BRAGMA Project 4th newsletter

1. The BRAGMA project, coordinated by IICT is a Coordination and Support Action to GMES and Africa, supported by the
European Commission.The former Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) Initiative, now called Copernicus,
is the European Programme for the establishment of a European capacity for Earth Observation: http://www.copernicus.eu
GMES & Africa Projects
The GMES Africa initiative started with
the Maputo Declaration in October 2006.
The Declaration explicitly called upon
the European Union to plan an extension
of its GMES initiative to Africa and other
ACP countries.
In December 2007, during the EU-Africa
BRAGMA Bridging Actions
for GMES & Africa
Newsletter no.4 | July 2013
Summit in Lisbon, the Lisbon Process on
“GMES and Africa” was approved by the
Heads of States of Europe and Africa.
The GMES and Africa initiative has been
integrated into the Action Plan of the EU-
Africa Joint Strategic Partnership, under
Partnership #8 on Science, Information
Society and Space.
African and European experts drafted
the baseline GMES & Africa Action Plan,
which aims to improve the exploitation
of Earth Observation data (space and in-
situ), technologies and services in support
of sustainable development in Africa.
BRAGMA’s 4
th
Newsletter is dedicated
to outlining some of the projects related
to the GMES & Africa initiative.
EAMNet has constructed a network
linking Earth Observation (EO)
information providers, user networks
and centres of excellence in Europe and
Africa in the area of coastal and marine
observations in support of sustainable
development in Africa.
The overall aim was to improve the
exploitation of EO data for coastal
and oceanic monitoring towards an
African contribution to a world-wide
observation system.
EAMNet is coordinated by Plymouth
Marine Laboratory (PML) with 9 other
partners in Africa and Europe.
African Monitoring of the
Environment for Sustainable
Development / Monitoring
of Environment and
Security in Africa
The African Monitoring of Environment
for Sustainable Development (AMESD)
program will come to an end in 2013.
A new program – ‘Monitoring of
Environment and Security in Africa
(MESA)’ will bridge with AMESD.
The implementation of MESA will start
in 2013 and run until 2018.
The AMESD program is a partnership
between the African Union Commission
(AUC) and the European Union (EU).
The program started in 2007.
The AMESD program addresses the need
for improved environmental monitoring
towards sustainable management of
natural resources in five regions of sub-
Saharan Africa, 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
Medina Marine Ecosystem
Dynamics and Indicators for
North Africa
The Medina project comprises a team of
12 partners (www.medinaproject.eu)
The project started in October 2001 and
will end in September 2014.
The main overall objective of the project
is to enhance the capacities of Northern
African Countries (Morocco, Algeria,
Tunisia, Libya and Egypt) to monitor
their Mediterranean coastal ecosystems,
including fish stocks resources.
This objective will be achieved by
exploiting to the maximum possible
extent the data from remote sensing as
well as the resources made available by
the Global Earth Observation Systems
of Systems Common Infrastructure
(GCI). Tools developed in MEDINA will
to enhance monitoring for preparedness
andadaptationtoenvironmentalchange,
including sustainable management of
the environment thereby contributing to
poverty alleviation.
Therefore the program aims 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.
The project started in March 2010 and
ended in June 2013.
It provided an interface between
European GMES-related core and
downstream services and R&D projects
(notably MyOcean) and African
initiatives (e.g. AMESD and MESA) with
the emerging GMES andAfrica initiative.
Europe-Africa Marine
EO Network

2. Officially launched in February 2011, the team involves seven partners bringing
together scientists, SMEs and practitioners in the field of water management and
water allocation.
The project focuses on water resources allocation, the identification of current
water use, and high resolution monitoring of several water resources.
For this purpose an operational earth observation system will be developed which
includes a website with weekly updates on water resource data.This system will be
linked to GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) in order to make
the data accessible for multiple users.
Newsletter no.4 | July 2013
The European Space Agency Looking
after Water in Africa initiative
The European Space Agency launched the TIGER initiative in 2002, responding to the urgent need for improved integrated
water resource management in Africa stressed by the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).The
ongoing TIGER initiative is an international collaboration in the frame of CEOS/GEOSS and has been endorsed by AMCOW
(African Ministers’ Council on Water) as well as most recently by the scientific AARSE community in its El Jadida declaration.
