A message from the
Executive Director

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The CEGIS website is created with the purpose of presenting our activities and accomplishments over the years. Since its establishment in 2002 as a Public Trust by the Government of Bangladesh we have continued to fulfill our mandate as a scientifically independent national institution under the aegis of the Ministry of Water Resources and a Board of Trustees.

In line with our Mission we are contributing in the areas of integrated environmental and socio-economic analysis and planning of natural resources, and management information system using the latest technologies in GIS, RS, database and IT. Over the last six years, we have successfully implemented more than 170 projects in different sectors namely environment, water, agriculture, fisheries, land, power, energy and forestry for the Government, aid giving agencies and private organisations.

CEGIS is foremost among the organisations in Bangladesh working on climate change issues, erosion prediction and flood monitoring. In these areas our strong research capacity has yielded tools to successfully simulate flood extent maps for Bangladesh under various climate change scenarios and for predicting morphological changes and bank erosion along major rivers namely the Ganges, the Padma and the Jamuna. The prediction tools are a result of our decade long experience in studying river morphology using remote sensing imagery. We are also monitoring the flood situation in Bangladesh regularly through flood mapping and monitoring research projects using satellite borne data and GIS techniques. The environmental and social impact assessment studies that we have conducted over the years aim to ultimately help improve the livelihood and social conditions of the people of project areas. Among our many achievements in database development is the National Water Resources Database, which we helped to establish and now maintain as a knowledge base information archive by continuously updating information.

We continue to fulfill our commitment to our mandate and Mission in pursuance of our cherished goal of ensuring well-managed natural resources for sustainable socio-economic development using modern technology.

Giasuddin Ahmed Chowdhury

CEGIS Activities

A field trip to the project area by CEGIS officials

Speech by the Executive Director of CEGIS

Workshop program in Cox's Bazar

CEGIS professional working in the office

Flood in Doulatpur in 2004

A field visit by CEGIS Personnel

Nijhum Dwip

Waterlogged area in Kapotaksha area

Flood outside Dhaka City

World Environmental Day Rally

Audience in World Water Forum Program

Meeting at WMIP Project area

OUR MISSION

CEGIS' mission as a scientifically independent center of excellence is to support the management of natural resources for sustainable socio-economic development using integrated environmental analysis, geographic information systems, remote sensing, and information technology.

THE ORGANISATION

The Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh established the Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS) as a public trust in 2002 under the Trusts Act of 1882. It has been functioning under the aegis of the Ministry of Water Resources and a Board of Trustees. The Government of Bangladesh, USAID and the Government of The Netherlands have invested a lot of resources over a period of twelve years from 1991 to 2002 to develop CEGIS' capacity. As a result, the organisation has grown from a traditional project 'EGIS' into a national institute for further developing the country's capability for effective and efficient management of natural resources. CEGIS has been established to make services available for sustainable developments in general and in EIA-SIA in particular in a scientifically independent manner.

From its inception, CEGIS has been carrying out integrated environmental analysis by using modern technologies such as geographic information system (GIS), remote sensing (RS), databases and information technology (IT) and others. It provides solutions to issues and problems in various sectors like water, land, agriculture, fisheries, environment, engineering, power, energy, transportation, etc., and recommends technical options based on local realities that are feasible from the socio-economic and institutional point of view.

THE STORY OF CEGIS

CEGIS' predecessor Environment and GIS Support Project for Water Sector Planning (EGIS) was launched in 1996 through the integration of the Environmental Study (Flood Action Plan (FAP) 16) and the Geographic Information System Study (FAP 19), supported by the USAID during 1991-1995. Funded by the Government of Bangladesh and the Government of The Netherlands, Phase I of EGIS started from 1996 and came to an end in 1997. On recommendation of a Joint Mission of the two Governments, Phase II of the project started in March 1997 and ended in June 2002.

EGIS had performed a number of environmental, GIS and RS studies and developed and acquired valuable assets that included very useful analytical tools and models along with hardware and peripherals, and most importantly a group of trained professionals of different disciplines. The Government of Bangladesh felt that such unique expertise needed to be retained through continued functioning of EGIS as a center of excellence for advisory services, research, databases and training in the fields of integrated environmental analysis and GIS and RS to assist in improving the quality of planning, implementation and monitoring of projects/programs in both public and private sectors. The EGIS staffs had acquired the necessary administrative and technical expertise/capability to efficiently run, operate and manage the ongoing programs, projects and operations of EGIS as well as to undertake similar projects and research work in future.

