The need for the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) & Africa Marine and Coastal Operations for Southern Africa (MarCOSIO) project to have futuristic ocean observing technology is critical. This is vital in meeting new and emerging demands for ocean information.

To accelerate the new technologies, highly-seasoned team leaders from partner organizations in the Southern and Eastern Africa have been steering the development, implementation and operationalization process for various services under MarCOSIO in the framework of the GMES & Africa project.

The three include Dr Bolelang Sibolla from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) who leads the technical team in developing the Safety at Sea service, Dr Yohana Wilson Shaghude from the Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS) serving as a research coordinator under the project, and Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute’s (KMFRI) Dr Immanuel Mbaru who is the thematic expert under MarCOSIO.

Their role is key in co-designing and co-delivering earth observation innovations that will inform the development of relevant earth observation policies driven by relevant and timely data.

Dr Bolelang Sibolla

Dr Bolelang Sibolla holds a BSc Engineering (Geomatics), MSc Engineering (Geomatics) from the University of Cape Town, and a PhD (Geoinformatics) from the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

She is a principal researcher in the Spatial Information Systems group at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa. The CSIR is a world-class African research and development organisation established through an Act of Parliament in 1945 of the Republic of South Africa. The CSIR undertakes directed, multidisciplinary research and technological innovation that contributes to the improved quality of life for Africans.

Bolelang’s research interests include innovative spatiotemporal analysis and development of bespoke decision support tools with a focus on big geo spatiotemporal data. She specialises in creating spatial data infrastructures for Earth Observation data, Geovisual Analytics and Geovisualisation.

Bolelang leads the technical team developing the Safety at Sea Service of the GMES and Africa funded, Marine and Coastal Operations for Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean (MarCOSIO) project.

Bolelang is also a Senior Research Associate of the Institute of Intelligent Systems, University of Johannesburg.

She is the secretary of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, ISPRS,  Intercommision on “Openness in Geospatial Science and Remote Sensing”.

She is the Co-Chair for the Data Governance Working Group, for the National Earth Observation and Space Secretariat (NEOSS)- South Africa.

Dr Yohana Wilson Shaghude

Dr Yohana Wilson Shaghude holds a PhD in Sedimentology from Stockholm University, MSc in Oceanography (University of Southampton), BSc in Geology (University of Dar es Salaam) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Marine Affairs from Dalhousie University.

He is a senior lecturer at the Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS), University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), where he has served at IMS since 1986 in various capacities. Notable posts held include Secretary of the IMS Research Committee, Head of Physical and Environmental Marine Sciences (PEMS), Associate Director, and Director.

He has been teaching graduate and postgraduate students in diverse courses in marine geology, oceanography, remote sensing – with bias in coastal and marine applications, marine instrumentation and marine non-living resources.

Dr Shaghude is highly experienced having served as IMS local coordinator in research projects with regional and international partners including Europe-Africa Earth Observation Marine Network (EAMNet), Sustainable Oceans, Livelihood and food Security Through Increased Capacity in Ecosystem research in the Western Indian Ocean (SOLSTICE-WIO).

The highly seasoned lecturer served as research coordinator in the first phase of GMES-Marine and Coastal Operations for Southern Africa (GMES-MarCOSouth) under the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security in Africa (GMES & Africa) from 2017 to 2021. Dr Shaghude continues to coordinate development of services in phase two of the reviewed GMES & Africa Marine and Coastal Operations for Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean (MarCOSIO) consortium.

His research interest and experience range from coastal erosion and shoreline changes, coastal geomorphology, sea bottom mapping, environmental impact assessment, sediment transport and carbonate sedimentation; remote sensing (marine applications) and oceanography in general.

Dr Shaghude has supervised more than 15 postgraduate and undergraduate students in the past 10 years, and presently he is supervising three PhD and two undergraduate students.

Dr Immanuel Mbaru

Dr Immanuel Mbaru (PhD) is a Senior Research Scientist at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI). He is the thematic expert and project leader for the Marine and Coastal Operations for Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean (MarCOSIO) consortium under the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security in Africa (GMES & Africa) project-Kenyan Chapter, co-funded by the African Union Commission and the European Commission.

Dr. Mbaru currently holds an AXA Postdoctoral research fellowship at Lancaster Environment Centre for his outstanding research work on climate impact on fisheries. The AXA Fellowship is a funding scheme aiming at supporting young promising researchers on a priority topic aligned with AXA and the Society. His project will further examine how legal pluralism in fisheries governance affects the implementation of policies and sustainability strategies to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Dr. Mbaru obtained his PhD in Marine Science from James Cook University, Australia, in 2019. His research focused on the diffusion of escape slot traps – a conservation technology- through networks of coastal fishers in Kenya, and the impacts of this technology innovation on both people (wellbeing) and ecosystems (fisheries functional diversity).

Dr. Mbaru’s current interests are embedded in the emerging concepts in network science and fisheries ecology to better understand how and why conservation goes to scale. He focuses on interdisciplinary research topics that examine the vulnerability of coastal communities and ecosystems to environmental change.

Selected Publications

Mbaru EK, Hicks CC, Gurney GG, Cinner JE. (2021). Evaluating outcomes of conservation with multidimensional indicators of well‐being. Conservation Biology 35(5): 1417 – 1425.

Mbaru EK, Graham NAJ, McClanahan TR, Cinner EJ. (2019). Functional traits illuminate the selective impacts of different fishing gears on coral reefs. Journal of Applied Ecology 57(2): 241 – 252.

Mbaru EK, Sigana D, Ruwa RK, Mueni EM, Ndoro CK, Kimani EN, Kaunda-Arara B. (2018). Experimental evaluation of influence of FADs on community structure and fisheries in coastal Kenya. Aquatic Living Resources 31: 6 – 18.

Mbaru EK. & Barnes ML. (2017). Key players in conservation diffusion: using social network analysis to identify critical injection points: Biological Conservation 210: 222–232.

Mbaru EK & McClanahan TR. (2013). Escape gaps in African basket traps reduce bycatch while increasing body sizes and incomes in a heavily fished reef lagoon. Fisheries Research 148: 90 – 99.

Barnes ML, Mbaru EK, Muthiga NA. (2019). Information access and knowledge exchange in co-managed coral reef fisheries. Biological Conservation 238: 108198.

James P. W. Robinson, David J. Mills, Godfred Ameyaw Asiedu, Kendra Byrd, Maria del Mar Mancha Cisneros, Philippa J. Cohen, Kathryn J. Fiorella, Nicholas A. J. Graham, M. Aaron MacNeil, Eva Maire, Emmanuel K. Mbaru, Gianluigi Nico, Johnstone O. Omukoto, Fiona Simmance, Christina C. Hicks (2022). Small pelagic fish supply abundant and affordable micronutrients to low-and middle-income countries. Nature. Food. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00643-3.