Ad Hoc Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Report of the Subgroup on International Cooperation

Transcription

1 Ad Hoc Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Report of the Subgroup on International Cooperation 1 Introduction A high level of international cooperation is essential for the successful design, establishment and ongoing operation of a comprehensive, coordinated, and sustained global Earth observation system of systems (GEOSS) as envisaged in the 31 July 2003 Declaration of the Earth Observation Summit. The coordination mechanisms required to achieve the necessary level and scope of international cooperation must assure that all countries, and all relevant international organizations, established observing systems and programs, and potential contributor and beneficiary communities are enabled to play their part. At the same time, these mechanisms should assure that the whole (i.e., GEOSS) is substantially greater than the sum of its parts, and that no important component systems of GEOSS are significantly degraded by becoming part of the whole. The importance of outreach and capacity building must also be considered throughout the GEOSS process, recognizing the cross-cutting priority of promoting wider awareness of and access to the benefits of GEOSS and to better ensure that all governments and relevant international organizations are able to engage fully in such a system. The purpose of the GEO Subgroup on International Cooperation (ICSG), as defined in its Terms of Reference (ToR), is to develop for the GEOSS 10-Year Implementation Plan a long-term, international organizational strategy and coordination mechanism for a comprehensive, coordinated, and sustained Earth observation system or systems, building on existing mechanisms and structures. 1 The Subgroup s work has proceeded in a manner consistent with its ToR, and has been adjusted continually to accommodate the decisions, discussions, and guidance provided at the subsequent GEO meetings the second GEO meeting (GEO-2) held November 2003, at Baveno, Italy, and the third GEO meeting (GEO-3) held February 2004, at Cape Town, South Africa. This report of the ICSG summarizes the progress achieved by the Subgroup thus far, towards fulfilling its Terms of Reference, and addresses in turn: (1) the need for international cooperation; (2) existing coordination mechanisms; (3) approaches to international cooperation; (4) possible functions, objectives, and other criteria of a single intergovernmental group for Earth observations; and, (5) next steps toward contributing to the elaboration of international cooperation in the GEOSS 10-Year Implementation Plan 2 The need for international cooperation The text of the Declaration of the (First) Earth Observation Summit held in Washington, D.C. on 31 July 2003 provides the bases for the need for international cooperation and coordination and indeed, the need to strengthen such cooperation and coordination on global observation of the environment. 2 The Declaration recalls the 2002 Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development that called for strengthened cooperation and coordination among global observing systems 1 Seehttp://earthobservations.org/docs/tor-international_cooperation.pdf for the text of the Terms of Reference for the GEO Subgroup on International Cooperation. 2 See 1 of 8

2 and research programs for integrated global observations. 3 It also recalls the outcome of the 2003 G-8 Summit that called for strengthened international cooperation on global observation. 4 As noted in Sections 4.1 and 4.2 of the Framework Document, Human knowledge of the Earth system, although advanced in certain areas, is far from complete. Current efforts to observe and understand the Earth system must progress from the separate observation systems and programs of today to coordinated, timely, quality, long-term, global information developed in accordance with compatible standards as a basis for future sound decisions and actions. Many international organizations and programs are working to sustain and improve the coordination of Earth observations. However, current efforts to capture Earth observation data are limited by (1) a lack of access to data and associated benefits in the developing world, (2) eroding technical infrastructure, (3) large spatial and temporal gaps in specific data sets, (4) inadequate data integration and interoperability, (5) uncertainty over continuity of observations (6) inadequate user involvement, and (7) a lack of relevant processing systems to transform data into useful information. International cooperation will be needed in all aspects of the establishment and operation of GEOSS including, in particular: Specification of user requirements; System planning and design; System funding and implementation; Coordination of data collection, processing, archiving and exchange; and, Supporting coordinated research and development activities and programs. To achieve the required level of cooperation, it will be necessary to have in place appropriate coordinating mechanisms among: Countries: especially among the main data-providing countries as well as potential future providers, including especially developing countries, given the need for building of national institutional capacity during the 10-Year Implementation Plan; International organizations: especially among those presently having formal international responsibility for existing and developing global observing systems on which GEOSS will be built; Existing Earth observation systems and programs: including especially those with multiple international sponsors, joint coordination and advisory bodies, and joint secretariats already in place; Contributing organizations: including research institutions, environmental service provision agencies, relevant public-private partnerships, and the like; The international scientific community: especially those working outside the framework of established government organizations and programs, as well as coordination among government and non-governmental Earth observation communities and among system provider and user communities, including academic institutions. In summary, both the need for international cooperation on global observation and the inadequacy of current international mechanisms are well documented. Further, the international cooperation effort required for GEOSS is multi-dimensional. 3 The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) was held 26 August - 4 September 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa. See for the text of the WSSD Plan of Implementation. 4 The 2003 G-8 Summit was held 1-3 June 2003 in Evian, France. See for the relevant text in the document Science and Technology for Sustainable Development: A G8 Action Plan. 2 of 8

