1. Report on Advocacy Session Wenbo Chu GEO Secretariat 7 May 2015

2. Common enabling elements for advocacy Convening power of GEO – governments, POs, emerging private sector (NGOs, Development Banks, Foundations, Commercial companies) The voluntary nature of organization that permits a few Members to exert leadership and support in selected areas – A forcing function on global environmental governance Linkages with international environmental initiatives – SDGs, WCDRR, RAMSAR, RFC etc. that permit advocacy through GEO Member States Leveraging and supporting the activities and initiatives of other organizations e.g. RDA, CEOS, CODATA, WMO etc. Delivering consistent messages throughout the community

3. Specific actions from the talks Need engagement from interest Members Link with other organizations, e.g., addressing observation gaps Collect best practices/lessons learned – e.g., IGOS-P, SDGs Monitor progress of EO related activities – Statistics on data policy "readiness" and data availability Analyze impact / benefits – Mapping of Data Sets and Policy/Legal Regimes – Analysis of socio-economic benefits of OA data sharing – Analysis of data policy and data sharing in relation to the upcoming SDGs / SBAs Report including through barometer style reports

4. Advocacy actions in Flagships, Initiatives and Community activities Adopt and implement GEO Data Sharing Principles Adopt and implement Data Management Principles Identify and fill observational gaps Consider opportunities for citizen observations

5. Advocacy actions in Foundational Tasks Data Management Principles definition and Implementation (D-A) Advances in Data Sharing Principles and implementation of GEO Data Sharing Principles (D-A) Systematic determination of user needs, observational gaps and resources to fill them (D-A-E) Definition of global perspectives on earth observations continuity planning and investments (A) Establish GEO as global authority on the value of Earth observations in decision-making (A-E) Promote the role of EOs and GEO in the post-2015 agenda and Conventions (A-E) Radio-Frequency protection (A) Communication and Engagement (A-E) Socio-economic value of EO (A-E-D)