SERVIR West Africa | Assisting Governments to Take Advantage of Publicly Available Data

Changing climate and strained ecological systems in West Africa intensify pressure from population growth, urbanization, and conflict over resources, all of which pose a substantial threat to economic growth and people in the region. Communities face recurring droughts, floods, food insecurity and famine, and population displacement. The effect of precipitation and long-term shifts in temperatures on hydrogeology, crop pests, and land use are more difficult to model and predict. Across West Africa, Tetra Tech is helping provide geospatial tools and services, which are critical to effective decision making for sustainable development.

To help close many of the gaps in data needed to make informed decisions, Tetra Tech is supporting the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under the SERVIR West Africa (SERVIR WA) program. SERVIR WA is implemented through the Agrometeorology, Hydrology, and Meteorology Regional Center (AGRHYMET), a specialized institution of the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel. SERVIR WA is part of a global network of SERVIR programs in more than 45 countries around the world.

Operating as a regional hub, SERVIR WA is supporting collaboration among technical institutions across West Africa, leveraging their diverse expertise in earth observation and technical analysis to find data and information-based solutions to the region’s most complex economic, environmental, and social challenges. Under SERVIR WA, Tetra Tech, AGRHYMET, and a consortium of regional partners are working across the region to increase awareness of, access to, and capacity to use geospatial information.

Tetra Tech is supporting institutions across West Africa to use satellite imagery, geospatial data and analysis, maps, tools, and services to improve the region’s climate resilience and ability to address critical issues such as food security, sustainable land use management, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Our project team is working to build the capacity of analysts and decision makers in government, civil society, and the media to integrate geospatial data, including climate data, and technologies into their analysis, operational systems, policy, planning, management, and communications. SERVIR WA is raising awareness and increasing availability of geospatial capabilities by improving management of and access to new and existing data and information at national and regional levels.

In collaboration with partner institutions and scientists from the region and around the world, our team is creating customized geospatial products and services such as decision support tools, applications, models, information dissemination, and training to get information to the people who need it to address priority development issues. Governments and other key decision makers are using these products and services to make evidence-based decisions for food security and agriculture; water and water-related disasters; land cover and land use change and ecosystem management; and weather and climate.