FAO South-South Cooperation Gateway

Natural Resource Information Center (CIREN)

Address
Av. Manuel Montt 1164, Providencia, Santiago
Country
Chile
Phone number(s)
(56 2) 22008902
Areas of expertise
AGRICULTURE, Agricultural research and extension, Agricultural statistics, Agricultural support systems, ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE CHANGE AND BIOENERGY, Natural resources management, Land resources and management, Water resources and management, Geographic Information Systems
Mandate, main activities of the institution and competencies

Mandate

The Natural Resources Information Center must manage information and knowledge about natural and productive resources of the country, through the use of information technologies and geospatial applications, making them accessible and useful for decision-making in silvoagricultural and lifestock growers and producers, educational institutions and agents of public and private development, in order to promote innovation and sustainable environmental development.

Main Activities

  • Serve as a technical support unit to the Ministry of Agriculture, to the regulatory, promotion and national and / or regional planning bodies to other entities or users of the public and private sectors, through the elaboration and development of diagnostics, applied research , projects and other integrated studies that allow alternatives for the use and conservation of natural resources and productive resources.  

      

  • Promote in coordination with the corresponding services and agencies, the modernization and updating of the base cartography and the updated maintenance of the rural property.   

 

  • Promote the incorporation of new technologies and methodologies for the knowledge, location, quantification, use and exploitation of natural resources and productive resources.

 

  • Carry out all research, studies and analyzes related to natural resources and productive resources, which are necessary for the best achievement of the aforementioned purposes and uses of the information.

 

Competencies

 

  • CIREN must establish and permanently update an Information Center of Natural Resources and Productive Resources, which collects and centralizes systematically the information related to those resources and the complementary information required for their use. This includes information related to administrative division, rural property identification, industrial infrastructure, transportation, energy, irrigation and other similar subjects.

 

  • The Natural Resources Information Center (CIREN), provides information on renewable natural resources at the national level, which allows optimizing decision-making in the agricultural and land use areas. To do so, it gathers the largest geo-referenced database of soils, water resources, climate, national fruit information, rural properties and the orthoimage base chart, among others.

 

  • The specialized information provided by CIREN is of great importance for planning and decision-making in the public and private sectors, as well as for the design of policies of productive development and of territorial ordering.

 

  • CIREN contributes to the resolution of problems, such as the determination of irrigation water conduction efficiency and improvement works, the identification of susceptible soils for the bonus of degraded soils, the identification of areas with better aptitudes for fruit cultivation, among others.
Summary of the activities during the last two years

2015-2016   

  • Organization, Coordination and realization of International Workshop CIREN-CATAPULT of the United Kingdom: "OUREA Project, Creation of Environmental Platforms for Mining Development in Chile".

 

  • Participation in SERNAGEOMIN-CATAPULT UK International workshop: "Toward the Collaboration in Earth Science Projects".

 

  • Participation in FIDAE XIX: Joint participation with SERNAGEOMIN, IDE Chile and SUBDERE, incorporated in the Stand of the Council of Ministers for Space Development (CMDE). CIREN exposes work on civil spatial issues, in which it provides support to the Technical Secretariat of theCMDE. XIX: Participación

 

  • Participation in "Latin American Remote Sensing Week" (LARS 2016): Coordination and Participation in the Latin American Fair of Remote Sensing LARS 2016, in conjunction with the Aerial Photogrammetric Service (SAF) of the Air Force.

                 - CIREN make a Training for a National and International audience: "Introduction to Remote Sensing".

                 - International Meetings for the development of possible joint projects:

1. France: Meeting is held with international delegation of Thales Alenia Space of France.

2. China: Meeting is held with the representative of Latin America of the "Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC), belonging to the China Space Agency. United States: OGEOS Foundation for the use of Free Software in Geospatial Topics.Fundación OGEOS para el uso de Software Libres en Temas Geoespaciales.

3. United States: OGEOS Foundation for the use of Free Software in Geospatial Topics.Fundación OGEOS para el uso de Software Libres en Temas Geoespaciales.

