Primary aim
The primary aim of AARSE is to increase the awareness of African governments and their institutions, the private sector and the society at large, about the empowering and enhancing benefits of developing, applying and utilizing responsibly, the products and services of Earth Observation Systems and Geo-information Technology.
Our Objectives
- To createan enabling environment for the continent of Africa to derive benefits from, and contribute to international space science, technology and application programmes;.
- To assistits members as well as national, regional and international user communities through timely dissemination of scientific, technical, policy and programme information in all aspects of space science and technology;
- To providea forum to address issues of common interest through the conduct of conferences, seminars and workshops;
- To promotegreater cooperation and coordination of efforts among African countries, institutions and industries in the development of space technology and its application to natural resources and environmental issues;
- To promotegreater appreciation of the benefit of the technology, especially, remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) in the pursuance of an African priority programme for economic recovery and sustainable development;
- To exchangeviews and ideas on technology, systems, policy and services of earth observation systems and geo-information science which are applicable to the betterment of Africa;
- To improveteaching and training in EO systems and geo-information science and to collect, evaluate and disseminate results and failures in remote sensing activities from all over the world;
- To bringtogether experts in remote sensing, GIS and environmental problems and foster good understanding among the members;
- To promoteor to organize public meetings and congresses with scientific reports;
- To conductother remotely sensed and GIS activities consistent with its aims.
For effective implementation of the above objectives, AARSE may:
- Hold abiennial AARSE Conference, annual workshops, symposiums and tutorials to exchange and discuss ideas related to earth observation systems and geo-information science including the usage of remotely sensed data and GIS in environmental and natural resources assessment in Africa and elsewhere;
- Stimulatenational societies / associations to conduct seminars/symposiums/workshops on the usage of such technology in problems related to their countries;
- Initiatestudies for feasibility of special tasks and projects in remotely sensed data and GIS to be implemented in the continent;
- Promotemultinational training programmes dealing with the technology, system maintenance, operation and services for members and associate members in cooperation and sponsorship from appropriate institutions;
- Performstudies on the environment and other natural resources to generate recommendations to relevant organizations on issues related to the environment, optimal usage of the remote sensing technology, GIS and other related methodologies through study group activities within AARSE.
The association and our partnerships
- The African Association of Remote Sensing of the Environment (AARSE) was founded in 1992 and was incorporated in 2008 as an international Non-Government Organization (NGO) under Section 21 of the South African Companies Act 61 of 1973.
- AARSE has an international NGO Observer Status with the United Nations (UN) Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) an the UN Committee on Peaceful Uses of Space (UN-COPUOUS) as well as official recognition by the African Union Commission.
- AARSE is a partner of several dedicated international organizations such as the
- International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS)
IEEE Geosciences and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS)
European Association of Remote Sensing Laboratories (EARSeL)
Digital Belt and Road (DBAR) Initiative
International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE) - AARSE is a participating organization in the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and the International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE).
- As a member of the former UN-ECA’s Executive Working Group on Geoinformation, AARSE also participated in, and contributed to the activities of the UN-ECA Committee on Development Information, Science and Technology (CODIST), sub-Committee on Geoinformationand is a member of the Working Group on Capacity building and capacity development of UN-GGIM:Africa (the African implementation of the UN Global Geospatial Information Management – GGIM)
