Monitoring of Environment and
Security in Africa – MESA
An Overview
and
Update
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11
Outline
 General Purpose
 Objectives
 Context
 Expected Results
 Budget
 Thematic Actions
 Preparatory Status
Purpose and Objective
 Purpose:
To increase the information management, decision-making
and planning capacity of African continental, regional and
national institutions mandated for environment, climate, food
security and related responsibilities by enhancing access to and
exploitation of relevant Earth Observation applications in Africa.
 General Objective:
To support African decision-makers and planners in
designing and implementing national, regional and continental
policies and development plans towards sustainable
development, thereby advancing the socioeconomic progress
and well-being of African populations towards achievement of
the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs).
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Context

The MESA programme builds on the outgoing AMESD
programme, using Earth Observation (EO) data and
information products for environment and sustainable
development.

The Programme is specifically designed for the African
users at Continental, Regional and National levels in
(AUC, 5 African Regions, 48 countries)
 Implementation Timeframe: 2013-2018
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Context
 MESA contributes to the Joint Africa-Europe Strategy:
1. By strongly supporting environment and climate
objectives through the use of Earth Observation tools,
like AMESD, MESA contributes to the Joint Africa-EU
Strategy (JAES) 6th Partnership on Climate Change
and Environment.
2. the project’s reliance on proven satellite and landbased monitoring technology is consistent with the
JAES 8th Partnership on Science, Information
Society and Space.
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Expected Results (5)
1. Infrastructure Support, including upgrading and
maintenance of receiving stations and information
and data management in all Sub-Saharan African
countries → About Improving Access EO data!
2. Consolidate and further develop Information
Services in the thematic areas addressed by
AMESD, but also include new thematic areas (e.g.
climate services, and forest information).
→ About providing info to decision-makers!
3. Promote cross-fertilisation among the five partner
regions and pursue the continentalisation of
services → About benefiting all Africa!
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Expected Results
4. Strengthen political and policy development
frameworks to ensure an active and sustainable
participation of African stakeholders in initiatives
concerning Earth Observation for environment and
security → About promoting EO for development!
5. Capacity development and training of African
stakeholders at continental, regional and national
levels → About Sustainability! Through Capacity
Building
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Budget
The overall budget of the programme is estimated at €40 000 000,
consisting of:
 EUR 37 000 000 of EDF funds:
1. EU contribution EUR 20 000 000 from Intra-ACP 10th EDF envelope;
2. EUR 17 000 000 (EDF) contributions from 5 RECs,




CEMAC (EUR 2 000 000),
ECOWAS (EUR 5 000 000),
IGAD+IOC (EUR 5 000 000),
SADC (EUR 5 000 000).
 Approximately EUR 3 000 000 in-kind contributions from the
Joint Research Centre (JRC), EUMETSAT, the European Space
Agency (ESA) and others.
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Thematic Actions
Regional
Economic
Community REC
CEMAC
Regional Thematic Action - THEMA
Management of Water Resources (for fluvial CICOS, Kinshasa
transportation
and
environmental
assessment)
Water Management for
Rangeland Management
ECOWAS
IGAD
IOC
SADC
Continental
Regional
Implementation
Centre – RIC
Cropland
and AGRHYMET, Niamey
Coastal and Marine Resources Management University of Ghana
NEW
Land Degradation Mitigation & Natural ICPAC, Nairobi, with
Habitat Conservation & Forest Information support from RCMRD
System NEW
and another centre Tbd
Coastal and Marine Resources Management
MOI, Quatre-Bornes
Agricultural and Environmental Resource BDMS, Gaborone
Management
Support to Climate Services (Climate Change ACMAD
Monitoring) NEW
Preparatory Status
 Financing Agreement has been signed in March 2012
 Administrative Arrangement with JRC signed Feb. 2013
 Technical Assistance Team in place since April 2013
 Grant Proposal submitted to AUC for technical evaluation.
 BDMS completed and submitted the MESA SADC THEMA proposal
to the SADC Secretariat for endorsement and subsequent submission
to AUC on the 4th April 2013
 SADC Secretariat submitted to proposal to AUC on the 30 April 2013.
 BDMS received two batches of comments from technical evaluators
last week, however, still awaiting consolidate official report from AUC..
 Technical Assitance expected at duty station (BDMS) 24 June 2013
Still hopeful for the Grant contract to be signed in July 2013
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Monitoring of Environment and
Security in Africa – MESA
SUMMARY OF
MESA SADC THEMA
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Outline
 Selection Criteria
 Project Location
 Relevance of the Action
 Description of the Action
 Coordination improvement
 Preliminary Evaluation Results
Shelter
AGRICULTURE
(Crop Monitoring / Grazing)
DROUGHT
FIRE
(Before, During, After)
Flooding
Deforestation
Quality of life
Air Quality
AMESD SADC
THEMA
Food
MESA SADC THEMA
Selection Criteria
Relevance of the Action
Project Location
The “right information at the
right moment”
 SADC territory is huge (233M
people on 9,882,959 Km2)
 Economies are mainly tight to their
Natural Resources




