GEO Blue Planet efforts to support the SDGs GEO Plenary XIV Side Event GEOGLOWS and the harmonization of GEO Water Activities October 24, 2017 Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center Washington, D.C. Paul DiGiacomo, Ph.D. GEO Blue Planet Steering Committee Co-Chair

Oceans and Society: Blue Planet Oceans and Society: Blue Planet is an Initiative within the Group on Earth Observations Blue Planet’s mission is to: advance and exploit synergies among ocean and coastal observational programmes increased integration of and access to in situ and remote sensing ocean observation data improve engagement with a variety of users for enhancing the timeliness, quality and range of services raise awareness of the societal benefits of ocean observations at the public and policy levels

Goal The overall goal of Blue Planet Initiative is to ensure the sustained development and use of ocean and coastal observations for the benefit of society User needs Observations Data Products Information Knowledge Knowledge

Who is Blue Planet Blue Planet is a network made up of participants from a variety of existing international organizations, regional organizations, national institutes, universities, government agencies, project groups and other stakeholders.

Current Focus Connecting users to providers Engaging with users to identify data and information needs Clarifying the “seascape” of ocean and coastal observations for user groups

3rd Blue Planet Symposium The 3rd Blue Planet symposium took place from May 31 – June 2nd in College Park, Maryland Major recommendations from recent Blue Planet symposium Focus on building the user engagement working group as a priority Consider building high level products and services that can be tailored to specific regional and local needs Work to produce and compile case studies and examples of how ocean observations 6

Supplemental Issue Blue Planet is organizing a supplemental issue in the Journal of Operational Oceanography on Ocean Observing for Societal Benefit The supplemental issue will Issue will focus on end-to-end case studies of ocean observations being used to benefit various sectors of society

Caribbean SDG Workshop Implementing and Monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals in the Caribbean: The Role of the Ocean Jan. 17, 2018 – Jan. 19, 2018 in St. Vincent and the Grenadines http://www.gstss.org/2018_Ocean_SDGs/ The workshop aims to facilitate a dialogue between the governments and people of the Caribbean Small Island States about their efforts to implement and monitor the SDGs and, by monitoring this dialogue, to extract knowledge needs, which then can be related to data needs. The collaborate effort brings together governments and people of the Caribbean Small Island States, Earth observation providers, scientists, United Nations Agencies active in the region, and regional non-governmental organizations with the goal to link on-going efforts to implement and monitor the SDGs in the Caribbean Small Island States to required ocean observations and engage in the co-creation of the knowledge needed by those engaged in SDG implementation. The overarching goal is to fully map the requirements for ocean observations serving the implementation and monitoring of the SDGs.

Future SDG Workshop The Caribbean workshop will be a pilot for future workshops in other regions

Support of Regional Projects 4M – Multipurpose Marine Monitoring Mechanism Project concept (for implementation in Barbados and Grenada) currently being developed by UNDP Barbados and the OECS, IOCARIBE-GOOS and GEO Blue Planet The 4M project will provide data and information necessary for successful implementation of the SDGs in the Caribbean OECS is the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States This project is under development. GEO Blue Planet is working to facilitate partnerships for UNDP Barbados and IOCARIBE-GOOS

Thank you www.geoblueplanet.org