40 Years Listening to the Beat of the Earth EuroGeoSurveys Europe-Africa geoscientific cooperation Building geological capabilities and supporting AfriGEOSS

EuroGeoSurveys - The Geological Surveys of Europe 40 Years Listening to the Beat of the Earth

EuroGeoSurveys

Europe-Africa geoscientific cooperation

Building geological capabilities and supporting AfriGEOSS

EuroGeoSurveys - The Geological Surveys of Europe

Albania

Austria

Belgium

Bosnia & Herzegovina

Croatia

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Lithuania

Luxembourg

The Netherlands

Malta

Norway

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Russian Federation

Slovakia

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

Ukraine

United Kingdom

EuroGeoSurveys

Work force of SEVERAL THOUSANDS

32 Geological Surveys

Over 1 billion euro annual turnover


Provision of public Earth science knowledge to support:EU’s competitivenessSocial well-being Environmental managementInternational commitments

MISSION


ASSUMPTION

‘…Much of Africa’s mineral resources remain under explored and under exploited ‐ ‐ and geoscience knowledge is at a relatively too low level to attract exploration and investment’, Addis Ababa Declaration on Development & Management of Africa’s Mineral Resources at the First African Union Conference of Ministers Responsible for Mineral Resources, October 2008.


ASSUMPTION

“Africa is the world’s top producer of numerous mineral commodities and has the world’s greatest resources of many more, but most of Africa still lacks systematic geological mapping which could bring to light a much greater resource base”, Africa Mining Vision prepared by the African Union in 2009.


ASSUMPTION

Access to raw materials is a priority for growth in the EU, as highlighted already in 2011 by both the Europe 2020 flagship initiative ‘A resource-efficient Europe’ and the European Competitiveness Report.


A framework for cooperation

At their meeting ahead of the African Industrial Ministers Summit, in March 2011, EC Vice-President Tajani and Mr. Yumkella, Director General of UNIDO, agreed on increasing cooperation in the field of energy, sustainable growth and geological survey, which will help Africa to better exploit its natural resources.


ASSUMPTION

Countries in Africa are increasingly willing to upgrade their geoscience knowledge base, including the fundamental ability to make new geological maps. These maps are an important tool for countries to take stock of their resources, to attract investors and provide practical training to young geologists.

Without qualified public sector officers, African countries will not be able to take informed decisions.


Unlocking Africa data held by EGS

Assumption

By sharing information, by knowledge transferring and by unlocking and providing data of their countries we can greatly assist African partners and help them to participate on a higher level.


During the 2012 African Union Conference of Ministers Responsible for Mineral Resources, on whether or not Africa needs a stronger Organisation of African Geological Surveys (OAGS), capable of advising the African Union (AU), as the EGS does for the EU, the Ministers emphasised that the implementation of the African Mining Vision needs to give the OAGS a central role.

Background


OAGS

http://www.oagsafrica.org/


Unlocking Africa data held by EGS

Actions...Delivering to OAGS a DVD with a list of about 5500 types of African maps/data sets held by the Geological Surveys of Europe.By opening EGS members archives on African data we made clear that our intention is clearly focused in achieving mutual benefits.


Roadmap26-27 September 2011Delivery of EGS geological data compilation to OAGS, Windhoek, Namibia


Geological Survey of Austria (GBA) as an example…

The Austrian Geological Information for Africa (AGIA) initiative aims to give geological information back to the ‘owners’. A total of 490 maps ( 300dpi/tiff) have been scanned already.

All the best regards to the members of EGS and people in Africa from the Library of the Geological Survey of Austria


Roadmap26-27 September 2011Delivery of EGS geological data compilation to OGS, Windhoek, Namibia

11-12 December 2012EGS-OAGS Technical Meeting, Niamey, Niger




High Level Conference onEU-Africa Partnership on Raw Materials

Facilitate exploring mineral resources potential in Africa;

Foster further co-operation between African and European Geological Surveys;

Support capacity building to help improve material stewardship, meaning the responsibility for environmental quality shared by all those actions affecting the environment, including on rehabilitation of mining sites and management of secondary raw materials (recycling).




16 July 2013Signature of contract EGS - DG DEVCO, Brussels, Belgium


Geoscientific knowledge and skills in African Geological Surveys: Objectives

• Human resources capacity building and training for OAGS members and their partners through innovative case studies;

• Development of OAGS geoscience information infrastructure and management;

• Development of OAGS technical infrastructure, GIS laboratories, equipment, facilities.





25 September 2013EGS-OAGS Technical Meeting, Accra, Ghana


Geoscientific knowledge and skills in African Geological Surveys: Focus areas

• Strenghtening the OAGS;

• Geoscientific mapping;

• Mineral resources (including artisanal and small-scale mining) exploration and assessment;

• Geohazards mapping and monitoring;

• Geoheritage status development;

• Capacity building;

• Geoscience information infrastructure and management.


African-European GeoresourcesObservation System

• Sharing public geology-related data held in Geological Surveys and turning it in decision-aiding information, was identified as an important pillar of the OAGS-EGS cooperation

• Build the Spatial Data Infrastructure for Georesources in Africa

• Elaborate common strategies for relevant capacity building and training programmes

• Phase 1 (2008-2011): detailed design of a multi-national georesources observation system

• Contribution of geosciences to GEOSS in the context of INSPIRE (interoperability of public environment data)

• AEGOS in GEO work plan 2009-2011 (CB-09-05d) and 2012-2015 (EN-01)






25 September 2013EGS-OAGS Technical Meeting, Accra, Ghana

27 March 2014EGS-OAGS Workshop, Brussels, Belgium


When cooperation is real, it brings results!


EU-AU Summit: OUTCOMES

‘We will endeavour to cooperate in such fields as geological surveys, mineral resources governance, investments, infrastructures, skills development and waste management’.

Mrs Fatima Haram Acyl, African Commissioner for Trade and Industry, expressed full support to the geological cooperation, considered one of the most important and urgent needs to understand minerals resources potential in Africa and its sustainable development.


Roadmap26-27 September 2011Delivery of EGS geological data compilation to OAGS, Windhoek, Namibia11-12 December 2012EGS-OAGS Technical Meeting, Niamey, Niger16 July 2013Signature of contract EGS - DG DEVCO, Brussels, Belgium25 September 2013EGS-OAGS Technical Meeting, Accra, Ghana27 March 2014EGS-OAGS Workshop, Brussels, Belgium14 August 2014EGS-OAGS Special Session, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania


KEY STAKEHOLDERS

African Minerals Development Centre (AMDC) AND UNECA;

Geological Society of Africa (GSAf);

UNESCO;

The World Bank Group (WB);

Group on Earth Observation (GEO) AND AfriGEOSS;



REPORT CONTENT

Sufficient staff for map compilation? Staff adequately skilled for map compilation? Sufficient staff for field mapping? Staff adequately skilled for field mapping? Sufficient staff for management of GIS datasets? Staff adequately skilled for management of GIS datasets?


REPORT CONTENT

Estimated coverage of mineral resources maps for different scale ranges


THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

Documents

40 Years Listening to the Beat of the Earth EuroGeoSurveys Europe-Africa geoscientific cooperation Building geological capabilities and supporting AfriGEOSS