Our main objective in the SMAS project is to prevent environmental degradation caused by drought and to improve the response capacity of the concerned countries—Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. In order to achieve this objective, we have set up early warning systems which allow regular monitoring of environmental changes and swift detection of unfolding crisis situations in the three countries with a view to mitigating the likely impact on natural resources and populations.
More specifically, the project aims at strengthening national capacity in terms of drought early warning. We provide our support to the project stakeholders and partners so that high-risk zones vulnerable to climate variability can be identified with effective and durable systems in place for detection and reaction.
We take a multi-disciplinary approach that reflects the wide range of indicators—meteorological data, biophysics, socio-economics and satellite imagery—used in the project. These indicators are to be integrated into evaluation-monitoring devices of national and sub-regional action programmes (NAPs and SRAPs).
In order to put early warning systems in place in the countries concerned, we build on existing achievements in the field of studying and monitoring desertification, and more specifically, drought. It is equally important to assess the technical and financial feasibility of such systems.
In each country, the early warning system will be set up within a coordination body that includes all relevant institutions.
We are working with our partners towards devising a common early warning strategy for the whole sub-region, namely the Arab Maghreb Union, AMU. This work will then be shared with other countries and sub-regions within the wider OSS community across circum-Saharan Africa.
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