Space technology to measure, monitor climate change impact

Five African countries are working with Egypt to launch a pan-African satellite project dubbed the African Development Satellite Initiative (AfDev-Sat) to study the impact of climate change across Africa and what space technology can offer in this area.

The AfDev-Sat working document was signed at a meeting on 30 January 2022 hosted by the Egyptian Space Agency. Heads and representatives of the African space agencies from Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana and Sudan that are participating in AfDev-Sat attended the meeting.

The document describes the role of the African countries participating in the project regarding building different satellite space systems and the structure of the administrative and technical committee.

Egypt first announced AfDev-Sat at the Africa Space Forum on the sidelines of the seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7) held in Yokohama, Japan, on 28 August 2019.

Disaster monitoring tool

AfDev-Sat aims to bring African countries together to develop a space system that can measure and monitor climate change in Africa and its implications for water scarcity, desertification and food stability. The system, to be situated in Egypt, will also act as a disaster monitoring tool. The project comprises a small satellite as well as a satellite subsystem in each of the participating countries.

During the meeting, the Egyptian Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar, said that Egypt is well prepared to provide training and technical support to scientific teams from the African countries involved in the project.

Abdel-Ghaffar emphasised that the outcomes of the African satellite development project should be made available to the public during COP27 (the United Nations Conference of the Parties) that will take place in Sharm El-Sheikh from 7-18 November 2022.

Project will help mobilise resources

Victor Ongoma, professor of climate change adaptation at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Morocco, told University World News that, “Such collaborative projects help to mobilise resources for the implementation of big projects that individual countries and research institutions can’t manage on their own.”

The AfDev-Sat is a timely initiative that advocates for knowledge and capabilities in the space industry Africa and improves research infrastructure, especially for academic institutions, Ongoma said.

He added that AfDev-Sat creates a platform for international and local collaboration, bringing together multiple players within and outside of academia.

“Such collaboration is the key for growth and development of African universities. This particular project creates a training and research platform for both experts and students in science and technology,” he said.

It provides experimental and internship opportunities, enhancing students’ practical skills, Ongoma said. “In addition, such projects can provide educational cube satellites (CubeSats) for African universities. This offers universities access to space for training and research.”

Insufficient data hampers impact efforts

Samir Khalaf Abd-El-Aal, research professor at the National Research Centre in Cairo, told University World News that the African climate-monitoring satellite project is extremely important because, despite contributing very little to global warming, Africa is most vulnerable to climate change and is already suffering.

For example, according to a study published on SpringerOpen on 17 June 2021, Egypt’s coastal city of Alexandria is at risk of being submerged and, according to the UN, Madagascar is on the brink of the world’s first climate change famine.

“Africa also suffers from a lack of data that has led to challenges in measuring the extent of climate change. This results in inaccurate forecasts and poor or non-existent early-warning systems for deadly cyclones, prolonged droughts and intense floods,” Abd-El-Aal said.

According to the sixth assessment report, of the nine African sub-regions, an increase in extreme rainfall was observed in only West Southern and East Southern Africa, but limited data is available for the other seven. Also, only half of the sub-regions provided sufficient data to determine an increase in instances of drought.

“The data and knowledge that will be generated by AfDev-Sat will help to promote climate change research,” Abd-El-Aal said. This, in turn, could help universities provide guidance and support to governments to improve data capturing.

“AfDev-Sat will also help African leaders to prepare for COP27 through presenting the real impact of global warming on the continent, to detect priorities, and determine continental strategic sustainable investments needed to face the impact of climate change,” Abd-El-Aal said.