2nd GEOSS Science and Technology Stakeholder Workshop GEOSS: Supporting Science for the Millennium Development Goals and Beyond Bonn, Germany, August 28—31, 2012

Session P9: Preparing input for the Post-2015 Working Group

Conveners: Alan Edwards, Helmut Staudenrausch

The current vision for the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), as set out in the GEOSS 10Year Implementation Plan, is: “to realize a future wherein decisions and actions for the benefit of humankind are informed by coordinated, comprehensive and sustained Earth observations and information.” The GEOSS represents the collective effort of the Members and Participating Organisations of GEO to monitor the Earth system, share and exchange Earth system data, and enable users to deliver useful information to society. But the work has just begun.

Since GEO was launched in 2005, the global challenges facing humanity continue to increase. As the recent United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (“Rio+20”) demonstrated, global Earth observation data and information will remain vital inputs to decision-makers for developing and implementing effective sustainable development.

Recognising the continued critical need for global Earth observations, the 2010 GEO Beijing Ministerial Declaration stated: “We, the participants assembled at the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Ministerial Summit in Beijing, ..., 7. Resolve to meet before the end of 2013 to review the progress of implementation against the GEOSS Strategic Targets and the recommendations for the governance, role and future work of GEO beyond 2015 and to take the necessary decisions.

In the period 2005-2015, the activities of GEO are governed by the GEOSS 10-Year Implementation Plan and the Strategic Targets, and are detailed in the GEO Work Plan. When considering GEO post-2015, it is important to assess the relevance of these fundamental guidance documents of GEO in the post-2015 period. The output from this session will provide valuable input for the post-2015 GEO discussions.

The Workshop will provide valuable input to this session to stimulate the discussions on GEO post-2015. To provide a framework for these discussions, the participants are also asked to consider the following key questions:

1. Evolution or Revolution: Does the System of Systems Concept Work?
   • If yes, how should the GEOSS evolve post-2015?
   • If no, then what is the revolution in Earth observations that has to be implemented post-2015?
2. What issues have to be addressed?
   • The current Societal Benefit Areas?
   • New SBAs?
   • Grand Societal Challenges?
   • Global Initiatives?
3. Where and how does Science and Technology fit into GEO, now and post-2015?
   • What is it that GEOSS provides or should provide to Science & Technology?
   • What does or can Science & Technology bring into GEOSS
   • What is or should be the role of Science & Technology institutions/programmes in GEO?
   • Where does Science and Technology fit into GEO post-2015?

The objective of this session is to explore concrete ways for injecting the outcomes of the workshop into the GEO Post-2015 discussion. Opportunities and actions need to be identified for stimulating GEO’s discussion and giving the contributions and needs of the Science & Technology communities an adequate voice in the further work of shaping the Global Earth Observation System of Systems.