On November 23rd, 2023, Space in Africa and Planet hosted a pivotal webinar on “Utilising Earth Observation for Digital and Sustainability Transformation.” The discussion demonstrated how EO data can facilitate successful transitions towards digitalisation and sustainability on the continent. Specific use cases were presented across three topics: precision agriculture for enhanced food security, urban planning for population and municipal operations, and disaster management and mitigation strategies. These areas explored EO’s potential to drive sustainability initiatives and solutions to meet Africa’s unique challenges.
The event attracted participants from various sectors, including representatives from the NewSpace industry, academia, researchers, practitioners in agriculture, land and urban planning, and other key stakeholders. The goal was to unite voices across the ecosystem to align strategies for leveraging satellite imaging and geospatial analytics in national development goals.
Check here to watch the webinar.
The esteemed speakers included Annet Eeltink, Senior Account and Partner Executive for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Planet, and Yegon Gerald, Regional Sales Lead for Africa at Planet. During the session, both speakers showcased diverse applications of EO data, focusing on various thematic areas. These included precision agriculture for enhanced food security, urban planning for population management and municipal operations, and disaster management and mitigation strategies. Mustapha Iderwaumi, a senior analyst at Space in Africa, moderated the webinar.
Key Takeaways from the Event
Annet anchored Planet’s mission around their globally unprecedented dataset acquired through their ~180 SuperDove satellites — imaging the entire land mass of Earth every day. This continuous, high-resolution monitoring unlocks the previously impossible – direct visibility into daily change across regions, industries, and ecosystems. Furthermore, she showcased solutions targeted for major public sector and commercial verticals built atop Planet’s imagery archive, surpassing 1 billion km2. These leverage cutting-edge data enhancements like 3D maps, building footprints, land classification, and analytics like crop yield prediction, infrastructure monitoring, and land cover tracking.
Specifically for Africa, Annet highlighted Planet’s nationwide projects, from monitoring infrastructure expansion in Angola to alerting authorities on deforestation trends in DRC’s rainforest. Their tools revealed stories of change otherwise hidden. Annet explained their pillar philosophy. By continuously capturing imagery, applying enhancements, and building analytical models tailored for major social and economic activities, Planet makes global-scale change visible, accessible and actionable for those working to transform vulnerable regions worldwide positively.
Gerald dove into agriculture as a pivotal use case for the impact of EO data. He explained how recent studies found satellite imaging analytics can help individual smallholder farmers in Africa improve crop yields by 15-30%. Scaled nationally, technologies like precision nitrogen monitoring and timely drought alerts from space data translate to stabilised food supply chains and enhanced sovereignty.
Specifically, he shared case studies focused on enhancing the crop cycle via satellites. In early season planning, automated field boundary mapping, yield prediction analysis, and zonal management help farmers optimise resources. During growth phases, frequent multi-spectral views classify crop types across vast lands while indicating precise zones of water stress, insect damage, or nutrient deficiencies for targeted action. Finally, EO supports harvest planning based on accelerated crop-specific phenology models – all without boots on the ground.
Gerald also covered emerging partnerships applying EO in index insurance models that lower financial barriers to tech adoption for small farmers while decreasing risk. He explained initiatives around planning national agriculture expansions to non-arable lands using detailed soil chemistry and terrain analysis – opening productivity possibilities unlocked exclusively from space.
Gerald explained how Planet’s building detection and population analytics feeds empower major humanitarian and healthcare initiatives. By tracking building footprints via satellite, national programs can pinpoint remote regions lacking proper access to hospitals, schools, and sanitation systems – enabling targeted infrastructure deployment where needed most.
Similarly, continuous monitoring uncovers informal settlements prone to public health crises. For migration factors, accurately estimating populations in refugee camps or internal displacement sites allows international aid agencies to model needs from food to medical supplies. By updating numbers between infrequent surveys, strained resources can match the most current situation.
In agriculture, Gerald noted that index-based crop insurance models rely on historical satellite analytics to determine payouts farmers receive during droughts. Such programmes built on objective, frequent EO data remove subjective loss assessments that prevent smallholders from receiving support reliably. This stabilises livelihoods despite climate shocks.
Gerald highlighted Planet’s urban planning solutions for African cities powered by machine learning algorithms trained on satellite imagery. Specific capabilities showcased include mapping urban expansion over time, identifying green spaces across cities, and pinpointing urban heat islands needing mitigation. He shared a collaboration project in Dar es Salaam between Planet and the World Bank. The initiative integrated Planet’s high-resolution satellite views of the city with ground truth data from the community-based initiative Ramani Huria (Swahili for “Open Map”). Advanced deep learning models were developed to automate the detection of new buildings across neighbourhoods and measure structure density. These grant planners have vital visibility into development patterns, density shifts, and sustainability factors like remaining green spaces. The project showcases how EO data, in tandem with public participation, can guide policies for more livable, resilient African cities.
On mining, Gerald explained how continuous satellite observation balances economic prospects and sustainability from initial surveys to remediation. High-resolution mineral anomaly detection guides subsurface exploratory drilling while minimising vegetation cleared for survey crews. During operations, activity alerts mitigate illegal mining’s encroachment on reserves. He shared a case study focused on artisanal mining where frequently updated imagery tracks the progress of shallow pits to guide miners towards new viable deposits without expanding their community’s environmental footprint. Planet also helps regulators monitor such sites during rehabilitation, using indicators like vegetation regrowth to confirm the land is being restored post-operations rather than abandoned.
Regarding water monitoring, Gerald noted how Earth imaging supports everything from civil engineering to disaster response. Planet helps organisations track the rise and fall of reservoir water lines, monitor quality via changes in turbidity and sediment loads, plus issue early warnings on algal blooms. In Lake Victoria, alerts on initial bloom formations help local authorities rapidly respond to curb spread before fisheries and water access are disrupted regionally.
Keep an eye on our website and social media platforms for updates on upcoming episodes in Space in Africa's webinar series.
Mustapha has a strong relationship with written words and enjoys elaborating on minor details with a plethora of information.
