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and leaders from non-governmental organizations (NGOs),
businesses and other major groups, to focus the world’s atten-
tion and direct action towards meeting difficult challenges.
These include improving people’s lives and conserving natural
resources in a world that is growing in population, with ever-
increasing demands for food, water, shelter, sanitation, energy,
health services and economic security.
Partly, this effort is supported by the Committee on Earth
Observation Satellites (CEOS), whose membership comprises
all civil space agencies with major Earth observation capabili-
ties, representing about 33 countries and major user
organizations (WMO, UNEP, FAO, etc.). Its members include
agencies from developed countries (Europe, USA, Japan, etc.)
and developing countries or countries in transition (Russia,
India, Brazil, South Africa, Thailand, etc.). The United
States/NASA is one of the major players and contributors,
supporting several CEOS activities and working groups listed
in the CEOS annual report. In particular, CEOS has chartered
NASA to address the WSSD issues for Africa.
There is no sustainable development without adequate infor-
mation about the planet Earth as an integrated system. This is
in keeping with the goals of the Global Earth Observations
System of Systems (GEOSS) concept. Space observations and
mathematical models provide the venue to achieve this objec-
tive. Space is not a tool only for developed countries; on the
contrary, space technology serves many needs of developing
countries, where access to information is often difficult or costly.
NASA and many other international space agencies fly and
will continue to fly Earth observing satellites which provide
important observations such as ocean colour, sea surface
temperature, soil moisture, vegetation coverage, atmospheric
precipitation, radiation, tropospheric gasses, humidity, and
many more parameters. These parameters are further used in
retrieval algorithms to derive additional products which are of
great interest for the common inhabitants and the research
community. These products offer a great deal of valuable infor-
mation that is directly usable on the continent of Africa to
address the following areas to reduce risk:
• Health and disease control
• Disaster mitigation (e.g. fires, drought warning, floods,
volcanic eruptions, dust storms, severe weather conditions,
earthquake assessment)
• Hydrology problems
• Coastal erosion
• Ecological protection
• Agriculture efficiency and food security
• Air quality.
One of the most effective and expedient ways to involve African
communities is to help them build the necessary capacities to take
advantage of the remotely-sensed data. NASA practises open data
policy throughout the world. In fact, NASA data is being down-
loaded in all continents via the direct broadcast capability on its
two major (Terra and Aqua) platforms. This helps non-space
system nations to take direct advantage of this and make use of
space-observed data for their respective region. In order to benefit
from this capability, of course, they require necessary know-how
on the ground. The effective transfer of this knowledge for societal
use is a prerequisite to capacity building. NASA missions and tech-
nology are very useful in increasing risk awareness in the greater
African continent and allowing for alternate means or possible
mitigation approaches (as applicable) to improve the overall quality
of life. The direct broadcast system provided on some of NASA’s
major Earth observing platforms offers an outstanding capability
to disseminate all this vital information to the user community.
Direct broadcast system
Enabling NASA’s Earth science data utility worldwide is one of
the primary functions of NASA’s Direct Readout Laboratory
(DRL). In doing so, NASA is assisting in the capacity building
of developing nations by providing, freely, key software tools that
allow for the processing of direct broadcast Terra and Aqua
instrument data in real time. Along with these technology tools,
select product algorithms are made available which have been
converted to operate in a direct readout environment. These algo-
rithms provide basic real-time products such as fire maps,
vegetation index and true colour images which assist in real-time
monitoring of environmental events that are particular to Africa.
But the 100 Earth Observing System (EOS) ground stations
worldwide are still not enough to provide near-real-time access
to many needed products in Africa. In an effort to mitigate timely
access to image products, NASA’s DRL also provides technolo-
gies that allow for real-time distribution of direct broadcast data
from a direct readout station to any location with an Internet
connection on a minimum 56K data modem. These technolo-
gies, combined with information and international coordination
meetings, have begun to enable data sharing, which is a key
ingredient to real-time data and product access in remote areas,
as well as assisting with the objectives of the WSSD.
The following details some of the specific areas where NASA
and other partner agencies can help achieve the implementa-
tion goals of the WSSD objectives.
Drought and food (in)security
Most parts of Africa experience extremes in rainfall variability
marked by persistent drought or episodic flooding. The devel-
opment and prosperity of most parts of the continent have
largely been dependent on fluctuations in rainfall. Extreme
droughts have occurred across the continent over the past 30
years, and continue to occur. In particular, the Sahelian zone
has experienced a continued decline in rainfall compared to
pre-1960s averages, and Lake Chad has shrunk to 5 per cent
of its size 35 years ago. Other regions such as Eastern Africa
and Southern Africa have experienced severe drought periods
from 1980 to the present. While some droughts have been
regional in nature, others have affected millions of people
across the continent.
Drought impacts a wide spectrum of the social, economic
and environmental sectors of society at large. Droughts are
associated with increased temperatures causing stress on both
rural and urban populations. Prolonged droughts negatively
impact hydrological systems resulting in reduced river flows,
shrinking reservoir and lake levels and diminished underground
water supplies. In totality, droughts lead to crop failures, large
scale losses in livestock, disease, food shortages and famine.
Monitoring and mapping of the land surface is therefore a crit-
ical component in anticipating and mitigating the impacts of
drought on society.
Most of Africa has experienced a decrease in the density of rain-
gauge networks since the 1960s which are necessary for
monitoring drought patterns and frequency. As a consequence,
most countries have been ill-prepared to deal with droughts when
they have occurred. Since the early 1980s, remotely-sensed
measurements using NASA technology and analyses have enabled
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