Climate data presents a $2 billion opportunity in Africa alone. Here’s why

Data is a currency of its own in the modern world, so if only a few people can extract, refine and store it, then it will end up widening existing inequality gaps. This is why “data democratisation” has become essential, especially in emerging economies.

While the space sector has always leveraged open data, its value has not been tapped by most economies or societies. In this context, the role of satellite imagery could become increasingly important to find innovative solutions to current problems such as pandemics, famines, or climate change. Digital Earth Africa, a unique program launched in February 2019 uses the Open Data Cube and Amazon Web Services to make global satellite imagery more accessible and proves how data can bridge key social and economic inequalities in the twenty-first century.

Images of Africa’s geographies and coastlines have been recorded by satellites for many years. This free data, which offers a range of insights regarding land and water resources, is openly available but impossible to access, analyse or compute given the massive size of the data sets as well as the great processing power and capabilities required.

However, this type of information could be key to tackling a range of challenges across the continent, including:

Digital Earth Africa (DE Africa) provides insights on how such problems could be tackled thanks to data. This operational platform, powered by Australian technology, allows satellite images to be translated into information and accessed by decision-makers in various fields, such as science, policy, agriculture and industry. DE Africa’s data infrastructure helps to make both current and historical satellite images relevant and usable by improving their availability, quality and frequency.

Thanks to the Open Data Cube, an open source technology allowing geospatial data access, management and analysis functions, raw data can be processed into decision-ready products. These include simple facts, numbers, or visualisations to inform policy and drive actions involving a broad range of stakeholders.

According to a World Economic Forum-commissioned analysis of available sources, DE Africa could unlock economic benefits worth up to 2 billion USD for the African continent, by helping to:

Much of this analysis was recently published in a new report with the World Economic Forum, Unlocking the potential of Earth Observation to address Africa’s critical challenges. Such estimates and early numbers offer the smallest preview of how satellite data access could impact territories, as projects like DEA could stimulate African countries to improve policy-related indicators.

Still more work is needed to truly capitalize on the benefits that Earth Observation images could bring to economies. With the technology well-established, what’s needed next is an evolution of the stakeholder dialogue to create enabling legislative frameworks. Policy-makers must increase their commitment to education programs aimed at training engineers, refining intellectual property laws, and fostering public-private partnerships.Such education and dialogue can encourage entrepreneurs and forward-looking international investors willing to bet on profit-making, sustainable business opportunities. In the meantime, platforms such as Digital Earth Africa show what’s possible when we move from data availability to information accessibility.