A mid-term workshop of the AMESD IGAD thematic action held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya on 15-17 February 2012. Approximately sixty participants from the AMESD IGAD network of partners and associates attended the workshop.

The need to inform and acquaint decision makers on the development and integration of the AMESD IGAD THEMA products and services into environmental decision making for sustainable development of the region was highlighted.

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The African Monitoring of Environment for Sustainable Development (AMESD) program will come to an end in June 2013. A new €37 million program – ‘Monitoring of Environment and Security in Africa (MESA)’ will bridge AMESD with the follow-up ‘Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES)’ Initiative. The implementation of MESA will start in 2013 and run until 2018.

Since its inception in 2007, the AMESD program has taken the Preparation for the Use of Meteosat Second Generation in Africa (PUMA) a step forward by extending the use of Earth observation technologies and data to environment and climate monitoring applications. MESA, likewise, will build on the results of AMESD to address the needs for improved management of natural resources and environmental security towards sustainable development in Africa, at continental, regional and national levels, including all Sub-Saharan African countries. 

Professor Laban Ogallo, Director of IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC), based in Nairobi, Kenya, shares his view on the importance of AMESD program from national and regional perspectives. ICPAC, which functions in the IGAD region, is one of the five AMESD Regional Implementation Centres (RICs) in Africa.

It is estimated that nearly 76% of the IGAD region is composed of arid and semi-arid lands which are characterized by high variability of rainfall and deteriorated by severe land degradation. What are the roles and challenges of ICPAC towards mitigating the major climatic/environmental challenges in the region?

ICPAC provides timely climate early warning information for the mitigation of adverse impacts of climate variability and climate change. It develops an improved, pro-active, timely and broad-based system of climatic and environmental information at both regional and national levels through its national partners. It also attempts to maintain quality-controlled databases and information systems which are required for risk and vulnerability assessment, mapping of hazards and climate change impacts. General support is also provided to the national and regional disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation strategies.

The Regional Implementation Centres (RICs) of the African Monitoring of Environment for Sustainable Development (AMESD) programme showcased their products and services in the African Pavilion at the Seventeenth Conference of Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Seventh Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP7). The event took place in Durban, South Africa, from November 28 to 9 December 2011.

Launched on the 28th of November by the Presidents Jacob Zuma of South Africa, Idriss Déby of Chad, and Vice President Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos of Angola, the African Pavilion attracted more than 10,000 visitors.

The Pavilion, which was located within the UNFCCC precinct for COP17/CMP7, catered a 500 square meter replica of the equatorial forest. It hosted some 100 roundtables and high-level conferences covering all aspects of climate change in Africa that were attended by higher officials of the continent, and worldwide.