1. 13th Annual IGWCO Meeting
Introductory Talk on State of the IGWCO CoP
Rick Lawford
13th Annual IGWCO Meeting
Tuscaloosa, AL, USA
May 19, 2017

2. Functions of the Present IGWCO CoP
Assists in the coordination of the GEO Water Task
Serves as an incubator for new ideas.
Contributes to the assessment of the progress of the GEO Water Task.
Coordinates the implementation of the GOESS Water Strategy.
Develops the User interaction component for GEO Water.
Serves as a venue for exchanging information of relevant water activities.
Who can join? Anyone with an interest in water

3. Use the IGWCO (GW?) CoP Structure for Implementation (making changes as needed)

4. Some achievements of the IGWCO CoP during the past year
Recommended and worked with the GEO Secretariat to identify and move Water Community Activities from Water Tasks to GEOGLOWS.
IGWCO CoP members helped to develop and finalize the inputs to CEOS WSIST Study
In conjunction with other programs (e.g., SWFP), members organized several workshops that related to GEO Water activities where they presented the GEO program and the IGWCO CoP and GEOGLOWS activities.
IGWCO continued to track the implementation of the GEOSS Water Strategy (apart from the CEOS study there was not much progress in the past year).
IGWCO CoP membership grew (but more slowly in the past).

5. Issues we need to address:
Do we need to formalize a role for IGWCO CoP in relation to GEOGLOWS
User Engagement role for IGWCO COP
Continue oversight of the GEOSS Water Strategy Implementation
Explore the possibility of developing a strategy for in-situ measurements for streamflow and groundwater.
Explore strengthening long-term sustainability of the IGWCO CoP (JAXA with some support through NASA funded IGWCO meeting and telecom calls last year. This year we only have NASA support)

6. Future:
- All “active” activities are expected to go forward. Most will continue as
Community activities. “Activities at rest” will probably be eliminated.
GEOGLOWS, GDIS, GEOCRI and GEOWetlands became GEO Initiatives.
- The Future Earth WEF activities became GEO Community activity.
- New activities anticipated as a result of the developing GEOSS Water
Strategy Implementation Plan (through CEOS, GTN-H, others).
- Possible new linkages through a AO GEOSS program

7. CHALLENGES OF THE 2017-2019 PERIOD
Completion of the recommendations in the GEOSS Water Strategy
Maintaining engagement of the terrestrial in-situ data networks and centres in soil moisture, streamflow, surface storage and groundwater.
Need to exploit opportunities: Earth Observations and WEF activity (through the development of a WEF testbed proposal?); and links to SWFP
Possible contribution to monitoring of the UN proposed Water SDG.
Continued support to GEO on the water activities.

8. AGENDA
This meeting is not intended to duplicate information presented in the GEOGLOWS meeting. The IGWCO COP Activity Review and planning meeting (Water GEO activities; contributions to GEOGLOWS activities; plans for GTN-H; follow-up the GEOSS Water Strategy, etc.)
08:30-10:30 Past Actions
1. Review of activities since the last meeting in Koblenz (Rick Lawford)
2. Updates on GEO Water projects other than GEOGLOWS or GEOGLOWS reports
- Drought (TBC)
- AfriGEOSS Water studies (Kamal Labbassi)
- GEOCRI (Vanessa Aellen)
- Earth observations and the W-E-F Nexus (Balazs Fekete, Rick Lawford)
- Wetlands (Ian Harrison)
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9. 10:30-10:50 Break - AmeriGEOSS Water (Angelica Gutierrez-Magness)
- NextGEOSS (Bente Bye)
- IPWG (George Huffman)
3. Role of IGWCO within GEOGLOWS (Bradley Doorn, Angelica Gutierrez-Magness, general discussion)
4. GEOSS Water Strategy actions (Rick Lawford)
10:30-10:50 Break
 10:50-13:00 Planning for the Future
Possible new initiatives:
Extremes (Sushel Unninayar)
EWVs (Rick Lawford to comment)
CEOS Water activities (beyond WSIST) (Selma Cherchali)
General GEO Water and other activities and potential IGWCO CoP contributions (Vanessa Aellen)
Opportunities and strategies for reaching out to water groups beyond GEO (Rick Lawford)

10. Setting an agenda for IGWCO for 2017 and beyond (General discussion)
- Possible changes in our modus operandi (General discussion)
Setting an agenda for IGWCO for 2017 and beyond (General discussion)
Possible actions in light of the GEO Plenary (General Discussion)
- Summary