© GEO Secretariat
GEO Global Land Cover task and
its critical role to the development of the
GEOSS
Georgios Sarantakos GEO Secretariat
Wageningen University, NL April 18, 2013
1st GEO Global Land Cover meeting
The Vision for GEOSS is…
…to realize a future wherein decisions and actions for the benefit of humankind are informed by coordinated, comprehensive and sustained Earth observations and information.
GEOSS 10-Year Implementation Plan, February 2005
GEOSS Societal Benefit Areas
Cross-cutting tasks
SB-01: Ocean SB-02: Land Cover SB-03: Forest SB-04: Urban SB-05: Impact
SB-02: Land Cover
New structure of the GEO GLC task
China (Prof. Chen Jun (PoC))
USGS (Dr. Chandra Giri)
Canada (Prof. Songnian Li, Ryerson University)
Spain (Dr. Antonio Arozarena, IGN-CNIG)
ESA (Dr. Olivier Arino)
C1 Global Land Cover Datasets and Service
EEA (Dr. Chris Steenmans) (PoC)
NSDI, China (Dr.Lijun Chen)
GOFC-GOLD/University of Wageningen (Dr. Brice Mora)
C2 Global Land Cover Validation and User
Engagement
GOFC-GOLD (Prof. Martin Herold (PoC))
Tsinghua University, China (Prof. Peng Gong )
KTH, Sweden (Prof. Yifang Ban)
EARSeL (Dr. Ioannis Manakos)
KEIO University, Japan (Prof. Wanglin Yan)
Central South University, China (Prof. Yongnian Zeng)
C3 Global Land Cover Methodology and Capacity
Building/Outreach
SB-02
New structure of the GEO GLC task
SB-02
C1 Global Land Cover Datasets and
Service
C2 Global Land Cover Validation
and User Engagement
C3 Global Land Cover Methodology
and Capacity Building/Outreach
Highlights for 2012
Numerous products under development including:
• Independent validation database for global land cover products
• High-resolution global land cover products (30m and annual)
• Maps of major land cover types
• Update of an Urban Atlas (Ref. year 2011/2012)
• Global land cover portal
Human resources: • New contributions from Canada, Greece, Sweden,
EARSeL, EEA, and ISPRS • GOFC-GOLD Land Cover Project Office up and running
GEO IX Plenary
Report of progress
This year:
• Focus on in-situ data
development a network for in-
situ data similar to the CEOS
for Satellite data
• Focus on users needs
– Better cross-task fertilization
– Closer collaboration among and within the components
Next step:
Report our needs at the Plenary
U.S. Department of State, Washington DC
July 31, 2003
Role of the Global Land Cover task to the development of the GEOSS
Example 1: Biodiversity Monitoring GEO BON (>100 organisations)
Products under development including:
Global Wetland Observing System (GWOS)
A harmonised Ecosystem Map
A global network of Biodiversity Observation Sites
Filling of major geographical gaps in the monitoring network
Expansion of monitoring programs for birds, mammals, plants and butterflies
Inventories for changes in marine biodiversity (certain taxa)
Regional BONs, such as French BON, Arctic BON, China BON, AP BON etc
1. Aw
are
ness
of
bio
div
ers
ity
2. Valu
e o
f BD
inte
gra
ted
3. In
centives
for
BD
4. Sust
ain
abili
ty
5. H
abitat
loss
6. M
arine r
eso
urc
es
7. Agricu
lture
, fo
rest
and a
quacu
lture
8. Pollu
tion
9. Alie
n s
peci
es
10.
Cora
l re
efs
and
oth
er
thre
ate
ned
eco
syst
em
s
11.
Pro
tect
ed a
reas
12.
Thre
ate
ned
speci
es
13.
Genetic
div
ers
ity
14.
Eco
syst
em
Serv
ices
15.
Clim
ate
change
resi
lience
16.
Acc
ess
and
Benefit
Sharing
17.
National BD
Str
ate
gie
s &
Act
ion
Pla
ns
18.
Indig
enous
know
ledge
19.
Know
ledge
sharing
20.
Reso
urc
es
Biodiversity
Water
Climate
Ecosystem
Agriculture
Health
Ocean
Land Cover
Forest
Impacts
So
cie
tal
Be
ne
fit
Are
as/T
arg
ets
*
Cro
ss-
cu
ttin
g
Are
as
Aichi Biodiversity Targets
Strategic Goal A Strategic Goal B Strategic Goal C Strategic Goal D Strategic Goal E
Global Land Cover - Biodiversity
Example 2: Energy planning GEO Energy Task led by Austria, EC, France, Germany,
Italy, Netherlands, Pakistan, USA, CEOS, IRENA
• Global Solar and Wind Atlas
• Next steps (by 2015):
– More energy resources: Geothermal, Bioenergy, Hydropower
– More integrated tools for decision makers
Global Land Cover- Energy
Energy potentials as computed with the G4M model.
• Biomass, Hydropower
Indicators for the assessment of the best locations for a solar power plant.
• Decision making
Why to collaborate
International Level (Political Visibility): – GEO (90 Country Members)
– Parties of Rio Conventions • UN CBD, MoU in 2008,
• UNFCCC (and IPCC) and
• UN CCD (GEO PO)
– G20 (Ministers of Agriculture)
– IRENA (160 Country Members)
Why to collaborate
Regional/National level: • Capacity building activities
• Datasets
Scientific and Technical level:
• Global protocols and methods e.g. on validation
• Validation – GEO Wiki
– GEO communities e.g. GWOS
How to collaborate
• Through the Societal Benefit Implementation board
• Participation at the task team of the other tasks
• Joint workshops (thematic or regional)
When/Where
• 1st GEO Global Land Cover meeting, Wageningen University, April 18th
• 3rd International Workshop on High Resolution Global Land Cover Mapping (co-organised by GEO and ISPRS), Beijing, April 28-29
• GEO Work Plan Symposium, Geneva, June 4-6
– Overview of GEO activities
– Develop recommendation for the 2014 Work Plan update
– Strengthen synergies across Tasks and accelerate GEOSS implementation
– Collectively address issues and gaps
etc
Upcoming opportunities for GEO inter- and intra-collaborations and demonstrations
When/Where
• GEO Plenary/Ministerial, 17 January 2014, Geneva, CH
– Showcases
List of selection criteria (tentative)
• Be seen from the user perspective
• Demonstrate substantial achievements
• Demonstrate strong potential for increased
benefits post 2015
• Have a wide geographical scope (regional/global)
• Highlight connection with UN where possible
Please consider that this list is tentative. The final list will be communicated soon by the
GEO Ministerial Working Group