North African institutions operating in the area of natural resources have reaffirmed their commitment to the Implementation of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security in Africa (GMES & Africa), at an information session with stakeholders in the region, which kicked off Monday in Cairo, Egypt. 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 will be implemented through a 30 million Euro Grant to African institutions operating in the area of Earth Observation. The Grant process involves the launching of a Call for proposals from eligible institutions which will be assessed and awarded based on the African Union Commission’s procurement and grant management procedures. Prior to the launching of the Call, the African Union Commission has embarked on series of information sessions across the five regions of Africa to strengthen the capacity of potential applicants in meeting the criteria set out in guidelines on preparing proposals and succeeding in accessing the Grant. The meeting in Cairo is the fourth in a series, coming after similar sessions in Kigali, Dakar and Harare.

The Coordinator of the GMES & Africa initiative, Dr. Tidiane Ouattara, underlined the need for the formation of consortia by interested consortia in all the regions, to maximize their opportunities of succeeding in accessing the Grant. Egypt has been active in the inception and operationalization of GMES & Africa, which is the first among similar continental projects in Earth Observation covering the Northern African region, and the Cairo meeting is being attended by stakeholders from across the region. The Chairman of the Egyptian National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences (NARSS), Professor Dr. Mahmoud Ahmad, pledged Egypt’s readiness to continue working for the full implementation of GMES & Africa and echoed the need for African institutions to work in concert with one another to realize the full benefits of continental priority programmes.

Contact details:

Email: gmes@africa-union.org

Website: www.au.int/hrst

Twitter: GMESAfrica

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