.9288544

SINGAPOREThe Netherlands Alumni Associationof Singapore (NAAS)P.O. Box 99Bras Basah Post Branch, Singapore 0718President: Mr. Soon See CheongFax: 65.7382979

SRI LANKAThe Netherlands Alumni Associationof LankaNo. 95, Prince StreetColombo 11, Sri LankaPresident: Mr. R.P. WimalasenaPhone: 94.1.581998 Fax: 94.1.581145

TAIWANNetherlands Alumni Associationof Taiwanc/o Prof.dr.ir. Daniel JiangGraduate Institute of Civil and HydraulicEngineeringFeng Chia University5th floor, C-H Building100, Wenwha RoadTaichung, Republic of ChinaPhone: 886.4.2528158Fax: 886.4.2960877Email: [email protected]

THAILANDNetherlands Alumni Association ofThailand (NAAT)Chief, Foreign Relations Sub-DivisionThai Industrial Standards InstituteRama 6 RoadBangkok 10400, ThailandPresident: Mrs. Uraiwan ChandryuPhone: 66.2.2464085; 2461174 Fax: 66.2.2487987

UGANDAITC Alumni Association UgandaDepartment of Forest Products EngineeringFaculty of Forestry and Nature ConservationMakerere UniversityP.O. Box 7062Kampala, UgandaMr. Mwambu George Charles Magomu,Organising SecretaryPhone: 256.41.543647; 543648 Fax: 256.41.533574

VIETNAMVietnam Netherlands Alumni Club (VNAC)105A Quan Thanh StreetHanoi, VietnamChaiman: Prof.dr. Pham Huy DungPhone: 84.4.8454547 Fax: 84.4.8432756

Alumni associationslisting of all Netherlands and ITC alumni as-

sociations. Alumni who would like to set-up

similar associations in their own country can

contact ITC.


L I F E A F T E R I T C

ITC News June 2001


“In the 21st century,

science and scientists

will be judged not only

for how well they gener-

ate new knowledge, but

also for how well they

help solve local and

global problems.

Scientists in every nation

must take action to en-

sure that policy makers

and the public make

their decisions based on

the best available infor-

mation”.

Alberts, B., 2000. (http://news.bmn.com/hmsbeagle/84/viewpts/op_ed)

I was impressed when I read the abovestatement. I took time to think on theresponsibility scientists have, especiallyin developing countries usually subjectto severe environmental and socio-eco-nomic strains. I also thought what, as ascientist, I have been doing, what Ihave been taught and how I have man-aged (or not managed) to put thatknowledge into practice.

As a former ITC trainee in applied geo-morphology back in the early 80s(under H. Th. Prof. Verstappen), I wasshown not to unlink science and tech-nology developments and applicationsfrom the needs of those societieswithin which one carries out scientificresearch. Those societies are the onespaying for this research and develop-ment. Therefore, they deserve some-thing in return.

I have kept that in mind during the lastalmost twenty years; during this pe-riod, I would finish my academic careerand undertake professional practice inthe academic realm at one of thelargest universities in Latin America.Thus, training others, or, as it has beendescribed lately, capacity building,should play a key role and have high

priority. I realised that if I wanted tosucceed in this, I should also give veryhigh priority to fund-raising, projectand report writing. This is not a simpletask, especially if you prefer being inthe field or in your laboratory. Instead,you become an accountant, a man-ager, and you become afraid of forget-ting, for instance, that you weretrained as a geomorphologist.

What should the actual outcome of sci-entific research be? The scientific es-tablishment urges us to publish ininternational journals with a science ci-tation index rating. I am only partly sat-isfied with this because I think thatvalidation by peers is only part of theassessment. We also need validation bynon-peers, validation by our societies.This is not a simple matter. Mecha-nisms and indicators to evaluate thisare not as straightforward as thoseused in the scientific environment.However, if we do not accomplish this,we will probably not be properlyjudged, as indicated by Alberts (quotedabove).

