The Global Monitoring for Environment and Security and Africa (GMES and Africa) Consortia leaders and technical experts held a Continental Workshop on Land Degradation (LD) Monitoring in Africa in Cotd’Ivoiree in Abidjan from 3rd-7th October 2022. The conference which was organise by African Union Commission (AUC), under the guidance of the Programme Coordinator Dr Tidiane Ouattara, provided an opportunity for Consortium technical leads to exchange ideas on Land Degradation at the continental level. The workshop made it possible to have a common understanding of this phenomenon and to come up with a strategy to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality.
During the event, the African institutions perspectives on Land Degradation Monitoring experiences were promoted and the foundations of a continental system for land degradation monitoring in Africa established. Such a system will, not only, be in line with the international standards and guidelines, but will focus on the African specific context.
The five-day workshop aimed at sharing the best practices of African and international institutions and build on their experiences in LD spatiotemporal monitoring by promoting Earth Observation (EO), raise concern about the importance of setting up a single access portal for monitoring land degradation and the impact of SLM actions in Africa and establish a cooperation framework between the different African institutions for the development of an operational LD monitoring service all over the continent and develop a roadmap for the service development.
Dr Tidiane, the programme coordinator, identified the workshop as the 1st step towards development of the land degradation continental service and urged consortium to contribute actively to future engagements
RCMRD is implementing the Land Degradation Monitoring and Assesment service area under GMES and Africa programme. This service area develop an operational information service that support policy and decision making at regional and national level towards improved food security; integrated water resource management and informed drought management initiatives. Land degradation service generates evidence based decision support tools in foam of maps and bulletins.
GMES and Africa participating Consortiums
Centre de Suivi Ecologique (CSE) – Dakar, Sénégal
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) – Pretoria, South Africa
IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) – Nairobi, Kenya
Observatoire du Sahara et du Sahel (OSS) – Tunis, Tunisia
Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) – Nairobi, Kenya
Southern Africa Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL), Windhoek, Namibia
University of Ghana (UoG) – Legon, Ghana
The International Commission of the Congo-Oubangui-Sangha Basin (CICOS) – DR Congo