The overall objective of theTIGER initiative is to assist African countries to overcome problems faced in the collection, analysis
and use of water-related geo-information by exploiting the advantages of EO technology.The focus ofTIGER is on dedicated
capacity building activities in collaboration with African national to regional water authorities such as training courses, research
and development project as well as providing access to EO software tools and EO data.
be made available worldwide through a dedicated e-infrastructure, fully compatible with the GCI.
The project identifies major drivers and pressures in the Mediterranean coastal and marine areas of the North African region,
and performs a regional assessment of the status of the coastal and marine ecosystems. Five critical areas in the Mediterranean
basin where the ecosystem is facing further deterioration, due to unsustainable management of human activities, including
fishery, will be used as case studies, for testing MEDINA indicators and models. Results will be provided to relevant national
or regional administrations during national workshops.
The main goal of the GARNET-E Project
was to develop a network of EU, African
organizations and African users in
order to build economic, technical and
commercial capacity within African
Statesinsupportofenhancedemergency
response capabilities in Africa.
A team of 17 Partners - led by Infoterra
from the UK, supported through EU
funding which started in May 2010.
GARNET-E ran over 2 years, starting on
the 1st of may 2010 and ending on the
30th of April 2012
With two sub-objectives:
1. To enable the integration of African
requirements in the definition of future
operation of the GMES Emergency
Response Service in Africa.
2. To encourage the strengthening and
building of regional and local capabilities
in order to allow African users and policy
makers to access Earth Observation-
derived information provided by the
Emergency Response Service.
GMES & Africa: Regional Network
for Information Exchange and
Training in Emergencies
Incomati Basin (WATPLAN)
Operational Monitoring
Product for Planning and Water
Allocation in the International
Support EO-driven forest and
carbon monitoring in Central
Africa for REDD
The REDDiness project comprises six
partners and started in February 2011
and ended in January 2013.
The main objective of the project
was to strengthen the national forest
monitoring centers of the Republic
of Congo and Gabon in their efforts
to implement the REDD+ mechanism
through the concrete support of specific
technical Remote Sensing (RS) aspects
and related capacity building. Two
technical training sessions were held
locally both in Congo and Gabon.
Associated with these technical training
sessions, the project has built and
improved the technical local expertise
through the participation in fieldwork
(use of GPS, collection of data and
integration in GIS database…) for the
verification and validation process of
the cartographic products.

3. Newsletter no.4 | July 2013
REDD Fast Logging Assessment
& Monitoring Environment
The project designed, prototyped and
demonstrated a system capable of
monitoring tropical and sub-tropical
forests using high-resolution radar
(and optical) imagery acquired by Earth
Observation satellites. By focusing on
early detection of logging activities, the
system provided the means to quickly
identify the first signs of deforestation
and thus act as a tool to control resource
use and sustainable development within
these fragile and valuable environments.
The REDD-Flame project comprised a
team of eight partners, led by RSAC Ltd,
from the United Kingdom.
MALAREO’s main goal was to develop technology and
implement earth observation (EO) capacities within malaria
vector control and management programs in southern Africa.
EUROSENSE is leading MALAREO, within a consortium that
comprises six partners.
The project start date was February 2011 and it ended in
January 2013.
The project area of Malareo was the border region South Africa-
Swaziland-Mozambique.
In order to achieve its main objective the project envisaged
knowledge exchange and capability in two directions (Europe
- Southern Africa). By doing this, the project contributed to
the installation of an Earth Observation monitoring cell that
Science based remote sensing
services to support REDD and
sustainable forest management
in tropical region
The ReCover project aims to develop
service capabilities beyond state-of-the-
art, in order to support the fight against
deforestation and forest degradation
in the tropical region, in the context
of REDD (Reducing Emissions from
Deforestation and Forest Degradation).
The ReCover project comprises a
consortium with nine partners.The
project started in November 2010 and
will end December 2013.
REDD will be a major driver in the
development of more effective and
reliable procedures for monitoring
tropical forests.
Reducing Emissions
from Deforestation and
Degradation in Africa
The REDDAF project supports MRV developments in Cameroon and CentralAfrican
Republic by developing, testing and providing improved methodologies using a
combination of optical and RADAR satellite data coupled with in-situ information
for operational monitoring of forest cover and biomass changes.
The REDDAF project involves seven partners, led by GAFAG, Germany.
The project started in January 2011, will end in December 2013.