Crop production is responsible for
60-70% of export earnings and
employment
Selling agricultural resources is the
main generator of savings for the
people
95 per cent of agriculture in SADC is
rain dependant
Forest covers 33% of SADC land area
(357M hectares)
Continue AMESD Services + Flood

AMESD
Service
SADC Services
Agriculture
Service
Fire
Service
Drought
Service
Expand and improve
AMESD Services
 Specifically builds upon AMESD
SADC THEMA Achievements
Long Range Forecast
Capacity Building, User Interaction, Data Access
Ministries of Agriculture
Ministries of Environment
Proposed MESA
Service
MESA SADC THEMA Services
Agriculture
Agriculture
Service
(MoA)

Add one new service
(Flood Service)
Drought
Service
(NMS)
Environment
Wildfire
Service
(MoE)
Land Cover Change Detector
Long Range Forecast
Data Access
Capacity Building
User Interaction
Floods
Service
(MoWA)
MESA vs. AMESD (1)
Implementation structure
Regional
National
Policy level
RSC
NSC
Technical level
RWC
NWC
AMESD and MESA
MESA
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MESA vs. AMESD
Regional Steering
Committee
REC
SADC
RIC
BDMS
NAT level
1 Policy Maker
/ country
Chair
Secretary
1p / country
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MESA vs. AMESD
National Steering Committee
Example of Zambia
Chairman of ZAM-NSC +
Representative of the country in
Regional Steering Ctee
(= Mr. MESA)
Zambia National Steering Committee (ZAM-NSC)
DIR-W
Zambia
DIR-M
Zambia
DIR-A
Zambia
DIR-F
NFP-U
Zambia
Gambie
DIR-D
Zambia
DIR-U
Zambia
Directors at
Political level
(Meet once a year)
Chairman of ZAM-NWC
NFP-F
Zambia
NFP-M
Zambia
NFP-A
Zambia
NFP-D
Zambia
NFP-W
Zambia
Zambia National Working Committee (ZAM-NWC)
NFP-U
Zambia
National Focal Points
at Technical Level
(Meet regularly)
Legend:
M = Meteo
A = Agriculture
D = Drought
W = Wildfire
F = Floods
U = University
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MESA & AMESD (4)
Linkages
AUC / EC
Grant
Contract
Grant
Contract
REC (SADC)
MoU
F.A
RIC (BDMS)
MoU
P.A
Co-Applicants
MoU
MoU
National Working
Committee in
each country
AMESD and MESA
F.A = Financing Agreement
P.A = Partnership Agreement
MoU = Memorandum of Understanding
MESA
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Preliminary Results
RIC
Overall
Mark
Comments
Received Reviewed
Low B
There is a major concern on the document, for the lack of synthesis and
organization. The Implementation Plan offers a much clearer view of the
proposed project (which has indeed a lot of potential), but the Grant
21/5/2013
itself is the binding document and all essential information should be
presented there.
27/05/2013
AGRHYMET
B
The Grant proposal is clear and structured enough, facilitated by the fact
that the Services are in complete continuity with the AMESD ones. Some
14/5/2013
important point on the Service methodology and their continuity have to
be clarified, but no need to deeply re-organize the document.
22/05/2013
BDMS
High B
Some clarifications have to be provided (including the role/scope of the
two horizontal services), but the proposal is in itself valid.
14/5/2013
22/05/2013
Low B
The main concern it on the definition of the Activities (see major
comments). The work package breakdown (page 70) is not coherent with
the detail of the 'activities' in paragraph 2.1.1.6. Furthermore, the WP2 14/5/2013
and its sub-WPs should be organized by Service (now everything is
mixed).
22/05/2013
The overall proposal is good, main concern is on the definition of the
new Services (see major comment 1) and on the methodology to
