Developing cooperation across GEO Activities to address marine hazards in Africa
An official side event of GEO Week 2021
Given that approximately 25% of Africa’s population live within 100 km of the coast, marine hazards pose increasing threats at local and regional levels.
These include eutrophication, coastal flooding, coastal erosion, marine pollution, and water-borne diseases – all of which can be exacerbated by climate change.
This event will review the role Earth Observations play in monitoring, preparing for, and recovering from, marine hazards and what GEO can do to support the coastal aspects of the Sendai Framework for disaster risk reduction in Africa to inform priorities and identify opportunities for future collaboration across GEO activities and regional GEOs working on this thematic. In the context of the UN Decade of Ocean Sciences for Sustainable Development, the event supports the Decade outcome a “safe ocean” and links to the Ocean Decade programmes such as CoastPredict and CEOS COAST.
Organisers
- GEO Blue Planet EU Coordination at Mercator Ocean International/ EU4OceanObs project
- AfriGEO
- GEO Human Planet
- GEO Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group
- GEO Digital Earth Africa
Programme
Event moderator – Audrey Hasson GEO Blue Planet EU coordinator/ Mercator Ocean International
11:00 – 11:15 CET Introduction
A global overview of marine hazards in Africa – Carlos Loureiro, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Local perspective, what issues are faced:
- Seychelles – Justin Prosper, Ministry of Environment
- Senegal – Amadou Moctar DIEYE Centre de Suivi Ecologique (CSE)
11:15 – 11:35 CET Addressing coastal pollution (plastic litter, oil spill, agricultural run off…)
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- AfriGEO – Phoebe Oduor
- GEO Blue Planet – Emily Smail
- GEO Human Planet – Daniele Ehrlich
- GEO Working Group on Disaster Risk Reduction – David Borges
- GEO Digital Earth Africa – Adam Lewis
11:35 – 11:50 CET Panel discussion
This event is hosted by Mercator Ocean International as part of the EU4OceanObs project, which facilitates the European coordination of GEO Blue Planet.
