Drought monitoring programme launched
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday July 14, 2014 16:28
During the launch of the programme on Friday at the Yacht Club in Gaborone, the Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Kitso Mokaila said the Monitoring for Environment and Security in Africa (MESA) initiative is relevant for agriculture, drought, fire and flood monitoring. He said the programme would address challenges in the environment and agriculture.
“Look at the Gaborone Dam for example. The Dam is about 11% full. This is the primary source of water for the residents of Gaborone and surrounding villages.
The MESA initiative can assist in monitoring this and other water resources and provide reliable and credible information on the status of the dam as well as science based outlooks,” Mokaila said.
He said the MESA initiative will assist with capacity to monitor the state of crops and rangelands, and provide information for use in yield outlook and estimations.
Mokaila said drought is a re-occurring natural disaster in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. He said MESA will support the region to monitor drought throughout the year and provide drought risk maps and drought outlooks.
MESA is a follow up initiative to the African monitoring of the environment for sustainable development programme.
Its objective is to support African decision makers and planners in designing and implementing national, regional and continental policies and development plans for sustainable development, thereby advancing the socioeconomic progress and well-being of African populations towards achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).
The MESA programme is funded by the European Union under the framework of the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) at an estimated budget of 37 million Euros.