Who we are?
AfriGEO is an initiative of the African continent in Group on Earth Observations (GEO) that provides a coordination framework and platform for Africa’s participation in GEO and contribute to the development of GEOSS. AfriGEO consists of Africa-based GEO member states (32) and 11 participating regional institutions together known as the African Caucus.
The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) is an intergovernmental organization working to improve the availability, accessibility, and use of Earth Observation for the benefit of society. GEO Global priorities include supporting the UN Agenda for sustainable development, the Paris Climate Agreement, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and most recently Sustainable Urban Development.
AfriGEO Secretariat hosted by RCMRD based in Nairobi, Kenya was officially appointed as the AfriGEO secretariat during the 3rd AfriGEO symposium in Gabon but undertook operations in May 2019.
Objectives
The goal of AfriGEO is to be a:
· Pan African initiative to raise awareness and develop capacity on EO.
· Framework for strengthening partnerships and collaborations within Africa.
· Gateway into Africa for international partners; and
· Support mechanism for the implementation of GEO objectives and programs in Africa.
Main Activities
I. Strengthen connection with the current GEO Principals, and participating organizations https://www.earthobservations.org/ and enlarge the GEO partnership in the Regional Economic Communities (ECOWAS, UMO, COMESA, CEN-SAD, EAC, ECCAS, IGAD, SADC).
II. Support the establishment of national coordination (GEOs) mechanisms, including the appointment of national coordination focal points and establishment of Communities of Practice for AfriGEO’s thematic areas of interest: Land Cover/ Land Degradation Neutrality, Sustainable Forest Management, Sustainable Urban Development, Agriculture and Food Security, Health, Water Resource Management, and Data and Infrastructure.
III. Ensure increased uptake of EO in Africa through the promotion of long-term Human Capital Development programs.
IV. Facilitate and drive programs towards achieving the Global, RECs, and Africa-wide goals and objectives i.e., AU Agenda 2063 and 2030 Sustainable Development agenda).
V. Support international collaboration by connecting national and regional institutions and programs with GEO and Regional GEOSS; and
VI. Liaise with the GEO secretariat to ensure synergic and streamlined operations; and
VII. Ensure communication, outreach, awareness, user engagement, and mobilization of resources.
Thematic Areas of Focus
Thematic areas under the user needs and application with prioritization on the societal benefit areas that include:
Ø Food Security and Agriculture
Ø Sustainable Urban development
Ø Water Resource Management
Ø Sustainable Forest Management
Ø Land Cover/ Land Degradation Neutrality
Ø Health
Ø Climate Services and Adaptation
Ø Data Access and Infrastructure
Past Events
1. The 3rd AfriGEO symposium held in Gabon, officially appointed RCMRD as the secretariat of the AfriGEO.
2. The 4th AfriGEO symposium, hosted by RCMRD was a joint event of the 3rd RCMRD international conference (RIC) held from 13th to 16th August 2019. This was Preceded by the launch of the pre-symposium on 12th August, of the Digital Earth Program which is working towards analysis-ready data to foster innovation and development of different applications to address various development challenges.
3. The 5th AfriGEO symposium, 2021. Virtual meeting held 17-19 Nov 2021. The theme was “Open science for growing African Industries in Earth Observation” Purpose of the symposium: AfriGEO community to have better engagement, and momentum to initiatives.
4. The 6th AfriGEO symposium, 2022. Hybrid meeting held in Accra Ghana from 31 October to 05 November 2022. The theme ‘’Harnessing EO towards Resilient and sustainable systems, communities and resources. Toward the tail end of the symposium, we held a training on Monitoring and Early Warning for Floods Training Material
- For more information on this event and the presentations made can be accessed from this Link
- Some of the event highlights can be accessed from already reported media: https://enb.iisd.org/geo-week-2022
- Photos of the event can be accessed from Link
5. A series of the Special Edition Focus on AfriGEO, GEO Health Community of Practice held an interactive telecom on 29th March. The meeting included brief project highlights and interactive group discussions. The information gathered will be used to inform activities of VMO/WHO Study group on climate services for Health as well as Research funding activities including Belmont Forums Climate and Environment and Health Collaborative Research action.
6. Successive telecom meetings held on 5th & 12th April to continue with the conversation.
Recent Achievements
1. Facilitated Integration of GEOGLOWS ECMWF forecast with Telemetric data to improve Early warning in Malawi.
2. Downscaled Crop Monitors in 5 counties: Rwanda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Rwanda.
3. Supported GEO LDN Capacity building adoption by creating of MSC and Mphil programs to be hosted by UENR and Massive Open Online Courses by RCMRD.
4. Developed a database of EO SMMEs in Africa.
5. Implemented an LDN Inventory project that provides a landscape of existing data, tools, and available resources to address LDN in Africa.
6. Collaborated with DE Africa to create knowledge packages discoverable through the Geo Knowledge Hub.
7. Participated in the Open Data Cube Women Sprint, 2021.
8. Created an AfriGEO Portal with support from ESRI.
9. Contributed to special editions on EO and Health Co-Hosted together with the GEO EO for Heal Community group. The editions focused on: Heat, Air Quality, Infectious Diseases, and Environmental Health.
10. Support the EO challenge 2022 and 2021.
11. Implemented annual symposiums since 2019 when the Secretariat took forte.
12. Addition of 2 African Countries Togo and DRC as Member states
AfriGEO & Linked GEO Initiatives for 2022-2023 Priority Action Areas
The activities range from access to Earth Observation data, tools, and products covering the societal benefit areas that include:
ü GEO biodiversity Observations Network (GEOBON)
ü GEO Global Agriculture Monitoring (GEOGLAM/AFRIGAM) for crop monitoring and crop prize stabilization.
ü Global Forest Observation Initiative (GFOI) for REDD+ reporting
ü GEO Blue Planet for oceans and marine
ü GEO Human Planet initiatives for Sustainable urban planning
ü Digital Earth Africa
ü GEO Mountains
ü GEO Aqua Watch
ü EO4Health
How to get involved?
· Co-develop proposal/co-implementation in the thematic areas that address the critical gap with the use of EO data, tools, and services for contribution to relevant environmental, socio-economic science, and technology to African Agendas.
· Participation in seminars, webinars, workshops, training, and the Annual AfriGEO symposium organized by the AfriGEO secretariat and partners
· Innovation Challenges
Secretariat Reports
AfriGEO Initiative and the Connectivity Issues in Africa
AfriGEO - Implementing GEO initiatives in Africa (GEO Work Program 2020 - 2022)
Earth Observation Companies Profile in GEO/AFRIGEO Member States
AfriGEO geoportal
https://www.africageoportal.com/pages/afrigeo
