The USAID-funded Supporting Activities that Value the Environment (SAVE) program organized the third in a series of interactive meetings of the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Users Group on December 12, 2007. Over twenty interested professionals, engineers, technicians and experts from different disciplines participated in the session where SAVE’s GIS experts, James Price and Can Kara, described different GIS applications, such as the creation of a detailed street GIS layer derived from high-resolution satellite data; a male-female ratio map for villages, towns and regions; and possible ways to build a GIS database of cultural heritage sites and attributes.

The session was part of SAVE’s overall work to build local capacity to better protect and manage Cyprus’ valuable natural and cultural resources. SAVE combines work on environmental protection, especially water management, with cultural heritage conservation, preservation, and restoration. Like all U.S.-funded programs in Cyprus, SAVE Like all like all U.S. government programs in Cyprus, SAVE is aimed at facilitating reunification of the island, including through encouraging responsible economic development and sound environmental management.