SDGsSDGs

GEO Plenary XII – EO for SD : African Perspective - 10 November 2015

Earth Observations in Service of

Global Development : African

PerspectivesUnited Nations Economic Commission for Africa___________________

Geoinformation & Spatial Statistics ______________________________________

Andre Nonguierma

The African Paradigm : People, Institutions & Technicalities

21/04/23 Slide 2 of 20

Putting Africa First The new paradigm

to generate and disseminate knowledge products to inform sustainable development decisions and track and monitor implementation from an African perspective

21/04/23 Slide 2 of 20

Data

Capacity Policy

What We Know...What We Know...

21/04/23 Slide 3 of 20

Coastal & Marine

Crop & Range Land

Water Resource

Satellites provide vital means of obtaining observations of the earth system from a global perspective

And that a detailed global effort for the future will not be possible without a major, sustained spatial component

Earth Observation is useful in constituting factual, precise and updated data in: Enhancing Observing

Systems Providing Easier &

More Open Data Access

Fostering applications development

… to answer Society’s need for informed decision making

African EO Policy Drivers: Global Need for African EO Policy Drivers: Global Need for Complex Spatially-Enabled InformationComplex Spatially-Enabled Information

21/04/23GEO Plenary XII – EO for SD : African Perspective Slide 4 of 20

Society’s Needs Policy Framework Required Complex Informations

Food Security CAADP

Land PolicyRainfall, Yield, production, Crops

Distribution..

Water Resources PIDA Hydrography, topography, aquifers,

waterbodies

Environment NEPAD - EPF Ecosystems, biodiversity, Vegetation,

Land cover

Climate Change Clim.Dev Rainfall, temperature, wind,

aerosols…

Security and

Emergency

Africa Regional

Strategy on DisasterVulnerability, Risk

Health Planning Africa Health Strategy Disease vectors, environmental

factors distribution…

Earth Observation Perspective All the information products exemplified

would not be complete without the location. They need to be localized: Where are the features located? Who will benefit from an activity or event

? Or at risk? Where are they? Where are the markets for the products?

The input factors? Where are the infrastructure elements,

utilities, etc? What areas are suitable (or unsuitable)

for specific activities ? How do we move (people, products,

services) from source to destination? They all need to answer “where”

questions from a regional perspective

African EO Opportunities : African EO Opportunities : Data and ProductsData and Products

21/04/23GEO Plenary XII – EO for SD : African Perspective Slide 5 of 20

Source: 2008 USGS

Considerable Purpose-oriented datasets exist

Categories Types Operational Examples

Raw Data

● Multispectral Satellite● Aerial Digital● Radar●Hyperspectral Satellite

● MSG, NOAA, VGT● MODIS, ENVISAT● LANDSAT, CBERS..● Ikonos, QuickBird● RADARSAT, ASAR●National EOS●ALOS, CBERS, Etc..

Processed Data

● Indexes● Time Series

● NDVI (VGT4Africa)● RFE (GeonetCast)● LC/LU (GLC 2000)

Analysed Data

● Quantity (Yield)● Trends● Forecasts

● Yield (GMFS)● EWS (PRESAO)● ZAR

African EO Opportunities : African EO Opportunities : Operational ServicesOperational Services

21/04/23GEO Plenary XII – EO for SD : African Perspective Slide 6 of 20

Maturity in Developing Core Operational Services

23/01/199923/01/1999 25/01/199825/01/1998 21/01/199721/01/1997

23/01/199923/01/1999 25/01/199825/01/1998 21/01/199721/01/1997

23/01/199923/01/1999 25/01/199825/01/1998 21/01/199721/01/1997

Domains Products / Services Tools / instruments Operational Programmes

Water Wetlands Surface

Water Ground

Water Flooding

MSG, LANDSAT, SPOT-XS

TIGERAMESDAQUIDEV

Climate Rainfall Temperature ETP

MSG, NOAA AGRHYMETACMADAMESDZAR

Vegetation

Forest cover Density Biomass

MSG, NOAA, SPOT-VGT, MODIS, LANDSAT ENVISAT, RADAR, CBERS, IRS

PSRNGEOLANDAMESDACP/Obs

Lands Land Cover Soils Types

SPOT-XS, LANDSAT ENVISAT, RADAR

AfricoverLADAAMESDGlobCover

Topography

MNT SlopesExposition

ENVISAT, RADAR, SPOT, TOPEX,

AFREFEGNOS

Security Disasters MSGARMC

UNSPIDERWFS

African EO Opportunities : African EO Opportunities : Improved InfrastructuresImproved Infrastructures

21/04/23GEO Plenary XII – EO for SD : African Perspective Slide 7 of 20

   Data collection, Data collection, accessibility & accessibility &

integrationintegration

Monitoring and Monitoring and AssessmentAssessment

Inform. Inform. Diffusion & Diffusion & CapacityCapacity

Institution

Collect Access Integration

AssessmeAssessmentnt

MonitoriMonitoringng

ForecastForecastinging

DiffusionDiffusion CapacitCapacityy

AGRHYMET

RECTAS

RCMRD

ICPAC

IOC

Commonalities between sub-regions Improved capabilities of the Operational Centres

of Excellence Data collection, accessibility & integration Monitoring and Assessment Information Diffusion & Capacity Building

African EO Opportunities : African EO Opportunities : National Space ProgrammesNational Space Programmes

Many African countries have established national remote sensing centres and/or mapping agencies and many universities on the continent are offering remote sensing programmes.

Four African countries (Algeria, Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa) have developed/acquired EOS.

At least two (2) African countries - Egypt and South Africa- have active programmes in Astronomy.

