Open access to EO data is becoming a trend that a growing number of actors worldwide support, promote and are actively implementing. The sharing of such information can be smoothly achieved through collaborative activities that is premised on agreements of mutual benefits with a potential to contribute to sustainable development and conservation of resources. Formal agreements will be reached between various international data providers and African user communities to promote its use for national policies or making informed decisions in various areas beneficial to societies, their functioning and development.

The country-based implementation of the project provides an opportunity for harmonized agenda for the uptake of EO data, developing EO services and formulating similar strategies that will fit the different national institutions benefiting from the initiative. The action will ensure national focal institutions are resourced to coordinate EO and marine resource management activities in tandem with regional and international initiatives. These institutions will be engaged to developed national reports, policy brief and bulletins on key national activities related to the management of vegetation, land-use, ocean hazards, fish resource distribution and pollution within the ocean and coastal areas. These outputs will be aligned as inputs together with other interventions to formulate strategies interventions.

The action will capitalize on public events such as conferences, workshops, commemoration of international days such as Ocean days and Earth days, to enhance the knowledge and awareness of policy-makers and relevant stakeholders on the importance of the action for socio-economic development. The link already established by the Lead Applicant through implementation of previous project with the Regional Economic Community, Sub-Regional Fisheries Bodies, and other national entities will provide a good political visibility for the action.

Access to marine environmental data is key to assessing changes resulting from the impact of natural and human activities in marine and coastal ecosystems. EO data requirements is dependent on the issues and challenges that need to be tackled hence a data need assessment will be undertaken at the beneficiary institutions. This will be done alongside technical meetings with nation focal point institutions and data providers to assess the best ways of making such data available to users. Outputs from such engagements will include production of a plan for data exchange among all actors and consider platforms for data dissemination for the services.

Also, the status of the existing geoportals from previous AU EO initiatives will be assessed to know their level of functionality. The assessment will also take a look at the design of such platforms and submit, where necessary, changes in the processing of data, visualization of information and the usability for the different target groups in the project. The functionality and operation of the geoportal will also be streamline to fit the operations of other international and continental initiatives. Technical support will also be extended to ensure GEONEtCast and EUMETCast data dissemination platforms are effectively functioning. The stations will be reconfigured to receive additional data and include other regions that were not previously covered.

This Work Package will be implemented by making operational various EO services that will contribute to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The activities to be carried out will focus on the use EO data, open-source tools, IoT assets and cloud computing infrastructure to tackle the challenges in the ocean resource management and the coastal environment.

Under this activity, the services will cover the monitoring of ocean processes, the mapping of fishing areas and generating alerts to ensure the safety of artisanal fishers, and the monitoring of coastal environment. In addition, oil spill mapping service and fishing vessel tracking systems would be created with the aim at conserving marine resources and improved maritime situational awareness. The service enhancement will be carried out in close collaboration with stakeholders for easy user uptake.

Capacity development remains an important aspect of sustaining EO technology uptake in Africa. Numerous previous interventions carried out in this respect will continue to be implemented during Phase II. A cadre of trained resource managers, technical staff, academics and researchers, with the adequate technical capacity to develop, implement and enforce policy and legislation is required if EO data and tools are to be effectively utilized. Private sector involvement in capacity building is encouraged during Phase 2 through knowledge transfer activities and collaborative engagements related to the services.

A training strategy has been developed based on strengths, gaps and challenges identified in the region. Different training activities are being carried out at the national and regional level, as well as support continental training activities. Distance learning platform of the African Union is being utilized for training for easy access of the general public. Materials for such training will done by Universities and the private sector within the Consortium in the form of hands-on tutorials, video of lectures, power-point presentations, and peer reviewed articles which are not proprietary.

The MarCNoWA consortium is collaborating with academic institutions and specialized Centres in partnership with beneficiary countries to enhance the uptake of EO knowledge, data and applications into the main educational stream.

So far, the consortium provided eight (8) postgraduate (Masters and PhD) grants to students to complete their studies in EO related fields to marine and coastal areas.

The action capitalizes on public events such as conferences, workshops, commemorations of international days such as Ocean days and Environment days, to enhance the knowledge and awareness of policy-makers and relevant stakeholders on the importance of the action for socio-economic development.

The link already established by the Lead Applicant through the implementation of the MESA and GMES Phase I projects with regional bodies and national institutions, will provide good political visibility for the action. All partners are encouraged to make use of the print and electronic media to disseminate information to the public.

Currently, the MarCNoWA uses social media, namely Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and WhatsApp to disseminate much information. The traditional media is not left out in the efforts to make the importance of EO known.

It is expected that by the end of the Action, the knowledge that policy and decision-makers in the marine and coastal areas within the North and West Africa regions, have about Earth observation applications, would have been raised. The consortium produces bulletins, newsletters and policy brief that address marine and coastal challenges for policy dialogue. Since its inception, the project had made several technical and non-technical presentations at international fora to showcase its achievements. Furthermore, periodic coastal reports based on the EO services are being provided, published and disseminated widely.

The Project blog provides access to additionally written articles on various activities executed by the project implementers within the marine consortium. To effectively disseminate information within and outside the consortium, the Project has developed a Strategic Communication Plan to guide its activities.