BRAGMA Project 1st Newsletter

1. BRAGMA
P ROJECT STARTS! January 23-24, 2012
BRAGMA
Project kick-off and
GMES and Africa
Coordination Team
meeting in Lisbon
Hosted by IICT in Lisbon, Portugal,
the meetings of the GMES and
Africa Coordination Team and
which resulted in the adoption of Discussions were focused on the
BRAGMA Project kick off took place.
“The Lisbon Process on GMES and prioritisation of the GMES and Africa
The BRAGMA project, coordinated
Africa” which required developing
, thematic areas, the organisation
by IICT is a Coordination and
an Action Plan in 2010. of consultation workshops in
Support Action to GMES and
Africa and the establishment of
Africa, supported by the European
These meetings where attended by a GMES and Africa Secretariat at
Commission.
all BRAGMA project partners and the AUC. During the GMES and
representatives of the European Africa Coordination Team meeting,
GMES (Global Monitoring for
Commission and African Union a work programme for 2012 was
Environment and Security) is
Commission, including also established in order to present
the European Programme for
representatives of the Nigeria tangible results by the end of the
the establishment of a European
and Egypt Space Agencies, of year.
capacity for Earth Observation:
the Economic Community Of
http://www.gmes.info/.
West African States (ECOWAS)
and United Nations Economic
The “GMES and Africa” process
Commission for Africa (UNECA).
was launched by the Maputo
Declaration, signed on 15 October
The Global Monitoring for
2006. The initiative aims to
Environment and Security (GMES)
strengthen and further develop
and Africa Coordination Team,
infrastructure for a more coherent
consisting of members from Africa
exploitation of Earth Observation
and Europe, met to discuss the way
data (space and in-situ),
forward for this initiative, taking
technologies and services in support
into account the recommendations
of the environmental policies for Link to video:
of the Space Troika meeting
sustainable development in Africa http://www2.iict.
between both African and European
and ACP countries. pt/?idc=21&idi=18035
Commissions with participation
(bilingual video, with
of Portugal, at the African Union
In response to the Maputo subtitles in Portuguese)
Commission (AUC) premises in
Declaration, a large event dedicated
December 2011.
to “GMES and Africa” was set
up in December 2007 in Lisbon, www.bragma.eu

2. BRAGMA Project Overview
BRAGMA (Bridging Actions for
GMES and Africa) is supported by
the European Commission with co-
funding under FP7.
Within the context of the Space
Track of the 8th Africa - EU Strategic
Partnership (Science, Information
Society, Space), BRAGMA is
specifically focused on Supporting
GMES and Africa coordination and endorsement and implementation
promoting awareness by: - Marine and Coastal Areas
of the GAAP, by working in
(which includes fisheries,
collaboration with key stakeholders
- Organising coordination and integrated coastal zone
to identify and facilitate the scope
thematic expert workshops management, transport, etc.)
and definition of high priority
- Facilitating participation - Water Resources Management
projects.
of pre-qualified African (which includes integrated
stakeholders at relevant basin management, ground
events to ensure pan-African Thematic Expert water, water scarcity)
engagement Meetings during 2012 - Long-Term Management
- Building the GMES and Africa of Natural Resources (which
community, by engaging with includes forest resources,
One of the key priority areas biodiversity, land resources,
key stakeholders, establishing
identified in the Second Action land cover change, protected
and connecting networks face
Plan of the 8th Africa-EU Strategic area management)
to face and online
Partnership for the period 2011 -
It also provides In-loco support
2013 is to finalise the development
to the development and A multi-day thematic expert
of the Action Plan based on the
implementation of GMES and meeting will be organised by
Baseline document on GMES and
Africa Action Plan (GAAP) BRAGMA partners for each of these
Africa taking into consideration
through thematic areas and preparations for
ongoing deliberations and guidance
- Investing on the connection these meetings are well advanced.
on the process since it was initiated
with governance
in 2007 for the implementation
- Contributing to the
process of GMES and Africa.
sustainability of the GMES and Please register on the BRAGMA
Africa initiative Portal, specifying GMES and
The current base line information
- Providing in-loco consultation Africa related thematic areas of
of the GMES and Africa addresses
and dissemination primary interest based on your
9 thematic areas as well as 5 cross
skills and experience. More
cutting issues.
BRAGMA will produce reports on
news on the timing and location
the contribution of GMES services
of the 2012 thematic expert
During 2012, at the request of the
and GMES & Africa related projects,
meetings will be announced in
European Commission (EC) and
to support a coherent strategy
May 2012.
African Union Commission (AUC),
between Europe and Africa
BRAGMA will focus primarily on
three of the nine GMES and Africa
Finally, BRAGMA supports the
Thematic Areas:
effective development, conclusion, www.bragma.eu

3. BRAGMA Organises GMES Next Events
and Africa Workshop in
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,
A workshop on Marine and
08 May 2012 Coastal Areas and Coordina-
tion Team Meeting is planned to
BRAGMA is organising a one day happen in Kenya, June 2012.
public workshop focused on GMES
and Africa on 08 May in Dar es A workshop on Water Manage-
Salaam, Tanzania. ment is planned to happen in
Nigeria, July 2012.
The BRAGMA Workshop will bring
together key stakeholders from A workshop on Long Term Man-
Africa and Europe, to discuss agement of Natural Resources
progress to date and showcase and is planned to happen in
a number of relevant projects Egypt, September 2012.
supporting work in different
thematic areas within GMES and A GMES and Africa Coordina-
Africa. tion Team to take in Addis back
to back to the 10th EUMETSAT
Organised as a pre-conference Forum, October 2012.
event to IST-Africa 2012, target
participants include thematic Next BRAGMA project meeting
subject experts as well as will take place in the 9th AARSE
sophisticated end-users of GMES Conference, Morocco, October
and Africa related applications. 2012
Online registration is opened from
April 2012.
www.bragma.eu