1. © GEO Secretariat 2007-2009 Work Plan Development Toward Convergence Capacity Building Committee Meeting 15-16 September 2006 Brussels Imraan Saloojee & Datong Zhao GEO Secretariat

2. © GEO Secretariat Task Convergence To bring multiple disciplines to activities organized within a task; To facilitate the merger of task activities where appropriate; To ensure ongoing, interdisciplinary linkages between related but separate tasks. New Proposals To ensure completion of the two-year targets, as well as initiation of activities to meet the six and ten-year targets; To provide opportunity for new ideas to complement and refine the existing tasks and for new groups and communities to join GEO and contribute to GEOSS implementation. Priority or Longer-Term Objectives GEO II decided to develop work plan on a multi-year time scale in future; With emphasis on convergence and cross-disciplinary activities within and among tasks. Overview of 07-09 WP Concept

3. © GEO Secretariat 30 April:WP draft outline for informal consultation with experts 31 May:WP first draft v.1 for technical review 17 July:All comments are due to the Secretariat 31 July:WP draft v.2 for official comment by members and participating organizations, GEO committees 2 Oct:All comments and recommendations are due to the Secretariat 16 Oct:WP draft final version v.3 28 Nov:GEO-III plenary reviews and accepts the plan 07-09 WP: Process and Schedule

4. © GEO Secretariat WA-07-P1: Best Practices for flood risk management The task will define best practices, here including decision support systems, with the goal to identify minimum required observations and associated networks (in- situ, airborne, space) and models to deal with flood management at different geographical scales. 07-09 WP: Proposals for Disasters

5. © GEO Secretariat 07-09 WP: Proposals for Health HE-07-P1 Strengthen observation and information systems relevant to health HE-07-P2 Initiate a Global Public Environment and Health Information Network HE-07-P3 Integrated environment and health monitoring and modelling

6. © GEO Secretariat EN-07-P1: Renewable Energy Develop the use of Earth observation in the management of uncertainties related to fluctuations and intermittency of renewable energy sources. EN-07-P2: Environmental Impact Monitoring Set up an Earth observation platform for the monitoring and prediction of environmental impact from energy resource extraction, transportation and/or exploitation. EN-07-P3: Energy Policy Planning Encourage the use of Earth observation for informed energy-policy planning in developing countries. 07-09 WP: Proposals for Energy

7. © GEO Secretariat Support the development of an "International Weather, Climate and Earth- system Science Initiative" proposed by THORPEX (WMO) and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). Promote international multi-disciplinary collaboration on the development of a high-resolution seamless weather/climate/ Earth-system global prediction system - including high-resolution global and regional data-assimilation. 07-09 WP: Proposals for climate CL-07-P1: International Weather, Climate and Earth System Science Initiative

8. © GEO Secretariat WA-07-P1: Best practices for flood risk management WA-07-P2: Global Water Quality Monitoring WA-07-P3: Satellite Water Measurements 07-09 WP: Proposals for Water

9. © GEO Secretariat EC-07-P1: Global Vegetation and Land Cover EC-07-P2: Global Forest Monitoring EC-07-P3: Development of a Global Sampling Frame for Ecosystems 07-09 WP: Proposals for Ecosystems

10. © GEO Secretariat Grouping proposals: AG-06-03 and -04 proposed to be reclassified as EC-07-P1 and -P2 New proposal: AG-07-P1: Improving measurements of biomass To enable a sustained use of Earth observation data in the area of agriculture and fisheries, it is necessary to further explore the utility of current Earth observations within the agricultural, fishery and aquaculture sectors, especially in developing countries with an emphasis on improving classification and quantification of biomass. 07-09 WP: Proposals for Agriculture

11. © GEO Secretariat BI-07-P1: Biodiversity observation and monitoring BI-07-P2: Protected Areas Mapping and Monitoring 07-09 WP: Proposals for Biodiversity

12. © GEO Secretariat US-07-P1: Mesoscale Observing Networks Build on the Helsinki Testbed experience to establish an international framework for transferring advanced nowcasting and forecasting capabilities to major cities in developed and developing countries. US-07-P2: Millennium Development Goals Facilitate inter-institutional coordination for common action towards the UN Millennium Development Goals, including poverty and hunger reduction, disease and disaster prevention, and environmental sustainability. US-07-P3: Environmental Risk Management Support the integration of risk management into environment-sensitive development processes. 07-09 WP: Proposals for User Engagement

13. © GEO Secretariat 07-09 WP: Proposals for AR(1) 1. Tasks to be continued - AR-06-01 to 05 : see "grouping proposal" - AR-06-06 : reclassfied as DA-06-P3 - AR-06-07 to 08 : Utilize new technologies (e.g., Sensor Web) - AR-06-09 to 11 : To be continued 2. Grouping proposals: (AR-06-01 to 05 and DA-06-06, 07) The interoperability related tasks would benefit from a closer link to the Social Benefit Areas. A grouped task would address the following objectives: Develop and promote practical implementation of GEOSS architecture in relation to the SBAs Define and develop interoperability test-beds for SBAs and evaluate results with end-users. Continue development of Clearinghouse and Web Portal, focussing on specific SBA applications Consider use of recent information technologies (e.g., Grid computing, SensorML, Semantic)

14. © GEO Secretariat 3. New proposals AR-07-P1: Virtual Constellation Advocate virtual constellation space observations following the CEOS constellation concept for better temporal, spatial, and spectral resolution and related data management and dissemination. This task includes relevant synergies with AR-06- 06. AR-07-P2: Linking Infrastructures Explore the possibility of developing linkage between large science and technology facilities or initiatives with high performance computing (e.g. NWP) capacity and huge data volume transfer infrastructure (e.g., Earth Simulator) and networks (e.g., GEANT) for various high volume Earth observation data assimilation and integration. AR-07-P3: Interactive Data Access and Analysis System A prominent requirement for the Health, Ecosystem and Biodiversity SBAs is the need to develop a data access and analysis system that will allow researchers and managers to overlay their data (e.g. species distribution, protected area boundaries, specimen locations) with remote sensing and other geospatial data. 07-09 WP: Proposals for AR(2)

15. © GEO Secretariat 07-09 WP: Proposals for DA (1) 1. Tasks to be continued: DA-06-01;DA-06-02; DA-06-03; DA-06-04; DA-06-05; DA-06-09 2. Grouping proposals: DA-06-06 and DA-06-07; DA -06-08 is proposed to move to CB observation. (Former AR-06-06 reclassified under Data Management).

16. © GEO Secretariat DA-07-P1: Higher Level Data Product Tools Development of tools enabling establishment of higher level operational data products from different sources such as time series and global maps. This will enhance global monitoring and prediction capabilities. DA-07-P2: Land Surface Plot System and Database Characterization, mapping and monitoring of ecosystems at local, national, regional and global scales systematically for land surface and vegetation attributes to both calibrate (train) and validate (test) land cover, vegetation and ecosystem maps. This includes formal methods for collecting plot (in-situ) data, and for translating between different systems. DA-07-P3: DEM Interoperability Facilitate interoperability among Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data sets with the goal of producing a global, coordinated and integrated DEM. This DEM database should be embedded into a consistent, high accuracy, and long term stable geodetic reference frame for Earth observation. (Former AR-06-06 reclassified under Data Management). 07-09 WP: Proposals for DA(2)

17. © GEO Secretariat CB-07-P1: Capacity Building Strategy Implementation 07-09 WP: Proposals for CB

18. © GEO Secretariat CB-07-P2: Capacity Building Indicators

19. © GEO Secretariat CB-07-P3: Building National Capacity to respond to GEO