GMES&AFRICA ACTION PLAN
Link with full original document (chapters in English and French):
http://gmes-africa.iict.pt/images/pdf/GMESandAfrica_ActionPlan_Version0.pdf
Relevant translations are available in the English, French and Portuguese versions (see top right of this web page).
Disclaimer 1 - The document reflects the opinion of the experts who drafted the different chapters, subject of the present consultation. The content of each chapter does not reflect a formal position of the AUC and of the EUC.
Disclaimer 2 - The original documents have been written in English, with the exception of Chapters 11 and 12, written in French. Please refer preferably to the original versions for the consultation: for internal & timing reasons it has not been possible to provide full translations of the texts. The versions available in other languages than the original are the result of an automatic translation revised by mother tongue persons.
Guidance to the GMES&Africa consultation process: Download
How to comment Draft 0? Please refer to the "Help section".
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Comments
Submitted by William Westermeyer on 2 July, 2010 - 16:39. - #1
Climate for Development in Africa Programme
Thank you for giving me the opportuity to comment on the draft of the GMES and Africa Action Plan. I will restrict my comments at this time to the Climate for Development in Africa Programme (ClimDev Africa). The authors do indeed make several references to this very important programme at various places in the text. However, these are made almost entirely in passing. As I read the text, the authors do not appear to be aware of the nature and scope of this programme or of its potential importance to the GMES and Africa Action Plan. Although ClimDev Africa has taken considerable time to get off the ground, it is important to know that it has been endorsed by the Heads of State of the African Union and also by the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development. The Global Climate Observing System Secretariat had a not inconsiderable role in facilitating the launch of the Programme, but it is now entirely owned by the African Union Commission, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, and the African Development Bank. The Bank has recently announced an initial grant of some $37 million for institutional support for four African regional climate institutions to undertake initial activities. However, as envisioned, this is only a first tranche, as the Bank has plans to seek funding from prospective donors (among them, no doubt, the European Union) of several hundreds of millioins more in the next few years. In short, the Programme already has momentum (now growing), some funding, and high-level political support. The GMES & Africa plan needs to consider ways to develop synergies with ClimDev Africa and not to compete with it. As ClimDev Africa encompasses climate policy, climate observations, climate services, and climate risk management, there are plenty of places in which to cooperate and collaborate. Hence, for starters, I propose that you include a much expanded discussion in your document about ClimDev Africa (not just passing references that mainly indicate your unfamiliarity with the Programme) and that you propose ways to bring the two programmes together. The real energy behind ClimDev Africa at this time is the African Development Bank, so you need to make some connections there.
Of lesser importance, but still worth noting are the following: 1) in the table on page 20 of Section 2, you don't even mention the African Development Bank, which has by far and away been the most active in the programme--and the one which has contributed funding. UNECA is not really coordinating the Programme. It is more complicated, as the Programme has essentially bifurcated into two parts at this point. 2) In the chapter on (??) Water Resources Management, section 8.1, the authors mention that "beneficial synergies do need to be created with...ClimDev Africa." Good! 3) In section 7.7.2 of the natural disasters chapter the authors mention that "GEO has strong links to Africa through UNECA and other Africa based participating organizations such as AARSE, EIS-AFRICA and ClimDevAfrica." This is completely false insofar as ClimDev Africa is concerned. GEO is not involved in ClimDev Africa at all, although it might have heard about it. GEO could at some point usefully help to give ClimDev Africa visibility and to facilitate access to funding, but so far it has done neither of these things. 4) In the same chapter, section 8.2.1 it is again implied that GEO/GEOSS and ClimDev are somehow linked, as in: "the comprehensive GEOSS Climate programmes in particular the ClimDevAfrica." This is completely false. There is no connection.
I find the commenting process difficult to use, but could be available for follow-up discussions through email, etc.
Submitted by Jo Lambert on 29 July, 2010 - 11:03. - #2
GARNET-E Consolidated Comments on the Action Plan
The FP7 GARNET-E Project Consortium strongly welcomes the GMES & Africa Action Plan developed by the GMES and Africa Coordination Team, and totally supports this important initiative for improving access to Earth Observation (EO) products and services across Africa.
Our consortium partners have reviewed the draft document and found it well organised and reflecting the EO needs of Africa. We further appreciate that the preparation of the document was in full partnership between African and European experts. We welcome now the opportunity to comment on the content. Our comments are organised in two parts: We will start with general comments that apply to all thematic areas, to be followed by specific comments on each thematic area.
