The workshop for Cartography and Sustainable Development at the University of Aruba is quickly approaching! January 26-28, 2026! All are welcome to attend! Especially University of Aruba students. Workshop attendance is free of charge.
Please Join us!
Monday January 26th, 2026 Island Sustainability Tour – (email Britta Ricker b.a.ricker <at>uu.nl if you plan to participate).
Tuesday January 27th, 2026 Workshop Presentations in the University of Aruba Aula
Session 1: Welcome – Global to Local Moderator: Britta Ricker
09:00 – 09:20 Welcome Sue-Ann Lee Rector of the University of Aruba and Britta Ricker Chair, ICA Commission Chair for Cartography and Sustainable Development
09:20 – 09:50 The Role of Cartography in Sustainable Development
Georg Gartner President – International Cartographic Association Professor, TU Wien
09:50 – 10:20 Program Development for Sustainable Island Solutions Eric Mijts –University of Aruba
10:20 – 10:30 Program Overview Britta Ricker
10:30 – 11:00 | Coffee Break
Session 2: SDG Resources Moderator: Britta Ricker
11:00 – 11:20 Re-Introducing the QGIS Technical Supplement for Mapping for a Sustainable World Lily Houtman – Penn State University https://github.com/uwcartlab/MappingSDGsTechnicalSupplement (via Zoom)
11:20 – 11:40 Mapping for a Sustainable World & Introducing the Atlas of Sustainability Robert Roth – University of Wisconsin–Madison https://github.com/uwcartlab/MappingSDGsTechnicalSupplement
11:40 – 11:50 Introducing the UN Handbook on Remote Sensing for Agricultural Statistics and Mapping. Lorenzo De Simone – United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization https://fao-eostat.github.io/UN-Handbook (via Zoom)
11:50 – 12:10 Mapping Urbanization in the Dutch Caribbean Sharona Jurgens –University of Aruba
12:10 – 12:30 Raising Awareness of the SDGs in a University GIS Course Yelena Ogneva-Himmelberger – Clark University
12:30 – 12:50 Challenges of Data Scale in Mapping Environmental Justice Carolyn Fish – University of Oregon
12:50 – 13:00 | Discussion and 13:00 – 14:00 | Lunch University of Aruba Cafeteria
Session 3: Sustainability Innovations Moderator: Robert Roth
14:00 – 14:20 Small Islands on the Map: Spatial Data Acquisition Considerations Britta Ricker – Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development, Utrecht University
14:20 – 14:40 Locative Audio Cartography for Sustainability Education N. T. Nawshin –
University of Wisconsin–Madison
14:40 – 15:00 Mapping Exotic Plant Invasions in the Caribbean Maarten Eppinga –University of Zurich
15:00 – 15:20 Island-Scale Observation of Coastal Ecosystems Anthony Sevold –University of Aruba and Metabolic Foundation
15:20 – 15:40 Communicating Data Quality from Citizen Science Jan Brus – Palacký University Olomouc
15:40 – 16:00 | Discussion and 16:00 – 16:30 | Break
Session 4: Keynote Introduction and Moderator: Eric Mijts
16:30 – 16:45 GIS4C Judith Stratmann
16:45 – 17:30 Mapping Our Islands: Geospatial Developments for Nature Research and Management Erik Houtepen CARMABI Foundation
Weds January 28th, 2026, Follow-up discussions and high-level agenda-setting meeting with government and community members to discuss the role of cartography for sustainable development with a focus on small island contexts. In the afternoon, there will be a session for brainstorming and planning the formation and publication of a Research Agenda for Cartography and Sustainable Development based on what was learned from this workshop (email Britta Ricker b.a.ricker <at>uu.nl if you plan to participate).
In addition to all the local and international scholars who will be presenting and attending this workshop, we are pleased to announce our keynote speaker, Erik Houtepen (LinkedIn). His presentation titled Mapping our Islands: Geospatial developments and applications for nature research and management will be held at 16:30 on January 27th. Erik is the head of the Consultancy department at the Carmabi foundation, based on Curaçao. His work is aimed at understanding the natural world of the islands of Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire with a focus on landscape ecology, vegetation, and faunistic aspects. Through different activities of the foundation, scientific research is integrated with nature management and education to advance nature conservation.
Please review the agenda below and then sign up to participate. We look forward to meeting you at the University of Aruba. Full abstracts are coming online soon!
Please sign up no later than January 16th if you will be joining us on Tuesday, January 27th by filling out this form online here https://forms.gle/q46J4Cb61mHthGpZA.
Again, Monday, January 26th is an Island Sustainability Tour led by Eric Mijts – there is a small fee for this excursion – please email Britta Ricker directly at b.a.ricker <at>uu.nl to confirm your participation and so that she may contact you directly about costs, times, and other information about this event. On Wednesday Jan 28th, we will be meeting with the Aruba SDG task force and other community members to discuss the role of cartography for sustainable development. In the afternoon, there will be a session for brainstorming and planning the development and publication of a Research Agenda for Cartography and Sustainable Development, based on the insights gained from this workshop.
Special thank you to our sponsors, the ICA and GIS4C
We look forward to learning together at this workshop at the University of Aruba.
