Social worker, Vitor Fosu-Boamah, has called on African governments to effectively invest in Earth Observation Systems to help achieve agenda 2030.

He emphasized the urgent need for African governments to promote science and technology applications, especially earth observation data in all sectors of their economies.  

Mr. Fosu-Boamah who is seeking to raise awareness on the value of Earth Observation (EO) as well as reinforce the dialogue on EO priorities in Africa was speaking to JoyNews at Sunyani in the Bono Region.

“Earth Observation data informs everyday life and all geophysical and atmospheric sciences.

It further informs a wide variety of applications including tracking biodiversity and wildlife trends, measuring land-use change, mitigating and managing the impact of natural disasters, predicting, adapting to, and mitigating climate change,” he stated.

Mr. Fosu-Boamah noted the role of precise and accurate data to enhance the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) cannot be over-emphasized.

He urged African governments to enable the appropriate policies which will support steps to produce, manage and use Earth Observation data. 

Mr. Fosu-Boamah said the African Earth Observation community is continuously establishing its presence and growth in the region and the global arena to rip the benefits of Earth Observation data.

“It is, therefore, the duty of African governments to tap into their (African Earth Observation community) exploits to aid the continent’s technological development drive,” he added.

Mr. Fosu-Boamah who said he got interested in EO during his studies at the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), further explained EO is relevant for policy formulation by governments of developing countries.

He appealed to the earth observation community to come out with proactive measures that could coordinate the cost and purchase of earth observation equipment to enable more institutions to have access to the system for sustainable planning and development.