Presentation
The Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS) is an international Organization with an African vocation, founded in 1992 and based in Tunis since 2000. It mainly works on creating and supporting partnerships to jointly address the challenges related to water resources management, as well as the implementation of international agreements on land degradation, biodiversity and climate change in Africa.
Today, the OSS has 27 African and 7 non-African member countries. In addition, the Organization collaborates with 12 entities representatives of West, East and North Africa, as well as several UN agencies and non-governmental Organizations. These collaborations aim to strengthen shared efforts for a sustainable future in the region.
Mission and expertise
The OSS mission is to help its African member countries sustainably manage their natural resources, especially in a particularly disadvantageous climate change context. Its action focuses on arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas of Africa.
For this mission to be accomplished, the OSS is constantly developing expertise that allows it to shed light on current environmental issues and contribute to strategic brainwork on the sustainable land and water management.
Its actions cover three main areas:
- Implementation of multilateral agreements: The OSS implements agreements on land degradation, biodiversity and climate change.
- Promotion of initiatives: The OSS supports regional and international initiatives that address environmental challenges in Africa by promoting synergy between the States and sub-regional Organizations so that a true regional cooperation is established.
- Alignment of the approaches: The OSS defines concepts and unifies methodologies related to the sustainable land and water management.
OSS action
The OSS action includes a wide range of interventions to monitor and watch the environment, in order to help member countries in their fight against land degradation and desertification, as well as in the sustainable management of water resources and the reinforcement of the resilience of the populations.
The OSS is also committed to protecting biological heritage. For this to happen, it develops concepts and methodologies dedicated to environmental monitoring, natural resources management and climate change adaptation, based on scientific and technical programs: "Land", "Water", "Climate" and "Biodiversity".
These programs aim to promote integrated and collaborative management of natural resources in Africa.
Thanks to its accreditations with the Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Fund, the OSS helps countries implement projects on mitigating climate change impacts on the populations and ecosystems.
Here is why it relies on knowledge transfer, capacity building and awareness raising among all stakeholders.