COMSTECH Regional Workshop: Information and Awareness on Opportunities Offered by COMSTECH and the Role of Emerging Technologies in Strengthening the Resilience of Ecosystems and Communities in Africa.

Date : From June 16 to 18, 2025

Venue : Institute of Food Technology (ITA), Hann Maristes – Dakar, Senegal

1. Context

In 1981, the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) decided to establish COMSTECH (Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation), with the primary mission of promoting scientific and technological cooperation among OIc member states. This dynamic cooperation aims to create critical masses of human resources in science and technology to better address social demands in all their diversity and complexity, thereby fostering inclusive and sustainable socio-economic and industrial development. It also involves ensuring scientific and technological vigilance to adopt global advancements while respecting ethical, bioethical, and biosecurity rules.

To achieve its objectives, COMSTECH has implemented numerous projects and programs, including:

Training, particularly for youth and women, through the provision of scholarships in cutting-edge scientific research and emerging technologies,
Developing complementary and interdisciplinary collective skills in priority areas identified by member countries,
Facilitating researcher mobility to leverage the comparative advantages of host countries,
Enhancing the scientific research and technological innovation capacities of member countries.

The regional center AGRHYMET, a specialized institution of CILSS (Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel), is mandated to inform and train countries in areas such as food security, natural resource management, combating desertification and climate change, water management, and market access. AGRHYMET CCR-AOS maintains a regional database with over 50 years of climate and impact data. As part of its environmental monitoring, AGRHYMET CCR-AOS has documented, in an updated ATLAS every five years, the evolution of West African landscapes from 1975 to 2023, providing a detailed description of changes in land use classes. AGRHYMET CCR-AOS also hosts graduate programs at the Master’s, engineering, and technical levels.

The Senegal Directorate of Environment, under the Ministry of the Environment and Ecological Transition, is responsible for implementing state policies on environmental and forest resource management; developing rules for environmental protection and pollution, natural risk, and disaster prevention; ensuring compliance with international environmental conventions and national environmental laws; and integrating environmental concerns into sectoral policies and national development strategies.

Thus, to inform and raise awareness about the opportunities available to member countries and to facilitate expert discussions on the role of emerging technologies in strengthening ecosystem and community resilience, COMSTECH is organizing this workshop in partnership with AGRHYMET and the Senegal Directorate of Environment with the technical support of Senegal Institute for Agricultural Research and Ecological Monitoring Center.

This workshop aligns with the “One Health” principle, an integrated and inclusive approach to improving the health of populations, animals, and ecosystems sustainably.

Recent data estimates that over 700 million people suffer from hunger worldwide, including nearly 170 million in sub-Saharan Africa (UN, 2023). To achieve SDG 2 “Zero Hunger” by 2030, the main challenges for agriculture include: (i) producing enough to feed a growing population, (ii) ensuring food safety, and (iii) reducing the environmental impact of agriculture while remaining competitive. To address these challenges, farmers need increasingly predictive tools for monitoring, treatment, and production, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Beyond production-boosting technologies, others like blockchain ensure traceability and transparency throughout the food supply chain by securely recording data on the origin, quality, safety, and sustainability of agricultural products. This technology can enhance consumer trust, combat food fraud, and improve food recall management in case of contamination.

Globally, pastoralism, a traditional extensive livestock system, is practiced by over 200 million herders (FAO, 2018), playing a significant socio-economic and environmental role. To enhance pastoral system performance, digital tools are increasingly used for herd management, animal health, and marketing. Digital technologies in pastoralism can:

Revitalize herding professions by developing devices tailored to pastoral practices,
Generate new references through sensors and data collection tools,
Foster knowledge exchange among pastoral stakeholders via collaborative platforms.

With the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is easier to identify animals, interpret behaviors, and monitor livestock health using remote surveillance and decision-support systems. Additionally, drones and machine learning enable precise pasture monitoring, improving productivity and sustainability.

Human activities are responsible for the deforestation of 10 million hectares annually (FAO, 2020), with agriculture alone accounting for 73% of forest degradation. Restoring and conserving forest and agroforestry ecosystems requires advanced technologies. Combining AI and Earth observation technologies (satellite imagery, ground sensors, etc.) can enhance forest monitoring and management. AI, IoT, and drones can:

Rapidly and accurately analyze vast areas for diagnostics,
Provide cost-effective and regular monitoring,
Predict and reduce environmental risks,
Create digital twins for ecosystem restoration projects, simulating forest growth and tracking ecological indicators like canopy height, carbon storage, and biodiversity.

The COMSTECH workshop will enable the Ministry of Environment to learn about COMSTECH’s training programs, particularly those on innovative environmental monitoring technologies. The tools shared during the workshop will serve as awareness-raising resources for field agents.

Given COMSTECH’s ambitions to leverage science and technological innovation for inclusive and sustainable growth in the Islamic world, and the opportunities offered by emerging technologies, this workshop will serve as a platform for high-level expert exchanges.

2. Objectives

The workshop has two main objectives:

Widely disseminate the mechanisms established by COMSTECH to promote science and technological innovation in OIC member countries,
Review the state-of-the-art emerging technologies used or applicable in ecosystem preservation strategies in Africa, particularly West Africa.

3. Deliverables

Review all training and researcher mobility opportunities, especially for youth and women,
Propose solutions to better address youth training needs in COMSTECH programs,
Share country experiences on emerging technologies for ecosystem protection,
List constraints related to accessing and disseminating advanced technologies,
Formulate concrete proposals to address challenges hindering the adoption and scaling of advanced technologies for ecosystem protection,
Establish an expert network to better target priority areas for COMSTECH programs.

4. Workshop Format

The workshop will be facilitated by an expert moderating the sessions. The first part will focus on COMSTECH’s training and scholarship programs. The second part will showcase country experiences in using emerging technologies to strengthen ecosystem resilience to climate change. The third part will discuss mechanisms to expand and amplify COMSTECH programs in West Africa.

5. Participating Countries

In addition to the host country, West African countries will be represented by high-level expert.

Contacts :

Dr. Ismaila Diallo, Regional Advisor for OIC-Africa
ismaila.d@comstech.org

Ms. Tayyaba Awan, Sr. Consultant (Partnerships and Cooperation)
tayyaba.awan@comstech.org

Mr. Renaud Makaka, Sr. Technical Manager, COMSTECH
renaudmakaka@comstech.org