With the aim to establish a national capacity, which would be scientifically and truly unique compared to other traditional organizations, the Government of Bangladesh established CEGIS as a national institution and a public trust in 2002. Since then CEGIS has been working as a self-financed not-for-profit government owned organisation to fulfil its mission.

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

CEGIS was established as a Public Trust in 2002 by the Government of Bangladesh and has been functioning under the aegis of the Ministry of Water Resources and a Board of Trustees (BoT).

The Chairperson of the BoT is the Hon'ble Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources. Other members are:

Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), represented by its Director General
Water Resources Planning Organization (WARPO), represented by its Director General
Department of Environment (DoE), represented by its Director General
Department of Fisheries (DoF), represented by its Director General
Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), represented by its Chief Engineer
Roads and Highways Department (RHD), represented by its Chief Engineer
Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), represented by its Chief Engineer
Space Research and Remote Sensing Organization (SPARRSO), represented by its Chairman
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), represented by its Chairman
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), represented by an expert (professor) in the field of environment and water resources, nominated by the Vice Chancellor of BUET
University of Dhaka (DU), represented by an expert (professor) from the Geography and Environment Department, nominated by the Vice Chancellor of DU
A Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) nominated by the GoB, represented by an official of the NGO
International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) represented by its Bangladesh Country Representative

THE MANAGEMENT

The management of CEGIS is headed by the Executive Director appointed by the BoT. As per the organogram, the management includes the Executive Director, Director Operation and Director Development. Each of the 11 divisions of CEGIS is headed by a Division Head. A highly efficient administration and accounts that include Logistics & Services, System Management, Finance & Accounts, and Administration & HRD working under the direct supervision of the Executive Director, support the activities with a fully computerized financial and project management system.

EXPERTISE

The major strength of CEGIS is its multidisciplinary group of highly qualified scientists and technical professionals who bring a wide range of skills to the organization. There are over 60 professionals in the organization with expertise in hydrology, water resources management, fisheries, economics, agriculture, sociology, ecology, biology, river morphology, engineering, ground water, soil science, GIS, remote sensing, database and programming. The senior level professionals who have more than ten years of experience in their respective fields of expertise are supported by a group of young professionals with postgraduate degrees.

THE ORGANOGRAM

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ICT Infrastructure

CEGIS maintains a sophisticated and up-to-date network system equipped with the latest technology. Servers and workstations are operating on Windows Server 2003 Enterprise/Windows 2000 Advanced Server and Windows 2000 Pro/XP Pro operating system respectively. There are more than 170 workstations, a number of high-end printers, high-resolution plotters, scanners, digitizers and laptop computers. The CEGIS survey team is equipped with state of the art survey equipment including GPS, DGPS and Total Stations.

ORACLE Database Server, MS-IIS Server, Web Server, MS SQL Server 2000, MS-Exchange Server 2000, MS-SMS Server, ArcServer 9.0 Backup, ArcGIS, ArcView, ERDAS Imagine, MapInfo, ArcIMS, McAfee Enterprise and many more specialized software are running on the servers. CEGIS has its own domain (CEGISBD.COM) connected with broadband Internet service. For more information please click here...

Research and Development

CEGIS has a strong systematic research and development (R&D) programme. The R&D activities aim to develop new analytical tools, investigate new approaches and methodologies to address existing problems, and research application of new satellite images. The positive outcomes of the research are later implemented in different projects.

Business Development Division

The Business Development Division explores CEGIS' business opportunities with public, private and development-partner agencies. It helps the other Divisions to build client network and bring business to the CEGIS portfolio.

Quality Management Division

The Quality Management Division develops standard quality control procedures and guidelines for data extraction, processing and database management. It also ensures that international quality control standards are maintained in projects implemented by CEGIS.

Finance & Accounts, Administration and Logistics & Services

An efficient team working under the Finance and Accounts Section assists project leaders and other professionals of CEGIS in planning resources and using financial tools for their programmes. CEGIS also has a Logistics and Services Section which is responsible for all administrative and legal issues.