4. Belgium: Meeting with the Liege Space Center

 

  • Course at the University of Birmingham-England: "Training on Drought Assesment Methodologies": This course is carried out within the framework of the British Council project "Drought Indicators for Aquifers", funded by UNESCO and the Newton Picarte Funds of the United Kingdom.

 

  • CIREN participates in the Intraministerial Technical Commission for Climate Change (CTICC): This commission prepared the project "Strengthening the management of risk of drought in vulnerable watersheds of Chile", to compete for international financing of the Green Fund.

 

  • CIREN supports the Department of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Health, through the use of satellite images, their treatment and classification, for direct or indirect identification of vectors and factors associated with their establishment and dispersion.

 

  • Participation in Galileo Project of the European Community: Is held in Chile the  meeting of Galileo Project with the Public Sector . The Galileo program of the EC corresponds to the Satellite Positioning System of the European Community.

 

  • Meetings with International Organizations: Within the framework of participation in the XIV Exhibition and World Congress for Latin American Mining (EXPOMIN 2016), the following international-inter-institutional cooperation meetings were held:

1. United Kingdom: Meeting with the University of Cambridge.

2. United Kingdom: Meeting with the University College of London.

3. United Kingdom: Meeting with the University of Leicester,

4. United Kingdom: Meeting with the University of Exeter.

5. Belgium: Meeting with the University of Liege of Belgium.

6. Canada: Meeting with Canadian remote sensing company Western Heritage. .

 

International missions within the framework of the Institutional Strengthening Project CIREN-CORFO

  • Within the 2016 international activities, the following missions and international visits, carried out within the framework of the Institutional Strengthening project, should be highlighted:

                   - Visit to the Geographical Institute of Madrid (Spain).

                   - Visit to the Geographical Institute of Catalonia (Spain).

                   - Visit to Thales Alenia Space (France).

                   - Visit to CATAPULT Satellite Applications (United Kingdom).

                   - Visit to the GEOS Center (Mexico).

                   - Visit to the Agustín Codazi Geographical Institute (Colombia).

                   - Training Courses delivered by the United States:

                        1- AmeriGEOSS Week: GEOGLAM Train the Trainer Workshop - Course "GEOGLAM Latin America".

                        2- NASA Webinar Courses: Series of ARSET Webinars on Natural Disaster Management.

 

  • CIREN supports Costa Rica: Within the framework of the Cooperation Project of the Institute of Agricultural Development (INDAP) of the Ministry of Agriculture of Chile, with the Ministry of Agriculture of Costa Rica, CIREN was requested to collaborate on Land Management Systems and Agricultural Extension.

 

  • FAO: conducts 8 free distance courses, which respond to the following topics: cotton and family agriculture, health risks, renewable energy and biomass, rabies in animals, family agriculture and value chains, foot-and-mouth disease, agroclimatic risk management and agriculture family and food security.

 

  • Course: TerraMA2 notification system for the management of early warnings.

 

  • CIREN is part of the Project Committee "Agroclimatic Atlas" developed by the University of Chile, with the objective of presenting scenarios by 2050 and 2070, to guide climate change adaptation policies.

 

  • China: China Space Agency (CNSA). Cooperation with the company "China Great Wall Industry Corporation" (CGWIC) for satellite services, such as: high resolution satellite images, medium to high resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM), CropWatch application, platform (hardware / software) for control and monitoring of crops and plantations, in addition to other applications that can be used for cadastres, multispectral images for red tide, applications for agricultural monitoring and monitoring, base letter, among others.

 

  • Inter-American Development Bank (BID): Stage 2 of the Multinational Regional Public Goods Project, financed by the IDB, in which Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile participated.

                 - The first step of this project left the ISAGRO public Geoportal as a product to support farmers in forecasting frosts.

                 - The second stage began in January 2017, when it was incorporated into Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Mexico.

