PanAfGeo and ISPRA support
In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the final event of the first phase of the international PanAfGeo project is taking place, one of the three pillars of the ‘PanAfrican Program’ of the European Commission. With a budget of over 10 million euros, the first phase has achieved unexpected results for a unique experiment. It is, in fact, the first time that a large geoscientific capacity building program has developed on a continental scale through a genuine partnership between European and African institutions.
The program, strongly supported by various Directorates General of the European Commission, in particular Industry and Commerce, and co-financed by the Directorate General for Development Cooperation, aims to train African public administration experts to support identification and exploitation sustainable mineral resources, promote tourism related to geology (geo-tourism), and prevent natural disasters of geological origin such as, for example, landslides or floods.
The PanAfGeo project, coordinated by the French Geological Service (BRGM) under the aegis of the European Geological Services (EuroGeoSurveys) and African (OAGS) organizations involved: 66 countries (of which 54 are African), more than 50 intensive courses, hosted by 19 African countries, which allowed the training of over 1200 officials of African institutions during the first three years.
The Minister for Mineral Resources of Tanzania, Hon. Doto Mashaka Biteko, during his opening speech wanted to emphasize the enormous impact in terms of social and economic development of the project for the country, and in this scenario ISPRA will continue to have a role in coordinating PanAfGeo governance. Moreover, if funded, the second phase will complete the PanAfGeo strategic plan with an overall allocation of resources equivalent to almost 30 million euros over 6 years.