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GEO is a voluntary partnership of governments and international organizations. It provides a framework within which these partners can develop new projects and coordinate their strategies and investments.
It was launched in response to calls for action by the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development and by the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrialized countries. It is now coordinating efforts to build a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).
Improve disaster risk management and reduction by providing timely information relevant to the full cycle of disaster management (mitigation, preparedness, warning, response and recovery).
Adopt a multi-hazard end-to-end approach to ensure that relevant Earth observations and information effectively reach decision-makers and the public.
Focus on three main areas:
(1) Provide support to operational systems and conduct gap analyses in order to identify missing data, system gaps, and capacity gaps;
(2) Enable and inform risk and vulnerability analyses; and
(3) Develop regional end-to-end systems with a focus on building institutional relationships.
1) Data Sharing principle:
- Full and Open Exchange of Data (UNIVERSAL ACCESS), recognizing Relevant International Instruments and National Policies.
- Data and Products at Minimum Time delay and Minimum Cost
- Free of Charge or minimal Cost for Research and Education
2) Systems Interoperability
- Interoperability standards for Collecting, Processing, Storing, and Disseminating Data and Products
- Based on Non-proprietary Standards
3) - Building Capacity for the use of EO data (both insitu and satellite)
GEO is an Intergovernmental Organization and has 88 Members (Governments) + the European Commission and 65 Participating Organizations (as of May, 2012), including:
UN Organizations and Programs, such as UNDRR, FAO, IOC, UNEP, UNESCO, UNFCCC, UNITAR/UNOSAT, UNOOSA,WMO
other leading international Organizations in different domains, such as CEOS, ESA, EUMETSAT, FDSN, IAG, ICSU, OGC
The Governments of the 88 GEO Members represented at the level of Minister or Deputy Minister.
http://www.earthobservations.org/
GEO Disasters Task:
Component 1) Disaster Management Systems: http://www.earthobservations.org/ts.php?id=162
Component 2) Geohazards Monitoring, Alert, and Risk Assessment:
http://www.earthobservations.org/ts.php?id=163
Component 3) Regional End-to-End Systems:
http://www.earthobservations.org/ts.php?id=166
GEO is Defining and implementing an integrated and comprehensive approach to systematically address all risk and disaster phases, including risk assessment and mapping. GEO is supporting international disaster risk reduction in the implementation of the HFA and is promoting the development of a Disasters Community of Practice (CoP) that would provide guidance for activities and initiatives in the Disasters societal benefit area.
GEO is implementing regional and cross-cutting end-to-end projects. Areas of application include: Flood-risk decision-support tools and applications supporting the full cycle of disaster management.
Relevant examples are:
- Flood Pilot Project for the Caribbean & Namibia.
Operational Flood Prediction and Response Monitoring using medium and high-resolution satellites – Caribbean and Southern Africa
- Wildland fire warning system at Global level.
GEO is working with the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) to increase and strengthen the contribution of EO satellite to the various DRM phases through a series of coordinated enlarged actions and to raise the awareness of politicians, decision-makers and major stakeholders on the benefits of using satellite EO in all phases of DRM.
GEO is supporting the International Charter Space and Major Disasters (http://www.disasterscharter.org/home) in the implementation of the Universal Access policy.
GEO Task SB-04 Global Urban Observation and Information (http://www.earthobservations.org/ts.php?id=158) is supporting the the Making Cities Resilient
campaign through the following objectives:
Improve the overall coordination of urban observations, monitoring, forecasting, and assessment initiatives worldwide.
Support the development of global urban observation and analysis systems.
Produce up-to-date information on the status and development of the urban system – from local to global scale.
Fill gaps in integration of global urban observations with outputs and data provided by local models or local observation platforms.
Develop innovative concepts and techniques in support of effective urban sensing and sustainable urban development.
The Sendai Framework Voluntary Commitments (SFVC) online platform allows stakeholders to inform the public about their work on DRR. The SFVC online platform is a useful toolto know who is doing what and where for the implementation of the Sendai Framework, which could foster potential collaboration among stakeholders. All stakeholders (private sector, civil society organizations, academia, media, local governments, etc.) working on DRR can submit their commitments and report on their progress and deliverables.