21/04/23GEO Plenary XII – EO for SD : African Perspective Slide 8 of 20

EGYPTSAt-1

ARM member

SUMBANDILASAT

ARM member

ALSAT-1DMC ALSAT-2A & 2B

ARM member

ARM member

NIGERIASAT-1 (DMC) and 2

African EO Opportunities: African EO Opportunities: Individual CapacityIndividual Capacity

21/04/23GEO Plenary XII – EO for SD : African Perspective Slide 9 of 20

Professional Skills… Large spectrum of fields in space science and technologies

Photogrammetry 15% 151

Geodesy 11% 112

Cadastral 41% 424

GIS 19% 197

Remote Sensing 7% 70

Database 3% 35

Others (Mapping) 4% 42

Total 100% 1031

African EO Nexus IssuesAfrican EO Nexus Issues

21/04/23 Slide 10 of 20

Core Data :Lack of consistency

Poor Mapping Coverage

2.5 % of the Continent is Mapped at 1/25.000 (Europe: 86.9% ; Russia : 100%)

Infrastructure & Technology: Lack of Standardisation

Poor Interoperability Non codified rules for data access

Applications: Duplication of efforts

Several applications build the same datasetsData are not publicized

Capacity : Lack of critical mass

Recognition & Retention of Professionals

Governance: Lack of dialogue

Redundancies

Poor Coordination

Therefore… There is Need

Coordinated mechanism with:

Policies, Infrastructures & Institutional Frameworks :

UN-GGIM:Africa and AfriGEOSS

Explicit, quantified and ‘commoditized’ data for

development: African Data Consensus

Comprehensive, holistic, vision-driven, long-term

transformative development of capacities

21/04/23 Slide 11 of 20

Why We Need a EO Governance Framework in Service of Sustainable Development

From a Policy point of view… African policy makers can benefit from the right information at the right moment

(when they need it; where they need it; in a form they can use) to make the appropriate decision for sustainable development.

• It will help develop an African holistic Earth Obersvation strategy linking global to local

From an Institutional point of view… The policy framework shall help develop a cooperative, multi-stakeholder approach

to EO applications, strengthening prevailing networks or building new ones to meet the actual and future potential use of EO resources to address emergent issues such as the SDGs.

From a Technological point of view... The EO Governance Framework shall be the starting point of strong transfer of

related applicable technology to Africa that will enable the continent to develop its own technologies and systems.

From a Societal point of view… Constitution of coherent seamless and equivalent spatially enabled information is an

essential precondition for setting up coordinated policy and strategy for Africa burning issues with global impact.

21/04/23 Slide 12 of 20

Africa Paradigm Shift…

The international and continental landscapes are changing

Generate the policy thinking that would help African countries own their development efforts and narrative.

Develop research and policy analysis that focus on structural transformation

Africa Endeavour to make his own marks in the space arena

Advancing holistic geospatial information policies

Establishing authoritative repository of (sustainable) development data

Fostering citizens spatial literacy, spatial awareness and

navigational abilities.21/04/23 Slide 13 of 20

What Africa want :What Africa want :Continent-wide Space Applications GovernanceContinent-wide Space Applications Governance

SynergismA cooperative, multi-stakeholder approach to production,

management, and dissemination of spatially enabled data: Regional and National level.

• Possibly an African Regional Spatial Data Infrastructure (ARSDI).

Intergovernmental Coordinating body that oversees space activities and where stakeholders needs and expectations can be expressed and discussed

• Possibly an African Space Agency

PartnershipEnhance and expand International Cooperation with emphasis

on Intra-African Cooperation.• Develop national frameworks on space applications

21/04/23GEO Plenary XII – EO for SD : African Perspective Slide 14 of 20

What Africa Want : What Africa Want : Enabling EnvironmentEnabling Environment

Multi-level long term Infrastructures and Networking

Strengthen the functions and operational infrastructures of existing regional Centres

Develop appropriate swift communication’s capacities

Indigenous Space Capabilities

A dedicated continent-wide space imaging information system owned & operated by Africa

A core African scientists and engineers involved in design, planning, development and operation of space missions and satellites systems.

21/04/23GEO Plenary XII – EO for SD : African Perspective Slide 15 of 20

What Africa want :What Africa want :High-Level Education and Capacity BuildingHigh-Level Education and Capacity Building

Education is essentialLeads to technology adoption,

ingestion and use Basic training

To maintain operational capacity in space applications for technicians, managers, scientists and basic users

High Level TrainingEmpower African youth in space

science and technology culture at all education levels (schools, universities).

Build a crticial mass of African space scientists (pure and applied research)

21/04/23GEO Plenary XII – EO for SD : African Perspective Slide 16 of 20

What Africa Want : EO Data Democracy

Clear understanding of data required to address key development priorities

Fundamental data themes and datasets Metadata Clearinghouses

21/04/23 Slide 17 of 20

Core DataCore Data

Raw Data Satellite Images Locations Biophysics Socio-Economic

Processed Data

Land Cover DEM

Analysed Data

Dynamics and Seasonalities Trends

d1

d2

d3

d4

d5d6

d7

../..

2000

d14

d15

d16

d17

d13

d18

Way Forward

Africa is increasingly acquiring capacity to produce, process and

use Earth Observation data.

The World is increasingly developing satellites that are relevant

to the African context, mechanisms for timely access

(availability, affordability, infrastructure) to the data (historical,

current and future).

Africa is slowly developing / updating capacity in the

engineering and application of space science and technology

and the requisite infrastructural capabilities …

Need for inter-disciplinary North-South and South–South

partnerships of excellence

21/04/23 Slide 18 of 20

Contacting Us…Contacting Us…

21/04/23 Slide 19 of 20

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

ANonguierma@uneca.org

http://geoinfo.uneca.org/sdiafrica/

www.uneca.org