The BRAGMA project, coordinated by IICT is a Coordination and Support Action to GMES and Africa, supported by the European Commission. The former Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) Initiative, now called Copernicus, is the European Programme for the establishment of a European capacity for Earth Observation: http://www.copernicus.eu

GMES & Africa Projects

The GMES Africa initiative started with the Maputo Declaration in October 2006.The Declaration explicitly called upon the European Union to plan an extension of its GMES initiative to Africa and other ACP countries. In December 2007, during the EU-Africa

BRAGMA Bridging Actions for GMES & Africa

Newsletter no.4 | July 2013

Summit in Lisbon, the Lisbon Process on “GMES and Africa” was approved by the Heads of States of Europe and Africa. The GMES and Africa initiative has been integrated into the Action Plan of the EU-Africa Joint Strategic Partnership, under Partnership #8 on Science, Information Society and Space. African and European experts drafted

the baseline GMES & Africa Action Plan, which aims to improve the exploitation of Earth Observation data (space and in-situ), technologies and services in support of sustainable development in Africa.

BRAGMA’s 4th Newsletter is dedicated to outlining some of the projects related to the GMES & Africa initiative.

EAMNet has constructed a network linking Earth Observation (EO) information providers, user networks and centres of excellence in Europe and Africa in the area of coastal and marine observations in support of sustainable development in Africa.

The overall aim was to improve the exploitation of EO data for coastal and oceanic monitoring towards an African contribution to a world-wide observation system.

EAMNet is coordinated by Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) with 9 other partners in Africa and Europe.

African Monitoring of the Environment for Sustainable Development / Monitoring of Environment and Security in Africa

The African Monitoring of Environment for Sustainable Development (AMESD) program will come to an end in 2013. A new program – ‘Monitoring of Environment and Security in Africa (MESA)’ will bridge with AMESD. The implementation of MESA will start in 2013 and run until 2018.

The AMESD program is a partnership between the African Union Commission (AUC) and the European Union (EU). The program started in 2007.

The AMESD program addresses the need for improved environmental monitoring towards sustainable management of natural resources in five regions of sub-Saharan Africa, home for many of the poorest people of the world, where economies and livelihoods are highly dependent on the environment, renewable natural resources and climate variability.The overall objective of this program is

Medina Marine Ecosystem Dynamics and Indicators for North Africa

The Medina project comprises a team of 12 partners (www.medinaproject.eu)The project started in October 2001 and will end in September 2014.

The main overall objective of the project is to enhance the capacities of Northern African Countries (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt) to monitor their Mediterranean coastal ecosystems, including fish stocks resources.This objective will be achieved by exploiting to the maximum possible extent the data from remote sensing as well as the resources made available by the Global Earth Observation Systems of Systems Common Infrastructure (GCI). Tools developed in MEDINA will

to enhance monitoring for preparedness and adaptation to environmental change, including sustainable management of the environment thereby contributing to poverty alleviation.

Therefore the program aims to increase the information management capacity of African regional and national institutions in support of decision makers at different levels and to facilitate sustainable access to Africa-wide environmental information derived from Earth Observation technologies.

The project started in March 2010 and ended in June 2013.

It provided an interface between European GMES-related core and downstream services and R&D projects (notably MyOcean) and African initiatives (e.g. AMESD and MESA) with the emerging GMES andAfrica initiative.

Europe-Africa Marine EO Network

Officially launched in February 2011, the team involves seven partners bringing together scientists, SMEs and practitioners in the field of water management and water allocation.

The project focuses on water resources allocation, the identification of current water use, and high resolution monitoring of several water resources.For this purpose an operational earth observation system will be developed which includes a website with weekly updates on water resource data. This system will be linked to GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) in order to make the data accessible for multiple users.

Newsletter no.4 | July 2013

The European Space Agency Looking after Water in Africa initiative

The European Space Agency launched the TIGER initiative in 2002, responding to the urgent need for improved integrated water resource management in Africa stressed by the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). The ongoing TIGER initiative is an international collaboration in the frame of CEOS/GEOSS and has been endorsed by AMCOW (African Ministers’ Council on Water) as well as most recently by the scientific AARSE community in its El Jadida declaration.

