The role of Earth observation in improving water governance in Africa: ESA’s TIGER initiative

Abstract

Water information systems in Africa are severely degraded, and policies and management decisions in many African countries are currently based on sparse and unreliable information. In 2000, the UN General Assembly included among the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a task to reduce the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water by half. During the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), the Heads of States and delegations called on all countries to develop Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and water efficiency strategies. Achieving this objective in developing areas of the world represents a significant challenge. In 2002, responding to the urgent need for action in Africa, the European Space Agency (ESA), within the context of the Committee of Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS), launched the TIGER initiative. The overall scope is to assist African countries in overcoming problems faced in the collection, analysis and use of water related geo-information by exploiting the advantages of Earth observation (EO) technology. Earth observation can support development of water information systems and can provide reliable information for inventorying, monitoring and assessing water resources (see Schultz and Engman 2000 for an overview). The TIGER initiative has evolved, thanks to the contributions of partners such as UNESCO (and its International Hydrological Program), UN Africa-Water group (UN-Economic Commission for Africa), African and international institutions in the context of water resource management (e.g. African Ministers’ Council on Water, AMCOW), space agencies (e.g. Canadian Space Agency, CSA), development partners (e.g. African Development Bank) and other international and African organizations (e.g. Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR), Ramsar-Africa, African Departments of Water). This article provides an insight into different projects and practical examples that have been initiated recently within the context of the TIGER initiative and discusses the potential benefits and main limitations associated with the operational use of EO technology within the water sector in Africa.