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About GEO

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, 67 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.

Latest News

GEO challenge grant

The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) has contributed $5,000 to help defray expenses of worthy applicants from economically disadvantaged nations in Africa to attend the combined AfricaGIS 2013 and GSDI 14 conference and training workshops before and after the conference. GEO would like to invite, encourage and challenge additional geospatial organizations and agencies from across the globe to make additional contributions. Check out grant / conference details here

Providing water in areas with unsustainable usage

Fresh water is a fundamental requirement for humanity's well-being. However, more than one billion people today are without safe drinking water. Water for the World, a program to bring fresh water to those who do not have it, is supported by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the IEEE Foundation. The program is part of IEEE's collaboration with Group on Earth Observations (GEO). Our goal is to make progress using existing and innovative technologies that are easy to implement and scalable across a broad spectrum of the global population. Download full article here

GEO European Project's Workshop

The European Commission has concluded the 7th GEO European Projects Workshop (GEPW-7). The workshop took place in the Casa de la Convalescencia conference facility in Barcelona, on 15 and 16 April, and was hosted by CREAF (Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona, through the European project GeoViQua.

GEPW-7 has continued and extended the effort to develop the collaboration between the GEO initiative and the European Commission projects on Earth Observation, funded through the Framework Programme of Community Research.

Draft agenda • Workshop website

New Landsat Earth-monitoring satellite launched

On the 11th of February, a new Earth observation satellite was lauched as part of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM). The satellite circles the planet in less than 2 hours, relaying images with a moderate-resolution of 15 to 100 meters.

The images, which are distributed at no charge, are a unique resource for global change research and applications in the areas of agriculture, forestry and natural disasters management. Details can be found on the USGS and NASA websites

The economic value of EO data

Whether it is remotely sensed, in-situ, ocean-based, or surface-based; earth observation (EO) data is essential for making informed public policy decisions in many areas involving societal benefits like climate variability and change, energy management, agriculture, biodiversity, human health and epidemiology, weather forecasting and water management. The economic value of EO data is in its utility...
Read full article as published in Geospatial World, January 2013.

Paper on Essential Biodiversity Variables

Reducing the rate of biodiversity loss and averting dangerous biodiversity change are international goals. However, there is no global, harmonized observation system for delivering regular, timely data on biodiversity change. Partners from the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON) are developing - and seeking consensus around - Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) that could form the basis of monitoring programs worldwide. Read Full Paper and consult the GEO BON EBVs page here.

Successful GEO-IX Plenary in Brazil

Please find presentations and statements on the GEO-IX meeting page

GEO side event at COP18 in Doha

GEO, in cooperation with the European Commission, organized a side Event on "Climate: improving knowledge and addressing societal needs", which took place on the 27 November at the European Union Pavilion at COP18 in Doha. The event provided an overview of the GEO initiatives addressing climate change, covering the observations, research, and insights into the Global Carbon Observation and Analysis System and the Global Forest Observation Initiative (GFOI). Find the program and presentations on the event web page.

Mobilization of the GEO community to the achievement of the CBD 2020 Aichi Targets

The achievement of the international biodiversity targets (2020 Aichi Targets), requires the mobilization of the entire GEO community, according to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Executive Secretariat, Dr. Braulio Dias. Dr. Dias expressed to GEO Secretariat Director Ryan, CBD's appreciation for the work that the GEO BON community has done heretofore. At the same time, he highlighted the desire for increased involvement of the entire GEO community, such as those working on Global Land Cover, Agriculture, Oceans, Forests, etc, for achieving the CBD 2020 Aichi Targets. A concept note, articulating this enhanced involvement, was presented to the CBD Conference of the Parties (COP-11) in October. The concept note can be downloaded here

Fourth Evaluation of GEOSS Implementation

The Group on Earth Observations wishes to announce the start of work of the Fourth Evaluation of implementation of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems. This evaluation will encompass the Societal Benefit Areas (SBAs) Disasters, Energy and Health. The full announcement can be downloaded here.

CEOS & GEO: a vital partner-ship for Earth observation

The willingness and ability of CEOS to engage in the GEO Work Plan Tasks has been critical to the advances we have made so far in building GEOSS. The impact of CEOS on GEOSS implementation has increased with each new multi-year Work Plan, and this CEOS leadership has been widely recognized throughout the GEO community. At the same time, CEOS has greatly benefited from the establishment of GEO and the political profile and strategic guidance that GEO has brought to Earth observation. Read full article in:
CEOS newsletter No.39,p2

GMES contribution to GEOSS

Representatives from different societal benefit areas, key decision makers and the GEO Secretariat attended the "GMES in Action" Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, 4-5 June to show their support for the European Earth monitoring programme GMES: Global Monitoring for Environment and Security. They agreed on a "Copenhagen Resolution" which states GMES as a major contributor to GEOSS.

An update on the Agriculture SBA

Research Media caught up with the GEO Secretariat recently to discuss the progress being made on the agricultural component of GEOSS. The interview is available here.

Announcing the GEO Carbon Office

The European Commission-funded GEOCARBON project has launched a GEO Carbon Office. The Carbon Offfice will support the GEO Global Carbon Observation and Analysis System by strengthening coordination and engaging more contributors. For more information or to contribute to GEO Task CL-02 on GCOAS, please visit the GEOCARBON website or contact Task PoC Antonio Bombelli.

GEO-VIII Plenary accepts new GEO 2012-2015 Work Plan

The Scientific and Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) hosted the GEO-VIII Plenary in Istanbul on 16 and 17 November. The Plenary's 380+ participants accepted the new GEO 2012-2015 Work Plan and the new Work Plan management structure. They also welcomed the recent improvements to the GEOSS Common Infrastructure, which now provides access to millions of data sets and information products through the GEO Portal. This includes the GEOSS Data-CORE, a distributed pool of documented datasets with full, open and unrestricted access at no more than the cost of reproduction and distribution. Other important outcomes of the meeting included an assessment and review of the progress made to date on GEOSS implementation, acceptance of the GEO Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI) Implementation Plan, and the launch of a process for defining the post-2015 phase of GEOSS. The review of the GEO-VIII Meeting Outcomes is available here

G20 Ministers launch GEO agricultural initiative

The agriculture ministers of the G20 countries adopted a ministerial declaration on 23 June in Paris launching a Global Agricultural Geo-Monitoring Initiative.
The aim of this GEO-led international monitoring network is to produce more accurate crop forecast data in order to promote food security. The Declaration is available here.

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