Ministers and senior officials from the governments and organisations that constitute the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) are meeting in Beijing, China, to strengthen global cooperation on monitoring the planet's environment and natural resources.
With 86 governments, the European Commission and 58 intergovernmental and international organisations, GEO is the world's premier forum for coordinating earth observation strategies, investments and operations. South Africa is a founding member and co-chair of GEO, together with China, the United States of America and the European Commission.
GEO addresses issues from climate and biodiversity to agriculture and health, and encompasses technologies from satellites and supercomputers to ocean buoys and hand-held GPS. This comprehensive scope makes it possible to leverage resources and cut across disciplines.
The GEO Ministerial Meeting and seventh plenary session take place shortly after the Nagoya Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and shortly before the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun. It follows on the Renewable Energy and Climate Change Summit held in Cape Town in 2007. A number of GEO activities and outputs support the goals of these conventions.
"Investments in environmental monitoring and forecasting have now reached a critical mass, resulting in a vast and expanding array of observation systems. Governments are cooperating through GEO to gather and then share the scientific facts and information we need to mitigate natural disasters and disease epidemics, predict severe weather events, manage natural resources sustainably and maintain our ecological balance," said GEO Secretariat Director José Achache.
According to Dr Phil Mjwara, the Director-General of Science and Technology, the initial phase of GEO has seen a lot of effort being invested in establishing the organisation and its internal processes and governance structure. He said he was now satisfied that members and participating organisations of GEO were reaping the rewards as the process of establishing a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) was coming together.
GEO is building GEOSS according to a 10 year implementation plan that runs through to 2015. The Beijing Ministerial Meeting marks the half-way point in this plan, and will give political leaders an opportunity to assess progress and set priorities.
Key issues on the agenda include the following:
- Sharing data: The GEOSS data sharing principles have accelerated the trend towards the full and open sharing of earth observation data and information. They led directly to recent decisions by major satellite operators to provide unrestricted and often cost-free access to remotely sensed data.
Governments and organisations participating in the Beijing Ministerial Meeting are being encouraged to announce improved international access to specific in situ and space-based datasets. South Africa has championed the concept of data democracy within GEO tobroaden data access and capacity to end users in developing countries, in particular to ensure that the full potential of earth observation data can be exploited worldwide.
South Africa is currently exploiting its capability within the Satellite Application Centre to receive and broadcasts data from the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites to other parts of the continent through an initiative called GEONETCast, aimed at ensuring that countries without relevant infrastructure, facilities and expertise receive useful data in all nine of GEO's societal benefit areas. South Africa is also the sole receiver on the continent of data from the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellites for processing and distribution in the rest of the continent.
South Africa, through the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, is also contributing the Advanced Fire Information System, which provides automated fire warnings and alerts to pre-defined areas, such as along electric power lines. The partnership is being extended to sub-Saharan Africa in partnership with the European Union (EU) through the African Monitoring of the Environment for Sustainable Development initiative. - Conserving biodiversity: Dozens of national, regional and global organisations are contributing to the GEO Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON) by harmonising their observation systems, identifying and addressing gaps and overlaps in existing coverage, and collaborating to ensure the continuity and sustainability of biodiversity information.
This increased coordination will enhance the value of existing observations and lead to improved assessments that can be used by decision makers. Examples of emerging information products and services include a large-scale assessment of African protected areas, new approaches to interpreting satellite images of land and water conditions, improved ecosystem classification maps, and powerful visualisation tools for monitoring changes in ecosystem services. The Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted a formal decision in 2008 recognising the importance of GEO BON. South Africa currently chairs GEO BON.
- Protecting public health: Scientists increasingly understand that outbreaks of many debilitating diseases, including malaria, meningitis, cholera and dengue, are linked to changes in the environment. At the same time, chemicals, dust and other contaminants in our water and air cause a wide range of respiratory and other illnesses. These environmental risks to public health can increasingly be monitored, assessed and reduced through the data and information products available through GEOSS. For example, the Meningitis Environmental Risk Information Technologies Project, a meningitis vaccination and control effort in Africa, is linking forecasts of drought and dry spells in the Sahel region with disease outbreaks in central Africa.
A GEO project on biodiversity and human health is working to reduce the risk of Lyme disease and West Nile encephalitis by identifying best practices for land-use management. The air quality-health monitoring tool AIRNow uses a ground network of monitoring stations to provide air quality forecasts for more than 300 cities in the United States of America. The tool is being replicated in Shanghai, China.
The Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor, Minister of Science and Technology, will invite delegates to visit the South African demonstration stand showcasing, among other things, pictures captured by South African microsatellite SumbandilaSat, the Risk and Vulnerability Atlas, the South African Earth Observation Portal, and the Earth Observation Data Centre. The Risk and Vulnerability Atlas provides information on the impact and risk associated with global change in the region and easy understanding of global change sensitivity and vulnerability information at regional, provincial and municipal level. It also helps to support national initiatives such as the National Disaster Management Framework.
Enquiries:
Lunga Ngqengelele
Tel: 012 843 6802
Cell: 082 566 0446
E-mail: lunga.ngqengelele@dst.gov.za
