GEO Strategic Plan 2016-2025:Implementing GEOSS

Jörn HoffmannGEO Implementation Plan Working Group November 11th, 2015, Ciudad de México

“Renew the mandate of GEO through 2025…”

“Establish a process to facilitate a seamless transition for GEO through 2025, and request that a new Implementation Plan through 2025 be prepared for endorsement at the next GEO Ministerial Summit”

Geneva Declaration, January 2014

GEO Summit 2014

The Geneva Declaration (2014)

• Reconfirms GEO’s guiding principles

• Resolves to improve the effectiveness of GEO’s actions

• Welcomes additional participants, particularly UN

• Resolves to engage with development banks,

foundations, and the private sector

• Resolves to develop a specific and strengthened

framework for sustained resource commitments

GEO Summit 2014: Guidance• Renew GEO and implementation of GEOSS until 2025

• Coordinate EO strategies, collaborate with existing initiatives

• Promote access, strengthen networks, identify needs

• Foster global initiatives

• Review Societal Benefit Areas

• Promote and implement Data Sharing Principles

• Governance: Maintain intergovernmental nature and explore stronger role of Participating Organizations and GEOSEC

• Renew effort to engage with private sector

• Strengthen framework for steady resource committments

• Prepare a draft Implementation Plan and Reference Document

• Call upon theGEO Community

• Report to ExCom, GEO-XI and GEO-XII Plenaries

Islam Abou El-MagdBob ScholesMahamadou S. KeitaTsehai WoldaiNoureddine Filali Boubrahmi

IPWG MandateDanielle LacasseYana GevorgyanOscar RodasLuciano Pezzi Julio Castillo

Toshio KoikeStuart Anthony MinchinGu XingfaHiroyuki MuraokaZhou Xiang

Victor SapritskyLyudmila ShardakovaMr. Sukhrob OlimovZoya AndreevaAndrey Emeliyanov

Jörn HoffmannAlan EdwardsTim HaighJosé Maria Marcos EspinosaEleni Christia

Process and Milestones Timeline

April 2014IPWG

convened

June 2014Report to ExCom

November 2014 Report to Plenary

March 2015Report to

Excom

May 2015 GEO Work Plan

Symposium

September 2015 Report to

Excom

July 2015 Report to ExCom

February 2015 UN Workshop

December 2014Private Sector at World Bank

February 2015 Commercial

sector at ESRI World Conference

May 2015Asian community

at Tokyo Symposium

May 2015 Applied

Community at ISRSE Conference

November 2015 Report to

Plenary

A new Strategic Plan: Why

Technologychange

Policy change

Policy Framework• Sustainable Development Goals• Sendai Framework for DRR• Aichi Biodiversity Targets • …

A new Strategic Plan: Why

New activitiesCommunity

Remaining gapsNew Members,

PO

Lessons learned

Lessons learned: What worked well

Valuable meeting place Maintain GEO as flexible framework for cooperation Convening power

Success of global initiatives Build on Initiative model

Valuable impact on Data Sharing

Maintain and strengthen role; extend to data management

SBA useful concept, but room for improved definition

Revise Societal Benefit Areas

Lessons learned: Need for changeRecurrent shortage of resources for GEO activities

Introduce Implementation Mechanisms; improve management through GEO Work Programme

Need to clarify “ownership” of activities

Irregular and uneven follow-up of commitment to GEO activities

Implementation Mechanism give• due visibility and ownership to

contributors• appropriate roles to Members and PO

who (may want to) contribute

Inefficiencies criticized; have led to some frustration and disengagement

Improve management and introduce Implementation Mechanisms

Ineffective link between Governance (Plenary/ExCom) and implementation level

Implement Governance Principles and introduce GEO Programme Board

The two parts of the Strategic Plan

Strategy

• GEO Vision• GEO Mission• Strategic Objectives• Scope

Implementation Plan

• GEOSS evolution• Data Sharing and Data

Management• Engagement• Core Functions• Impl. Mechanisms• GEO Work Programme• Governance• Resources

What stays the same• GEO Vision: to realize a future wherein decisions and actions

for the benefit of humankind are informed by coordinated, comprehensive and sustained Earth observations and information. Group on Earth Observations, 2005