3 3 Existing coordination mechanisms As noted in Section 5.1 above, the coordination mechanisms required to achieve the necessary level and scope of international cooperation for GEOSS must assure that all countries, and all relevant international organizations, established observing systems and programs, and potential contributor and beneficiary communities are enabled to play their part. This section describes specific examples of existing coordination mechanisms identified to date: Coordination among countries. At least four types of mechanisms currently provide a framework for international cooperation and coordination among countries in Earth observations: UN Specialized Agencies and Programs that manage, sponsor or co-sponsor existing UN global observing systems, such as the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), and so on; International organizations with regional membership, such as the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) and the European Space Agency (ESA); Formal, mostly regionally-based, Earth observation-focused programs and mission-specific groups of countries, such as the joint European Commission and European Space Agency Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative, Caribbean Meteorological Organization (CMO), African Drought Monitoring Centers, South Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP), South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC), and so on; and Formal bilateral cooperation arrangements between neighboring (and, in some cases, nonneighboring) countries for specific observation systems. Coordination among existing international organizations. Several mechanisms, at various levels of formality, have been established for effecting cooperation and coordination among the international organizations sponsoring existing global Earth observing systems. These include mechanisms for cooperation between or among: Formal governance structures of the parent agencies, such as is provided by the IOC-WMO Joint Technical Commission on Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM) for marine observations, or the WMO-UNEP Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which assesses the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant to understanding the scientific basis of risk of human-induced climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation. Agency secretariats, such as through the joint WMO-UNESCO coordination meetings on hydrology and water resources programs, the InterAgency Committee for the Climate Agenda (IACCA), or the InterSecretariat Coordination Meetings for the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR); and Governmental and/or expert communities associated with domain-specific or cross-domain observing systems, such as the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS) and the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). Among such existing observing systems and programs, different mechanisms are employed at Secretariat, Advisory Body and/or Governing Body levels to achieve cooperation and coordination among the various individual established observing systems and programs. 3 of 8

4 These include the inter-secretariat mechanism for GOOS, GTOS and GCOS, as well as other such mechanisms. Coordination among contributing national and international organizations. Key best efforts coordination mechanisms are already in place for achieving scientific, technical, policy, financial or operational coordination among contributing national and international agencies. Most of these operate without any formal international legal charter, and include bodies such as the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS); Coordination Group on Meteorological Satellites (CGMS); Integrated Global Observing Strategy Partnership (IGOS-P), which integrates the UN-sponsored observing systems with the global scientific programs and the space data providers comprising CEOS; Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean (POGO), a forum of institutions performing ocean observations as well as representatives of existing international and regional programs and organizations to promote global oceanography, particularly the implementation of an international and integrated global ocean observing system; International Group of Funding Agencies for Global Change Research (IGFA); the Global Climate Observing System Cooperation Mechanism of GCOS; and the International Steering Committee for Global Mapping (ISCGM), which coordinates the Global Mapping Project in cooperation with more than 130 national mapping agencies. Coordination among and within the international scientific community. There are several mechanisms in place for cooperation and coordination among the international scientific community involved with Earth observation. The pre-eminent body is the International Council for Science (ICSU) with its various member unions, (including the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG), International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS), as well as various research (IGBP, WCRP), data (World Data Center System (WDC)), and observational bodies (GCOS, GOOS, and GTOS)). Many of these organizations are co-sponsored with intergovernmental organizations (e.g., WCRP is jointly sponsored by ICSU, IOC and WMO). These research bodies are mostly financed through individual national research budgets with some international coordination carried out through IGFA. Coordination among Earth observation communities. Among the most well-established international mechanisms are the various joint advisory, planning and implementation bodies for the observing and research systems and programs jointly sponsored by UN/ICSU, such as GCOS, GOOS and GTOS, and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). Strong collaboration among the research and observational spheres is needed to set priorities based on the requirements of the science community. The Atmospheric Observations Panel for Climate (AOPC), Ocean Observations Panel for Climate (OOPC) and Terrestrial Observations Panel for Climate (TOPC) are two examples of this. Coordination between the provider and user communities. There is a wide range of mechanisms in place for achieving coordination between the providers and users of major global observing systems. For example, in the weather and hydrology areas, these include the WMO Commission for Basic Systems (CBS), which coordinates the total operation (from data collection through to service provision) of the World Weather Watch (WWW), the WMO Consultative Meetings on High Level Policy on Satellite Matters, which provides a mechanism for ongoing consultation between the satellite provider community and the WMO user community, and the WMO Commission on Hydrology (CHy), which provides an end-to-end mechanism for hydrological data collection through to hydrological applications and services. 4 of 8

