SASSCAL to host consortium partners
The Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL) will be hosting a technical partners workshop in Namibia on 27 and 28 June to review the progress of activities and deliverables for its WeMAST Phase II project.The workshop will see the project team, technical partners and private sector assess the advancements of the project and re-align the roles of the technical partners ensuring a common understanding of the project objectives, activities/tasks, and deliverables as per the Implementation Action Plan for 2024.
SASSCAL, one of the consortiums under the GMES & Africa Programme, is entrusted to design, develop, and operationalise an integrated geospatial data platform that provides wetlands information services.
SASSCAL’s Wetlands Geoportal is set to extend existing Earth Observation capabilities in Southern Africa for wetlands monitoring and assessment. The Geoportal is an online platform that aims to provide policy and decision-makers with effective wetlands assessment and monitoring tools based on Earth Observation (EO) technology that promotes policy implementation and encourages innovative and solid wetland management practices in Southern Africa.
Strategic platform
Other consortiums under the GMES & Africa Programme are the International Commission for the Congo-Oubangui-Sangha Basin (CICOS), Centre de Suivi Ecologique (CSE), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), IGAD Climate Prediction & Applications Centre (ICPAC), Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS), the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD), and University of Ghana (UG) funded to implement projects in response to the development of services for water, natural resources, marine and coastal areas, addressing the global needs to manage the environment and ensure civil security.
The workshop will be a strategic platform and opportunity to allow SASSCAL to showcase the new features and functionalities of the enhanced WeMAST geoportal and get feedback from the technical partners to allow the finalisation of its development and get feedback on the implementation challenges and opportunities.
SASSCAL and its technical partners, Midlands State University, Zimbabwe, University of Namibia, University of Botswana, University of Zambia, National Remote Sensing Centre, Zambia, University of Western Cape, South Africa, and Locate IT, Kenya, seek to enhance the products and services of the Geoportal.