Funded by the European Union, OPERA is the ocean-focused component of the African Regional Centres of Excellence for the Green Transition (ArcX) programme. This overarching programme is dedicated to strengthening Digital and Science, Technology, and Innovation capacities in Sub-Saharan Africa, fostering scientific knowledge and innovation-driven sustainable development. Mercator Ocean International, through its coordinating role in the OceanPrediction Decade Collaborative Center, has been entrusted with implementing OPERA over the course of four years, from January 2025 to December 2028.
OPERA aims to build on and complement existing regional mandates and networks covered by other programmes such as GMES and Africa and will work closely with regional bodies including IOC Sub Commission for Africa and the Adjacent Island States, African Ocean Decade Taskforce, the OceanPrediction DCC’s African regional team, UNEP African Sea Conventions, among other key partners to guide the project’s activities and ensure its uptake and sustainability.
The project will run in two phases. The first phase (Year 1) will carry out preparatory work encompassing mapping existing ocean forecasting activities and applications and identifying needs and priorities through a series of consultation meetings with providers and stakeholders at local and regional scale in Africa. Following these consultations and information collected, different calls for tender will be prepared and launched for grant applications for the different consortia, capacity development, and technology transfer. This will be followed by an implementation phase, with the aim to start in year 2 (Jan 2026) that will focus on the launch of the consortia and development of ocean forecasting systems and applications, the ocean knowledge hub, and supporting activities.
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