Developing increased EO capacity for better agriculture and forestry management in Africa

28/09/2010, Brussels. Interview with Alan Edwards (EC/DG Research, Earth Observation Sector) @ the South Africa's biodiversity research partnership.



Alan Edwards answers what the genesis is of the FP7 call ENV.2011.4.1.4-1 "Developing increased EO capacity for better agriculture and forestry management in Africa". About non-research actors, he answers that the main non-research actors are [African] policy makers.

Related:

AGRISAT WORKSHOP, Brussels - 13-15 October 2010
The objective of this workshop is to review the state-of-the-art, the current issues and the way forward in agricultural monitoring systems for the different regions of the world. Key recommendations will be formulated in order to improve food security and agricultural production monitoring on a global scale, taking into account policy evolutions, agro-ecosystems diversity and satellite system developments.

The workshop frames under the GMES initiative and is a contribution to the GEO Agricultural Monitoring Task (Ag 0703) which has the goal of improving international coordination on earth observation for enhanced agricultural monitoring.

Back ground FP7 ENV Call

Area 6.4.1.4 Developing capacity building activities in the domain of Earth Observation in the new EU countries and in the developing countries. ENV.2011.4.1.4-1 Developing increased EO capacity for better agriculture and forestry management in Africa.

The main objective of this action is to contribute to food security in Africa by enhancing the

current global capabilities in the areas of agriculture monitoring, famine early warning, foodsupply and crop prediction and agriculture risk assessment, through increased use of Earth observation data.

Emphasis is placed on the creation and sustained provision of the required Earth observation data, enhancements of the observations (data products and predictive models) and the development of the necessary capacity and infrastructure to make the data and products available to improve agricultural and forestry management, including irrigation issues, using the full interoperable capability of the GEOSS.

The activity shall integrate and build upon GEO tasks, in particular AG-07-03: Global Agricultural Monitoring and GMES initiatives, including the ESA GMES Global Monitoring for Food Security Project, establishing the appropriate connections.

Funding scheme:

Collaborative Project (small or medium-scale focused research project) for specific cooperation actions (SICA) dedicated to international cooperation partner countries Expected Impact: Assembly, integration and provision of existing and newly generated geoinformation relevant for Agriculture, Forestry and Ecosystem management by building the necessary capacity, especially within developing countries. The substantial uptake of Earth Observation techniques, information and products by an increasingly large community of managers and decision makers.