Certification Course in GIS & Remote Sensing for Environment & Climate Science

Programme Overview

The Certification Course in GIS & Remote Sensing for Environment & Climate Science is a two-week intensive, practice-oriented online training designed to strengthen participants’ capacity to apply geospatial technologies to environmental and climate challenges.

Understanding and responding to the accelerating impacts of climate change and environmental degradation requires precise, evidence-based data. Across Africa and globally, governments, research institutions, conservation organizations, and NGOs increasingly rely on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) as indispensable tools for environmental planning, climate analysis, disaster risk reduction, and sustainable natural resource management.

Despite the growing availability of Earth Observation data and open-source platforms, the ability to interpret, analyze, and transform these datasets into actionable insights remains a major capacity gap. This programme has been developed to respond directly to that need.

Programme Details

• Duration: 2 Weeks (40 Hours Total)
• Interactive Sessions: 20 Hours
• Assignments & Individual Application: 20 Hours
• Dates: 19 – 30 January
• Time: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM (WAT)
• Mode of Delivery: Online
• Programme Fee: USD 250

Target Group

This course is designed for:

• Researchers and postgraduate students
• Conservationists and environmental practitioners
• Geographers and climatologists
• Professionals working in NGOs, CSOs, and development agencies
• Natural resource, land-use, and disaster risk management practitioners
• Government and private-sector professionals in environment and climate-related fields

Learning Approach

Participants will learn to use GIS and Remote Sensing technologies not as abstract academic tools, but as strategic instruments for:

• Monitoring ecosystems and biodiversity
• Assessing climate risk and vulnerability
• Evaluating land-use and land-cover change
• Tracking environmental degradation
• Supporting evidence-based development planning

Hands-on sessions will use ArcGIS, QGIS, Google Earth Engine, and multiple satellite data platforms including Landsat, Sentinel, MODIS, CHIRPS, and WorldClim.

The programme is contextualized around key environmental challenges such as deforestation, water scarcity, biodiversity loss, agricultural expansion, carbon emissions, and climate-driven disasters, particularly within African and Least Developed Country contexts.

Course Outline

Week 1: Foundations & Core Technical Skills (20 Hours)

Day 1 (2 hrs): Course Introduction & GIS Fundamentals

• Introduction to GIS, Remote Sensing & Earth Observation
• Applications in environment, climate, and conservation
• GIS data types: raster & vector
• Overview of QGIS, ArcGIS & Google Earth Engine
• Assignment: Software installation and basic GIS navigation

Day 2 (2 hrs): Spatial Data Acquisition & Management

• Coordinate systems, projections & datums
• Environmental spatial datasets (USGS, ESA, FAO, Copernicus, etc.)
• Creating and editing vector layers
• Data quality, metadata & standards
• Assignment: Dataset acquisition for an environmental project

Day 3 (2 hrs): Remote Sensing Fundamentals

• Electromagnetic spectrum principles
• Spatial, temporal & radiometric resolution
• Satellite systems: Landsat, Sentinel, MODIS, Planet
• Atmospheric correction basics
• Assignment: Satellite data selection for climate applications

Day 4 (2 hrs): Image Preprocessing & Enhancement

• Image stacking, mosaicking & clipping
• Cloud masking (Landsat & Sentinel)
• Radiometric & geometric corrections
• Environmental feature enhancement (NDVI, NDWI, NBR)
• Assignment: Preprocess Sentinel-2 imagery

Day 5 (2 hrs): Environmental Indices & Biophysical Monitoring

• Vegetation indices (NDVI, EVI, SAVI)
• Water indices (NDWI, MNDWI)
• Burn indices (NBR, dNBR)
• Soil indices (BSI, NDSI)
• Assignment: Index derivation for a selected landscape

Week 2: Applications, Climate Analysis & Project Work (20 Hours)

Day 6 (2 hrs): Land Use / Land Cover Mapping & Change Detection

• Supervised & unsupervised classification (Random Forest, SVM)
• Accuracy assessment (confusion matrix, kappa)
• LULC change detection workflows
• Assignment: Multi-temporal LULC mapping

Day 7 (2 hrs): GIS for Environmental & Conservation Planning

• Habitat mapping
• Buffer & proximity analysis
• Corridor design (least-cost path)
• Protected area management applications
• Assignment: Corridor or buffer zone analysis

Day 8 (2 hrs): Climate Data & Spatial Analysis

• Climate datasets (CHIRPS, ERA5, WorldClim)
• Rainfall & temperature trend analysis
• Drought assessment using SPI & NDVI anomalies
• Assignment: Climate variable extraction and analysis

Day 9 (2 hrs): Disaster Risk & Environmental Hazard Mapping

• Flood susceptibility mapping
• Landslide risk modelling
• Wildfire monitoring
• Early warning systems using RS
• Assignment: Hazard susceptibility mapping

Day 10 (2 hrs): Final Project Development & Assessment

• Project guidance and individual feedback
• Integration of GIS, RS & climate data
• Final presentations (5–10 minutes per participant)
• Certification criteria review

Final Project Themes May Include:

• Deforestation monitoring
• Climate change impact assessment
• Water resource and groundwater monitoring
• Wildlife habitat & corridor mapping
• LULC spatio-temporal change
• Urban expansion & planning
• Disaster risk mapping (flood, landslide, wildfire)

Deliverables & Learning Outcomes

Participants will:

✔ Gain hands-on GIS and Remote Sensing skills using ArcGIS, QGIS & Google Earth Engine
✔ Collect, preprocess, and analyze environmental and climate datasets
✔ Perform LULC classification and change detection
✔ Develop environmental hazard and climate vulnerability maps
✔ Produce a complete geospatial mini-project suitable for research or NGO work
✔ Receive a Certificate of Completion upon successful assessment

Application & Admission

• Applications are submitted online
• Admission is based on review due to limited seats
• Successful applicants receive a provisional admission letter with payment instructions
• Full enrollment is confirmed upon payment

AAPLY NOW

Contact Information

For enquiries regarding this programme:

📧 programs@paidesa.org
📞 +237 675 326 288
🌍 https://www.paidesa.org