The 6th meeting of the Programme Steering Committee (PSC 6) of the African Monitoring of Environment for Sustainable Development (AMESD) programme took place in Addis Ababa from 11th to 13th October 2011. The meeting was followed by MESA Preparation Status Meeting until the end of the week. MESA (Monitoring of Environment and Security in Africa) project is the successor of AMESD.

The PSC meeting gathered representatives of the Regional Economic Communities, the ACP Secretariat, and the African Union Commission. Representatives of the European Union Delegation to the AU and international partners from EUMETSAT, JRC, UNECA and UNEP were also present as observers of the meeting.

The outgoing Chairperson, Ms Gina Bonne of Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) reported on the progress made since the last PSC meeting in February 2011. Presently, the deployment of 111 new satellite reception stations in 48 African countries is fully completed. In addition, the first version of environmental products and services by the five Regional Implementing centres (RICs) are being developed. 

The Committee recommended to AMESD to ensure the sufficient level of maturity of the operational services especially through the inclusion of user feedbacks. Furthermore, it was discussed how for the Regional Implementation Centers to strengthen their links with their users in order to assess the usage of the AMESD services, which is essential for the impact of the programme on environmental management and decision making.

The sustainability of the programme was also discussed by debating on the main factors to take into account to ensure the appropriation of AMESD by African stakeholders.

The Committee appointed Dr. Berhe Debalkew from Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) as Chairperson and Mr. Samuel Medu from ACP Secretariat as Vice-Chairperson of the AMESD Program Steering Committee. The new chairmanship will assume office until the next PSC meeting, which will take place in May 2012.

The MESA Preparation Status Meeting also deliberated on the overall status of preparatory activities for its implementation after the end of AMESD programme in June 2013.