The challenge is carrying out meaning-ful research, meaningful for bothAcademia and the social groups that

The problems of combining research and realityGerardo Bocco, ITC alumnus [email protected]

From left to right:Jesús Fuentes (student of the author),

Prof. H.Th.Verstappen and Dr. GerardoBocco on fieldwork in the vicinity

of Paricutin, the youngest volcano in Mexico

23



need data and information to back-uptheir decision-making processes. Some6 years ago, together with Dr. A. Ve-lazquez, also an ITC trainee in 1987(under Prof. I. Zonneveld), I undertooka systematic participatory investigationin a Mexican indigenous community.Since then, we have supervised at leastten students working towards theirtheses, written several scientific papersin indexed journals, but above all, wehave supported this forest communityin forming its own automated resourcemanagement plan and earning thegreen certification for their sustainableuse of the pine forest.

This is not much. There are many com-munities without such a plan or with-out such a sustained practice. But it is,

undoubtedly, a start. We wanted toshow our scientific establishment thatpractising good science can also meanpractising useful science.

Dr. Gerardo Bocco, Depto. Ecología delos Recursos Naturales, Instituto deEcologíaUniversidad Nacional Autónoma deMéxico, Campus MoreliaA.P. 27-3 (Xangari) 58089 Morelia,Michoacán, MéxicoTel: (52) 4 3222724.Fax: (52) 4 3222719e-mail: [email protected]: www.oikos.unam.mx/

laboratorios/geoecologia

On 12 January 2001, the restau-rant and bar of ITC were crowdedwith staff members, past and pre-sent, and guests from all points ofthe compass, come to bid farewellto Theo Rijnberg and his family.Theo had served ITC since 1 March1969 and took early retirement asof 1 January 2001.

During these almost 32 years, he as-sumed many responsibilities both at theInstitute and abroad on many short-term missions and projects of more pro-longed duration. The first 12 years werespent with the ITC-UNESCO Centre forIntegrated Surveys. In the beginning,the former merchant navy and RoyalNavy officer Theo Rijnberg had to betransferred in order to play his part indevelopment surveys. In these surveys,the aspects of project development,

survey design and survey implementa-tion claimed his particular attention. Nowonder his principal duties were relatedto the fieldwork component of theCentre’s standard course. In later years,this grounding led to functions as mis-sion chief and team leader in projects inAfrican and Asian countries, includingMali, Mauritania, the Sudan, Thailand,Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

At the end of 1981, he was chargedwith setting up a project bureau withinthe Institute. He managed this bureautill early 1986, when he went to In-donesia. These five years were markedby a large number of so-called "inter-national education projects", whichaimed at the institutional strengthen-ing of existing education departmentsin third world countries and the estab-lishment of more ITC sister institutes.

S P E C I A L N E W S

We bid farewell to Theo RijnbergITC’s fellowship officer and co-ordinator of alumni affairs

Janneke Kalf [email protected]



His first post in Indonesia - his countryof birth (1940), by the way - was in hisbirthplace Malang, seat of the KaliKonto project. Within a year, he wastransferred to Bogor to direct theSchool of Environmental Managementof the Ministry of Forestry. He returnedto Enschede in early 1992 and, after aone-year period as interim head of theproject bureau, took up the post of ed-ucation co-ordinator.

Among his principal duties were thoseof fellowship officer and the co-ordina-tion of alumni affairs. That’s how manyof ITC’s alumni have come to know

Theo: from his signature at the bottomof fellowship contracts, from contactsat home and abroad during educationfairs, and from other alumni-orientedactivities. A couple of articles that hehas published in ITC News completethe story.

Besides his work at ITC, Theo has beendeeply involved in social and commu-nity affairs, both in Enschede and be-yond. For these services, he was madeKnight of the Order of Orange Nassauby the Queen - a proud occasion in-deed!

During the farewell party, the rector,on behalf of all ITC personnel, pre-sented him with a miniature of the ITCCronkel. Theo also received a scannerto extend his home computer facilities.In his farewell speech, Theo made itabundantly clear that he had had awonderful time at ITC, for which hewas truly grateful. He had been ex-tremely happy … well, you can see foryourself. Just look at the photo of Theoand his wife Annet!

We wish Theo and Annet all the bestfor the future.

ITC’s prime tasks are in education,research and in advisory services.Therefore, excellence in thesefields is relevant for the Instituteand, hence, the relevance of the bi-annual Research Award and Educa-tion Award.

