Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) has held the Global Monitoring for Environment & Security in Africa (GMES Africa) GMES & Africa Kick-off workshop in Nairobi.
RCMRD is implementing the programme in partnership with the Ethiopian Mapping Agency, Makerere University and Rwanda Water and Forest Authority.
RCMRD's asscociates are: National Environment Authority, Uganda; Higher Council for Environment and Natural Resources (HCENR) Sudan; Department of Resource Surveys and Remote Sensing (DRSRS), Kenya; Ministère de l’habitat de l’urbanisme de l’environnement (Dept. of the Environment, (MHUE) Djibouti; Ministry of Land, Water and Environment, Eritrea; Benadir University, Somalia; Ministry of Housing and Lands, Mauritius as well as the Department of GIS, Remote Sensing and Cartography, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), South Sudan.
RCMRD Director General Dr. Emmanuel Nkurunziza called upon the RCMRD partners and Associates to collaborate and create synergies amongst the consortia by implementing, delivering and achieving the stated GMES and Africa programme.
He asked the RCMRD implementation team led by Remote Sensing Officer, Degelo Sendabo, partners and associates to fully understand their roles and responsibilities, be transparent and accountable to efficiently implement the project. “You need to have full clarity of what is required of your institution and the service you are implementing. Our objective as a Center of excellence is for our countries to benefit. We are all about service provision.”
Prof. John B.K. Kiema the Director, Technical Services at RCMRD noted the kick-off meeting was called to highlight the methodologies and six-month workplan to the partners and associates of RCMRD within the GMES & Africa Programme. “We are delighted that we got this award. However, the difficult task lies ahead. Let us all roll up our sleeves and do the work we put down on paper.”
All the RCMRD partners and Associates attended and participated in the kick-off workshop on August 30 and 31, 2018. The focus for RCMRD is on Land Degradation Monitoring and Assessment, Wetlands Monitoring and Assessment as well as Open Geographical Regional Reference Vector Database (~1:1M scale) for water and agro-ecological zonings.
RCMRD GMES and Africa Objectives
The objectives involve Developing, improving and sustaining local, institutional, human and technical capacities for accessing and using EO data and services; Contributing to the implementation of the African Space Policy and Strategy and Providing decision-makers with needed information and tools.
RCMRD is one of the 13 consortia of institutions selected and awarded marks during the official announcement of their selection on the margins of the 5th AU-EU Summit in Abidjan, Cote d`Ivoire.
The Centre is among three Consortia implementing the project in East Africa. The other two are: IGAD Climate Prediction and Application Centre (ICPAC) for Water and natural resources service and Mauritius Oceanography Institute (MOI) for Marine and coastal areas service. The RCMRD implementation countries are: Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia and Mauritius.
RCMRD GMES and Africa Activities
The main activities will include: Accessing Earth Observation data and provision of new data, establishing operational information system, Strengthening and harmonizing national and regional policies, training stakeholders, conducting research and dissemination; and Establishing a Monitoring &Evaluation framework. Effective overall coordination and communication is ensured for delivery of programme objectives, sustainability and visibility by Communicating and disseminating of services and products using appropriate media.
About GMES and Africa
GMES & Africa is an Earth Observation programme initiated jointly by the African Union Commission and the European Commission. It is aligned to Priority 7 of the African Agenda 2063 and the African Space Policy, designed to address the growing needs of African countries to access and use Earth Observation data for sustainable development, including through climate change mitigation, environmental management, civil security and capacity building.
GMES & Africa Programme aimed is at improving African policy-makers’, planners’, scientists’, business and private sector and citizens’ capacities to design, implement, and monitor national, regional and continental policies and to promote sustainable management of natural resources using Earth Observation data and derived information.