Igniting Conversations about GEO's Contributions to Societal Benefits GEO Cold Region Initiative Information Service for Cold Regions Yubao Qiu*, Hannele Savela** and GEOCRI Lead Group * Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth Chinese Academic of Sciences ** University of Oulu, Finland 7 Nov., 2016 @ St. Petersburg, Russia

Earth’s Cold Region

View From Northern Poles Frozen Water and Phase changing High Latitude High Altitude PEEX

Scientific and Societal Importance Why GEO Cold Regions? Scientific and Societal Importance More than 100 countries around the world have cryospheric elements. These elements are a main source of fresh water. Cold regions are the most ecologically and environmentally sensitive areas, and changes to these areas comprehensively affect the dynamic earth system, impacting many aspects of society in all parts of the world. The cold regions of our planet influence our entire world's climate

Activates related to Earth Observations and GEOCRI by domain Numbers for the activities arranged by Regions

Environmental and socio-political challenges Specific Earth observation needs and requirements Climate & Weather Biodiversity & Ecosystems International Relations & Cooperation Sustainable Development, Indigenous Communities & Traditional Practices Health Agriculture, Fisheries, Hunting & Food Water Pollution & Environmental Protection Hazards Built Environment, Infrastructure & Transport Energy Mining & Fossil Fuels Forestry Shipping Tourism

GEOCRI links to other SBAs GECO GEO-GNOME Cold Region GEO-DARMA GEO Cold Regions focused on information services and Earth observations to provide societal benefits over a vast Cold Regions area including the North Pole, South Pole, Himalaya-Third Pole and Mountain areas GEOCRI: within the Water Resources Management SBA  cross cutting (Whats happen in the pole doesn’t stay in the poles Monitor Biodiversity + Ecosystem in cold region Build DR for vulnerable regions and pop. Inform better use of energy and mineral resources  improve sustainability, reduce impacts Improve food security for CR pop. By collaborationg with GEOGLAM Adress issues including infrastructure and transportation related to extrem temperature, permafrost, slope instability, … Monitor health risks and reduce illness in cold region Urban decision Water ressource management GEO-GNOME: Global Network for Observation and Information in Mountain Environments CLIMATE: COPERNICUS ATMOSPHERIC MONITORING SERVICE (CAMS) Regional GEOSS

Global Activities with Dimensions

An Information Service for Cold Regions (or GEO Cold Regions), exploiting the GEOSS information system, is needed to provide easy access to observations and environmental information products by users across the globe.

Example: An changing Arctic on the impact of environment Permafrost exists in the Arctic (northern high latitudes) Environmental Resilience Climate

Make Way for More Ships--and More Species Invasions Example: The melting Arctic creates a new world of shipping and resource opportunities Make Way for More Ships--and More Species Invasions Energy Resources in the Arctic Ocean Arctic: a new geopolitical arena

GEOCRI – GEO Cold Region Initiative Aiming to coordinates global joint efforts for Earth observations and information services over a vast Cold Regions area including the North Pole, South Pole, High Latitude Ocean, Himalaya-Third Pole and Mountain Cold Regions. The GEO Cold Region Initiative (GEOCRI) is an initiated initiative in GEO XII at Nov. 2015, listed at GI-11: GEOCR imitative. The AOS summit featured the GEO Cold Region Initiative (GEOCRI) that aims to identify, address and fill observational gaps and improve networks through coordinated observation practices and information services worldwide. See the Statement on the GEO Cold Region Initiative(GEOCRI).

GEOCRI – GEO Cold Region Initiative Aiming to share the vision of GEO to address the global environmental change, and its resulting impacts and challenges on all aspects of society, an Information Service for Cold Regions was established to broaden and share Earth observations for societal benefits, and inform the decision makers, through strengthening coordination with diverse communities, engagement and collaboration of stakeholders including decision makers and etc.. Scope - Global Cold Regions: Including the Arctic, Antarctic, Himalaya-Third Pole, high-latitude oceans and high-mountain cold region areas GEO Cold Regions Initiative > recommended to GEO WP 2017-2019 , which is the legacy of Information Service for Cold Regions in Water SBA.

Mandate - Focus on Global Cold Regions GEOCRI is well aligned with the GEO mission and strategic objectives with its contribution and support to international processes underway, including the UN SDG, UNFCCC, UN Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and its UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Example 1: Europe - ESA’s activities turning to the Polar regions – economy, climate change, geo-political strategy and etc.. Example 2: White House Arctic Science Ministerial, Sept 28, 2016 Focus areas: Strengthening and Integrating Arctic Observations and Data Sharing and Applying Expanded Scientific Understanding of the Arctic to Build Regional Resilience and Shape Global Responses Example 3: SAON – Sustained Arctic Observing Networks, initiated by Arctic Council and IASC in 2011 Ministerial Meeting Example 4: IPPI/IASC, IACS/IUCN, ECPHORS/WMO To meet emerging, and unarticulated policy needs. This is also very important for GEOCRI’s earth’s cold regions concern…. For example, … Rio+20, that will benefit from these global….convening actions.

GEOCRI Mission and Objectives Mission: Develop a user-driven approach for Cold Regions information services to complement the mainly current science-driven effort, and foster the collaboration for improved earth observations and information on a global scale. Objectives Integrating, Brokering and Promoting Earth Observations over Earth Cold Regions Advocating and Practicing Data Sharing Building Community Portal and Services Strengthening Capacity building and Partnerships

GEOCRI Task and Implentation Plan Tasks: Infrastructures Monitoring Network and Data Integrating in situ and Remote Sensing Observations User Engagement and Communication Capacity Buidling and Knowledge Transfer Management and Monitoring Hierarchy structure of the activities 6 tasks: Support SAON in maintain an inventory of existing cold region EO initiative (programme, projects, organizations, network, system…) Leverage GEO’s international position to align other activities with artic Observing System efforts and SAON (GCW, INTERACT) Support observing system networks

GEO Cold Regions participations Organisations/Projects Countries Canada China Finland Germany India Italy Japan Netherlands Norway Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom United States Organisations/Projects CAFF CBMP: Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna - Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program CCIN: Canadian Cryospheric Information Network – Polar Data Catalogue CliC: Climate and Cryosphere CryoClim Cryosphere Climate Monitoring Service ICIMOD: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development INTERACT: International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic PEEX: Pan-Eurasian Experiment SAON: Sustaining Arctic Observing Network SIOS: Svalbard Integrated Earth Observing System SwissEx: Swiss Experiment Platform TPE: Third Pole Environment WMO GCW: Global Cryosphere Watch WMO WWRP PPP/YOPP

More from GEOCRI Event at GEOXIII Invite you join GEOCRI events 8th November Reinforcing the development and implementation of the GEO Cold Regions Initiative Ten Presentations and Discussion Side Event, GEO-XIII Plenary, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation Tuesday 8th November, 09:00-12:00, Room Green 5

Invite you join GEOCRI events More from GEOCRI Event at GEOXIII Invite you join GEOCRI events GEO –XIII Plenary Panel Sessions Session 2 – Advancing the Vision of GEO Moderator: Dominique Marbouty – France Panelists: GEOGLAM,  Sergey Bartalev, Russian Federation GEO Cold Regions, Hannele Savela, Finland GEO CARBON and GHG Initiative: Stephen Briggs, UK EO4EA: John Matuszak, USA  GEO and SDGs: Lawrence Friedl, USA 9th November

Questions and Suggestions Yubao Qiu: qiuyb@radi.ac.cn Thank you! Questions and Suggestions Contact: Yubao Qiu: qiuyb@radi.ac.cn Hannele.Savela: Hannele.Savela@oulu.fi