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GEO 101

The Group on Earth Observations was established in 2005 based on the outcome of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002. A few years later, the G8 Gleneagles summit produced a formal declaration calling for a group to address societal challenges through open sharing of Earth observations data and services. This group was designated as 'intergovernmental,' which means that its members are national governments. Agencies within those governments participate through their government principal. Other international organizations may participate, upon formal petition and approval. Still others may simply observe.

GEO has gone through a couple of organizational restructures and governance shifts since it was formally established in 2005. At its core, though, its mission remains the same - make it easy for anyone to use EO data sets and services contributed by Member nations and Participating Organizations, and others. MUCH easier said than done....

At the heart of the governance structure, in any instantiation, is the concept of a 'task.' No matter how the work is organized, the task is the core element. At the moment, the list below is in need of oversight by the Programme Board (which I am on on behalf of ESIP). I'd like for ESIP to choose one or two tasks for which they are really jazzed (i.e., willing to put in time, sweat equity, knowledge, etc), and I can take that back to the Programme Board.

Details of each activity are here; more information in general on GEO is here.

CA-9 - Precipitation
CA-16 - Global Drought Information System
CA-5 - TIGGE evolution
CA-6 - EO data and mineral resources
CA-10 - Evapotranspiration
CA-12 - River Discharge
CA-13 - Groundwater
CA-14 - GEO Water Quality
CA-17 - GEO Great Lakes Activity
CA-18 - Water Cycle Integrator
CA-19 - E2E Water Indicators
CA-20 - EartH2Observe
CA-21 - Total Water Prediction
CA-22 - Linking water tasks with SBAs
CA-23 - Space and Security
CA-26 - Chinese tsunami mitigation system
CA-29 - Ecosystems Accounts Framework
CA-31 - Global Mangrove Monitoring
CA-33 - Forest Biodiversity in Asia and the Pacific
CA-2 - Land Cover for Africa
CA-4 - Collaboration between GEO and GFCS
CA-7 - Integrated Water-cycle Products & Services
CA-8 - Water Vapor and Clouds
CA-11 - Soil Moisture
CA-15 - Water Cycle Capacity Building
CA-25 - Africa Geochemical Baselines
CA-32 - Research Data Science Summer Schools
CA-24 - EO and Cultural Heritage
CA-30 - Harmful Algal Bloom EWS
CA-1 - Global Land Cover
CA-28 - Global Flood Risk Monitoring
CA-3 - Access to climate data
CA-27 - EO for Disaster Risk Management

Stay tuned for more information on GEO and other ways that ESIP can contribute. If you have ideas for contributions, or questions, please let me know!!!