GEONetcast for and by Developing Countries (DevCoCast) deployed networked stations in selected African countries. The DevCoCast project aims at involving Developing Countries in the GEONETCast initiative. Many Developing Countries are exposed to serious environmental risks and their need for adequate information is high. Unfortunately, reliable and continuous access to real time environmental information is often lacking. The GEONETCast concept overcomes existing telecommunication limitations and is able to provide reliable and fast access to environmental information. The DevCoCast project will 1. disseminate existing environmental added-value datasets (both in-situ and satellite based) from various sources in Africa, South- and Central America and Europe in (near) real time and at no cost via GEONETCast to a broad range of user communities in Developing Countries and 2. promote and support the use of these products. By utilizing the existing EUMETCast dissemination system, we can directly take benefit from the operational infrastructures and from a well developed user base in Africa and South-America. This enables us to focus our effort on the support of the use of the data and building up and maintaining the capacity in Developing Countries which includes training, workshops, networking and outreach. The project sets up a number of pilot cases in Africa, South- and Central America and Asia and is conceived to have a big impact with a limited budget, by building upon existing production (SPOT-VEGETATION a.o.) and dissemination infrastructures (EUMETCast, FengYunCast), existing research projects (GEOLAND, VGT4AFRICA, MERSEA, GOOS, YEOS a.o.) and servicing all relevant environmental end-user communities.
