The first forum of the African Monitoring of the Environment for Sustainable Development programme (AMESD) was held in Kinshasa (the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo), on 1-4 December 2009. The forum brought together more than 150 experts from 33 different African and Western countries, with an ambitious aim: to set up a policy to manage water resources.

According to the Congolese Minister for the Environment, José Endundo the AMESD is "therefore going to set up global structures for satellite observation of changes in rain basins, which also will force politicians in Africa to adopt a genuine water policy". He hoped that the conference will help States achieve a well-balanced management of water and forest resources.

 

With funding from the European Union through the European Development Fund, estimated at 21 million euros, the African Union should set up satellite infrastructures in five regions of Africa for the observation of river basins and other inland water resources.

Implemented by the African Union, the AMESD aims to monitor the continental environment impacts of climate change in Africa by enhancing the use of satellite observation technology.


Find out more