From 21-22 March 2012, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Post-2015 Working Group met at the Headquarters of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Geneva.  CEODE Prof. GUO Huadong, Prof. LI Guoqing and Prof. CHEN Fang were invited to attend the meeting.

GEO, founded in February 2005 and based in the WMO building in the international quarter of Geneva, is the largest and most authoritative inter-governmental international organization in the field of Earth observation. The Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) 10-Year Implementation Plan (2005-2015) is GEO’s main objective, aiming at achieving a comprehensive, coordinated and sustained global Earth observation system of systems to better understand the Earth system and provide services from initial observations to professional application products. The Working Group met to explore issues related to the continued sustainable development of GEO and GEOSS in the post-2015 period.

The meeting’s participants discussed the administrative range of the GEO Post-2015 Working Group, which was settled in the Eighth Plenary Session of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO-VIII). They also examined GEO’s future development, structure, data sharing, institution, internal management structure, meeting organization and the allocation of resources. Another issue given attention was GEOSS’s four main prospects for development, with the group settling on a working arrangement for GEOSS’s next phase. As the GEO National Co-chair for China, GUO stated that China will actively stimulate worldwide Earth observation data sharing, improve Earth observation applications, and promote Earth observation in developing countries.

More than 50 participants from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States, CEOS, COSPAR, EUMETSAT, ISDE, WMO and other countries and organizations were present. 

 The GEO Post-2015 Working Group meets in Geneva