1. BRAGMA Bridging Actions
for GMES & Africa
Newsletter no.3 | March 2013
The BRAGMA project, coordinated by IICT is a Coordination and SupportAction to GMES andAfrica, supported by the European
Commission. Copernicus, formerly GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), is the European Programme for
the establishment of a European capacity for Earth Observation: http://www.copernicus.eu
Upcoming GMES & Africa Workshops
The next GMES & AfricaThematic Workshops to take place
will be the Water Resources Management Workshop in
Nigeria on the 14-15 May 2013 and the Natural Resources
Management Workshop in Egypt on the 25-26 June 2013.
Both these workshops will be co-funded by the European
Commission’s DG DEVCO through the JAES Support
Mechanism and by the BRAGMA partner to host the event
– the Nigerian National Space Research & Development
Agency (NASRDA) and the Egyptian National Authority for
Remote Sensing and Space Sciences (NARSS). A Validation
Workshop is also projected for 2013 in South Africa, where
the results of the three thematic workshops and the Action
Plan’s cross-cutting issues will be discussed. The objective
of the workshop is to achieve tangible results from which to
draw recommendations and to propose an implementation
plan for the future of GMES & Africa.
All updated information regarding
the upcoming workshops are being
disseminated on both these platforms,
including the relevant draft chapters
of the GMES & Africa Action Plan,
workshop agendas, background
documents, logistical information, etc.
There will also be important online
discussions regarding the relevant draft
chapter of the Action Plan prior to the
thematic workshop.
Online plarforms
The third Work Package that makes up
the BRAGMA FP7 Project is entitled Joint
Cooperation Platform and aims to build
up a network of GMES & Africa stake-
holders that is aligned with the govern-
ance of the initiative. Apart from build-
ing a solid network of contact points,
this work package also aims to analyse
synergies between projects, initiatives
and partnerships, and establish working
groups for GMES & Africa’s thematic ar-
eas and cross-cutting issues.
BRAGMA’s online e-collaboration platform
is an important step towards this objective,
and by signing up you are becoming part
of the GMES & Africa network.
The BRAGMA e-collaboration tool and
the Capacity4Dev online platforms can
be accessed via:
http://bragma.mixxt.eu/
http://capacity4dev.ec.europa.eu/africa-
eu-part.gmes/

2. Synergies between Projects
One of BRAGMA’s main objectives is to analyse
synergies between projects, initiatives, and
partnerships. In view of this important objective, our
upcoming newsletters will have a section dedicated to
these projects, with the objective of finding synergies
between these and contributing to coherence within
the GMES & Africa strategy.
In this issue, we outline a number of projects that are
linked with the GMES & Africa initiative. We welcome
any additions to this list which you feel might be
pertinent.
Newsletter no.3 | March 2013
The GMES & Africa Strategy in a Nutshell
Aims to utilise the full potential of space systems for sustainable
development
Aims to reinforce Africa’s capacity and ownership to benefit from
Space-based Earth Observation technology and applications.
Focusses on nine thematic areas (natural resources, marine
and coastal areas, water management, climate change, natural
disasters, food security, infrastructure, conflicts and political crises,
and health) and five cross cutting issues (Policy and Institutional,
Infrastructure, Capacity Building, Financial, Monitoring and
Evaluation) that make up the strategy’s focus.
A long term partnership between Africa and Europe
FP7 projects which were launched to pave the way for
the implementation of the GMES & Africa initiative GARNET-E: GMES for Africa –
Regional Network for Information
Exchange andTraining in
Emergencies (2010/2012)
EAMNet: Europe-Africa Marine Earth
Observation Network (2010/2013)
SAGA-EO: Support Action to GMES &
Africa on Earth Observation (2010/2012)
MALAREO: EO in Malaria Vector Control
and Management (2011/2013)
REDDiness: Support Earth Observation-
driven forest and carbon monitoring in
Central Africa for REDD (2011/2013)
REDDAF: Reducing Emissions
from Deforestation and
Degradation in Africa (2011/2014)
WATPLAN: Spatial Earth Observation
Monitoring for Planning and Water Allocation
in the International Incomati Basin (2011/2013)
EDF-funded Projects
PUMA: Preparation for Use of MSG
(Meteosat Second Generation
satellites) in Africa (2001/2005)
AMESD: African Monitoring of
the Environment for Sustainable
Development (2007/2013)
MESA: Monitoring of
Environment and Security
in Africa (2013/2018)
ESA-funded Projects
TIGER:The European Space
Agency Looking after Water in
Africa initiative (2001/2015)
Other GMES & Africa-related Projects
DevCoCast: GEONETCast for and by
Developing Countries (2008) (FP7)
ISAC: Information Service on
Agricultural Change (2011/2013) (FP7)

