What's new?
GEO joins forces with Biodiversity Convention
The member governments of the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted a decision last May formally recognizing the role that GEOSS can play in achieving the Convention's goals. In an effort to enhance their collaboration on meeting governments' expectations, the heads of the GEO and CBD Secretariats signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 8 September. The MOU is posted here.
Estonia becomes the 75TH member of GEO
The Government of Estonia has joined the Group on Earth Observations, bringing the total GEO membership to 74 countries plus the EC. Estonia's Minister of the Environment informed the Secretariat of his government's decision on 17 July. The Head of the Remote Sensing and Marine Optics Department, Estonian Ministry of Education and Research will serve as GEO Principal and the Counsellor on Monitoring o the Ministry of the Environment will serve as GEO Alternate. See the updated GEO membership list.
Registration open for 2008 GEOSS in the Americas Symposium
The second annual Symposium for the Americas region will take place in
Panama City, Panama from 30 September to 3 October. The Symposium will
increase regional understanding of GEOSS, promote GEOSS activities and
opportunities, and strengthen partnerships and engagement. For more
information, including how to register, please visit the Symposium web
site.
Towards a new GEO work plan for 2009-2011
The GEO community has started to develop its next three-year work plan. The first draft of the new plan, together with a description of the development process, links to the current task sheets, and other information about GEOSS implementation, can be found here
Central America gets new storm alert system
COSTA RICA (Daily News), 25 June 2008 — A new system of early forecasts for storms and bad weather, with alerts every 30 minutes, will be in operation this summer in Central America and southern Mexico, the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations announced.
The system, dubbed NextStorm, will provide short-term forecasts of powerful electrical storms or heavy rainfall likely to cause flooding. The news came while Costa Rica is still fixing up the damage in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Alma.
NextStorm represents “a major advance in putting earth observation data and other tools to work in protecting people and livelihoods in southern Mexico and throughout Central America,” GEO Secretariat director José Achache said... Read full article on-line or download full text.
US plans storm warning system for East Africa
GENEVA (AP), 25 June 2008 — Cell phone users in East Africa will be able to receive warnings when a storm is brewing thanks to a low-cost alert system U.S. scientists are hoping to set up in the next few years, officials said Tuesday.
The NextStorm system — a computer program that analyzes recent satellite images to predict where thunderstorms are likely to occur in the next hour — should be in place by the end of the decade, said Jacqueline Schafer of USAID told journalists in Geneva.
The U.S. development agency has already set up a similar system set to begin operating this summer in Central America together with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA and local partners... Read full article on-line or download full text.
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) supports GEO BON
The 190 member governments of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted a decision on 30 May recognizing the importance of the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON). The decision on "Monitoring, Assessment and Indicators" has not yet been posted at the CBD web site. The paragraphs inviting governments, organizations and other stakeholders to support GEO BON can be read on the GEO BON home page. The Group on Earth Observations is currently developing the implementation plan for GEO BON with the aim of adopting it at the GEO annual meeting next November in Beijing.
Turkey joins GEO
The Republic of Turkey has decided to join the Group on Earth Observations, bringing the total GEO membership up to 73 countries plus the EC. Turkey's Minister of Foreign Affairs informed the Secretariat of his government's decision on 16 May. Turkey's Scientific and Technical Research Council will serve as both GEO Principal and GEO Alternate.
To see the updated GEO membership list, click here.
Science & Technology:
Because scientific and technological knowledge and research are so vital
to our understanding of the global integrated Earth
system, a document has been written which seeks to sensitise potential
partners and relevant funding agencies to the
important relationships between GEOSS and science
and technology and the many societal benefits that
GEOSS can provide
Read more in:
Launching the GEO Biodiversity Observation Network - GEO BON
Dozens of leading scientific and intergovernmental organizations are joining forces to build a global Biodiversity Observation Network. Dubbed GEO BON, this bio-diversity arm of GEOSS will monitor and assess the status of the world’s species and ecosystems in order to prevent their further loss.
GEO BON was launched in Berlin on 8 - 10 April.
For more information see
and also:
Communities of Practice
The GEO Communities of Practice (CoP) provide a framework through which governments and organizations work together on projects and objectives of mutual interest. Each Community is organized around a particular theme, such as agriculture or biodiversity, and includes both producers and users of Earth observations.
Go to Community of Practice web pages related to the following themes:
Meningitis Environmental Risk Consultative Meeting Report is now available
In collaboration with the World Health Organization and other leaders from the environmental and public health communities, the GEO Secretariat hosted a Meningitis Environmental Risk Consultative Meeting in Geneva last September. The meeting explored how user-friendly climate data and other types of Earth observations could be used to predict and mitigate meningitis epidemics in Africa. Download the final report and other meeting documents
Global push to predict weather
(Courier Mail Australia, 21 February 2008)
Australia's Governor-General has spoken to the leaders of China, Russia and the US about a joint "space-age" project for more accurate forecasts of floods, drought and weather. This high-level support for strengthening Earth observations highlights the importance of GEO's Project on "The socio-economic and environmental benefits of a revolution in weather, climate and Earth system analysis and prediction". Download full text
Related article: Download excerpt from The Full Picture
The Bush Plan for Climate Change
(Wall Street Journal, 26 January 2008)
Following the adoption of the “Bali Roadmap”, the White House emphasizes the role that the Global Earth Observation System of Systems can play in supporting climate monitoring and adaptation. Read article here
The Cape Town Ministerial Summit
The Cape Town Declaration as adopted on the 30th of November
2007 during the Cape Town Ministerial
Summit. |