Unlocking the potential of Earth Observation to address Africa’s critical challenges

Digital Earth Africa (DE Africa) provides a continental-scale data infrastructure that democratizes access to analysis-ready satellite data. The report estimates that by 2024, DE Africa could generate over $2 billion in annual socioeconomic benefits. These benefits are distributed across three primary areas: accelerating the growth of the African EO industry by $500 million per year, boosting agricultural productivity through water savings and yield increases worth at least $900 million per year, and reducing the economic damage from unregulated gold mining by at least $900 million per year through improved fiscal collection and environmental protection.

• Digital Earth Africa (DE Africa) is projected to generate total socioeconomic benefits exceeding $2 billion per year by 2024, based on conservative assumptions.
• The implementation of DE Africa is estimated to accelerate the growth of Africa's Earth Observation (EO) industry by $500 million annually from 2024. This includes a direct increase of approximately $385 million in yearly revenues for the downstream industry and an additional $117 million if the continent adopts best practices from top-performing countries.
• In agriculture, DE Africa could generate at least $900 million in annual benefits. This includes $880 million in savings from reduced water abstraction costs by saving 176 billion cubic meters of water per year, and at least $35 million by optimizing wheat sowing dates to increase production by 136,000 tonnes.
• EO data can reduce agricultural insurance costs and expand the market by improving transparency and reducing information asymmetry. It is estimated that this could save farmers $20 million in premiums and expand the insurance market by at least $25 million.
• Unregulated gold mining causes approximately $9 billion in annual economic damage to Africa. DE Africa could save at least $900 million per year if it prevents 10% of unregulated mining, with benefits split between increased fiscal revenues (over $750 million) and safeguarded environmental resources ($140 million).
• DE Africa utilizes Open Data Cube (ODC) technology to provide analysis-ready satellite data across 30 million square kilometres, supporting multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 2 (zero hunger), SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), and SDG 13 (climate action).

APA

World Economic Forum (2021). Unlocking the potential of Earth Observation to address Africa’s critical challenges. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Digital_Earth_Africa_Unlocking_the_potential_of_Earth_Observation_to_address_Africa_2021.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Unlocking the potential of Earth Observation to address Africa’s critical challenges. 2021. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Digital_Earth_Africa_Unlocking_the_potential_of_Earth_Observation_to_address_Africa_2021.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Unlocking the potential of Earth Observation to address Africa’s critical challenges |date=January 2021 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Digital_Earth_Africa_Unlocking_the_potential_of_Earth_Observation_to_address_Africa_2021.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2021unlocking, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Unlocking the potential of Earth Observation to address Africa’s critical challenges}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2021}, month = jan, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Digital_Earth_Africa_Unlocking_the_potential_of_Earth_Observation_to_address_Africa_2021.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }