France has engaged Africa and successfully demonstrated the value of its Toulouse-based global Climate Space Observatory – particularly space technology, apps and their contribution to effective management of the environment and climate change.

The Observatory was launched in June 2018 to measure the impact of climate change and develop apps for water management, forest and crop monitoring, health services as well as connectivity.

It is located in the French National Centre for Space Studies and houses 25 global space agencies.

The African Union (AU) has also agreed to sign a joint declaration on the Observatory on the sidelines of the G7 meeting to be held in France on 25 and 26 August 2019, and this will allow African institutions access to relevant data.

Framework agreements have also been signed between France, Ethiopia and Kenya governing access to the Observatory.

These agreements will enable the two African countries to apply space technology to boost competencies in telecommunications, meteorology, cartography, climate change, agriculture and defense.

President of Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) Jean-Yves Le Gall said, "Africa's interest in space covers many domains including telecommunications, navigation, weather services, mapping, detection of water resources, forest monitoring, natural disasters, climate change, agriculture, urban development, wildlife tracking, illegal fishing, coastal monitoring and defense."