The Group on Earth Observations is coordinating efforts to build a Global Earth Observation System of Systems, or GEOSS.

GEO was launched in response to calls for action by the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development and by the G8 (Group of Eight) leading industrialized countries. These high-level meetings recognized that international collaboration is essential for exploiting the growing potential of Earth observations to support decision making in an increasingly complex and environmentally stressed world.

GEO is a voluntary partnership of governments and international organizations. It provides a framework within which these partners can develop new projects and coordinate their strategies and investments. As of March 2012, GEO’s Members include 88 Governments and the European Commission. In addition, 64 intergovernmental, international, and regional organizations with a mandate in Earth observation or related issues have been recognized as Participating Organizations.

GEO is constructing GEOSS on the basis of a 10-Year Implementation Plan for the period 2005 to 2015. The Plan defines a vision statement for GEOSS, its purpose and scope, expected benefits, and the nine “Societal Benefit Areas” of disasters, health, energy, climate, water, weather, ecosystems, agriculture and biodiversity.

The Group on Earth Observations is coordinating efforts to build a Global Earth Observation System of Systems, or GEOSS. (See also "Crafting geoinformation," the 2010 Progress Report, and the GEO brochure.)

Societal Benefits

GEOSS will yield a broad range of societal benefits, notably:

• Reducing loss of life and property from natural and human-induced disasters;
• Understanding environmental factors affecting human health and well-being,
• Improving the management of energy resources,
• Understanding, assessing, predicting, mitigating, and adapting to climate variability and change,
• Improving water resource management through better understanding of the water cycle,
• Improving weather information, forecasting and warning,
• Improving the management and protection of terrestrial, coastal and marine ecosystems,
• Supporting sustainable agriculture and combating desertification, and
• Understanding, monitoring and conserving biodiversity.

Governance

GEO is governed by a Plenary consisting of all Members and Participating Organizations. It meets in Plenary at least once a year at the level of senior officials and periodically at the ministerial level. The Plenary held its first meeting in May 2005 in Geneva, followed by GEO-II in December 2005 in Geneva, GEO-III in Bonn in November 2006, and GEO-IV (plus a Ministerial Summit) in Cape Town in November 2007. Members take decisions at the Plenary by consensus.

An Executive Committee oversees GEO activities when the Plenary is not in session. The Committee consists of 13 representatives elected from the five GEO regions, including three each from the Americas and Europe, four from Asia, two from Africa, and one from the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Committee is also responsible for guiding the Secretariat. The GEO Members elect four Co-Chairs who preside over both the Plenary and the Executive Committee.

History

The following summits led to the creation of GEO and GEOSS:

• The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg highlighted the urgent need for coordinated observations relating to the state of the Earth.
• The Group of Eight Summit in June 2003 in Evian, France, affirmed the importance of Earth observation as a priority activity.
• The First Earth Observation Summit convened in Washington, D.C., in July 2003 adopted a Declaration establishing the ad hoc intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (ad hoc GEO) to draft a 10-Year Implementation Plan.
• The Second Earth Observation Summit in Tokyo, Japan, in April 2004 adopted a Framework Document defining the scope and intent of a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).
• The Third Earth Observation Summit, held in Brussels in February 2005, endorsed the GEOSS 10-Year Implementation Plan and established the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) to carry it out.
• The G8 Heads of State supported GEOSS in the Gleneagles Plan of Action released in July 2005.
• The G8 Heads of State also pledged to continue exercising leadership in the development of GEOSS in their June 2007 Summit Declaration adopted in Heiligendamm, Germany.
• The G8 leaders further agreed to accelerate efforts to strengthen observation, prediction and data sharing within GEOSS in their Declaration on Environment and Environment adopted in Hokkaido, Japan, in July 2008 and their Declaration on Responsible Leadership for a Sustainable Future adopted in L'Aquila, Italy, in July 2009.