May 2, 2024
The South African National Space Agency (SANSA) hosted the Earth Observation (EO) for Climate Change stakeholder engagement workshop on 29 April 2024. The objective of the workshop was to showcase some of the Earth observation and Earth intelligence activities that are currently being undertaken in the country in support of national or regional climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts.
The workshop offered insightful presentations from different organisations to showcase the range of work being done to minimise the negative impact of climate change. SANSA CEO, Humbulani Mudau encouraged workshop attendees to collaborate to address the impact of climate change.
Mapula Tshangela from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment delivered a presentation on climate change response instruments, strategies, plans and the role of data. Dr Neville Sweijd from CSIR delivered a presentation on High about: Extreme Events, Climate Services and the role of EO. Dr Sarah Roffe from the Agricultural Research Council gave a presentation on Dynamically downscaling CMIP6 model outputs for 1980-2100 for southern African applications.
Dr Xolile Ncipha from the South African Weather Services (SAWS) delivered a presentation on Interannual variation of half-hourly extreme precipitation in Africa: The assessment of the warmest decade (2011-2020) since the beginning of observations. Dr Lerato Shikwambana gave a presentation on the SANSA Air Quality Assessment using satellite images and an overview SANSA as a signatory of Space Climate Observatory (SCO).
On 6 November 2023 SANSA became a signatory to the SCO charter that was officially launched by French President Emmanuel Macron in June 2019. The SCO is an international initiative to make the best use of satellite data and digital technologies for climate action, through facilitating public and private entities involved in Earth observation. It coordinates international efforts to support the emergence of operational tools for climate monitoring, mitigation, and adaptation. “SANSA forged relationships during GEO Week that will benefit South Africans and lead to solutions to real-life problems as arising from climate change,” said Mudau.
SANSA remains committed to coordinate the use of space related technologies such as satellite Earth observation to create solutions that positively impact the lives of our communities.