3. Newsletter no.3 | Marchh 2013
AfricaGIS / GSDI Conference, 4-8
November 2013
BRAGMA will participate in the joint AfricaGIS/GSDI
Conference and will host a half-day workshop.
AfricaGIS is the largest regular GIS conference in
Africa with participants from the whole continent.The
Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) Association
promotes international cooperation and collaboration
in support of spatial data infrastructure developments
that will allow nations to better address social,
economic, and environmental issues.
This joint conference offers numerous opportunities
for oral presentations and refereed and non-refereed
publication outlets. This call supports two primary
forms of publication:
(1) a conference proceedings with abstracts for all
accepted submissions with refereed and non-refereed
full papers for some of the submissions, and
(2) a pre-conference published book containing
fully refereed articles. The tentative title is Spatial
Enablement in Support of Economic Development
and Poverty Reduction: Research, Development and
Education Perspectives.The book will be published as
an open access book in various eReader formats.
Other GMES & Africa-related Projects
The REDD Fast Logging Assessment & Monitoring
Environment (REDD-FLAME) project will design, prototype
and demonstrate a system capable of monitoring tropical
and sub-tropical forests using high-resolution radar (and
optical) imagery acquired by Earth Observation satellites.
GMFS: Global Monitoring for Food and Security (2003) (ESA-funded)
AGRICAB: Developing increased Earth
Observation capacity for better agriculture
and forestry management in Africa
(2011/2015) (FP7)
ENDELEO: aims at providing natural resources managers and any other
stakeholders with the necessary tools to help resource managers to better
understand and monitor their environment and its dynamics over time (financed
by the Government of Belgium through its STEREOII Research Programme)
If you would like to add any other projects to this list which are related to the GMES & Africa process, drop us a line at
secretariat@bragma.eu
Experts for Horizon 2020Advisory Groups
The European Commission is widening its search for experts from
all fields to participate in shaping the agenda of Horizon 2020, the
European Union’s future funding programme for research and
innovation.
Expertise is called for within several areas, some of them relevant for
GMES & Africa:
Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies within the
following areas: Information and communicationTechnologies (ICT)
and Space, among others.
Food security, sustainable agriculture, marine and maritime research
and the bio-economy
Climate action, resource efficiency and raw materials
http://ec.europa.eu/research/horizon2020/index_en.cfm?pg=h2020-experts
DesignbyInstitutodeInvestigaçãoCientíficaTropical

4. Newsletter no.3 | March 2013
BRAGMA-GMES Africa presentation at
CAAST-Net Stakeholders meeting on
Research Infrastructures
CAAST-Net is a five-year joint Africa-Europe platform dedicated
to advancing bi-regional cooperation in science and technology.
The project is funded by the European Union under the Seventh
Framework Programme for Research andTechnological Development
(FP7)
On December 3-4 2012 the third CAAST-Net stakeholders’ conference
on Africa-Europe Science andTechnology (S&T) cooperation took place.
The conference was organised in collaboration with PAERIP
(Promoting African – European
Research Infrastructure Partnerships) project and provided a forum
for 100 experts and stakeholders from Europe and Africa to exchange
opinions and offered the opportunity for mutual learning on the role
of research infrastructures (RI) in S&T
cooperation partnerships between both regions, specifically within
the context of addressing societal challenges shared by Africa and
Relevant Events - 2013
7ª International Conference on
Sustainable Water Resources
Management
21 May 2013, New Forest, UK
The conference will bring together
different stakeholders to discuss the
most recent developments associated
with the management of surface and
sub-surface water resources.
h t t p : / / w w w . w e s s e x . a c . u k / 1 3 -
c o n f e r e n c e s / w a t e r- r e s o u r c e s -
management-2013.html
35th International Symposium
on Remote Sensing of
Environment
22-26 April, Beijing, China
Earth Observation and Global
Environmental Change - 50 Years of
Remote Sensing: Progress and Prospects
http://www.isrse35.org/
BRAGMA future Events
Water Management Workshop - technical consultation forum - which will take place in Abuja, Nigeria, 14-15 May 2013
Natural Resources Workshop - technical consultation forum – which will take place in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, 25-26 June 2013
Validation Workshop – which will take place in South Africa, October 2013.
Links:
http://www.bragma.eu
http://bragma.mixxt.eu/
http://capacity4dev.ec.europa.eu/africa-eu-part.gmes/
AfricaGIS 2013 and GSDI World
Conference (GSDI 14)
4-8 November, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Spatial Enablement in Support of
Economic Development and Poverty
Reduction.
http://www.gsdi.org/gsdi14
Europe.
During this meeting Dr.
Eric Mwangi did a presentation on BRAGMA – GMES
Africa “The research infrastructure”
The themes ranged from Africa-EU partnership and
cooperation in themes as:
Basic Science for sustainable development
Detection, identification and monitoring of infectious
diseases of plants, humans and animal in Africa
Environmental research