Oceans and Society: Blue Planet

The Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO) led, on behalf of Oceans United, the creation, within the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), of the Task “Oceans and Society: the Blue Planet”. This Task is a component of the 2012-2015 GEO Work Plan, and assembles all the ocean-related work within GEO under a single umbrella.

Click here for more information on the GEO Work Plan.

The Blue Planet Task is a comprehensive initiative with four main components:
• C1 Global Ocean Information Coordination and Access;
• C2 Operational Systems for Monitoring of Marine and Coastal Ecosystems;
• C3 A Global Operational Ocean Forecasting Network;
• C4 Applications of Earth Observations and Information to Sustainable Fishery and Aquaculture Management.

A kick-off Symposium was held at Ilhabela, São Paulo, Brazil, from 19-21 Nov 2012. The symposium took place immediately prior to the GEO-IX Plenary in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil (22-23 Nov 2012). The Symposium highlighted each of the Task components through special sessions on their programme elements. For those already engaged in the Blue Planet Task, the symposium offered an opportunity to become familiar with the full scope of its activities, to help develop synergies and linkages, and to plan future involvement. For those not yet engaged, it was a chance to see where they might fit in to participate in the exciting expansion of GEO into the marine sphere.

Read more about the Blue Planet Symposium.

GEO Plenary Sessions

GEO was founded in 2005 in response to calls for action by the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development and by the Group of Eight leading industrialized countries (G8). These high-level meetings recognized that international collaboration is essential for exploiting the growing potential of Earth observations to support decision making in an increasingly complex and environmentally stressed world.

GEO is a voluntary partnership of governments and international organisations. It provides a framework within which these partners can develop new projects and coordinate their strategies and investments. As of October 2010, its Members included 84 Governments and the European Commission. In addition, 61 intergovernmental, international, and regional organizations with a mandate in Earth observation or related issues have been recognized as Participating Organizations, one of which is POGO.

Plenary Sessions take place at least once a year at the level of senior officials, and periodically at a ministerial level. POGO attended both Ministerial Summits, the first in Cape Town in November 2007,and the second in Beijing in 2010.

The remit of GEO is to build a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), and POGO, GOOS (the Global Ocean Observing System), and other organisations under the umbrella of Oceans United, are striving for the continued development of the Ocean component of GEOSS.

2007 Ministerial Summit, Cape Town

2010 Ministerial Summit, Beijing