As the Chairman of the Students’ association known as the Environmental Watch Association of Tanzania, Ghaamid represented Sokoine University of Agriculture as an attendee funded by the World Bank. Ghaamid, fully participated in the GIS and URTZ dialogues, workshops and presentations as his field of Environmental Sciences to a large extent relates to the topics discussed at the conference in terms of Geospatial analysis tools for mapping of floods and other disasters of environmental phenomena.
*Description of the Conference*
The annual FOSS4G conference is the largest global gathering focused on open source geospatial software. FOSS4G brings together developers, users, decision-makers and observers from a broad spectrum of organizations and fields of operation. Through six days of workshops, presentations, discussions, and cooperation, FOSS4G participants create effective and relevant geospatial products, standards, and protocols.
FOSS4G has been held all over the world and draws attendees from over 40 countries. Bonn, Germany hosted the conference in 2016. Last year Boston, Massachusetts, USA hosted. In 2018, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania has hosted it from 26th to 31st of August. ( link for more info https://2018.foss4g.org)
It was also accompanied with the conference called “Understanding Risk In Tanzania” which focused on the Msimbazi River catchment and Urban Resilience which is under the “Tanzania urban resilience program (TURP)” and the “Msimbazi Charrette” which then will use technology and Geospatial tools in Innovations in Risk Identification, Engaging Communities for risk reduction and Strengthening Emergency Response with flood disasters of the Msimbazi river catchment. ( link for more info https://www.worldbank.org/en/
The Guest of Honour for both the #Foss4g2018 and the #URTZ conferences at Julius Nyerere International Conference centre was Hon. January Makamba, the Minister of Union Affairs and the Environment.