But it is also important to realise thatthe core activities of ITC are not just ex-ecuted by individuals on their ownsmall islands. Most of our work is team-

work and we all know, from soccer forinstance, that good teams are moreproductive than just a group of individ-uals. For good teams you do not onlyneed people who are just good inteaching or in research. You also needgood team players like midfielders whotake care of the lines of communicationand people who promote and stimulatethe “we”-feeling in the Institute.Named after the person who is a goodexample of a team-builder, the Henk

Roelof Schoppers wins the Henk Scholten Award 2000

Corné van Elzakker [email protected]

Scholten Award is presented at the In-stitute every year to remind us all ofthe importance of doing our work inteams of staff and students alike.

On 21 December at the start of ITC'sEnd-of-the-Year party the Award forthe year 2000 was presented by thenew Rector Prof. Dr. Ir. Martien Mole-naar together with Mr. Henk Scholtenhimself to Mr. Roelof Schoppers.

Roelof works at the central ITC Recep-tion desk. Of course, this is a pivotfunction in the ITC team, but the wayhe fills it in is appreciated highly by stu-dents and staff alike. Therefore, Roelofmay truly be called: "the warm andfriendly face of ITC". As one of thepersons who has nominated Roelof hasput it: "We find Mr. Schoppers to bevery kind, helpful, amiable. He alwayshas a ready smile as he attends to ourqueries and requests. His warmth in re-sponding to the requests of studentslike us made us feel at home. In certaininstances, he has shown genuine inter-est in conversing with us. He is efficientand has given a good impression of thequality of staff here at the ITC."

The winner of the Henk ScholtenAward is selected from a list of candi-dates nominated by staff or students.All staff and students are invited tosubmit nominations by a committeethat also selects the winner on thebasis of the following criteria:

Persons qualify for the Henk ScholtenAward if:• they are an ITC staff member or stu-

dent or a former ITC staff member orstudent;

• they have stimulated the “we-feel-ing” or have demonstrated team-building capacities at the Institutefor a considerable period of time(teams usually consist of staff andstudents alike);

• they have fostered and promotedsocial and working relationshipswithin the Institute as a whole for aconsiderable period of time;

• they have done this voluntarily, be-yond their usual tasks resulting fromfunction or participation in a courseprogramme.

The Henk Scholten Award Committee2000 is composed of a representative ofthe SAB (Dorman Alfred Chimhamhiwa),a representative of the PhD-students(Ale Raza), a representative of the Direc-torate (Marja Verburg), a representativeof the ITC staff (Corné van Elzakker) anda representative of the personnel associ-ation InTerContact (Monique Romarck).

The Henk Scholten Award (consistingof a certificate and a holiday voucher)has been presented at ITC for the firsttime in 1997 to Wilma Grootenboer. In1998 the winner was Johan Weggenand in 1999 it was Ale Raza. In view ofthe fact that, luckily, the "pool" ofcandidates is not empty yet (last time,11 different persons were nominatedby 72 staff and students) there will def-initely be a new winner in 2001 again.THANK YOU to all staff and studentswho nominated candidates andTHANK YOU candidates for being suchgood team-players and -builders!

The Henk Scholten Award for the year 2000 was pre-sented by the rector Martien Molenaar (left) togetherwith Henk Scholten himself (right) to Roelof Schoppers(middle): "The warm and friendly face of ITC"


ITC News June 200126

M a k i n g C i t i e s W o r k

Rapid urban growth, changes in

socio-political systems, need for

urban productivity and increasing

gaps between rich and poor resul-

ting in social problems, place tre-

mendous demands on the

management of towns and cities.

Over the years, the Institute for

Housing and Urban Development

Studies (IHS) has proven it can

help. IHS offers training, research,

advisory services and

supports in institutional develop-

ment projects.

Since the institute’s establishment

in 1958, more than 4.500 urban

professionals from 120 different na-

tions have made their way to IHS

classrooms to take part in a post-

graduate diploma course, a Master

Programme or a PhD Programme.

IHS Training Programme

July 2001Summer in the city - Executive courses in Urban Management

Sept - Oct. 2001

Sept 2001- Dec. 2002

For more information please contact: Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies, Projects Courses & Marketing Bureau,

P.O. Box 1935, 3000 BX Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Phone: (+31) 10 402 15 23, Fax: (+31) 10 404 56 71, E-mail: [email protected]

F o r m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n p l e a s e v i s i t o u r w e b - s i t e : w w w . i h s . n l

Mastering Cities

Target group

Sustainable Building and Urban Design

IHSInstitute for Housing and Urban Development StudiesThe summer course programme is workshop oriented and occurs over a 5-day period.

