Environmental risk is spatial. A flood plain, a degraded catchment or an informal settlement on a steep slope can be described in a report, but the people who allocate funds and approve plans need to see where the problem sits and who is affected. Risk and vulnerability mapping gives governments, utilities, development partners and humanitarian agencies a shared picture on which to base zoning, infrastructure siting, early warning and adaptation investment.

This programme starts with the concepts of hazard, exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity and the way they combine into risk. Participants then assemble data from open satellite sources, national agencies and community surveys, clean and align it in a GIS, and build individual layers. Later sessions combine the layers through weighted overlay and indexing, test how sensitive the results are to the weights chosen, and validate maps against past events and local knowledge.

Teaching is hands-on. Each morning introduces a method and each afternoon applies it to a practical dataset, so that participants finish with a complete mapping workflow, a draft risk map for an area of their choice and a short communication plan for taking the findings to decision makers.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Distinguish hazard, exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity and explain how they combine into risk.
• Source and prepare spatial data from satellite imagery, elevation models, national datasets and field surveys.
• Build hazard layers for flooding, drought, landslides and land degradation in QGIS.
• Construct composite vulnerability indices and choose defensible indicator weights.
• Apply weighted overlay and multi-criteria analysis to rank areas by priority.
• Test map reliability through sensitivity checks and comparison with past events.
• Design clear maps and briefing notes for planners, funders and communities.

The course is aimed at professionals who assess, plan for or respond to environmental risk, including:

• GIS analysts and remote sensing technicians
• Environmental and natural resource officers in government agencies
• Disaster risk reduction and climate resilience specialists
• County, municipal and physical planners
• Water resource and catchment management staff
• Programme officers in humanitarian and development organisations
• Environmental impact assessment consultants
• Researchers and graduate students working on hazard and vulnerability studies

Participants leave with:

• A repeatable QGIS workflow from raw data to a finished risk map.
• A draft vulnerability index with documented indicators, weights and data sources.
• A map layout template that meets professional cartographic standards.
• A short checklist for judging data quality and map uncertainty.
• A briefing outline for presenting risk priorities to non-technical audiences.
• A plan for applying the method to a live project or programme area.

Learning is practical and tied to datasets participants can reuse in their own work:

• Guided QGIS labs on prepared river basin, dryland and urban datasets
• Short method briefings before each lab so tools are used with understanding
• Peer review of draft maps against a common quality checklist
• Discussion of data gaps and workarounds common in the region
• A closing presentation of each participant's risk map and communication plan

On completing the five days, with full attendance and the practical mapping exercises done, each participant is issued a CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion by Vision Reach Global Consultancy.