Accessing Earth Observation (EO) data at the level of African institutions, this was the subject of discussions during the second session of the GMES Continental Forum, held on October 28, 2023. Accessing this data in due course is all the more crucial for it is highly important in the development of derived products that decision-makers and users might need. The various speakers recognized the fundamental role played by the African Union Commission and the European Commission through the European Space Agency (ESA) via the Copernicus program, in the democratization of EO data. Through the GMES&Africa program, access has been further strengthened, promoting the development and the provision of services to the user community: decision-makers, technicians, researchers, etc. The representative of the North Africa Consortium, Mr. Evence Zoungrana, welcomed this progress and stressed the need to adopt approaches that foster the use of innovative solutions and technologies to take full advantage of this EO data in order to offer products and services adapted to the user needs. He therefore recommended working on a paradigm shift: a situation that would call upon all user communities to take more interest and use tools and products relating to their specific themes of interest. For this to happen, he proposed working to customize the outputs in response to the thematic needs of the users, make the information, products and tools as simple and as user-friendly and attractive as possible, guarantee their best accessibility through mobile applications in order to reach the maximum number of users.
- Log in to post comments