• GEO‘s voluntary and intergovernmental nature

• GEO‘s open community

• GEOSS and GEO‘s principles

What’s new:Strategic Plan provides a framework

• Implementation detail is in GEO Work Programme

• High-level Strategic Objectives:

Advocate to provide maximum value in support of achieving national and international policy objectives

Engage to address global and regional challenges

Deliver to improve decision-making

• Core Functions to scope GEO activities

• Detailed objectives and targets apply to GEO activities

What’s new:Core Functions scope what GEO does

1. Identifying needs and addressing gaps

2. Sustaining foundational observations and data

3. Fostering partnership and mobilize resources

4. Advancing GEOSS, Data Management and Sharing

5. Implementing sustained global and regional services

6. Cultivating awareness, building capacity and promoting innovation

What’s new:Strengthened Societal Benefit Areas

• SBA are „windows“ for different user communites

• Strongly application-oriented

• Used to structure identification of user needs and gap analyses

Societal Benefit Areas

Disaster Resilience

Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture

Water Resources Management

Sustainable Urban Development

Energy and Mineral Resources Management

Public Health Surveillance

Biodiversity andEcosystem Sustainability

Infrastructure and Transportation Management

Climate is cutting across all SBAs

What’s new:Improved effectiveness and efficiency

• Implementation Mechanisms allow to distinguish handling of different „Tasks“

• Programme Board and Work Programme:

• Members and PO agree on implementation priorities

• Alignment of ambition and available resources

• Reports for GEO compiled by GEOSEC

• Limit additional reporting for GEO by implementors

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Implementation Mechanisms

Foundational TasksData Sharing actionsFrequency protection

GEOSS Portal

Community Activities Initiative Flagship

- flexible

- bottom-up

- often small-scale

- Implementation plan

- resourced

- partners commitment

What’s new:More ownership by Members and PO

• Programme Board (16-32 members, 40-60% PO)

• Allow contributing Members and PO to engage in discussions and decisions of GEO‘s implementation

• Implementation mechanisms provide for clear and appropriate roles

• Three Participating Organizations observers in ExCom

• Enlarged ExCom with easier rotation

Going forward

Legal statusExplore options, including independent legal status, to enable GEO participation in other international bodies and undertake financial and contractual transactions

ResourcingExplore mechanisms to achieve greater financial stability.

Role of the private sector- Actively engage private sector in GEOSS- Consider how private sector should best be engaged in decisions

Filling the new structures and mechanisms with life- Careful transition steered by ExCom- Conducting the Programme Board with due diligence- GEOSEC to assume its new implementing roles (see Work Programme)

Summary and conclusions

• IPWG has completed its task to develop an Implementation Plan (and Reference Document).

• The Plan responds to guidance, input and commentary in a balanced way, while aiming to be suffiently consensual.

• The Strategic Plan provides a framework. GEO Members and Participating Organizations need to engage to make it work.

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Thank you!

Guidance: GEO-XI

• Accepted Strategic Objectives and Core Functions – scope of GEO activities

• Agreed to revise SBAs

• Management:

• Implementation Mechanisms supported, but reduce number

• Stronger role for GEOSEC

• Avoid burdensome reporting

• Broadly agreed to Work Programme Concept

Guidance: GEO-XI

• Governance:

• Maintain intergovernmental nature (no PO decision at Plenary & ExCom)

• Supported formal delegation, Plenary oversight and clear mandates provided

• Strengthen role of PO

• PO may be observers in ExCom

• Stronger role in implementation level

• Cautious reaction to indicative scale of contributions

IPWG documents

• GEO Strategic Plan 2016-2025: Implementing GEOSS

• Part A: Strategy• Part B: Implementation

• Reference Document• GEOSS Description• GEOSS Data Management Principles• Core Functions: Monitoring, Evaluation, Expected

Results and Indicators• Implementation Mechanisms• GEO Work Programme Development• GEO Communications and Engagement Strategy

Document MS4

Document 11

Other relevant documents

• Mexico City Draft Declaration

• Updates to Rules of Procedure

• Transition Plan

• 2016 Work Programme

Document MS2

Document 17

Document 12

Document 15