The OSS action covers a wide range of interventions that relate to the environment follow-up and monitoring in support of countries' efforts to combat land degradation and desertification, in the sustainable management of water resources (SASS project - North Africa, CREM project - Maghreb, GICRESAIT - West Africa; IGAD project- East Africa...), the resilience of populations (REPSAHEL Sahel and West Africa project), and in the safeguard of the biological heritage.
As part of its observatory function, the OSS collects reliable and relevant data and generates knowledge to help countries access reliable and relevant information to make appropriate decisions that align with national priorities and global agendas.
OSS experts work hand in hand with the relevant partners in the different countries to provide adequate, appropriate and effective responses to issues related to natural resources management, the implementation of international commitments and the enforcement of projects in the field. OSS' expertise is shared through capacity building programmes, implemented for the benefit of its member and partner countries.
Through its accreditations to Climate Funds, such as the Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Fund, OSS supports countries in developing projects to combat the impacts of climate change on populations and ecosystems (Projects EURECCCA Ouganda, Adapt WAP - Benin, Burkina Faso & Niger, Projects READINESS Libya, Tunisia).
OSS has made a substantial contribution to the design and development of monitoring-evaluation systems for tracking the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention to Combat Desertification. This has earned OSS the title of reference center for the North Africa countries. The Organization’s technical and methodological achievements helped the countries of its zone in the identification, calculation and interpretation of impact indicators.
OSS achievements and experience have been adapted and valorized for other environmental conventions and action programs related to climate change and biodiversity in particular. The Afromaison and ILWAC Mali project’s results are a perfect illustration of this approach.
OSS continues to play a major role on issues related to monitoring-evaluation and is involved in most of the initiatives and programs that concern its zone of actions. For instance, OSS has contributed to the identification of Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) indicators and the definition of approaches for their calculation. In the framework of the BRICKS Sahel and West Africa and MENA DELP Middle East & North Africa projects, OSS has developed several tools and methodologies for the monitoring-evaluation of 12 Sahelian countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan and Togo) in support to the Great Green Wall and 5 North African and Middle East countries (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco & Tunisia). The monitoring indicators developed cover a wide range of aspects related to areas under Sustainable Land Management, carbon sequestration, livelihoods improvement, etc.
OSS works also on Earth Observation in Support of Agriculture and Food Security and sustainable management of Land and water resources in Africa (projects GMES&Africa, Africultures - Tunisia, CREM - Algeria, Morocco & Tunisia).