(Kinshasa, DRC, 30 April 2010): The African Union Commission has awarded a grant of Euro 1,295,789 to CICOS in the framework of the African Monitoring of the Environment for Sustainable Development (AMESD) programme – a pan-African programme working towards effective access by 47 African ACP countries to environmental information through satellite receiving stations being under deployment.

Exchange of originals between CICOS Secretary General and Head of EU delegation to DRC. From left to right: Head of the European Union Delegation in DRC, Mr. Richard Zink, H.E. Mr. Jean Bruno ITOUA, Minister of Energy from the Congo Republic and also President of the CICOS Ministerial Council and Col. Benjamin NDALA, CICOS Secretary General.

The Grant

The CICOS grant, which was signed on Friday 30 April 2010, for a 3-year period, is one of the five Regional Thematic Actions, also called THEMA, which are developed and implemented by AMESD in 5 African Economic Regions (CEMAC, ECOWAS, IGAD, IOC, SADC) in the areas of Management of water resources (CEMAC Region enlarged to DRC), Water management for cropland and rangeland management (ECOWAS Region), land degradation mitigation and natural habitat conservation (IGAD Region), coastal and marine management (IOC Region), and agricultural and environmental resources management (SADC Region).

Objective

The CEMAC/DRC THEMA aims to assist governments of the CEMAC Region, extended to the DRC, to use satellite data observation for proper management of water resources in the Central African region. The activities funded are needed to prepare two operational services for the Congo Basin, in a first stage, and Central Africa in a second stage.

The first operational service is a low water alert system on the Ubangi River, a trans-boundary river shared by the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, to be developed with navigation services. It will facilitate the interior navigation by providing relevant information to boatmen to enable proper loading of boats to pass the navigation steps on this inter-States corridor.

The second operational service is a water balance information system on the trans-boundary Ubangi sub-basin to be developed with hydrological services: rainfall and evapotranspiration maps will be disseminated to water managers and planners as well as climate change specialists. The tools and methodologies developed for this region will be disseminated to other African regions before mid 2013.

Based on the AMESD added value products, the latter would also help governments to formulate appropriate policies that can be able to properly manage their environmental resources.

Stakeholders Committed

"This grant allows the execution of all activities and the implementation of the AMESD program for Central Africa that has been started in the CICOS in January 2008” said Col. Benjamin NDALA, General Secretary of CICOS, on the occasion.

Head of the European Union Delegation in DRC, Mr. Richard Zink, on his part said that “EU is committed to help African Regional Economic Communities monitor their environmental resources and contribute to improving the living conditions of African citizens”.

H.E. Mr. Jean Bruno ITOUA, Minister of Energy from the Congo Republic and also President of the CICOS Ministerial Council, thanked the European Union for this great initiative contributing to alleviate the climate change threatening humanity. It also said that “the AMESD THEMA activities are a cornerstone in the implementation of Integrated Management of Water Resources (IWRM) in the Congo basin, in particular, and in Africa in general”

Representatives of the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Development Bank (ADB) and development partners of the CICOS such as French Cooperation and GTZ, were also present in the signing ceremony.

Implementing its program in over 47 African states, the AMESD programme addresses the need for improved environmental monitoring towards sustainable management of natural resources in five Regional Economic Communities of sub-Saharan Africa. The financing agreement for the AMESD program entered into force on 20 November 2006. The program is hosted by the African Union Commission (Addis Ababa). It is funded by the European Union under the 9th European Development Fund up to 21 million Euros, through Intra-ACP funds and regional indicative programs from CEMAC, ECOWAS, IGAD, IOC and SADC.

More information: www.cicos.info / www.amesd.org

© African Monitoring of Environment for Sustainable Development (AMESD), 2010

 

On 17 August 2009, the 3rd AMESD-EUMETCast satellite receiving station installed in the International Commission for Congo-Oubangui-Sangha Basin (CICOS) in Kinshasa, the RIC for the Communauté Economique et Monétaire des Etats d'Afrique Centrale (CEMAC) became operational. As of today, all the 5 AMESD Regional Implementation Centers (AGRHYMET, Niamey; Botswana Meteorological Service (BMS), Gaborone; CICOS, Kinshasa; ICPAC, Nairobi and the MOI, Quatre-Bornes) have an operational AMESD-EUMETCast satellite receiving station and can start to collect data and develop the AMESD added value products. In the near future, a supply contract will be concluded in order to supply, installed and train the future users, for another 47 new AMESD satellite receiving stations. This contract will also ensure the maintenance, repair and up-grade of 50 PUMA satellite EUMETCast receiving stations installed in the framework of the PUMA project (also funded by the European Union) in each National Meteorological Services of the 47 ACP African countries.