5 4 Approaches to international cooperation During its deliberations, the ICSG has discussed a wide range of approaches to international cooperation approaches that span the spectrum ranging from a continuation of GEO to the establishment of a new international mechanism, recognizing that the evolution of any one approach could involve multiple options. The GEO-3 Plenary engaged in intensive discussions of international cooperation and determined it was too early in the process to choose any one approach, although there was agreement that a formal mechanism of some kind would be needed for the effective and sustained implementation of GEOSS. Many factors were identified as important in reaching agreement on the optimal approach, including the need to be as globally inclusive as possible, especially in terms of engaging the participation of developing countries, and the need to build on, and not across, existing systems and structures. Section 7 of Framework Document The Way Forward agreed at GEO-3 provides the following guidance: 7.1 The adoption of this Framework Document indicates a decision to proceed with the elaboration of the GEOSS 10-Year Implementation Plan along the lines set forth in this Document and a willingness to cooperate on, and participate in, the implementation of the plan. At present, the ad hoc Group on Earth Observations (GEO) is a best efforts activity with voluntary input from States and advice and support from international organizations. 7.2 For 2005 and beyond, the implementation of the 10-Year Implementation Plan will require a ministerial-guided successor mechanism with maximum flexibility a single intergovernmental group for Earth observations drawing on the experience of the ad hoc GEO, with membership open to all interested governments and the European Commission, and with representatives of relevant international organizations taking part. 7.3 Details for this group will be elaborated in the GEOSS 10-Year Implementation Plan and will provide generally for: a. Coordination and planning of GEOSS implementation (in situ and remotely sensed); b. Opportunities for engagement of all members and relevant international and regional organizations; c. Involvement of user communities; d. Measuring, monitoring, and facilitating openness of GEOSS to improve cross-flow of observations and products; [and] e. Coordination and facilitation of the development and exchange of observations and products between members and relevant international and regional organizations. In summary as of this writing, the GEO has agreed to the need for a successor mechanism to GEO a single intergovernmental group for Earth observations with maximum flexibility that is ministerialguided, draws on the experience of GEO with membership open to all interested governments and the European Commission, and with representatives of relevant international organizations taking part and achieves the five objectives, 7.3 a-e. Many feasible approaches, across a broad spectrum, could be considered to accommodate these parameters, depending on the choices made in implementing any one approach. 5 Possible functions, objectives, and other criteria of a single intergovernmental group for Earth observations It was the consensus of the GEO-3 Plenary that it was premature to narrow down, or choose any one of the broad spectrum of approaches that might be employed to arrive at a single intergovernmental mechanism for Earth observations. It was also the consensus of GEO-3 plenary discussions that the 5 of 8

6 mechanism s structure should first and foremost be based on the functions that need to be performed to achieve GEOSS s goals and objectives and not vice versa. The establishment and operation of the GEOSS will require international cooperation in several areas, as noted in section 7.3 of the Framework Document and section 5.2 above. Possible functions we may wish the mechanism to perform in support of the GEOSS include, inter alia: Further developing the implementation plan, including facilitating system planning and design. Continuing identification of issues and gaps relating to the GEOSS. Setting priorities and committing to address these priorities, such that the mechanism is able both to identify which gaps to fill and recommend the order in which to fill them. There are multiple approaches as to how such commitments might be met, including: Identifying a particular international organization to which governments would look to champion a priority; Augmenting resources of existing organizations or activities; Contributing resources to new activities, such as through existing resource mechanisms or through establishment of new mechanisms. Facilitating implementation of the 10-year plan, including,(to the extent stipulated in the plan):,: Coordination of data collection, processing, archiving, and exchange; Coordination of development and exchange of observations and products; Coordinated research and development activities and programs; Current and new capacity building efforts, building on existing local, national, regional, and global capacity building initiatives; Openness of GEOSS to improve cross-flow and use of observations and products. Monitoring and coordinating progress of the implementation of the 10-year plan. Facilitating engagement of all member countries and relevant international organizations and programs in the development, implementation, and use of the GEOSS. Facilitating participation of developing country members. Promoting involvement of user communities, including the scientific community and policy/decision-makers, in the evolution of the GEOSS, and facilitating the specification of user requirements. Promoting outreach building awareness of the need for and benefits of a comprehensive, coordinated, and sustained Earth observation systems of systems. Additional objectives or evaluation criteria may include whether the mechanism: Fosters a sense of ownership among the international organizations, programs, or communities operating existing observing systems. Builds on important coordinating roles of existing international organizations, in a way that delivers maximum benefits to stakeholders. Builds on existing international operational observing systems or components systems, avoiding unnecessary duplication. Is robust and sustainable over the long-term. Additional issues for discussion include: The financial implications of the approach. The timeline to implement the approach. 6 of 8

