Areas of Support (building on Michel’s presentation) Initial thinking: We are already producing products that can leveraged to support the SDG’s Beyond that there are some products that can be tweaked to meet additional goals. For example, our current activities are centered around the G20 policy mandate for improved information for markets. This means short term, in-season monitoring. By adding a mid and long term temporal dimension to our analysis we can do state and change (annual-inter-annual-decadal metrics) These changes should be done a priori, because it will be much harder to modify things retroactively some time down the road, so the time to act is now So as we move forward I see….

Two Challenges – Human Dimension and the other is technical (as usual the science side of the equation is easy, the human or communication side is hard) Communication Challenge: SDG metrics to date have been defined primarily by the statistical community. Little direct interaction between GEOGLAM and the SDG’s at the global, regional or national level. At best the uptake of EO by statisticians has been slow, at worst EO is seen as a threat to long standing statistical approaches Little understanding about what EO can offer, need for dialogue between communities GEOGLAM’s success with AMIS suggests this is possible. Current State: Metrics are largely qualitative assessments of growing conditions based on science based agro-climate and remote sensing information integrated with human observation. Works well for the purpose they were designed, but will it work for SDG’s? Need for more quantitative metrics (Yield, Ag land use state and change) Ultimately if we want to move beyond SDG indicators and solve problems there is a need for reliable forecasting to support proactive decision making

An Action Plan Short Term: Leveraging existing activities, create change metrics on the state of growing conditions (extent, severity and type). Actions: June GEOGLAM Implementation Team meeting to discuss the technical The human challenges will be overcome by actively engaging with and working to support the EO4SDGs initiative (hitch our wagon) Same issues at the national level, and I think nations will be able to learn and build on our success at the global level. In Canada we have already had preliminary discussions about organizing the EO community in order to engage the national SDG effort effectively Medium Term: Step up R&D for the development of quantitative metrics: Actions: Need to ramp up R&D now (June JECAM meeting) Multi-scale approach, from season to annual to decadal and longer - Increased temporal and spatial resolution Longer Term: Strengthen international cooperation and identify stable perhaps institutional homes for GEOGLAM activities Accelerate the Research-Development-Operations continuum Stable process (home) for operational activities Support an integrated nexus approach, but there is significant work to be done within our community first