The overall objective of the TIGER initiative is to assist African countries to overcome problems faced in the collection, analysis and use of water-related geo-information by exploiting the advantages of EO technology. The focus of TIGER is on dedicated capacity building activities in collaboration with African national to regional water authorities such as training courses, research and development project as well as providing access to EO software tools and EO data.

be made available worldwide through a dedicated e-infrastructure, fully compatible with the GCI.

The project identifies major drivers and pressures in the Mediterranean coastal and marine areas of the North African region, and performs a regional assessment of the status of the coastal and marine ecosystems. Five critical areas in the Mediterranean basin where the ecosystem is facing further deterioration, due to unsustainable management of human activities, including fishery, will be used as case studies, for testing MEDINA indicators and models. Results will be provided to relevant national or regional administrations during national workshops.

The main goal of the GARNET-E Project was to develop a network of EU, African organizations and African users in order to build economic, technical and commercial capacity within African States in support of enhanced emergency response capabilities in Africa.

A team of 17 Partners - led by Infoterra from the UK, supported through EU funding which started in May 2010.GARNET-E ran over 2 years, starting on the 1st of may 2010 and ending on the 30th of April 2012

With two sub-objectives:1. To enable the integration of African requirements in the definition of future operation of the GMES Emergency Response Service in Africa.2. To encourage the strengthening and building of regional and local capabilities in order to allow African users and policy makers to access Earth Observation-derived information provided by the Emergency Response Service.

GMES & Africa: Regional Network for Information Exchange and Training in Emergencies

Incomati Basin (WATPLAN) Operational Monitoring Product for Planning and Water Allocation in the International

Support EO-driven forest and carbon monitoring in Central Africa for REDD

The REDDiness project comprises six partners and started in February 2011 and ended in January 2013.

The main objective of the project was to strengthen the national forest monitoring centers of the Republic of Congo and Gabon in their efforts to implement the REDD+ mechanism through the concrete support of specific technical Remote Sensing (RS) aspects and related capacity building. Two technical training sessions were held locally both in Congo and Gabon.Associated with these technical training sessions, the project has built and improved the technical local expertise through the participation in fieldwork (use of GPS, collection of data and integration in GIS database…) for the verification and validation process of the cartographic products.

Newsletter no.4 | July 2013

REDD Fast Logging Assessment & Monitoring Environment

The project designed, prototyped and demonstrated a system capable of monitoring tropical and sub-tropical forests using high-resolution radar (and optical) imagery acquired by Earth Observation satellites. By focusing on early detection of logging activities, the system provided the means to quickly identify the first signs of deforestation and thus act as a tool to control resource use and sustainable development within these fragile and valuable environments.

The REDD-Flame project comprised a team of eight partners, led by RSAC Ltd, from the United Kingdom.

MALAREO’s main goal was to develop technology and implement earth observation (EO) capacities within malaria vector control and management programs in southern Africa.

EUROSENSE is leading MALAREO, within a consortium that comprises six partners. The project start date was February 2011 and it ended in January 2013.

The project area of Malareo was the border region South Africa-Swaziland-Mozambique. In order to achieve its main objective the project envisaged knowledge exchange and capability in two directions (Europe - Southern Africa). By doing this, the project contributed to the installation of an Earth Observation monitoring cell that

Science based remote sensing services to support REDD and sustainable forest management in tropical region

The ReCover project aims to develop service capabilities beyond state-of-the-art, in order to support the fight against deforestation and forest degradation in the tropical region, in the context of REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation).

The ReCover project comprises a consortium with nine partners.The project started in November 2010 and will end December 2013.

REDD will be a major driver in the development of more effective and reliable procedures for monitoring tropical forests.

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation in Africa

The REDDAF project supports MRV developments in Cameroon and Central African Republic by developing, testing and providing improved methodologies using a combination of optical and RADAR satellite data coupled with in-situ information for operational monitoring of forest cover and biomass changes.

The REDDAF project involves seven partners, led by GAFAG, Germany.

