Highlights from the Earth Observation for Africa Symposium 2024: Strengthening Europe-Africa Collaboration in EO
From 23 to 26 September 2024, GMES and Africa Program's Management Unit (PMU) participated in the ESA’s Earth Observation for Africa Symposium
Executive Summary
From September 23 to 26, 2024, the GMES and Africa PMU actively participated in and co-organized the ESA Symposium on Earth Observation for Africa. The event attracted over 400 participants, including decision-makers, researchers, and private sector representatives from Africa, Europe, and beyond. Over four days, the symposium featured panels and presentations on 13 themes addressing Africa's socio-environmental challenges. The GMES and Africa Programme made significant contributions to discussions on international cooperation, private sector involvement, and shared lessons learned. Additionally, the PMU facilitated strategic meetings on the future of Earth observation in Africa and engaged in thematic sessions. The broad range of presentations highlighted the need to coordinate efforts and avoid resource dispersion. The symposium was instrumental in fostering inter-regional partnerships, knowledge exchange, and laying the groundwork for future Earth observation initiatives to support sustainable development in Africa.
Proceedings of the agenda
The day continued with a panel exploring Africa’s needs on a continental scale, followed by another panel examining these needs at the national level. In the afternoon, parallel sessions focused on networks and technologies for the green transition and on biodiversity. To wrap up the first day, a panel delved into opportunities for international cooperation, followed by a welcoming meet-and-greet session.
The next day, the focus shifted to critical themes for Africa, with parallel sessions dedicated to the water and food security nexus, as well as to vulnerability, health, and livelihoods. Later, participants explored ecosystem conservation strategies. The program also featured a panel on international initiatives, followed by another set of parallel sessions on managing marine and coastal resources. The day concluded with presentations on operational services, and a dinner allowed participants to continue their exchanges in a relaxed setting.
On the third day, attention turned to climate change adaptation and urbanization, with sessions providing deeper insights into these issues. Further discussions explored sustainable natural resource management and perspectives on research and development for Earth observation in Africa. The day also highlighted the role of the private sector and closed with a light aperitivo.
Finally, the closing day covered disaster resilience and resource management through parallel sessions. A reflection session provided a moment to review the evolution of Earth observation in Africa and lessons learned from GMES and Africa, and EO Africa, marking a moment of synthesis for the entire symposium. The event concluded with a closing ceremony followed by a buffet lunch, wrapping up four days of rich discussions, learning, and future perspectives for Earth observation in Africa.
G&A Programme Contribution to the Symposium
The GMES and Africa Programme played an active role by contributing in a range of activities to strengthen the connections and networks between the European and African Earth Observation (EO) sectors. The Program's experts contributed significantly to various sessions, either as chairs or panelists. They chaired or participated in multiple panels, including Panel 2 on international cooperation, where they served as both chair and panelist, Panel 3 on international initiatives as chair, Panel 5 on the private sector as chair, and Panel 6 on lessons learned from GMES and Africa as panelists. Additionally, the GMES and Africa consortia, OSS and CSE, were actively involved in moderating and contributing to the discussions.
PMU experts took part in technical sessions linked to the themes outlined in the agenda, where presentations focused on current research related to services provided by GMES & Africa in the areas of land and marine resource management. In several cases, presentations introduced innovative approaches and offered valuable insights into potential focal areas for phase 3, particularly in fields such as air quality monitoring—an increasingly urgent issue given the rising levels of urban pollution in Africa, which is set to host some of the world’s largest cities within a few decades. Other focal points included pollution control, which continues to grow due to limited treatment resources, flood management, and urban development.
In addition, the PMU supported the communication of the symposium by documenting the event, taking photos and recording key speeches to help promote the symposium. PMU experts also participated in strategic discussions and meetings with INTPA and the JRC regarding the African Space Programme Action Paper and the upcoming third phase of the GMES & Africa programme. The symposium was also an opportunity to discuss the technical challenges faced by the G&A programme with the African partners and institutions involved, as well as to strengthen partnerships, particularly those between the European and African EO sectors.
Finally, the symposium offered a valuable setting for the PMU and the President of the Space Council to continue preparations with MEDEFi for the next Space Council training seminar, to be held in Paris at the end of October.
Additional observations
Apart of the panel, seventy-four presentations were delivered, covering eight major topics and 13 key themes. Of these, 71% focused on Africa, African regions, or African countries; in the remaining cases, geography was not specified. The presentations involved more than 250 institutions, labs, private compagnies, NGOs, Universities, and near to 530 authors from various countries and sectors, including universities, research centers, government agencies, and international organizations.
The diversity of approaches to related topics and the variety of contributors highlighted the breadth, varied applications, and significant (and potential) impact of Earth observation research in Africa. Listening to all the presentations made it clear that Earth observation in Africa offers a wide range of solutions capable of addressing many of the continent's pressing socio-environmental challenges: biodiversity, climate change and disaster resilience, marine and coastal resources, pollution, resource management, urbanization, vulnerability, health and livelihood, as well as water, energy, and food security.
However, such variety also emphasized the importance of fostering constructive interactions and cross-fertilization between research themes and institutions to avoid resource fragmentation.
The need to prevent the scattering of resources was strongly felt when GMES and Africa was established, as beneficiary institutions had limited resources and had to make strategic choices. This need for coordination is therefore crucial not only within individual programs but also between programs, particularly between EO Africa and GMES and Africa which are complementary, and potentially with other similar initiatives, such as SERVIR and Digital Earth Africa.
More informations and videos
- https://eo-4-africa-symposium-2024.esa.int/#objectives
- https://eo-4-africa-symposium-2024.esa.int/#programme
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