The African Union Commission (AUC) has officially announced that the GMES and Africa Programme is now a programme under the African Space Agency (AfSA), headquartered in Cairo, Egypt.

In a formal memo issued by H.E. Dr. Tidiane Ouattara, President of the African Space Council of the African Space Agency, the transition is described as a strategic move to consolidate space-related programmes under a single continental authority. The shift aims to enhance coordination, efficiency, and long-term sustainability across Africa’s growing space and earth observation initiatives.

Launched in 2016, GMES and Africa (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security and Africa) is a flagship AUC programme designed to strengthen Africa’s capacity to monitor and manage its natural resources and environment using Earth Observation data. It is co-funded by the AUC and the European Union and implemented across multiple regions on the continent through a network of regional consortia.

One of the regional projects under GMES and Africa is WeMAST (Wetland Monitoring and Assessment System for Transboundary Basins in Southern Africa), implemented by the Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL). WeMAST supports decision-making in water resource management, environmental protection, and climate resilience by using satellite data to monitor wetland ecosystems in transboundary river basins.

As Phase 2 of GMES and Africa nears completion, all partners and stakeholders are instructed to align their communications, events, and publications with AfSA branding. The African Space Agency is now the official custodian and implementing body of the programme. The GMES and Africa coordination team, led by Mr. Lottie Sinyangwe, remains available to support during this transition.

This institutional realignment signals a major step in Africa’s commitment to building a unified, homegrown space programme to support sustainable development and environmental governance.