The project started in January 2011, will end in December 2013. The project emphasizes the importance of involving the Users in various project tasks and activities - from the User Requirements Analysis through Service Development to Service Validation. Moreover, Dissemination and Training ensures that the methods and techniques developed are transferred to the User and to a wider external audience through seminars, workshops, and scientific publications. Project results are integrated into existing national and regional forest policies taking into consideration the existing institutional framework and technical capacities.

EO in Malaria Vector Control and Management

supported the daily work of the national malaria control programs.The Malareo work plan was based on the Capacity Gap Analysis, the followed strategy was to analyze user requirements along with state of the art on the use of Earth Observation for malaria control and management.The objective was for this report to expose the capacity needs that could be addressed by capacity building or the ones that required a methodology development prior to the capacity building step. Among its deliverables there is a Capacity gaps analysis and priority report and Capacity building plan.

Started in March 2011 and ended in April 2013.

Using very high-resolution data from radar satellites such as TerraSar-X, the project developed potential for adding value to existing forest satellite monitoring systems that use lower resolution imagery.

By implementing pilot projects on three continents, REDD-FLAME monitored logging hot spots where the threat from illegal logging is currently very significant, in Brazil in South America, Mozambique in Africa, and Indonesia in South East Asia.

Support Action to GMES Africa on Earth Observation

This project consisted of a feasibility study to design and assess the organization of African national resources and the associated technologies for Earth Observation applications.

With a team of 8 Partners, the project started in August 2010 and ended October 2012.

Newsletter no.4 | July 2013

GMES & Africa future Events

• GMES&Africa Coordination Team Meeting: Brussels, Belgium, February 2013• Water Resources Management Workshop - technical consultation forum: Abuja, Nigeria, Spring 2013, date TBC.• Natural Resources Workshop - technical consultation forum: Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, Summer 2013, date TBC.• Validation Workshop: South Africa, Summer 2013, date TBC

Links:http://www.bragma.euhttp://bragma.mixxt.eu/ http://capacity4dev.ec.europa.eu/africa-eu-part.gmes/

Relevant Events - 2013 ESA Living Planet Symposium9-13 September, Edinburgh, United Kingdomhttp://www.livingplanet2013.org/

AfricaGIS 2013 and GSDI World Conference (GSDI 14)4-8 November, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Spatial Enablement in Support of Economic Development and Poverty Reduction.http://www.gsdi.org/gsdi14

BRAGMA future Events The Validation Workshop of the First Three GMES & Africa Thematic Workshops will take place in South Africa, 15 -16 October 2013

When dealing with environment-related issues, local and Regional Authorities (LRAs) are at the forefront of policy-making and initiative-building for whom new

tools, information and knowledge from Copernicus (formerly GMES) are of great value. The ambition of GMES4Regions is to facilitate the transition from “potential users” to “beneficiaries” and foster the development of proven value-added services to meet the diverse requirements of local government.

GEONETCast for and by Developing Countries

The DevCoCast comprised a team of fifteen international partners, started in May 2008 and finished in September 2011.

This project succeeded at extending the GEONETCast satellite broadcasting network to

Effectively bridge Earth Observation product providers across thematic domains and continents, including Africa and Latin America, emphasizing the technology’s open-ness and flexibility

Further develop receiving station networks in Latin America (in particular Brazil) and for Africa’s Large Marine Ecosystem monitoring centres (an effort further developed by FP7-EAMNET project)

Combining low cost data access via GEONETCast with free software tools and training, DevCoCast furthermore supported everyday use of the shared EO products in research, higher education, day-to-day monitoring, planning and (ultimately) decision making processes. It developed for instance multi-language training material built with exercises built by African and Latin American users of GEONETCast data, which continues to be elaborated (e.g. in FP7-AGRICAB project).

SAGA-EO involved five African countries: Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Congo and Mozambique.

Dedicated multi-thematic networks of actors were set up in five African countries. Each network was organized according to a model named horizontal model for pooling and exploiting the common means - EO based information, infrastructure or knowledge. After a definition phase, two realistic scenarios (flood and food security) were played during 50 days, with 65 actors representing 55 national institutions that are in 15 sectors. According to the user feedback analysis (more than 4500 answers), the horizontal model proposed by SAGA-EO was adopted for the implementation of a national EO user network.