In the scope of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) & Africa Phase 2 (G&A-2) Program, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) mainly supports data access and service implementation, as well as capacity building, knowledge management, outreach, and dissemination activities.

The key thematic topics of G&A-2 in Eastern Africa are forest, land degradation, wetland, and protected areas (PAs) monitoring, where the JRC strengthens the capacities of regional centers regarding forest change monitoring using Earth Observation.

During the week of October 23–26, 2023, the Joint Research Centre (JRC), RCMRD, and ICPAC conducted on-the-job training at ICPAC, Nairobi on forest monitoring and land degradation. This training, which brought together participants from various national and international institutions and the private sector (DRSRS, ICPAC, KFS, KU, KWTA, LocateIT, NEMA, RCMRD, WRA, and WRTI), is part of a series of activities focused on building capacity and decision-making capabilities provided by JRC in the GMES & Africa (G&A) Program framework.

Objectives of the training;

The main goal of the training was to improve and consolidate knowledge of the latest tools on forest, land cover, and wetland monitoring to further support and enhance the activities in G&A-2 with the national partners and Present the latest EO-based tools available in the Impact Toolbox and other platforms developed by the JRC in the framework of the G&A-2 as well as discussing the operational forest, land cover, and wetland monitoring already developed in G&A-2, including available tools and methodologies, Review the existing products and identify new datasets needed for the different services.

The main outcome of this training was the cross-fertilization among the different institution representatives, the development of mapping skills with IMPACT Toolbox, and the setting up of a national working group on a common project.