EO Tools for the Conservation and Effective Management of Wetlands in Africa

GlobWetland Africa aims at facilitating the exploitation of satellite observations for the conservation, wise-use and effective management of wetlands in Africa, by providing African stakeholders with EO methods and tools to fulfil their Ramsar obligations and monitor the extent, integrity and conditions of their wetlands. The main project output is a free-of-charge and open-source toolbox for the end-to-end processing of a large portfolio of EO products (wetland inventory, wetland habitat mapping, wetland inundation regimes, water quality, mangrove inventory and characterisation, river basin hydrology) and the subsequent derivation of spatial and temporal indicators on wetland status and trends, from local to basin scales.

The project is executed in close cooperation with the Africa team of the Ramsar convention on wetlands and a number of African stakeholders representing different user profiles (Ramsar African regional initiatives, Ramsar National Focal Points, River Basin Authorities, International Conservation Organisations).

GlobWetland Africa helps African authorities to make the best use of satellite-based information on wetland extent and condition for better measuring the ecological state of wetlands and hence their capacity to support biodiversity and provide ecosystem services. As an ultimate objective GlobWetland Africa aims to enhance the capacity of the African stakeholders to develop their own national and regional wetland observatories.