Dr. Dionisio T. Battad is presenting his accomplishments during the Closing Ceremonies of the GIS Training Series conducted at the DENR-Region 10 Headquarters in Cagayan de Oro City.
In line with its ongoing digitization efforts to improve public service efficiency and environmental interventions, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)-Region 10 tapped Dr. Dionisio T. Battad, former GIS Manager of OneFortyOne Plantations in Australia, to train 24 regional staff in the use of advanced geospatial technologies. This includes geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing applications.
The capacity building initiative equipped the identified staff with the use of advanced geospatial technologies particularly GIS and remote sensing applications in natural resources management. Use of these technologies would enhance monitoring of environmental programs such as the National Greening Program by providing accurate data for effective stewardship of natural resources. Information derived from remote sensing could be integrated into web GIS platforms, making it accessible to various stakeholders through web maps and operations dashboards. The data could be further validated or supplemented using mobile applications.
Dr. Henry A. Adornado, Regional Executive Director of DENR-Region 10 (center) shows the signed Re-entry Plan together with other DENR Officials.
Dr. Battad, a geospatial technology expert with extensive experience in GIS and remote sensing applications in forestry and watershed management, led the training that served as his engagement for the Balik Scientist Program. For his short-term engagement, he covered nine modules over 144 training hours. Topics ranged from basics of GIS, advanced courses on web mapping, development of mobile apps using QuickCapture for ArcGIS, development of dashboards, land use/cover classification, geoprocessing, creation of story maps, Lidar data processing, and tree crown segmentation.
To ensure sustainability of the capacity-building efforts, DENR Region 10 signed a Re-entry Action Plan, committing each participant to train at least two additional staff members in their respective offices.
During the training series’ closing ceremonies, Regional Executive Director Henry A. Adornado lauded the outputs of the 24 completers and Dr. Battad’s relentless guidance to achieving DENR Region 10’s vision to become a hub for excellence in spatial technology applications in DENR. This is necessary for them to perform their mandate to monitor the natural resources of 84 municipalities in the region including nine protected areas.
The completers together with DENR Region 10 officials, the Balik Scientist, and DOST-PCAARRD delegation.