Please see attached file: GARNET-E consolidated comments on the Action Plan_FINAL.pdf
Submitted by Steve Palmer on 30 July, 2010 - 10:52. - #3
SPalmer - Consolidated comments on Action Plan
Please find attached consolidated comments on the Action Plan.
Submitted by Steve Groom on 6 August, 2010 - 17:03. - #4
Comments on the GMES and Africa Marine and Coastal Text
The European Commission Framework 7 “Europe Africa Marine Network (EAMNet)” project wishes to express its strong support for the GMES and Africa process and the draft 0 GMES and Africa Action plan. We believe it is an important step in the advancement of Earth Observation in Africa, and, in the marine and coastal area, supports the development of GOOS-Africa.
Members of the EAMNet consortium and advisory board were extensively involved in the GMES and Africa process and were responsible for writing the Marine and Coastal theme text. Specifically, Prof Geoff Brundrit, (GOOS-Africa) was African lead author and is a member of the EAMNET Advisory Board. Justin Ahanhanzo (IOC-UNESCO) and Mark Dowell (JRC) both supporting authors are also members of the EAMNet Advisory Board while Steve Groom (PML) was a contributing author and is Coordinator of EAMNet. Furthermore, the European lead author Dr Nic Hoepffner, JRC, while not involved in EAMNet is a partner in FP7 DevCoCast and works closely with PML, UCT and NERC, inter alia, also DevCoCast partners. Finally, Vincent Gabaglio, EUMETSAT, also an EAMNet partner, was Europe lead for the infrastructure Framework.
The EAMNet proposal was submitted in December 2008 before the GMES and Africa meeting at JRC in March 2009 while the project itself only started in March 2010. So although the authors had the aims of EAMNet in mind whilst writing the Draft 0 text it was uncertain whether EAMNet would be funded. Therefore, the comments in this document refer to the manner in which EAMNet may interact with or support development of a GMES and Africa Marine and Coastal initiative. The attached also comments on new European GMES initiatives that have started in the area (such as AQUAMAR) or associated with the major new European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative that obviously were not mentioned in the earlier text. Furthermore, individual EAMNet partners have been encouraged to provide comments, in addition to the text below, to provide an independent perspective.
We will follow up this input with a formal letter providing high level comments and indicating priorities.
Submitted by Kate Lance on 31 July, 2010 - 19:23. - #5
Comment from SERVIR-Africa
The GMES & Africa Action Plan inventories a great number of existing initiatives in Africa and points out that "[d]ue to lack of a shared vision, all those initiatives are largely uncoordinated. This situation needs to be urgently addressed, starting from the continental and the regional levels (p.18)." SERVIR-Africa is amongst the regional initiatives mentioned (i.e., 14, p.33, p.57, p.70). The Action Plan further recommends that “[t]he financial and technical partners of GMES Africa should also envisage the permanent dialog with other programs involved in the long-term management of natural resources (SERVIR-Africa, CARPE, CBERS…) (p.76).” Again SERVIR-Africa is mentioned. SERVIR-Africa gladly welcomes the opportunity to engage in a process by which GMES Africa and SERVIR-Africa partners jointly plan and budget the use of yet-to-be-allocated resources (of both initiatives), so that the two initiatives can move beyond merely recognizing each other and instead pool, align, optimize, and evaluate the assets that both initiatives are bringing (or plan to bring) to earth observation (EO) infrastructure in Africa. I am not clear where or how in the consultation and planning processes this can occur, but my suggestion is that we put our collective heads (and budgets) together - the sooner the better - and do our best to sort through the modalities, accountabilities, and mechanisms for EO sustainability. Thanks for the opportunity to comment.
Submitted by Rabiah Nasir-Habeeb on 5 August, 2010 - 12:17. - #6
Comments on GMES_Africa work plan
Comments on GMES _Africa Action plan – Monique Viel & Rabiah Nasir-Habeeb (ARGANS Ltd)
General comments
GMES Africa theme on natural hazards and disaster
[1] In 2009, the South African National Space Agency Bill has been put into law, which could see South Africa setting up its own space agency later this year to pull together all space-related activities in the country under one banner.
[2] The Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) is a partnership (18 countries and International organisations[2]) of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) system to support the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA). The GFDRR is managed by the World Bank on behalf of the participating donor partners and other partnering stakeholders.