                 -The objectives and products of this project include epidemiological topics of common interest and environmental hydrology, expressed in flood and alluvial risks.

 

  • Seminar "The experience of the CBERS and Charlie Fasat program, in calibration sites and environmental applications".

                 - Organized by the Laboratory for the Analysis of the Faculty of Agronomic Sciences of the U. of Chile. It counted with the presence of 4 speakers who use Remote Sensing as a quantitative tool in Chile and Brazil, the experience of Fasat Charlie Satellite of Chile and the CBERS satellite program of Brasil.

                 - The experience of the cross-calibration of the Fasat Charlie and the selection of the image calibration sites in Chile and Brazil were presented

 

  • Military Geographic Institute (IGM), II Academic Conference of Earth Sciences

 

  • Seminar "Vulnerability to Climate Change in Chile"

 

  • Ministry of the Environment "Climate Change Project" of the Climate Public Expenditure and Institutional Review (CPEIR) project.

 

  • India: Geospatial Media and Communications.

               - INDIA Geospatial Media and Communications Company, proposes to incorporate CIREN, together with the Embassy of India in Chile and the representation of the United Nations for the Region, in Santiago, Chile, in the realization of 4 international Remote Sensing events, which would be carried out at the beginning of April 2017 in UN offices in Santiago.

                      - Layer Informatics, interinstitutional international collaboration efforts with Indian company.

 

  • International Workshop: Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineer (IEEE) -Geoscience Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) and CIREN, on the "Use of Radar Images".

 

  • Mission of experts from the United States to CIREN, for the development of red tide studies in Chile. International experts in studies of the phenomenon of Red Tide, Don Anderson and Jack Rense, held a technical meeting with specialists from the Geomatics and Studies and Projects Management, with the aim of developing projects and studies to find solutions to the problem of the tide red in Chile.

 

  • Chilean Chamber of Commerce, Inmarsat event, Technology conference.

 

  • Mission of the China Space Agency to CIREN.

 

  • Gestiones con Grecia: Presentation to CIREN of Empresa Griega, during its visit to Chile, of CRYPTTIA encrypted communication software.

 

  • Seminars:

                  - "IICA-EUROCLIMA Workshop", for the analysis of public policy on climate change.

                  - "CORFO Workshop", for the closure of the work of the Viticultural Strategic Node 2.0".

                  - "Meteorological Directorate of Chile", on the progress of the project that seeks to measure the ozone layer and UV radiation through collaboration of Japan, Chile and Argentina.

 

  • International Workshop: "Satellite Monitoring of the Red Tide". Workshop taught at CIREN by Dr. Raphael Kudela, Professor of Ocean Sciences at the University of California at Santa Cruz, United States and Member of the "Cooperative Institute for the North Atlantic Region".

 

  • Mission of the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalunya to CIREN, with the objective of exploring possibilities for joint projects, in the inter-institutional areas of common interest, for the year 2017.

 

  • Visit of CATAPULT Satellite Applications of the United Kingdom to CIREN, with the objective of exploring possibilities of 2017 projects, in the mining field.

                -Provision / supply of expertise / knowledge to other countries or institutions

                - Collaboration with FAO and other institutions and organizations

                - Dissemination of knowledge: conferences, meetings and publications:

               

Legal status and Government arrangements of the institutions

The Natural Resources Information Center (CIREN) is a Private Law Corporation that is governed by administrative statutes and by general rules contained in Title Thirty-three of the first book of the civil code and by the Regulation on the Granting of Legal Personality, Supreme Decree number one hundred and ten, of the seventeenth of January one thousand nine hundred and seventy nine, of the Ministry of Justice.

Potential activities through SSC

 

Potential Modalities

Horizontal Cooperation

Triangular Cooperation

Bilateral cooperation

Regional Cooperation

Multilateral cooperation

CIREN's International Cooperation offer has focused on the technological tools that make it possible to keep updated the thematic and technological databases, as well as the development of climatic topo models, for all the Services of the Ministry of Agriculture and their corresponding interactions of the sector public-private.

