Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Plenary Meeting – October/November 2018

GEOWeek2018, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) XV Plenary meeting, was held from 29 October to 2 November in Kyoto, Japan. Bringing together practitioners, policy experts and decision makers, the theme was “Supporting a Resilient an Sustainable World”. The Australian delegation comprised of Dr Alex Held and Jennifer Zhu from the CCEO, along with colleagues from Geoscience Australia and the Australian Space Agency.

This gathering of GEO’s 105 Member governments and 127 Participating Organisations explored efforts and opportunities for the use of Earth Observation data, information and services for the benefit of humankind, focusing on GEO’s three priority areas: the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Paris Climate Agreement, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Australia is an active member of GEO, which is a unique multilateral forum for promoting our interests for cooperation and open data sharing. GEO links Earth Observation into global and regional agendas and brings together players all along the Earth Observation supply chain and across scales. For more information on GEO XV, please see here: http://www.earthobservations.org/geo15.php

In November 2019, Australia will host the GEO XVI Plenary meeting, which will also involve a Ministerial Summit, in Canberra. The Australian team has already began preparations, working closely with the GEO Secretariat, to make this event a success. For more information on GEO XVI, please see here: http://www.earthobservations.org/article.php?id=328