Water Management and Climate Justice in Angola


environmental justice
climate justice
frontline communities
Angola
sub Saharan Africa
systems architecture
water management
decision support system
satellite earth observation
self determination
technodiplomacy
sustainability

Angola experiences a drought-flood cycle in its southern regions in the Cunene, Huila, and Namibe provinces. The weather patterns, though somewhat predictable, are increasing in their intensity due to the impacts of climate change. As a country, Angola has been negatively impacted by colonialism, racism, and proxy wars–and the emergence of its peaceful, stable government from 2004 onward represents a period of growth and self-determination of the country. As part of its national strategy of growth in this post-conflict period, Angola seeks to leverage technodiplomacy and international multi-stakeholder collaboration to support ecosystem services, infrastructural development, educational initiatives, and climate justice. This project, hosted at the Media Lab in collaboration with NASA, the Angolan Space Agency (GGPEN), UMBC, and MIT seeks to leverage equity-centered systems engineering theory and praxis to build and deploy a decision support system for Angolan water management. In addition to addressing water management, the project’s architecture supports Angola’s strategic goals related to growth, self-determination, technodiplomacy, and climate justice. (2019-Present)