The computer and the Internet have come to Africa in a big way. Experts in natural resources, agriculture, health, water, wildlife, and many other aspects of development use environmental information systems (EIS) and computerized mapping, often referred to as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), to assess the extent, condition, and value of resources. But the region lacks the institutions needed to help experts share the data, methods, ideas, and results of their work across countries, regions, and language barriers.
In 2002, to help remedy this situation, WRI helped turn an international advisory committee into a formal, pan-African NGO-EIS-Africa: A Network for the Cooperative Management of Environmental Information. EIS-Africa, now acknowledged by many to be the premier pan-African NGO on environmental and development information, helps being geo-spatial information to bear on the problems of Africa. The Network documents stories and helps decision-makers apply lessons learned to create new successes – for example, improved location of waste disposal sites in The Gambia; rapid response to cholera outbreaks in South Africa; and improved mapping of land mines in Mozambique.
