Update: ARDC has become the Digital Earth Africa Initiative. Current work is being informed by this shift.

The Africa Regional Data Cube (ARDC) is a tool harnessing the latest Earth observation data and satellite technology to help Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Senegal, and Tanzania address various issues relating to agriculture, food security, deforestation, urbanization, water access, and more.

The Africa Regional Data Cube:

1. is demand-led and responsive to what partner countries need; 
2. fairly intensive on capacity-building to meet that need;
3. focused on interoperability to leverage breakthroughs regardless of the platform where they may happen; and
4. supports countries to develop a governance framework that embraces institutionalization leading to sustainable implementation.

See "Related News" and "Resources" below to learn more about how countries are utilizing the ARDC to implement the Sustainable Development Goals, protecting the environment and improving people's lives.

The data cube was developed by the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) in partnership with the Group on Earth Observations, Amazon Web Services, Strathmore University in Kenya, Office of the Deputy President - Kenya, and the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data.

The ARDC has transitioned into Digital Earth Africa, an evolution to increase scale, sustainability, and functionality through a continental-wide operational service on EO data. Learn more here.

Earth observation data and satellite imagery can promote food security to help end hunger:

Data cubes such as the ARDC can also play a critical role in supporting refugees, internally displaced peoples, and people living in fragile or conflict-affected states:

The formal launch of the ARDC, and an in-depth training workshop for government representatives of participating countries took place in Nairobi, Kenya from 9-11 May 2018.