The programme is geared towards mid-and senior career professionals. Workshops: Planning and management the impact of HIV/Aids on the city, E-government, Accounting to the people: governance in the public sector, Decentralised co-operation strategies for European local governments.

The international workshop addresses the international dimension of sustainable building and urban design. Topics: Basics of sustainable building and urban design, managerial and technical aspects.

• MA Programme in Urban Management - by IHS and Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands

• MSc Programme in Urban Environmental Management - by IHS and Wageningen University and Research Centre, the Netherlands

• MSc Programme in Urban Housing Management -

by IHS and Lund University, Sweden• MSc in Housing and Inner-city Revitalisation -

by IHS Delaware University, USA• Professional programme in Environmental Change

Management - by IHS and Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands (duration 12 months)

IHS offers 5 Master programmes in co-operation with well-known universities. The international scope of the programmes - reflected inconcepts, theories, case studies and international visits - provides a context for addressing fluctuating factors and tools to implementpositive change.

Practising professionals working in local government, regional agencies, ministries, the private sector or academic institu-tions. The programmes aim to prepare professionals for urban housing, urban environment and urban management respon-sibilities in the higher management positions.

This publication is based primarily on field research carried out in the period 1949-1959,when Professor Verstappen worked almost continuously in the region, and in the period1971-1997, when he visited Indonesia frequently for shorter and longer missions, mostlyin the context of university cooperation projects. Most of the fieldwork was concentratedon Sumatra, Java, Bali, Lombok, parts of the Moluccas and Irian Jaya, while shorter visitswere paid to the islands east of Lombok and to southwest and northeast Sulawesi. Manyparts, evidently and regrettably, remained unvisited and aerospace images - also exten-sively used elsewhere - of these areas were a major source of information in conjunctionwith topographic and thematic maps and with the existing earth science literature. Al-though the available data are incomplete, diverse in kind an quality and rather randomlydistributed, a general picture of landform development in Indonesia gradually emerged.It is presented in this publication, with all uncertainties, gaps and other shortcomings as aframework and incentive for further research.

Herman Verstappen is Emeritus Professor of Geomorphology, ITC Division of Applied Ge-omorphological Surveys (AGS)

Contents Outline of the Geomorphology of Indonesia

Preface and acknowledgements1. Introduction2. The morphostructural framework: a heritage of plate tectonics3. Climatic factors in the development of Indonesian landforms4. Volcanic landforms5. Non-volcanic denudational landforms6. Geomorphology of the lowlands7. Coastal geomorphology and coral reefs

NEW ITC PUBLICATIONOutline of the geomorphology of Indonesia

A case study on tropical geomorphology of a tectonic region

byHerman Th. Verstappen

Price: NLG 40.00ITC Publication number 79ISBN: 90 6164 182 9

For ordering information please contact the ITC Bookshop:[email protected] or fax +31 (0)53 4874 400

International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences(ITC)P.O. Box 67500 AA EnschedeThe Netherlands

Web site: http://www.itc.nl

CALENDAR 2001-1

Geoinformation Forum Japan

20 – 22 June 2001Tokyo, Japan

Information: Geoinformation ForumJapan 2001, Kokuryokaikan, 1-3-4Koishikawa, Bunkyoku, Tokyo 112-0002, Japan (tel 81-3-5684-3352; fax81-3-3816 6870; [email protected]; web-sitewww.mesh.nejp/J-Survey)

Second Symposium on RemoteSensing of Urban Areas

22 – 23 June 2001Regensburg, Germany

Information: C Jürgens ([email protected]; web-site www.uni-re-gensburg.de/Fakultaeten/phil_Fak_III/Geographie/institut/termine)

Geomatics 2001

24 – 28 June 2001Fredericton, NB, USA

Information: (tel 1-506-453-8855; fax1-506-444-4310; [email protected])

AM/FM/GIS Conference

6 – 7 July 2001Hyderabad, India

Information: Shanti Nivas, GIS India, 6-3-1149/1/A1, B S Makhta, Begumpet,Hyderabad 500016, India (tel 91-040-331-4141; fax 91-040-330-6770; e-mail [email protected])

