- March 20, 2009
- Posted by: EARSC
- Category: EARSC News
The “GMES and Africa” process was launched by the Maputo Declaration, signed on 15 October 2006. The initiative aims to strengthen and further develop infrastructure for a more coherent exploitation of Earth Observation data (space and in-situ), technologies and services in support of the environmental policies for sustainable development in Africa and ACP countries.
In response to the Maputo Declaration, a large event dedicated to “GMES and Africa” was set up in December 2007 in Lisbon, which resulted in the adoption of “The Lisbon Process on GMES and Africa”, requiring an Action Plan in 2010.
On 9-12 March 2009, the GMES and Africa Coordination Group (composed of 14 members, seven from Europe and seven from Africa) met at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra, Italy. Representatives from DG JRC, DG Development, DG Enterprise and Industry, EU Member States, ESA and EUMETSAT composed the European side of the Coordination Group. The aim of this meeting was to start drafting the Action Plan on “GMES and Africa” for submission to the next EU-Africa Summit in 2010.
EUMETSAT has a long experience cooperating with Africa on the operational use of Earth Observation, the organisation should therefore play an important role in the “GMES and Africa” initiative. EUMETSAT will ensure that that the expected Action Plan builds on existing Earth Observation capacities in Africa.
More information on Eumetsat website
