The Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) is participating in a regional exchange workshop on Earth Observation (EO) data under the coordination of the African Union Commission from 24 to 26 July 2024, in Dakar, Senegal.

This workshop, which brings together the implementing project partners of the two consortia and other stakeholders (Beneficiaries and end-users, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), Regional or Sub-Regional similar initiatives, Academia, Private Sector, etc.) is the third Western African Workshop to be organized under the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security in Africa (GMES & Africa).

The African Union and the European Union developed the GMES & Africa programme, hosted and coordinated by the African Union Commission (AUC) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In Phase 2 (2022 to 2025), two (2) West African consortia led by the Centre de Suivi Ecologique (CSE) of Senegal and the University of Ghana (UoG) have been implementing two (2) projects on the “Water and Natural Resources Service” and the “Marine and Coastal Resources Service”. CSE is implementing the “Gestion Durable des Zones Humides et des Inondations en Afrique de l’Ouest (GDZHIAO)” while UoG is implementing the “Marine and Coastal Areas Management in North and West Africa (MarCNoWA)”.

The workshop has been organized to foster inter-regional cooperation between consortia to build on successful services and to promote the use of EO technologies among GMES and Africa Programme stakeholders. FCWC has been exploring ways in which Earth observation can provide critical data for sustainable practices and resource management, thereby playing a vital role in fisheries management in the region.

Kofi Taylor-Hayford
Communication Officer, FCWC