GMES and Africa’s 2nd Marine and Coastal Areas Workshop starts off in Cape Town, South Africa
Cape Town – 22 May: The second GMES and Africa continental service workshop on marine and coastal areas has kicked off in Cape Town, South Africa. The workshop is designed to consolidate existing services in the marine and coastal areas domain and to make them technically and financially sustainable. It is also intended to promote inter-regional cooperation and cross-fertilization of practices among the consortia and institutions
Group photo
The three-day workshop brings together the GMES and Africa PMU and the MarCOSIO and MacNOWA consortia, led by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the University of Ghana, respectively.
At the opening ceremony, the Programme Coordinator of the MARCOSIO consortium, Sives Govender, described continent-wide collaboration as the backbone of GMES and Africa and said the workshop is an opportunity to ensure that the African Earth Observation community is at the forefront of the exploitation of the economic benefits in support of livelihoods in Africa. The provost of the University of Ghana, Prof. Onwona Agyeman, encouraged the two consortia to continue doing their best in delivering services, emphasizing the importance of EO and the GMES and Africa programme in providing solutions for marine and coastal areas.
The Leader of the GMES and Africa Technical Assistance Team, Hamdi Kacem, drew participants attention to the workshop's objectives. The focus, he said, is on addressing technical challenges in implementing marine and coastal area services, compiling success stories from end-users, fostering cross-fertilization of services among the consortia, and drawing inspiration from other EO-based initiatives in Africa. To achieve these goals, he encouraged active engagement and interaction among participants.
The Coordinator of the GMES and Africa, Prof. Bachir Saley, emphasized the need to assess the level of implementation of the second phase of the programme after two years of implementation. He highlighted the need for experience sharing among experts on technical delivery of the programme’s mandate. The workshop, he noted, is bringing other EO initiatives such as DUNIA, EO Africa, etc., for cross fertilization. Professor Saley underlined urged consortia to continue working together and collaborating for the success of GMES and Africa.
The workshop will feature updates and discussions on consortia activities in the past two year and their projections for the following two years. It will bring end-user perspectives under the spotlight, as GMES and Africa is motivated by the development of services tailored to end-user needs. Consortia performance in terms of the key programme outputs such as products and services, training, communications and engagement. Participants will also gain insights into the activities and achievements of the GOOS Africa and UN Decade on Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.
AUC/ESTI/G&A/AF
At the opening ceremony, the Programme Coordinator of the MARCOSIO consortium, Sives Govender, described continent-wide collaboration as the backbone of GMES and Africa and said the workshop is an opportunity to ensure that the African Earth Observation community is at the forefront of the exploitation of the economic benefits in support of livelihoods in Africa. The provost of the University of Ghana, Prof. Onwona Agyeman, encouraged the two consortia to continue doing their best in delivering services, emphasizing the importance of EO and the GMES and Africa programme in providing solutions for marine and coastal areas.
The Leader of the GMES and Africa Technical Assistance Team, Hamdi Kacem, drew participants attention to the workshop's objectives. The focus, he said, is on addressing technical challenges in implementing marine and coastal area services, compiling success stories from end-users, fostering cross-fertilization of services among the consortia, and drawing inspiration from other EO-based initiatives in Africa. To achieve these goals, he encouraged active engagement and interaction among participants.
The Coordinator of the GMES and Africa, Prof. Bachir Saley, emphasized the need to assess the level of implementation of the second phase of the programme after two years of implementation. He highlighted the need for experience sharing among experts on technical delivery of the programme’s mandate. The workshop, he noted, is bringing other EO initiatives such as DUNIA, EO Africa, etc., for cross fertilization. Professor Saley underlined urged consortia to continue working together and collaborating for the success of GMES and Africa.
The workshop will feature updates and discussions on consortia activities in the past two year and their projections for the following two years. It will bring end-user perspectives under the spotlight, as GMES and Africa is motivated by the development of services tailored to end-user needs. Consortia performance in terms of the key programme outputs such as products and services, training, communications and engagement. Participants will also gain insights into the activities and achievements of the GOOS Africa and UN Decade on Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.
AUC/ESTI/G&A/AF
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