The CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems (AAS) and WorldFish have introduced an extensive ecological and socioeconomic database providing essential research data, answering such key questions as:
• What is the total length of all the rivers in Cambodia?
• How many people live within 5 km of a road in Bangladesh?
• How many inhabitants of Zambia are impoverished?
"We hope it will lead to better coordination of data, better research proposals, better graphics and maps, and better research output overall”, said WorldFish Senior Scientist, Dr. Doug Beare.
The online database offers up-to-date spatial information and data on all kinds of important factors such as river systems, climate, distributions of fisheries, poverty levels, food security, and nutrition.
The partners will in future introduce additional data on ecosystem services in key regions including Bangladesh, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, Cambodia and Zambia.
“A scientist or researcher might want an attractive map showing, for example, the marine exclusive economic zone of Timor-Leste to insert in a report. Usually this information is difficult to get or time-consuming for you to do yourself. Often the websites on offer do not have quite the flexibility needed for your specific problem”, said Dr. Beare.
The database is intended to meet the needs of scientists and researchers from WorldFish, the CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems (AAS), and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).
The open source database aims to be SQL-compliant and will be built from the ‘bottom up’ via a helpdesk, allowing users to request specific data or maps just by sending an email. It will be populated with outputs from user requests, and all information will be completely reproducible.
To contact the helpdesk and request data, advice, maps, specific statistics, climate time-series or help with all forms of spatial modeling, email: gis-support@worldfishcenter.org.
The database team includes: Stanley Tan, Suan Pheng Kam, Shwu Jiau Teoh, Nurul Ahmad Fatan, Doug Beare and Nicolas Bailly.
About WorldFish
WorldFish, a member of the CGIAR Consortium, is an international, nonprofit research organization committed to reducing poverty and hunger through fisheries and aquaculture.
About CGIAR
CGIAR is a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future. Its science is carried out by the 15 research center members of the CGIAR Consortium in collaboration with hundreds of partner organizations.
For more information or request for interview:
Contact: Toby Johnson, Senior Media Relations Manager
Mobile tel: +60 175 124 606
Email: t.johnson@cgiar.org
Web: worldfishcenter.org
Photography: flickr.com/photos/theworldfishcenter/