1. 27 September 2004, Governance in Brussels Governance in the 10-year Implementation Plan Ivan B. DeLoatch, Toshio Koike, Robert Scholes, and David Williams. GEO Implementation Plan Task Team (IPTT)

2. 27 September 2004, Governance in Brussels Documents Prepared by IPTT 10-12 page 10-Year Implementation Plan: IPTT draft text to be negotiated line by line at GEO-5/6. Available for comment Oct 11 2004 Circa 100-150 page Reference Document IPTT text. Not negotiated, but supports the Plan giving credibility to ten page document. Available for comment Oct 11 2004 There is also to be a Communique from EOS-III prepared by the GEO Secretariat and negotiated at GEO 5.

3. 27 September 2004, Governance in Brussels 10 Year Implementation Plan In order to complete the draft Implementation Plan Governance decisions are needed on some sections of the Plan: Management; Resources; Transition Arrangements; Endorsement/Commitment to GEOSS.

4. 27 September 2004, Governance in Brussels Management In implementing the plan, GEOSS functions will require a decision making process based upon sound technical and scientific knowledge. This in our view needs to cover a: form of governing council of participants as a political structure to provide a decision making and funding process; scientific and technical panel(s) to provide advice for sound decision making; mechanism (secretariat?) to support the above and guide the implementation.

5. 27 September 2004, Governance in Brussels Resources Implementing GEOSS will require a mechanism for resource provision to: support a council and any science and technical panel[s]; undertake preparatory studies to address issues in detail; oversee implementation of the plan, including the possibility of voluntary consortium support to implement specific elements by participants. provide the mechanism (secretariat?) to manage the above tasks.

6. 27 September 2004, Governance in Brussels Transition Arrangements In the event that a final structure will not be ready by February 2005, a decision on a mechanism to continue work and maintain momentum is needed at EOS III.

7. 27 September 2004, Governance in Brussels Endorsement and Commitment The Implementation Plan will propose a section for participants to endorse the functions defined and the structural mechanism to implement it. If commitment to the future mechanism and functions for GEOSS is to be managed through another means, it needs to be identified.

8. 27 September 2004, Governance in Brussels Reference Document This cannot be completed without guidance on how: the GEOSS initiative will be continued, and the role and functions of the central GEOSS activities versus those undertaken by participants as part of the overall GEOSS activities. Individual recommendations identified in the Reference Document will need to be revisited in the light of these issues.