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Welcome

The EOAFRICA initiative is part of ESA’s FutureEO programme within the Earth Observation Programmes Directorate.

It stands for African Framework for Research, Innovation, Communities and Applications and fosters an African-European R&D partnership, facilitating the sustainable adoption of the Earth Observation and related space technology in Africa

This initiative empowers African ownership of Earth Observation (EO) technologies by building strategic partnerships with the African Space Agency (AfSA), an organ of the African Union, and in coordination with the African Union Commission (AUC), European Commission and UN agencies. 

By leveraging cloud computing and low-bandwidth mobile solutions, the project bypasses infrastructure bottlenecks to deliver accessible big data analytics directly to local authorities, institutions, and the private sector. Through targeted knowledge transfer and joint Europe-Africa R&D collaborations, the initiative equips African technical centers to innovate data-driven solutions for urgent regional challenges linked to research themes such as:

  • Agriculture and Food Security

  • Disaster Risk Reduction and Response

  • Urban Development and Infrastructure

  • Health and Epidemiology

  • Energy and Natural Resource Management

  • Climate Change and Natural Capital

  • Coastal and Marine Monitoring

  • Calibration and Validation (Cal/Val)

Projects

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RAMONA

RAMONA: Rangeland Monitoring Using Earth Observation

Monitoring rangeland social-ecological state, productivity and biodiversity at 10 m resolution using Copernicus Sentinel satellites. Ramona is funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) to demonstrate how high-resolution Earth Observation data from the Copernicus Sentinel satellites can be used to measure rangeland indicators systematically and accurately at 10 m resolution.

A suite of core and experimental products has been developed and integrated into an Earth Observation-based rangeland monitoring system covering the African continent. These demonstrator products, based on data from August 2021 to January 2023, have been processed and are available.

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LUISA

LUISA: Land Use Intensity’s Potential, Vulnerability and Resilience for Sustainable Agriculture in Africa

Through the utilisation of advanced technologies such as remote sensing and dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs), the primary objective of the project was to facilitate decision-makers’ understanding of the drivers and consequences of land use intensification on carbon dynamics. The project was run in partnership with esteemed institutions and organizations both locally and internationally.

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