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Ocean

Objectives:

  1. Strengthen African capacities in ocean monitoring and forecasting at national, regional, and pan-african levels.
  2. Develop regional autonomy through Regional Centres of Excellence (RCoEs) for locally producing and utilizing ocean data and forecasts.
  3. Enable tailored digital ocean services for sustainable marine ecosystem management and hazard mitigation.
  4. Increase policymaker awareness of innovative decision-support tools for coastal zone management.  

Duration: 2025-2028

Budget: €7 million

Lead organisation: Mercator Ocean International leads the initiative through its Ocean Prediction Decade Collaborative Centre, leveraging its expertise as the implementer of the EU Copernicus Marine Service and its role in the EU Digital Twin Ocean Programme.

Available Resources
Displaying 1 - 15 of 17
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Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs)
The IUCN IMMA layer identifies specific habitat areas crucial for one or more marine mammal species, which may be suitable for conservation through delineation and management. IMMAs represent regions ...
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Global Distribution of Seagrasses (Polygons)
Seagrass is found on all continents except Antarctica, covering roughly 0.1% of the ocean floor. However, its global extent remains inadequately mapped, with estimates varying between 160,387 km² and ...
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Global Distribution of Seagrasses (Points)
Seagrass is found on all continents except Antarctica, covering roughly 0.1% of the ocean floor. However, its global extent remains inadequately mapped, with estimates varying between 160,387 km² and ...
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Installed capacities of hydropower plants
The hydropower installed capacity indicates the amount of energy a hydropower plant can produce in its turbines. In 2016, hydropower accounted for 54% of the installed capacity in Eastern Africa, 58% ...
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Annual evaporation from hydropower reservoirs
Evaporation from hydropower reservoirs represents a key component of the reservoir water budget. Depending on the different climate regimes on the continent, the rate of evaporation from open water ch...
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Hydrological Basins in Africa
Africa is home to the longest river in the world -the Nile- and other major rivers like the Congo and the Niger. This layer shows the official boundaries of river (sub-)basins in Africa (approved and ...
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Water Occurrence (1984-2020)
Surface water affects many aspects of our world: the exchange of heat, gas and water vapour between the planet's surface and atmosphere. Water is the engine behind the distribution, movement and migra...
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Wetlands
Water is essential for life on Earth and a critical natural resource that underpins all social and economic activity. Ensuring water and sanitation for all is one of the Sustainable Development Goals ...
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Water Transitions in Reservoir (1984-2018)
Freshwater, in sufficient quantity and quality, is essential for all aspects of life and fundamental to sustainable development. Yet water-related ecosystems are threatened by human activities (flow a...
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Water Transitions (1984-2018)
Freshwater, in sufficient quantity and quality, is essential for all aspects of life and fundamental to sustainable development. Yet water-related ecosystems are threatened by human activities (flow a...
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Annual energy production of hydropower plants
Many African countries, especially in the Sub-Saharan region, highly depend on hydropower, which is one of the energy sources most affected by droughts. At the same time, hydropower has a huge impact ...
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Annual surface area of hydropower reservoirs
Higher energy demands in Africa has led to a wide expansion of the number of hydropower sites, mainly between the 1960s and 1980s. The construction of dams causes impoundments of rivers and reservoirs...
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Total installed capacity of hydropower plants
The hydropower installed capacity indicates the amount of energy a hydropower plant can produce in its turbines. In 2016, hydropower accounted for 54% of the installed capacity in Eastern Africa, 58% ...
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Total surface area of hydropower reservoirs
Higher energy demands in Africa has led to a wide expansion of the number of hydropower sites, mainly between the 1960s and 980s. The construction of dams causes impoundments of rivers and reservoirs ...
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Aridity (areas of concern)
Aridity represents the ‘dryness’ of the climate. Dry areas have a higher potential for land degradation. This layer displays the areas of concern for aridity related issues derived from the convergenc...
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