7 Structural considerations, such as the method of establishment, the legal status of the mechanism, composition of officers and secretariat services, and the possible existence and role of subsidiary bodies or working groups. Identifying coordination mechanisms that might meet the required objectives and functions will necessarily be an iterative process. As the implementation plan for a GEOSS is developed, it will be possible to further refine the functionality of the single intergovernmental group for Earth observations, and thus the evaluation criteria, and to narrow the options for mechanisms. 6 Next steps toward contributing to the elaboration of international cooperation in the GEOSS 10-Year Implementation Plan The ICSG, consistent with GEO decisions and guidance, and in collaboration with the Implementation Plan Task Team, will continue to identify and elaborate possible approaches for a successor mechanism to GEO, including consideration of existing coordination mechanisms and organizational and governance structures that might serve as models for such a mechanism. As next steps in this process, the ICSG will encourage discussion and refinement of the issues outlined in section 5.5 the functions, objectives and criteria for a successor mechanism. Possible approaches will be evaluated in terms of their ability to fulfill agreed objectives and functions, and meet specified criteria. This discussion may be facilitated by the production of non-papers further detailing the above issues. The Subgroup will also strive to continue its collaboration with the other GEO Subgroups to reach a better understanding of the scope and boundaries of GEOSS. Feedback will be sought from the Implementation Plan Task Team regarding the appropriateness of the functions and criteria and the commencement of an initial evaluation of approaches. The Subgroup stands ready to assist the work of the Implementation Plan Task Team in carrying out its specific tasks, as agreed by GEO-3, in all aspects, with a particular focus on those elements relating to, or impacting on, the choice of international cooperation governance mechanism. Subgroup on International Cooperation Roster SG Co-Chair AUSTRALIA John Zillman J.Zillman@bom.gov.au SG Co-Chair CC AUSTRALIA Susan Barrell S.Barrell@bom.gov.au SG Co-Chair IOC Patricio Bernal p.bernal@unesco.org SG Co-Chair UNITED STATES Harlan Watson watsonhl@state.gov SG Co-Chair CC UNITED STATES Shira Yoffe yoffesb@state.gov SG Co-Chair (alt) UNITED STATES Bill Brennan Bill.Brennan@noaa.gov SG Co-Chair (alt) UNITED STATES Jim Devine jdevine@usgs.gov Representative ARGENTINA Ana Medico amedico@conae.gov.ar Representative BELGIUM Marielle Ver Elst marielle.verelst@diplobel.fed.be Representative BRAZIL Hadil da Rocha Vianna hadil@mre.gov.br Representative CANADA Lauren Small lauren.small@space.gc.ca Representative CEOS Chu Ishida ishida.chu@nasda.go.jp Representative EC Anver Ghazi anver.ghazi@cec.eu.int Representative (alt) EC Hartwig Bischoff hartwig.bischoff@cec.eu.int Representative ESA Micheline Tabache Micheline.Tabache@esa.int Representative EUMETSAT David Williams dwilliams@eumetsat.de Representative FRANCE Laurence BEAU laurence.beau@diplomatie.gouv.fr 7 of 8

8 Representative GREECE Afroditi Patroni Representative ICSU Leah Goldfarb Representative IGOS-P Dietrich Leihner Representative IRAN A. Vazifeh Representative IRAN cc A. Sardari Representative ISRAEL Pinhas Alpert Representative ITALY Giovanni Rum Representative (alt) ITALY Rodolfo GUZZI Representative JAPAN Hiroshi Fukai Representative CC JAPAN Teruyuki Itakura Representative CC JAPAN Naoko Sugita Representative KOREA Ae-sook Seo Representative KOREA Jeong-gyoo Park Representative NETHERLANDS Z. Bob Su Representative PORTUGAL Alexandra Ferreira De Carvalho Representative UZBEKISTAN Sergey Myagkov Representative SOUTH AFRICA Daan du Toit Representative CC SPAIN Antonio YEVES Representative SWITZERLAND José ROMERO Representative UNEP R. Norberto Fernandez Representative UNEP Ashbindu Singh Representative UNEP Silvia Giada Representative UNESCO Robert Missotten Representative WMO Soobasschandra Chacowry Representative CC WMO Rodolfo De Guzman Representative WORLD BANK Ian Noble 8 of 8