Conakry, 2–5 September 2025
The third national workshop on Ecosystem Natural Capital Accounting (ENCA) was held from September 2 to 5, 2025 in Conakry as part of the COPERNICEA project. Organized by the Sahara and Sahel Observatory and the Guinean Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development (MESD), the workshop marked an important step in the integration of ecosystem services and natural capital into public decision-making and focused on the presentation and validation of ENCA data and tools developed specifically for Guinea.
The opening ceremony was chaired by Mr. Karim Samoura, Secretary General of the MESD, and Ms. Abir Ben Romdhane, Head of the OSS Biodiversity Division, who reiterated the strategic importance of having reliable, spatially-based, and regularly updated data to inform decision-making, particularly for agriculture, water management, and climate change adaptation. They also emphasized the need for national ownership of the tools produced by the project.
Bringing together representatives of public institutions, experts, researchers, and civil society actors, the workshop validated the results of the ENCA implementation process in Guinea. Discussions that enlivened the debates highlighted the value of these accounts for territorial planning, sustainable natural resource management, and their integration into public policies.
Finally, this forum provided an opportunity to strengthen cross-fertilization dynamics with other regional initiatives, namely GMES&Africa and Digital Earth Africa, with a view to increasing the use of spatial data and digital tools for environmental monitoring.