implement them in co-ordination with MOI. For being a 'new' RIC a
rather good understanding of the project can be anyhow appreciated.
27/05/2013
ACMAD
CICOS
ICPAC
MOI
UoG
B
14/5/2013
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Clarification/Justification doc
What remains to be done?
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MESA & AMESD (4)
Linkages
AUC / EC
Contract
GrantGrant
Contract
REC (SADC)
MoU
F.A
RIC (BDMS)
13.Mar. 2013
??.Jul. 2013
MoU
P.A
Co-Applicants
Sep. 2013
MoU Oct. 2013
National Working
Committee in
each country
F.A = Financing Agreement
P.A = Partnership Agreement
MoU = Memorandum of Understanding
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THANK YOU
MERCI
General Purpose
To improve decision making-processes in Agriculture
environment Resource management in the SADC Region
 By increasing the information management
capacity of the participating member states
(specifically institutions mandated to deal with
Agriculture and environmental resources.
 By facilitating access to Africa-wide
environmental information derived from EO
technologies
2.a Global
Objectives
To enhance the management of Agricultural and Environmental
Resources (which includes EWS for Disasters) in Region
(SADC/Member states
To facilitate “ Informed decision making”
2.b Expected Results
– Result 1 : Improved access by African users to existing basic Earth
observation, field and ancillary data
– Result 2 : MESA SADC THEMA Geo-information Services developed and
made operational to improve decision-making processes
– Result 3 : Cross-fertilization and Continentalization of SADC THEMA
services realized.
– Result 4 : Political and policy frameworks are strengthened to ensure an
active and sustainable participation of SADC member states in the global
environmental surveillance initiatives
– Result 5 : An adequate technical level of AMESD African stakeholders is
permanently ensured
Proposed MESA SADC THEMA Services
3) SADC THEMA:
“Result”
MESA SADC
THEMA Services
Basic Ideas:
1. Expand and improve
 Agriculture
 Crop service
 Livestock
Drought
 Fire
2. Add 1 New services
Floods
Agriculture
Livestock
Service
(MoA)
Crops
Service
(MoA)
Environment
Drought
Service
(NMS)
Fire
Service
(MoE)
Agriculture
Land Cover Change Detector
Long Range Forecast
Data Access
Capacity Building
User Interaction
SA National Workshop 21 September 2012, Pretoria , South Africa
Floods
Service
(MWA)
Implemetation Structures
3) SADC THEMA: “Result”
National
Consortium
Coordinator
NFP-L
Zambia
NFP-C
Zambia
NFP-D
Zambia
NFP-W
Zambia
NFP-F
Zambia
NFP-U
Zambia
Zambia National Working Committee
Regional Working
Committees
REC
SADC
RIC
BDMS +
Partners
Technical
Counterparts 5 NFP's / country
End Users
Chair
Secretary
1p / country
Decision- and
Policy Makers
in each country
SA National Workshop 21 September 2012, Pretoria , South Africa
MESA & GMES
(2)
How to work together?
The stakeholders of the MESA program in Africa can benefit
a great deal from the GMES services; at the same time
the feedback from MESA users will be useful to refine
GMES products → a structured dialogue needs to be in
place.
Links between AMESD/MESA and GMES communities can
also be strengthened through capacity development
and training (from GMES to MESA stakeholders).
In practice: to start with, a technical forum between the two
communities could be organized back to back an
AMESD/MESA meeting, to present in detail GMES
services and agree on areas of cooperation
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