James Rowland

Jim Rowland is a physical geographer with background studies in climatology. Rowland has worked at USGS EROS since 1992, supporting geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) applications and capacity building in developing countries. He has extensive experience in organizing and providing GIS and RS training workshops throughout Africa, including West, East, and Southern Africa. He has also worked closely with regional Remote Sensing Centers in Africa. Rowland spent one year in Madagascar (he is fluent in French), supporting GIS and RS activities at the Malagasy national forest service and at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission in Antananarivo (part of an Inter-Agency Agreement between USGS EROS and USAID). For many years at EROS, he coordinated USGS participation in the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) activity. For many years, Rowland managed and supervised the Early Warning and Environmental Monitoring Team at EROS, including projects such as FEWS NET, Vegetation Dynamics (U.S. drought monitoring, phenology studies), United Nations Environment Programme Global Resource Information Database (UNEP GRID), Afghanistan and Iraq spatial data infrastructure and water resources support, West Africa land use studies (land use dynamics and adapting to climate change), and low-head hydropower assessments in South America. Rowland is currently the Principal Investigator for the Early Warning for Food Security Focus Area, comprising FEWS NET, West Africa Resilience, GeoSUR, and Afghanistan activities.