Advances In SDI Development In Africa


  • Burkina Faso. Programme National de Gestion de L’information sur le Milieu (PNGIM). [National Program on Environmental Information Management]. The mandates of PNGIM are:
    • To set up an efficient system allowing easy access to environmental information ;
    • To improve the relevance, quality and availability of environmental information;
    • To contribute to the strengthening of national institutions’ operational capacity to collect, process, and disseminate information
    • To serve as a platform for consultation on cartographic and thematic standards, spatial and non spatial databases;
    • To strengthen and promote the integration of GIS and new information and communication technologies into environmental management
    • To facilitate full involvement of Burkina Faso in all international initiatives concerned with data collection and analysis for environmental management purposes;
    • To promote the national expertise and capacity building in Environmental information systems ;
    • To sensitize the decision makers on the importance of Environmental Information Systems for NRM and environment protection;
    • To ensure national NRM-related policies monitoring and evaluation;
    • To develop for the decision makers integrated decision support tools applicable for addressing environment-related issues;
    • To define guiding principles and policy orientations for a better management of environmental information;
    • To ensure quality control on data provided by the members;
    • To assess for approval the report and workplan of the PNGIM’s Coordinating Unit;
    • To raise funds for financing the activities in the scope of its mandate
    Currently, 16 government institutions are participating, including the National Mapping Agency, the Statistics Bureau and the university. Others are expected to join. It has a coordinating unit and three working groups dealing with natural resources, socio-economic and development policies and geoinformation and information technologies.



  • Benin. Système d’Information et de Suivi Environnemental (SISE) [Environmental Information and Monitoring System]. The mandate of SISE was to facilitate accessibility to environmental data and information for strategic planning and appropriate decision making for sustainable development. Its main objectives are:
    • To produce (produce, collect, store, transform) basic environmental data
    • To develop the legal framework for environmental information management
    • To harmonize methodologies and standards of data collection and storage
    • To promote the setting up of national data and information network
    • To promote national expertise on environmental information production and management
    • To develop tradable metadabases and information on regions for Environmental assessment needs, and for Programs and Projects development and management needs
    • To develop user needs oriented tradable products
    • To elaborate adequate indicators for environmental and social impacts assessment
    • To publish specific reports and books on national environment
    • To share national information through internet
    • To sensitize decision makers and all other data user on the importance of liable data costs and usage
    Membership is open to all public and private institutions, and non-governmental and civil society organizations that accept and ratify its charter. Current members include:
    • Environmental Protection Agency (mandated lead Agency)
    • National Mapping Institute (IGN)
    • Remote Sensing Centre (CENATEL)
    • National Institute for Statistics and Economic Analysis (INSAE)
    • Meteorological Bureau (ASECNA)
    • National Bureau for Mines and Geological Researches
    • Laboratories of Climate, Biogeography, soil science (University)
    • Benin Centre for Scientific Research and Techniques (CBRST)
    • National Oceanographic Committee (CNO)
    • National Centre for Natural Reserve Management (CENAGREF)
    • National Institute for Agronomic Research
    • Central Directorates of Ministries
    • Three National NGOs
    • One Sub regional NGO (CREPA-Benin)
    • Two private organisations ( National Chamber for Trade and Industry, SERHAU-SA).
    Purpose-Built SDIs

    While several SDI (by whatever name) developed in many countries out of the need for spatial data to manage the environment, others are being implemented with the now emerging consensus of the meaning and components of SDI as the new approach to managing spatially referenced data for the community at large. In South Africa, the National Spatial Information Framework (NSIF) was specifically developed to facilitate data sharing and develop the South African spatial data infrastructure. It was based on the realization that the use of information for land management and decision making should include spatially-referenced information and that there was need to coordinate the various initiatives going on at the time. The NSIF initiative included implementing a spatial data discovery facility (SDDF), spatial data standards to facilitate data interchange, identification of core datasets, and developing appropriate policies on spatial data management and dissemination. It was established in 1997 as a directorate within the Chief Surveyor General’s office and the evolving SDI was also referred to as NSIF. Eventually, the SDI has been renamed to South African Spatial Data Infrastructure (SASDI) and a Spatial Information Bill has been proposed (in May 2003) to formally establish SASDI and the associated Committee on Spatial Information (CSI). The draft bill sets out the objectives of SASDI as to:
    • Facilitate the capture of spatial information through co-operation among organs of state;
    • Promote effective management and maintenance of spatial information;
    • Promote the utilisation and sharing of spatial information in support of spatial planning, socio-economic development and related activities;
    • Create an environment which facilitates co-ordination and co-operation among all stakeholders regarding access to spatial information;
    • Eliminate duplication in the capturing of spatial information; and
    • Promote universal access to such information.
    With the express intention of avoiding duplication of efforts in data capture, the bill requires data custodians to inform the CSI prior to undertaking any data capturing exercise, giving specifications of the exercise.

