Rajiv Shah, administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), was speaking during his visit to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) on Tuesday.

Shah, the first high-level US state official to visit Nepal after then-Secretary of State Collin Powell in 2002, surveyed four interactive tools developed by ICIMOD with support from USAID. The tools are part of SERVIR Himalaya initiative launched in 2010 which seeks to use satellite data provided by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration to inform development decisions in the Himalayan region.

The four interactive apps detect forest fire in Nepal, monitor agriculture and estimate crop yields, assess scale of forestation and deforestation in the country, and measure glacial changes in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan Region.

Shah also participated in a panel discussion with Dr Rabindra K Shakya, vice chairperson of National Planning Commission; Gagan Thapa, member of the CA, and David Molden, director general of ICIMOD. Stresseing the need for open and improved access to data for effective civic participation, Shah said: “By harnessing science and technology, we can put critical information in the hands of people most affected by natural disasters.”