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Background

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  1. The Regional Committee of United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management for Africa was established to coordinate African geospatial development and to contribute to the wider global initiative. Over the past decade, the Regional Committee has adopted realistic approaches to ensure that systematic and comprehensive frameworks are put in place, along with related policies, resources and systems to make geospatial information technology easily accessible to decision-makers and the community in a coordinated way. To ensure that appropriate geospatial information products are used in decision-making, the Regional Committee supports its member States in developing a holistic vision that fosters the effective use of geospatial products and resources to address emerging global challenges and support various social and economic sectors in Africa. The roles of the Regional Committee include the following:

    1. Articulating policies and strategies with appropriate guidelines for the establishment of local, national, regional and global spatial data infrastructures and their linkages with other plans and strategies;
    2. Developing capacities and capabilities in a transformative and holistic manner with a long-term vision to increase spatial literacy, spatial awareness and navigational skills;
    3. Maintaining an authoritative data repository (fundamental and thematic), information and knowledge resources, tools, applications and services, with greater use of common standards and interoperability for metadata, naming, coordinate references, etc.;
    4. Encouraging and facilitating the integration of statistics with geospatial information to attain viable and meaningful outcomes, analysis and visualization of data to support and track progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals;
    5. Strengthening advocacy for the specific needs and interests of Africa within international mechanisms.

  2. The fifth meeting of the Regional Committee was held in Kigali from 18 to 22 November 2019 in parallel with the AfricaGIS 2019 Conference. The premise of the meeting was that Africa had gained substantive momentum in the geospatial information sector, thereby assuring the global community that Africa was serious about contributing to the development of geospatial information. The meeting was attended by more than 80 participants, including representatives of 27 African countries and observers from international organizations, including the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Union Commission and the secretariat of the United Nations Initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management, as well as representatives from academia, industry organizations and the private sector. The meeting provided an opportunity for participants to share knowledge and best practices related to the development of geospatial information in Africa, to raise awareness of the benefits of utilizing geospatial information for sustainable development, and to consider policies and measures that African countries could adopt to ensure that the activities of the Regional Committee were implemented successfully in Africa.

  3. The sixth meeting of the Regional Committee was organised virtually in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This unprecedented global health crisis has plunged the national mapping agencies into severe challenges since the start of 2020. Support for national mapping systems was therefore needed now more than ever. The various strategies adopted by Governments to contain the pandemic have mitigated the damage it has caused in all social, economic and environmental sectors, including in mapping. Nevertheless, the measures have harmed the implementation of mapping plans and the ability of national mapping agencies to respond to data needs and mapping services in a timely manner.

  4. The meeting offered the opportunity to reflect on the importance on how geospatial can contribute and be integrated into national priorities to respond to COVID-19. Member States were then able to appraise resilience strategies that ensure continuity in the production of fundamental and thematic geospatial data sets. The strategies have been made possible by the introduction of business continuity measures during the COVID-19 pandemic and have greatly facilitated the gradual recovery observed at national mapping agencies. The strategies include the following:  teleworking of personnel; the adoption of new methods for the delivery of data services in response to major changes in data needs; the consideration of new and alternative data sources; and the introduction or enhancement of other data-collection methods. So far, the COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated how national mapping agencies and partners that support mapping can adapt during a crisis to ensure that data needs are fully met.

  5. The main objective of the seventh meeting of the Regional Committee, held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, from 22 to 26 November 2021, was to allow participants to assess progress in implementing recommendations from previous meetings. Participants shared knowledge and best practices regarding the development of geospatial information in Africa, raised awareness of the benefits of geospatial information for sustainable development, and examined policies and measures that African countries could adopt to ensure the successful implementation of the United Nations Initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management initiative in Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  6. The outcomes of the seventh meeting contributed to the global achievement of the vision of the United Nations Initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management and encouraged substantive progress in the implementation of the Regional Committee’s initiative in Africa. The outcomes of the meeting included:

    1. Consolidation of the consensus and the galvanizing of political will for the harnessing of geospatial information technology to further African development goals;
    2. Assistance with efforts to address certain growing global concerns;
    3. Reporting on the activities undertaken by ECA, Member States and the working groups of the Regional Committee;
    4. Discussion of policy issues relating to geospatial information at the national and regional levels that required member States, ECA, partners and other stakeholders to adopt decisions, pass resolutions or make recommendations;
    5. Presentations delivered by guests (such as geospatial equipment manufacturers) to raise awareness of new developments in geospatial information;
    6. Discussion of special topics, such as a geospatial financial appropriation framework and second administrative level boundaries.

  7. The eight meeting is also expected to help States to consolidate the consensus already adopted on the Regional Committee and to review its structure, functions and operations in Africa while defining its funding mechanisms.

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