AMESD is a pan African program which covers 47 ACP African countries. This continental approach is supported by 5 regional thematic actions (THEMA) identified by the RECs. The entire program, amounting to € 21 millions for a four years period, is implemented under the coordination of the African Union Commission (AUC), which has been delegated by the RECs to act on their behalf as Delegated Regional Authorizing Officer (DRAO). A Program Steering Committee (PSC) has been settled to guide the DRAO in the implementation of the program and supervision of activities carried out at continental and regional levels. A Technical Assistance team, lead by Thales Alenia Space France, is operational since October 2007.Three experts are based at the program headquarters in Addis Ababa in support to the AU Program Coordinator.They are part of the so called Program Coordination Team (PCT).Five thematic experts are posted in the Regional Implementation Centers (RIC) to develop the regional thematic actions. AMESD also involves a number of African and European institutions (technical partners) operating in the fields of environmental monitoring and environment sector management.Several of the latter, such as EUMETSAT, EC-JRC, WMO, FAO, UNEP, UNECA, etc. are also observers of the PSC.
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 03 August 2010 11:43 )
Objectives
Tuesday, 03 August 2010 06:24
administrator
The AMESD program addresses the need for improved environmental monitoring towards sustainable management of natural resources in five regions of sub-Saharan Africa, namely CEMAC, ECOWAS, IGAD, IOC and SADC (RECs). There are 48 ACP countries in these Regional Economic Communities (RECs), home for many of the poorest people of the world, where economies and livelihoods are highly dependent on the environment, renewable natural resources and climate variability.
The overall objective of this program is to enhance monitoring for preparedness and adaptation to environmental change, including sustainable management of the environment thereby contributing to poverty alleviation in the poorest area of the world.
The purpose of the program is to increase the information management capacity of African regional and national institutions in support of decision makers at different levels and to facilitate sustainable access to Africa-wide environmental information derived from Earth Observation technologies.
Five Regional Thematic Actions (THEMA) are being established by the RICs to develop appropriate information services, in order to address the already prioritised decision needs of the RECs in the fields of (i) water resources management; (ii) crop and rangeland management; (iii) agricultural and environmental resources management; (iv) mitigation of land degradation (including forest exploitation) and conservation of natural habitats and; (v) marine and coastal management.
REC
THEMA
RIC
CEMAC
Management of Water Resources
CICOS, Kinshasa
ECOWAS
Water Management for Cropland and Rangeland Management
AGRHYMET, Niamey
IGAD
Land Degradation Mitigation and Natural Habitat Conservation
ICPAC, Nairobi
IOC
Coastal and Marine Management
MOI,Quatre-Bornes
SADC
Agricultural and Environmental Resource Management
Program
