1. Report from the 7th GEO S&T Committee Meeting Gilles OLLIER – Policy Officer « Earth Observation » EUROPEAN COMMISSION Research Directorate General - Environment - RTD.I Management of Natural Resources – RTD.I.4

2. The GEO Science & Technology Committee (STC) held a full meeting on 22-23 May 2008 in Geneva to (i)discuss the progress and future of selected 2007-09 Work Plan Tasks; (ii)review proposals by GEO Members and Organizations on the GEO 2009-2011 (iii)discuss relevant aspects of the IGOS-P transition into GEO, GEO Portal development and GEO Data Sharing Principles evolution.

3. Follow-up of other Committee actions and of EXCOM Recommendation GEO Portal Stuart Marsh (England) and David Halpern (COSPAR) will represent the STC on the Initial Operating Capability (IOC) Task Force. Data Sharing Principles As an action, members of the STC have been invited to join the team leading the implementation of Work Plan Task DA-06-01 on GEOSS Data Sharing Principles (e-mail from GEO secretariat of 28/05/08). GEO Committees portals GEO S&T welcomes that CB under the GEO portal and ADC will develop their own portals – most useful initiatives which would be needed for S&T as well

4. Approach Review the Agriculture/Biodiversity/Ecosystem cluster of Work Plan Tasks and invited all Points of Contact of STC-assigned Tasks to present recent progress. (i)improve coordination and integration between Tasks, (ii) enhance data sharing and data transmission between Tasks, and (iii)facilitate linkages and partnerships between Tasks and GEO Members/Participating Organizations Looking ahead Role of S&T: to have a broader look overall from the S&T perspective GEO Work Plan 2007-2009 Progress Review Progress Review

5. No report for many tasks EC-06-01: Integrated Global Carbon Observation (IGCO) ( – needs carbon office) EC-06-02: Ecosystem Classification EC-07-01: Global Ecosystem Observation and Monitoring Network ( - proposed to be split into sub tasks not yet agreed) BI-06-03: Capturing Historical Biodiversity Data BI-07-01: Biodiversity Observation and Monitoring Network Making progress ( - GEOBON) BI-07-02: Invasive Species Monitoring System AG-06-02: Data Utilization in Aquaculture AG-07-01: Improving Measurements of Biomass

6. Review of Proposals made by Members and Participating Organisations The STC heard: The proposal from China on weather/atmospheric research and suggests link/group it with ongoing activities (e.g. WE-06-03) The Greek GEO Office proposals to include more reference to stratospheric ozone depletion in the 2009-2011 WP and Human Dimensions of the Global Change in the eastern Mediterranean area The IGOS Geohazards Bureau proposals to Extend DI-06-03 (Integration of InSAR Technology) and the Supersites concept The IEEE proposal for Improved access to deep ocean profiling and monitoring systems data to be linked/grouped with Task CL-06-06, the IGOS OCEAN theme, and EC projects The IEEE proposal of a pilot project for improved water discovery and quality assessments to become a pilot project for the Water Task WA-08-01 IEEE proposal to include a new Task on Model Web to be dealt with by ADC

7. Comments and Suggestions on ongoing 2007-09 Tasks Grouping of tasks (along SBAs?) based on IGOS-P themes ? Consultation of stakeholders in the domain of Earth Observation Logical connection is with each SBA – coherence between tasks (flow of all tasks and interaction) Overall picture all tasks should be included The WP should incorporate an evaluation/monitoring process New tasks should build on already committed activities

8. 8th Meeting of the Committee (STC-8) will be hosted by COSPAR in Paris on 8-9 September 2008. Performance Indicator meeting hosted by WB (10/09) or ESA (11/09) Locations outside Europe should be considered for STC-9 and STC-10 (e.g. US or Japan) to better meet the "global" reach of GEO STC activities of GEO. No GEO S&T Committee meeting in Bejing Meeting in US end 2008 (prior to AGU – an host is needed) Meeting in Japan in 2009 envisaged (Japanese counterparts to be contacted) Italy offered to host STC-11 in September 2009, and possibly GEO- VI Plenary in November 2009 Future meetings