Several themes will be on the agenda during these five days, namely, the monitoring of physical oceanography variables, marine currents forecasting, use of imagery for the study of oceanic mesoscale features, tools to visualize oceanic charts for detection of potential fishing zones, ocean colour and Earth observation applications for fisheries and the use of the AMESD e-station, amongst others.

In his address at the opening ceremony, the Officer in Charge of the MOI, Mr Reza Badal, pointed out that access to ocean data is critical to understand and manage the marine environment in a sustainable manner. To that effect, the AMESD project will equip all partners with the technology capable of satellite data acquisition. Given the critical importance of specialised training in satellite oceanography, further training in ocean data manipulation and treatment will be made available, he said.

AMESD-IOC Thema

The AMESD programme addresses the need for improved environmental monitoring towards sustainable management of natural resources in five regions of sub-Saharan Africa.  As a Regional Implementation Centre, the MOI has been entrusted the responsibility for implementing and managing on a regional basis the IOC project Thema related to coastal and marine management.

The overall objective of the IOC Thema is to help governments and institutions of the IOC member countries (Mauritius, Seychelles, Comoros, Madagascar, Reunion), and countries bordering the Mozambique Canal (Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique) to make better use of environmental observation data, especially from satellites, with regard to  the definition and follow-up of their marine and coastal policies. Within the AMESD-COI Thema, two main services that are being developed include the provision of e-tools to AMESD regional partners for marine resources management as well as atlases and information bulletins for climate change monitoring and marine hazards mitigations. 

The regional activities of the AMESD project in the IOC region began in 2009 further to the signing between the Africa Union and the MOI of the “IOC THEMA Grant contract” to the tune of more than one million euros. During the first phase of implementation, continental and regional training sessions were organised, AMESD-MOI products and services were defined in consultation with regional partners and national pilot projects were outlined in association with national partners.