DE Africa will provide a routine, reliable and operational service, using Earth observations to deliver decision-ready products enabling policy makers, scientists, the private sector and civil society to address social, environmental and economic changes on the continent and develop an ecosystem for innovation across sectors.

DE Africa will process openly accessible and freely available data to produce decision-ready products. Working closely with the AfriGEO community, DE Africa will be responsive to the information needs, challenges and priorities of the African continent. DE Africa will leverage and build on existing capacity to enable the use of Earth observations to address key challenges across the continent.

DE Africa Map-Our user friendly map-based access to DE Africa data and products

Africa GeoPortal-Imagery from DE Africa is available in Esri’s Africa GeoPortal, providing geospatial tools, data and training

Sandbox-Access to data and analysis tools for technical users to explore ideas and develop reports

Online training-Our 6-week training program is a self-paced online course that helps users work autonomously on our platform

Land is the foundation on which communities are built. The UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 15) calls on governments and all stakeholders to protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and biodiversity loss.

Our Digital Earth Africa (DE Africa) platform provides services that can support the achievement of this goal. The platform develops and maintains interactive vegetation and coastline data services based on satellite imagery that offer timely and cost-effective information tailored to land quality and coastline change monitoring.
Why is this Important in Africa ?

In Africa, land degradation and coastal erosion already affects the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. The areas in Africa affected are vast; the aridifying Sahel region stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, and countries suffering from erosion cover thousands of kilometres of coast.

Land degradation is the persistent reduction of nutrients in soil, often accompanied by loss of biodiversity. Its most extreme case is desertification, where fertile land is reduced to desert1. As one of the driest continents, almost half of Africa is threatened by desertification2. Land degradation in Africa has been driven by extended drought, overcultivation, overgrazing and land clearing for housing. Land degradation is diminishing long-term food production capacity and water availability, creating a vicious cycle.

Coastal erosion is the loss of sediment and bedrock from shorelines, causing receding beaches, cliffs and mangroves. Although this is a natural process, it is exacerbated by human activity, such as infrastructure construction and dune vegetation removal. Coastal erosion has already caused major displacement in West Africa, where shoreline degradation collectively cost local economies up to $3.8 billion. Limiting the effects of coastal erosion, such as the loss of settlements and maritime-oriented jobs, heavily relies on prevention. Actions must holistically consider impacts to the whole coastal ecosystem as solutions considered as ‘hard engineering’ (e.g. such as building a seawall) can have unintended negative effects.

Africa has an ongoing need for well-informed land use policy based on reliable data that can sustainably support population growth and incipient agricultural and urban requirements.