African wetlands are among the most productive and biologically diverse ecosystems in the world, but they are also experiencing immense pressure from human activities, the most important being drainage for agriculture and settlement, excessive exploitation by local communities and improperly planned development activities. The future of African wetlands lies in a stronger political will to protect them, based on sound wetland policies and encouragement for community participation in their management. Since 1971, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands has been the intergovernmental treaty providing the framework for national actions and international cooperation for the conservation and wise usage of wetlands. To date, 169 countries have adopted the Ramsar Convention and have designated 2,220 wetland sites of international importance for a comprehensive area of more than over 214 Million hectares.
The European Space Agency and the Ramsar Secretariat have jointly launched GlobWetland Africa as a major initiative to provide the major actors involved in the implementation of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in Africa (i.e. the African Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention, the Ramsar regional initiatives existing in Africa, the African river basin authorities, and the international/regional conservation agencies active in Africa), with Earth Observation methods and tools to assess the conditions of wetlands under their areas of jurisdiction/study, and to better monitor their trends over time.
| GlobWetland Africa will help African authorities to make the best use of satellite-based information on wetland extent and condition for better measuring the ecological state of wetlands and hence their capacity to support biodiversity and provide ecosystem services. To this end, an open source and free-of-charge software toolbox will be developed for the end-to-end processing of a large portfolio of EO products (including wetland inventory, wetland habitat mapping, inundation regimes, water quality, mangroves mapping and river basin hydrology) and the subsequent derivation of spatial and temporal indicators on wetland status and trends, from local to basin scales. |
The proof-of-concept and proof-of-value of the GW-A Toolbox will be provided through a set of use case demonstrations executed over +70 pilot areas spread across the African continent. In addition, the project will also organize regional training courses for the partner organizations and ensure technical assistance during a period long enough to allow for an appropriation of the provided methods, tools and products.
As an ultimate objective GlobWetland Africa will aim to enhance the capacity of the African stakeholders to develop their own national and regional wetland observatories, and thereby also acting as a key contributor towards the development of a Global Wetlands Observing System (GWOS).
About:
GlobWetland Africa is a project funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) in partnership with the Africa Team of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.
For further information please contact Senior Project Manager Christian Tøttrup, cto@dhi-gras.com