The major theme of AFRICAGIS 2007 The major theme of AFRICAGIS2007 is "Geo-Information for Poverty Alleviation in Africa". Since a decade ago, poverty alleviation is at the heart of development policies and foreign aid ideologies worldwide. Success in taking up this challenge depends on our knowledge of the poverty phenomenon and its spatial distribution. Geo-information can contribute to solving the complex management and sustainable development issues in general, and those of the African Continent in particular. It allows, inter alia, for proper allocation of resources, understanding of the constraints related to access to the same resources, assessment of resource management strategies, and poverty and destitution eradication policy reforms in accordance with the quality and relevance of the available data. The AFRICAGIS2007 conference and exhibition is envisioned to offer opportunities to share experiences aimed at explaining the importance and role of geo-information in the fight against poverty. To this end, five (5) sub-themes will cover the various aspects of the main theme.

1. "Geo-information and national policies of geographical information"

In the majority of the countries, géo-information is characterized by its dispersion and its ' ' thésaurisation' ' within the various structures which are far from cooperating to optimize the use of it. The installation of the infrastructures of space data (IDS) meets a need to gather and share geographical information inside the states and between the States. Which experiments, in Africa and elsewhere, can they be used as sources of inspiration to raise the constraints related to the management of géo-information ? The speakers in this under-topic are invited to show the need for laying out and for putting at data layout precise to discount effective strategies of fight against poverty in Africa .

2. "Geo-Information and Multidimensional Vision of Poverty"

Poverty reflects many aspects and is subject to a multifaceted perception. Availability of geo-referenced data in the area of Energy, Habitat, Socio-economic Infrastructure, Waste Management, Health, etc. allows combining and visualizing various indicators used to measure the many components of Poverty in their multidimensional expression. Although poverty mapping is a recent technique, it provides a proven improvement on the planning and implementation of poverty alleviation action. Contributing authors in this field are invited to share their relevant experiences in integrating the multifaceted perception of poverty by poverty mapping. Further, those experts will highlight the linkages between poverty mapping and the distribution of the efforts deployed by the governments and civil societies in the poverty alleviation action in Africa.

3. "Geo-Information and Risk Management"

The unexpected and repeated occurrence of natural hazards or social crises leaves communities in extreme poverty. Satellite-based monitoring facilities offer prevention means for all kinds of risks to users and decisions makers. Access to timely information allows for risks understanding, analysis, and management in order to mitigate their disastrous effects. Contributions to this sub-theme should deal with issues related to the use of geo-information in risk prevention and management, such as in epidemics, flooding, fire, desertification, etc.

4 . "Geo-Information, Land Management and urban Planning"

Civil engineering constructions such as dams, bridges or roads, sanitation operation in a human settlement, changing the land use of an area, managing the cadastre, etc. are many causes of significant change in the urban landscape. Such actions require the combination of multi-source information to be analyzed as accurately as possible. Given the diversity of data required in the Southern hemisphere's cities - more often sites of extreme poverty (mainly in the suburbs, spatially and socially marginalized portion of the African cities) - geo-information technologies are best suited for the management of the exponential spatial and demographic expansion of the urban areas and their development planning. Similarly, in agriculture-based economies such as in Africa, controlling land use is of great interest to the populations and development support institutions. Contributions related to this particular sub-theme strives to show how geo-information can contribute to optimized land management and town planning/management.

5. "Space Technology and Geo-Information for Sustainable Developpement"

When it comes to the use of space technology for geo-information production, African nations appear to be at varying stages of advancement. Whereas certain countries are in a preliminary stage, others have reached an advanced level. Only an adapted partnership can promote the sharing and/or the exchange of experiences between countries in order to bring the continent to an optimal level of space technology use, in accordance with the level of available resources. Discussions under this sub-theme will provide the means to assess the level reached by the use of Space Technology and Geo-information applications in Africa, and reveal potential partnerships among countries.

Candidate authors are requested to stimulate the discussion on the different sub-themes that will be also used to subdivide the conference program into thematic blocks for the presentations, workshops, and the posting of geo-information products and services.