18 November 2009: The sixth plenary session of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO-VI) convened in Washington, DC, US, from 17-18 November 2009, to assess and promote the partnership’s progress towards making information about global environmental change readily available to those who need it.
Among the issues addressed were GEO Data Sharing principles, including open access to space data, and global carbon monitoring, including the GEO Forest Carbon Tracking task, which estimates trends in the spatial extent and carbon content of the world’s forests. A Ministerial Summit will convene in Beijing, China, from 3-5 November 2010, at the mid-point in implementation of the GEO partnership, to highlight and assess its outputs.
GEO is a voluntary partnership of governments and international organizations that provides a framework within which these partners can develop new projects and coordinate their strategies and investments. Participating organizations include the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UNFCCC, the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), the UN University (UNU), and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). [IISDRS Sources][GEO-VI Website]