Craig Schwabe
Director
AfricaScope
South Africa

Abstract
The Africa Imperative - Spatial Information for Development

Seven of the ten fastest growing economies are in Africa. Africa's economy will continue to grow at around 5% going into the next decade. This will be driven by increases in agricultural production and expansion in the service, oil and mining sectors. Africa will become one of the most important emerging markets in the world. Africa contains some of the most important resources needed for continued economic growth globally, including 25% of the world's arable land and 40% of its mineral resources. As a consequence, there is significant interest by many of the world's largest economies in Africa. To bring about Africa's sustainable development requires access to spatial information within an appropriate framework. Several African initiatives have been implemented in the last decade that has taken the development of SDI forward on the continent. This includes the Mapping Africa for Africa (MAfA) initiative. Under the auspices of the Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) two important initiatives were conducted. The first defined the fundamental geospatial datasets for Africa and the second was an inventory of all the fundamental geospatial data in African countries. Other continental initiatives have been launched but a strategic framework for the future development of spatial information in Africa is required. There are many challenges in implementing SDI in Africa. The most recognized strategic framework for SDI development globally is that of INSPIRE. In 2009 an initiative called the AESI-Align (Africa Europe Spatial Infrastructure) was proposed and presented at GSDI11 and the 3rd INSPIRE conference. Since then very little has happened in the development of SDI in Africa. The paper will explore the reasons for this and possibilities for future initiatives between Europe and pan-African organizations. The transfer of expertise, capacity and lessons learnt from INSPIRE would be a key aspect of any initiative.