The project emphasizes the importance of involving the Users in various project
tasks and activities - from the User Requirements Analysis through Service
Development to Service Validation. Moreover, Dissemination andTraining ensures
that the methods and techniques developed are transferred to the User and to a
wider external audience through seminars, workshops, and scientific publications.
Project results are integrated into existing national and regional forest policies taking
into consideration the existing institutional framework and technical capacities.
EO in Malaria Vector Control
and Management
supported the daily work of the national malaria control
programs.
The Malareo work plan was based on the Capacity Gap
Analysis, the followed strategy was to analyze user
requirements along with state of the art on the use of Earth
Observation for malaria control and management.
The objective was for this report to expose the capacity needs
that could be addressed by capacity building or the ones that
required a methodology development prior to the capacity
building step. Among its deliverables there is a Capacity gaps
analysis and priority report and Capacity building plan.
Started in March 2011 and ended in
April 2013.
Using very high-resolution data from
radar satellites such as TerraSar-X,
the project developed potential for
adding value to existing forest satellite
monitoring systems that use lower
resolution imagery.
By implementing pilot projects on three
continents, REDD-FLAME monitored
logging hot spots where the threat
from illegal logging is currently very
significant, in Brazil in South America,
Mozambique in Africa, and Indonesia in
South East Asia.

4. Support Action to GMES
Africa on Earth Observation
Thisprojectconsistedofafeasibilitystudy
to design and assess the organization
of African national resources and the
associated technologies for Earth
Observation applications.
With a team of 8 Partners, the project
started in August 2010 and ended
October 2012.
Newsletter no.4 | July 2013
GMES & Africa future Events
• GMES&Africa CoordinationTeam Meeting: Brussels, Belgium, February 2013
• Water Resources Management Workshop - technical consultation forum: Abuja, Nigeria, Spring 2013, dateTBC.
• Natural ResourcesWorkshop - technical consultation forum: Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, Summer 2013, dateTBC.
• Validation Workshop: South Africa, Summer 2013, dateTBC
Links:
http://www.bragma.eu
http://bragma.mixxt.eu/
http://capacity4dev.ec.europa.eu/africa-eu-part.gmes/
Relevant Events - 2013
ESA Living Planet Symposium
9-13 September, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
http://www.livingplanet2013.org/
AfricaGIS 2013 and GSDI World Conference
(GSDI 14)
4-8 November, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Spatial Enablement in Support of
Economic Development and Poverty Reduction.
http://www.gsdi.org/gsdi14
BRAGMA future Events
The Validation Workshop of the First Three GMES &
Africa Thematic Workshops will take place in South
Africa, 15 -16 October 2013
When dealing with environment-related issues, local
and Regional Authorities (LRAs) are at the forefront of
policy-making and initiative-building for whom new
tools, information and knowledge from Copernicus (formerly GMES)
are of great value.
The ambition of GMES4Regions is to facilitate the transition from
“potential users” to “beneficiaries” and foster the development of
proven value-added services to meet the diverse requirements of
local government.
GEONETCast for and by
Developing Countries
The DevCoCast comprised a team
of fifteen international partners,
started in May 2008 and finished in
September 2011.
This project succeeded at extending
the GEONETCast satellite broadcasting
network to
Effectively bridge Earth Observation
product providers across thematic
domains and continents, including
Africa and Latin America,
emphasizing the technology’s open-
ness and flexibility
Further develop receiving station
networks in Latin America (in
particular Brazil) and for Africa’s
Large Marine Ecosystem monitoring
centres (an effort further developed
by FP7-EAMNET project)
Combining low cost data access via
GEONETCast with free software tools
and training, DevCoCast furthermore
supported everyday use of the shared EO
products in research, higher education,
day-to-day monitoring, planning and
(ultimately) decision making processes.
It developed for instance multi-language
training material built with exercises
built by African and Latin American
users of GEONETCast data, which
continues to be elaborated (e.g. in FP7-
AGRICAB project).
SAGA-EOinvolvedfiveAfricancountries:
Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Congo
and Mozambique.
Dedicated multi-thematic networks
of actors were set up in five African
countries. Each network was organized
according to a model named horizontal
model for pooling and exploiting the
common means - EO based information,
infrastructure or knowledge. After a
definition phase, two realistic scenarios
(flood and food security) were played
during50days,with65actorsrepresenting
55 national institutions that are in 15
sectors. According to the user feedback
analysis (more than 4500 answers), the
horizontal model proposed by SAGA-EO
was adopted for the implementation of a
national EO user network.