Highlights and images for 31 October 2022

GEO Week 2022 opened in Accra, Ghana, with in-person and online participants attending the opening of the AfriGEO Symposium, sessions following the youth and industry tracks, and a number of side events. The Group on Earth Observations (GEO), an intergovernmental partnership of more than 100 countries plus the European Commission, promotes the extensive use of earth observations data, information, and knowledge for research, policy, decisions, and action. 

Opening the AfriGEO Symposium, Ernest Acheampong, Geo Secretariat, underlined that the Symposium was an opportunity to develop regional capabilities to achieve the African Union’s Agenda 2063: the Africa We Want. Several speakers made opening remarks, including Yana Gevorgyan, Director, GEO Secretariat, who underlined that Earth Observation (EO) information can help unlock climate finance and enhance national planning capacities.

Mmboneni Muofhe, Department of Science and Technology, South Africa, welcomed individual members’ initiatives related to EO, noting the potential for harnessing EO to address persistent and emerging global threats. Tidiane Outtara, African Union Commission (AUC), underlined that Africa “is the future for GEO in the world,” particularly for geospatial products and services.

Participants attended four symposium sessions on: building resilient and sustainable systems; building resilient and sustainable communities; sustainable urban development; and the road to GEO post-2025. On resilient and sustainable systems, participants heard calls from panelists to, among others, propagate the knowledge that geospatial policies have to enhance local, national, and regional development actions. The need to connect the dots between national EO initiatives to strengthen the EO system as a whole was also highlighted.

On the road to GEO post-2025, Amos T. Kabo-bah, University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), underscored the need for continuity in the GEO process, and emphasized that the GEO should be a catalyst for a better world, stressing that “this is the time for Africa” to take the lead in changing the understanding of the potential for EO in global problem solving.

The industry track opened under the theme, “Public-Private Partnerships: A Catalyst for Local Action.” During the session, Gevorgyan, Director, GEO Secretariat, identified public-private partnerships as an accelerator of global action and noted this GEO week provides an opportunity for industry and other stakeholders to reflect on the future of the GEO post-2025.

Women in GIS (WiGIS) led a discussion panel for the GEO Youth Track on young and mid-career women in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and EO, involving young women sharing their experiences in using GIS/EO to inspire others around the world. In a keynote presentation, Mónica Estébanez Camarena, Delft University of Technology, emphasized the need to involve women and girls from problem definition to the provision of solutions, ensuring greater female representation in the public and private sectors and improving targeted training and mentorship programmes.

Several side events convened throughout the day. In an event on Open Data Policies Global Overview and Focus in Africa, Emily Smail, Executive Director, GEO Blue Planet Initiative, highlighted three challenges for geospatial data: inaccessibility; data gaps from the lack of maintenance of in situ systems; and poor useability, with a lack of curated products or regional capacity in processing data.