Mainstreaming the use of EO for International Development

International Financial Institutions (IFIs) provide technical and financial support to developing countries that are included in the classification of Official Development Assistance (ODA). ESA EO programmes have been providing support to the European EO services industry since 2010 through some 65+ small-scale activities to demonstrate the usefulness of EO-based information for ODA projects. This talk will give an overview of the role of EO-based information for sustainable development, and some examples of the results obtained with World Bank and Asian Development Bank projects. 

Rapid urbanisation is now occurring mostly in lower- and middle-income cities in Sub-Saharan Africa, South and East Asia, where the urban population will double over the next 20 years. By 2050, around 2.5 billion people or 66% of the global population will live in urban centres. The challenges faced by governments to manage this staggering growth are multi-faceted as they have to provide certain basic requirements to the population in term of infrastructure, access to clean water, electricity, sanitation as well as services to the inhabitants in order to avoid urban poverty, which will have consequences on the overall development of the country. This talk will give an overview of the new, larger-scale activities and planning for regional-scale demonstrations of EO-based products required to support IFI urban-related projects and capacity-building with local partners over the next 3 years

By 2040 the world’s population will reach 9 billion. In order to feed this larger, more urban population, food production must increase by an expected 70 percent. EO services can be used for many agriculture applications such as: guidance in planning, implementation and performance monitoring of IFI interventions for raising productivity, helping farmers reach markets, reducing production risk and financial risk (i.e. through microcredits and crop insurance) vulnerability and inequality, improving incomes off the farm, and making agriculture more environmentally sustainable. This talk will give an overview of the new, larger-scale activities and planning for regional-scale demonstrations of EO-based products required to support IFI agriculture-related projects and capacity-building with local partners over the next 3 years.

Water resources globally are under immense pressure. The successful implementation and monitoring of integrated water resources management (IWRM) initiatives requires access to reliable data and information on water related issues. There is a growing awareness that EO data has the potential to serve these data needs, especially in the context of IFIs and ODA operating in regions where policies and management decisions are often based on sparse and unreliable information. This talk will give an overview of the new, larger-scale activities and planning for regional-scale demonstrations of EO-based products required to support IFI water resources projects and capacity-building with local partners over the next 3 years.

- Dr. Hussein O. Farah, Director General, Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) Nairobi, Kenya,
- Mohammed D. Bila, Remote Sensing & GIS Expert, Lake Chad Basin Commission, N'djamena, Republic of Chad,
- Andre Nonguierma, GiSS Section, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
- Mr. Naoufel Telahigue, Regional Climate & Environment Specialist, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD),
- Representatives from World Bank and Asian Development Bank TBC.