NAIROBI, May 10 (Xinhua) -- An Intergovernmental body, The Group on Earth Observations (GEO), on Thursday hailed China's efforts in promoting environmental conservation in Africa.

Steven Ramage, Senior External Relations Manager at the GEO, told Xinhua in Nairobi that China has over the past decades made tremendous progress in tackling pollution, improving energy efficiency as well as in the reduction of environmental degradation.

"China has been kind enough to offer these expertise and knowledge acquired to African nations for free to help them prioritize environmental conservation even as they pursue economic growth," Ramage said during the launch of the Africa Regional Data Cube.

Ramage said China is working closely with African nations to provide them with good practice and leadership to enable them use earth observations on various fields such as soil and water resource management to empower them to make better government policy for the good of their citizens.

The GEO has 105-member countries from across the globe and aims to use earth observation data that is partly collected using satellite technology to improve the living conditions of human kind.

The GEO has over 75 different activities in many fields such as agriculture and forestry in a bid to provide societal benefit for all.

Ramage said China is working to have a standardized approach in the area of policies for earth observations so that they help government make better policies.

He said over 20 Chinese government agencies are working with GEO to enable the latter achieve its global objectives.

"China has donated over 1 million data resources it has acquired from its satellites to the GEO's Open Data. This information is now available for free to help developing countries improve their decision making in sectors ranging from food security, irrigation and forestry conservation," he said, the GEO is also collaborating with China on the Digital Belt and Road Initiative.

He noted that the Digital Belt and Road Initiative is all about raising awareness on the usefulness of data and how it can help governments to make better decisions to improve the lives of their citizens.