    Other countries that are implementing specific SDI initiatives include:
    • Kenya. As part of its mandates to provide the mapping and land information needs of the country, the Survey of Kenya (SOK) adopted the SDI concept as the mechanism for efficient production, management and dissemination of mapping and land information products. Since the SDI concept is centred on partnerships, it set out to identify the key organizations that should be involved in the national SDI, and to make them aware of the advantages of the SDI approach. An awareness and consensus-building workshop was organised in November 2001. The workshop, which was attended by 55 participants from 30 organizations, agreed on the need for a concerted effort to establish the NSDI and endorsed the lead role of SOK, mandating it to host the secretariat and convene subsequent forums to further develop the SDI. A second workshop was organised in April 2002, which approved a management structure based on a steering committee, and executive committee and working groups, with their respective terms of reference. A third workshop was organised in September 2002, specifically to agree on the use of the results of a proposed Large Scale Framework/Spatial Data Infrastructure (LSF/SDI) Project for the City of Nairobi under the Sponsorship of JICA.
    • Nigeria. The Nigerian National Geo-Spatial Data Infrastructure (NGDI) initiative developed from a project proposed by a private company to develop a Nigerian “Integrated Resource Management System/National Geographic Information System (IRM/NAGIS)”. The original proposal, under the auspices of the National Planning Commission, was to develop a central database facility for ALL geographic data, including remote sensing and cartographic products, and for users nationwide to access the facility for all geographic information products and services. With the establishment of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), the mandate for such activities was transferred to NASRDA. NASRDA reviewed the proposal and recommended against continuing with a centralized database facility. Instead an NGDI should be established, following internationally accepted guidelines. A committee was set up to produce a draft National Geoinformation Policy, and organize a stakeholders’ workshop. The workshop reviewed and edited the draft policy document, including proposals for the management committee structure for the NGDI. The revised document, dated September 2003, has since been submitted to government for approval and implementation.
    • Botswana. Like the Survey of Kenya, the Botswana Division of Surveys and Mapping saw its mandate for the provision of land information and mapping products and services to include introducing new approaches to managing the information. It had just completed an ambitious project to create a comprehensive national atlas using GIS technology. It was also completing the complete coverage of the country by aerial photography to support new digital cadastral and topographic databases. The Department of Town and Country Planning (DTRP) has several digital databases to support its activities and the District Land Boards maintains computerised land inventories, though they contain only text. It needed to ensure that all these information products are put to maximum use in decision making, and the SDI concept offered the best approach. Together with the Government Computer Bureau, which had commissioned studies on a master plan for a national GIS strategy, the DSM therefore championed the establishment of a steering committee to propose the structure of a management committee for the SDI, and identify the core data products. The national committee, together with its working groups, was inaugurated in February 2003, on the occasion of the launch of the digital version of the national atlas.
    • Ethiopia. Again, under the leadership of the Ethiopian Mapping Authority (EMA), an awareness workshop was organised, targeting institutions identified by EMA as key stakeholders. This workshop formally endorsed EMA as lead agency for the NSDI in Ethiopia and charged it to organise subsequent forums to further the initiative. A second workshop was organised as a side event of the third meeting of ECA’s Committee on Development Information (CODI), endorsing an initial management committee with mandate to prepare relevant submissions to the Federal Government to formally constitute the SDI.
    Continental Coordination

    Even though each country is developing its own SDI according to its local laws and politics, the need for continental coordination of the activities has always been recognised. The first initiative towards coordinating SDI activities on the continental level was taken in 1999 by the South African NSIF and the World Bank programme on Environmental Information Systems for Sub-Saharan Africa (EIS-SSA), which has seen evolved into EIS Africa. On the occasion of the conference on Earth Data Information Systems (EDIS) in July 1999, EIS and NSIF convened a workshop to:
    • Establish what Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) initiatives were going on in Africa at that time;
    • Examine similarities and differences between them, and establish a framework for the mutual support of those endeavours and ensure their alignment; and
    • Develop a position on Africa's participation in global initiatives concerning SDI, especially GSID, the fourth meeting of which was to take place in Cape Town in 2000.
The workshop identified the need for a permanent committee on SDI in Africa, along the lines of PCGIAP for Asia and the Pacific, and noted the important role of CODI-Geo in establishing such a committee and in overall coordination of SDI activities in Africa. An interim task team was established to work on agreed tasks leading up to GSDI-4 and make a formal request to CODI-Geo.

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