The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has selected Trent University as a partner to develop a new computer software system that will enable decision-makers to evaluate the suitability of land for a variety of actual and potential uses.

The system, which is intended for use in rural land use planning projects world-wide, will be able to assist government officials and rural planners in making rational decisions concerning policies for the allocation of lands for different competing uses, such as whether to grow crops for grain production, for biofuels, or for the benefits represented by government incentives for a given crop.

"The present research and development assignment represents an exciting partnership opportunity involving researchers and graduate students, and will place Trent University in a central place concerning land resources assessment for agriculture, forestry and livestock in the international arena," says Dr. Raul Ponce-Hernandez, a professor in the Geography and the Environmental and Resource Studies programs at Trent, who will be leading the project with the FAO. "This new agreement between Trent University and FAO will also work to address the existing gap in methodologies and software tools needed to address new environmental concerns, such as climate change, and their impact on land use planning."

Starting in September 2009, Professor Ponce-Hernandez will lead the initial phase of the project as well as the gathering of system requirements through the FAO's Applied Geomatics, Remote Sensing and Land Resources Laboratory.

According to Prof. Ponce-Hernandez, the project is of particular importance because of a growing need to look at alternative uses of land such as those related to soil carbon sequestration, the growing of crop for bio-fuels and the possible competing demands for lands which these land uses may bring.

Read more at http://www.trentu.ca/newsevents/newsreleases_090827raul.php