September 28, 2003 ULRMC representatives assisted in the training of instructors for the Local Environmental Action Plan program (LEAP). The training focused on spatial analysis of environment conditions and visualization of the results for potential users from selected communities. The materials, based on a pilot GIS for Yevpatoriya (Crimea), identified the most dangerous objects for health that could be mitigated with community efforts.

The program "Local Environmental Action Plan" (LEAP) was initiated by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The main goal of the LEAP program has been to encourage cooperation among local community members, including local government, academic and scientific institutions, business, industry and non-governmental organizations, in order to develop environmental action plans on a community level. The term LEAP comes from the second Conference of Ministers for Environmental Protection, which took place in Lucerne, Switzerland in 1993. From the very beginning of LEAP implementation at ULRMC, there have been close contacts with USAID and ICSSA "Ednannia", as well as active participation in the work of the LEAP Advisory Committee.

From July until October 2002, ULRMC took part in the implementation of the first stage of the project. This stage developed a concept for supporting local environmental committees with advanced information technologies, evaluated informational and technical support from ULRMC and created GIS applications for Balaklava (Crimea), Kosiv (Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast) and part of Yevpatoriya. Moreover, ULRMC conducted training on systemizing and integrating land information into a GIS for coordinators and trainers of the local committees.

During the second stage of the project, ULRMC continued its efforts to organize land information from the local environmental committees of Kosiv, Yevpatoriya and Pavlograd (Dnepropetrovsk Oblast) and to integrate the data into GIS projects for applications development. More on LEAP program >>>