On 24 August 2011 a one-day training workshop on Integration of GIS and Remote Sensing for Range Resource Assessment was held at the ICIMOD Headquarters, Kathmandu. The objective of the training was to demonstrate the use of innovative digital techniques based on GIS and remote sensing to generate ecological data for range resource monitoring and management. Dr Douglas Johnson from Oregon State University and Dr Mounir Louhaichi from the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Aleppo, Syria, conducted the training sessions which included:

• an overview of global positioning systems and GIS in natural resource management;
• an introduction to digital photography and the vegetation charting technique;
• aerial image positioning tool and automatic collection of geographically registered imagery;
• image analysis with VegMeasure 2; and
• smart phones and the future.

A project proposal was also formulated in the last session of the workshop to implement these innovative data collection methods in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region.