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Summer School on Innovations for Sustainable Land Use in Samarkand

General information 

The International Interdisciplinary Summer School "Innovations for Sustainable Land Use and Nature Protection in Central Asia" is organized by the Institute of Agrobiotechnology and Food Safety of Samarkand State University (SamSU). It will be held in Samarkand (Uzbekistan) on September 9-15, 2024. This school is part of the regional program "Integrative Land Use taking into account Climate Change in Central Asia" (ILUCA), which is implemented by the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ). 

Innovative technologies in the field of nature conservation, sustainable land use and food security are becoming increasingly important, but have not yet been widely adopted in Central Asia. However, there is a wide range of possible applications. For example, geographic information systems (GIS) help users track, visualize, analyze, and understand changes. For example, the state of populations and the distribution of species, land use and its change, agricultural production, or the progress of conservation of natural resources. 

At the Summer School, students and young professionals will gain environmental skills and knowledge. In particular, they will study and learn how to apply GIS techniques in sustainable land use and nature conservation. The aim is to achieve close practical communication and exchange of experience with the neighboring protected natural areas of the Zarafshan Valley – the Zarafshan National Natural Park (Uzbekistan) and the Zarafshan Nature Reserve (Tajikistan). 

The summer school is organized by Samarkand State University in cooperation with the Michael Zukkov Foundation and the University of Rostock (Germany). 

Participants will receive a certificate of successful completion of the Summer School. 

Program 

Participants will learn about innovative approaches in the field of sustainable land use and nature conservation. They will also gain skills in using the QGIS GIS software. The summer school will combine theoretical lectures and practical classes. In practical classes on GIS/ Remote sensing participants will get acquainted with GIS: 

Introduction, data acquisition, coordinate systems and GNSS, data editing, spatial data analysis, services and open data, layouts, cartography and creation maps 

Practical exercises with QGIS and remote sensing: 

Agrobiodiversity in the context of remote sensing, resolution and scale – from spectroscopy to the level of tree crowns, image classification and land-use mapping, introduction to machine learning and deep learning, Google Earth Engine, mapping using drones Practical exercises with Google Earth Engine and QGIS In addition, meetings with practitioners working in this field are planned to facilitate further discussion and provide insight into possible GIS applications. 

The technical program is complemented by a cultural part with excursions to Samarkand and its historical city – the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site "Crossroads of Cultures". 

Read more: https://ecostan.rocks/samarkand-sustlanfuse-school/


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