From 15 to 17 September, key stakeholders, policymakers, researchers, and innovators from across Africa and Europe gathered in Nairobi for the 2025 Africa Regional Centres of Excellence (ArcX) Programme Forum.This first annual event of the ArcX Programme served as a platform for dialogue, knowledge-sharing, and strategic coordination among the five programme components of biodiversity, water, agroecology, Ocean and climate. During the forum, the OPERA project (Ocean Prediction Enhancement in Regions of Africa), launched in 2025 by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) and Mercator Ocean, was officially presented as the Ocean component of the ArcX programme.
The ArcX programme and the role of OPERA
The ArcX programme is an initiative that drives sustainable development in Africa through Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI), backed by €80 million in EU funding.
Launched in 2023, ArcX enhances cooperation between African and European institutions to foster inclusive green growth and support Africa’s transformative agenda. The programme focuses on five key areas: Agroecology, Biodiversity & Forests, Water, Ocean and Climate (to be launched soon).
The ArcX programme forum 2025 was the first-ever forum bringing together all five of its thematic components, with Ocean (OPERA) launched this year and Climate set to join in 2026. The Ocean stands at the heart of ArcX, acting as a connector across the entire programme: ocean data and knowledge are essential to advancing climate science, protecting biodiversity and forests, promoting agroecology and food security, and safeguarding water resources. Mercator Ocean’s Lillian Diarra, the OPERA project manager, and Enrique Alvarez Fanjul, OceanPrediction DCC Technical Coordinator, unveiled OPERA as the Ocean component of the programme, presenting the implementation plan of the project and contributing to various panel discussions alongside representatives from other ArcX components.
The ocean component is the common thread that connects all the ArcX components— ocean data and knowledge are needed to advance science and deepen our understanding on climate change, biodiversity, food security, and water resources.”, said Lillian Diarra, OPERA Project Manager, Mercator Ocean International.
Through the OPERA initiative, the Ocean component is introducing several innovative dimensions. These include stronger engagement with the private sector and support for business ventures and entrepreneurs, enhanced dialogue and early buy-in from policymakers and users, and the construction of an African Digital Twin Ocean Framework and Ocean Knowledge Hub. This hub will be owned and operated by Africa’s Regional Centres of Excellence, building on the EU’s Digital Twin Ocean (DTO) and EDITO infrastructure.
Advancing Ocean Prediction for the benefit of Africa
Launched in 2025 by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) and Mercator Ocean, OPERA aims to strengthen African Ocean prediction capabilities and cooperation at national, regional, and pan-African levels. The project collaborates with African partners to co-develop ocean forecasting systems, applications, and tools that support disaster risk reduction, a sustainable blue economy, and marine conservation, informed by African needs and priorities. Mercator Ocean, through its coordinating role in the OceanPrediction Decade Collaborative Centre (OceanPrediction DCC), leveraging its expertise in the Copernicus Marine Service and the EU DTO, has been entrusted with implementing OPERA from January 2025 to December 2029.
OPERA aligns with several key priorities outlined in both African and European strategic frameworks, such as the Ocean Decade Africa Roadmap and the EU Global Gateway Strategy. The project is also supporting the new European Ocean Pact, launched by the European Commission during the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in Nice, which reaffirms the European Commission’s commitment to the African Union-European Union (AU-EU) partnership and the cooperation between the two continents.
OPERA will also play a key role in the Sustainable Blue Africa Pact, a new strategy also unveiled at the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference, to transform Africa’s marine resources into drivers of development, innovation and resilience. OPERA will support this initiative by strengthening African regional capacities in ocean monitoring and forecasting, and by developing ocean-data-based services that promote sustainable blue economic growth, marine conservation, and climate resilience across African coastal nations.
The role of OPERA in supporting the Sustainable Blue Africa Pact will be explored in more detail by Mercator Ocean’s Director-General Pierre Bahurel and Lillian Diarra at the Blue Africa Summit in Tangier, Morocco, on October 9-10.