The Sahel is one of the world’s most vulnerable regions in terms of climate change, and where the livelihoods of many depend on a few crops such as millet and sorghum, according to UN World Food Programme analyst Matthieu Tockert.

To help counteract these effects, West Africa will soon be using space-based observations to boost crop production and better manage natural disasters.

A 2014 study by Nasa found that governments in the region either did not have good data or were not using it. Now Nasa, from a hub recently launched in Niger’s capital Niamey, will stream climate data gathered by its satellites to Burkina Faso, Ghana and Senegal with the aim of improving food security.

16 August 2016
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