Space
technology to boost Africa Water Vision 2025
By Yinka Adeyemi
The Africa Water Vision 2025 will be accelerated by a space technology option which is initiated by the European Space Agency, according to a report of the second TIGER Workshop recently concluded in South Africa at the invitation of the South African government.
The Africa Water Vision 2025 is "an Africa where there is an equitable and sustainable use and management of water resources for poverty alleviation, socio-economic development, regional cooperation and the environment."
According to the report the initiative is aimed at "supporting African development efforts with pertinent space-based information for water resources development and use."
The space technology option was discussed at the Pan African Implementation and Partnership Conference last year in Addis Ababa and has also been tabled in Dakar, Paris, Pretoria, Rabat and Salzburg.
The programme has initiated concrete pilot projects focusing on food security, aquifer management, epidemiology and wetland monitoring.
These pilot projects, launched by the European Space Agency and complemented by 4-7 additional projects supported by the Canadian Space Agency, will provide early demonstrations of the capacity of space systems’ contribution to integrated water resources management.
The Space Agency expects that these projects will help in building a constituency for TIGER and for international donor agencies. Its success will largely be linked to its capacity to help deliver an Africa Vision 2025 for water management, the report says.
To further define structures, programmes and partnerships of cooperation for the application of space technology for water resources management in Africa, African institutions were invited to submit concrete proposals for pilot projects which would provide leadership in the implementation of continent-wide programmes.
The 95 project proposals submitted by more than 300 African experts deal with aquifer management and hydrogeology, river basin management for agriculture and food security; wetlands, lakes and coastal zone management; hydrological modelling; the problems of floods; and water issues related to health.
The proposals will form the first wave for TIGER’s programme for human and institutional capacity building for space-based information to water resources management, said the report.