 

Potential Activities

 According to the guidelines of the Ministry of Agriculture, CIREN can deliver Horizontal, Bilateral, Regional and Triangular International Cooperation in the following thematic areas:

 

1.-Water Resources: In studies and projects that include information on groundwater resources, surface water (network of channels and existing reservoirs) and irrigation infrastructure.

 

2.-Satellite Images: Satellite images are used as an indispensable tool for the generation of information and knowledge of natural and territorial resources. This allows, for example, to monitor droughts, water deficit and stress, erosion processes, water pollution, plant and animal health alerts, among others.

Satellite information is generated using satellite and aerial data from different satellites and national and international sensors.

 

3.-Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Radiometry (taking spectral signatures): Georeferenced Information and Radiometry, allow to support the studies and works that are carried out in the different thematic areas of CIREN, as well as  are geomatic tools of great utility for the development of various national and international silvoagricultural projects. That is why, in the framework of International Cooperation, in 2013 Central America requested CIREN to collaborate in these tematics areas.

 

4.-Spatial Data Infrastructure (IDE): Through the IDE, it is possible to make the Georeferenced information of different institutions of the Ministry of Agriculture available to the user. The IDE, facilitates and substantially improves the decision-making capacity of the user, as the information generated by the institutions of the Ministry of Agriculture becomes more useful and accessible.

 

5.- Soil Studies: In the soil area, various studies are carried out to obtain basic and interpretative agronomic information, which constitutes an important analysis tool in the studies of investment projects and territorial planning. In the same way, erosion studies and degraded soils can be carried out.

 

6.-Agroclimate: Studies of agroclimatic aptitude and delimitation of agroclimatic districts, which can help to determine the aptitude of agro-climatic zones to certain crops.

 

7.- Cadastres: Realization of Fruit and Native Forest Cadastres, as well as the  infrastructure for fruit and agroindustrial activity.

 

8.- Documentation Center (CEDOC): In 2012 CIREN sent a cooperation mission to Honduras and Panama, which worked mainly with the ministries of agriculture of each country, with the aim of helping them to implement a documentation center, taking as a model the CEDOC developed by CIREN at present. In this way it is possible to extend this aid to other countries in Central America.

 

9.-Rural Territorial Information System (SIT Rural): Parallel to the mission carried out in Honduras and Panama for the CEDOC in 2012, a mission was carried out to help them
implement a Rural SIT in those countries. Given the great importance of this program for family farming, it is possible to extend this cooperation to the rest of Central America, as well as to Latin America in general.

 

10.- Rural Properties: The properties area, with its projects and technical processes, permanently incorporates the territorial dimension, interpreting data and properties information to expose and deploy land owners  in their real location, constituting a contribution to regional planning and support for the Management of Appraisals, carried out by the Internal Revenue Service.

 

11.- Mobile Applications: Campo click

 

CampoClick is a joint initiative between the Information Center of Natural Resources (CIREN) and the Institute of Agricultural Development (INDAP), both of the Ministry of Agriculture of Chile, whose main objective is to bring closer the production of Peasant Family Farming (AFC) ) to people, through a user-friendly, friendly, free mobile application with national coverage and with real-time information.

 

CampoClick allows a geo-intelligent search based on maps and a search engine with autocomplete delivering the results in three dimensions (producer / individual company, groupings and events). The results of the searches allow access to the business description, contact data (phone, mail, web, facebook) and location to which can be accessed through the navigation systems installed on mobile devices.

 

It should be noted that the different cooperation modalities can be materialized through:

 

  • Professional Training and Technical Training
  • Consulting
  • Technical Assistance
Name and details of the head of the institution

 

[Executive Director]: Juan Pablo López Aguilera

Tel: (56-2) 2008902

E-mail: [email protected]

Focal points

 

[Head of International Affairs Units]: Eliana Henríquez Flores

Tel: (+56-2) 2008947  

Cell: (+56 9)  92267545

E-mail: [email protected]