MedWet develops a partnership with the European Space Agency through the GlobWetland Africa project

GlobWetland AfricaGlobWetland Africa is a large Earth Observation application project that will facilitate the exploitation of satellite observations to support effective management of wetlands and wise use of associated resources in Africa.
The main objective of the project is to help African stakeholders (i.e. Ramsar Contracting Parties, Ramsar regional initiatives, African river basin authorities, etc.) and international/regional conservation agencies active in Africa to better assess the conditions of the wetlands under their areas of jurisdiction/study, and better monitor their trends over time.

The sustainability of the approach will be pursued through the development of an end-to-end software toolbox that will be delivered to the partner organisations, at no cost, with training courses and education toolkits. The ultimate goal is that the tools, methods and products that will be developed during GlobWetland Africa will constitute essential building blocks for the future establishment of national and regional wetland observatories in Africa.

The project will make an extensive use of satellite observations that will soon be available from the European Copernicus initiative. Copernicus is the most ambitious Earth Observation program ever created. It will launch a series of Earth Observation satellites called the Sentinels that will provide long-term observations for a systematic and global monitoring of the Earth’s environment and security. With its free and open data policy, Copernicus and the Sentinels will open a new era for the systematic mapping, assessment and monitoring of wetlands.
GlobWetland Africa is scheduled to start at the beginning of 2015 and will have a duration of 3 years. It will be completed in late 2017 in order to be ready for a full exploitation of the Sentinel missions, which will reach their full-fledged operational capacity in the course of 2017.
The European Space Agency has developed partnerships with the four Ramsar regional initiatives active in Africa (MEDWET, NIGERWET, WACOWET and RAMCEA), a number of African Rivers basin authorities (starting with ABN, NBI and CICOS) and some Ramsar Contracting Parties.

For more information:

  • Contact:

ESA – European Space Agency
Marc Paganini
Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes
marc.paganini@esa.int

www.esa.int

  • Read the Ramsar presentation from Paul Ouedraogon Senior Advisor for Africa, Ramsar Convention (July 2013)

http://www.tiger.esa.int/PDF/news_45/8.pdf
[15/09/14]