21st Annual ESRI International UserConference

6 – 8 July 2001San Diego, CA, USA

Information: ESRI (tel 1-909-793-2853,ext 1-1363; e-mail [email protected];web-site www.esri.com/events/uc)

IEEE International Geoscience andRS Symposium (IGARSS)

9 – 13 July 2001Sydney, Australia

Information: Tammy Stein, IGARSS,17906 St Emillion Court, Spring, TX77379, USA (tel 1-281-251-6067; fax1-281-251-6068; [email protected]; web-sitewww.igars2001.org

20th International CartographicConference

6 – 10 August 2001Beijing, China

Information: LOC for ICC 2001, StateBureau of Surveying and Mapping, San-linhe Road, Beijing 100830, China (tel86-10-6834-6614; fax 86-10-6831-1564; e-mail [email protected];web-site www.sbsm.gov.cn/icc2001

Space and Time – GIS and RemoteSensing Conference

7 – 8 September 2001Sopron, Hungary

Information: Professor Bela Markus,uniGISopen, 8000 Szekesfehervar, POBox 52, Hungary (fax 36-22-327-697;e-mail [email protected]; web-sitegeoinfo.cslm.hu/events/sat

1st Annual Meeting of the RS andPhotogrammetry Society

12 – 14 September 2001London, England

Information: The RSPSoc Office, Schoolof Geography, University of Notting-ham, University Park, Nottingham NG72RD, England (e-mail [email protected]; web-site www.rspsoc.org)

The Fifth International Airborne Re-mote Sensing Conference and Exhi-bition

17 – 20 September 2001San Francisco, CA, USA

Information: Veridian Systems Interna-tional Conferences, PO Box 134008,Ann Arbor, MI, 48113-4008 USA (tel 1-734-994-1200, ext 3234; fax 1-734-994-5123; [email protected]; web-sitewww.erim-int.com/CONF/IARSC.html)

GIS 2001

18 – 20 September 2001London, England

Information: Jessica Lonnkvist (tel 44-20-8987-7584; e-mail [email protected]; web-sitewww.gisexpo.com)

Intergeo and Geodesists’ Confer-ence

19 – 21 September 2001Cologne, Germany

Information: KölnMesse, PO Box 21-07-60, D-50532, Cologne, Germany (tel49-221-821-0; fax 49-221-821-2574)

Photogrammetric Week

24 – 28 September 2001Stuttgart, Germany

Information: Institute for Photogram-metry (ifp), Stuttgart University,Geschwister-Scholl Strasse 24, D-70174Stuttgart, Germany (tel 49-711-121-3201; fax 49-711-121-3297; [email protected];web-site www.ifp.uni-stuttgart.de)

International Seminar on Land In-formation Management and Cadas-tral Systems

2 – 5 October 2001Nairobi, Kenya

Information: FIG Office, Lindevangs Alle4, DK 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark (tel45-3886-1081; fax 45-3886-0252, e-mail [email protected])

20th Brazilian Congress of Cartogra-phy

7 – 12 October 2001Brazil

Information: Francisco Carlos Bragançade Souza, General Director of XXCBC,Office Marketing, Rua 17 de Junho,436 Porto Alegre RS Brazil, CEP 90-110-170 (tel 55-51-226-8600; fax 55-51-211-3631; e-mail xxcbc@orion,ufrgs.br;web-site www.ufrgs.br/xxcbc

Urban Geoinformatics InternationalConference

16-19 October 2001-04-25Wuhan, China

Information: Prof. Lan Yunchao, Schoolof Urban Studies, Wuhan University,129 Luoyu Road, Wuhan 430079, P.R.China (tel +86-27-8788 5922 x 2181;fax +86-27-8786 4683; e-mail:[email protected]; web-sitewww.wtusm.edu.cn)

International Workshop on 3DCadastres

28 – 30 November 2001Delft, The Netherlands

Information: Elfriede M Fendel, DelftUniversity of Technology, Faculty of CivilEngineering and Geosciences, Depart-ment of Geodesy, Thijsseweg 1, 2629JA Delft, The Netherlands (tel 31-15-278-4548, fax 31-15-278-2745; [email protected])


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