1. © GEO Secretariat GEO Secretariat Update Capacity Building Committee Meeting 14-15 September 2006 Brussels Datong Zhao & Imraan Saloojee GEO Secretariat

2. © GEO Secretariat Contents GEO Current Status and the Secretariat Recent Meetings Work Plan: Status and Secretariat Activities Overview Future Events

3. © GEO Secretariat Current Status GEO: What is different about GEO? - Added Value - Global - Cross-cutting - High-level & Political –65 Nations –European Commission –43 Participating Organizations Secretariat –All seconded experts have now joined the secretariat.

4. © GEO Secretariat Secretariat Director José Achache Secretariat Director José Achache Administrative Assistant Chloé Tiberghien (Acting) Programme Manager Natasha Brutsch Programme Manager Natasha Brutsch Executive Officer Peter Colohan Executive Officer Peter Colohan Secretary / Clerk Lourdes Briones Secretary / Clerk Lourdes Briones Contractor Hermen Westerbeeke Eleni Christia Contractor Hermen Westerbeeke Eleni Christia Senior Programme Officers Antti Herlevi Osamu Ochiai Michael Rast Giovanni Rum Senior Programme Officers Antti Herlevi Osamu Ochiai Michael Rast Giovanni Rum Senior Scientific Experts Brendan Kelly AlexiaMassacand Douglas Muchoney Imraan Saloojee Datong Zhao Senior Scientific Experts Brendan Kelly AlexiaMassacand Douglas Muchoney Imraan Saloojee Datong Zhao Secretariat Organigram

5. © GEO Secretariat 1) Societal Benefit Areas: Disasters Giovanni Rum Health Brendan Kelly Energy Alexia Massacand Water Antti Herlevi Climate Alexia Massacand Weather Datong Zhao Agriculture Michael Rast Biodiversity Douglas Muchoney Ecosystems Douglas Muchoney 2) Transverse areas: Architecture Osamu Ochiai Data Michael Rast Capacity Building Imraan Saloojee Outreach Peter Colohan Users Brendan Kelly 3) Committees and Working Group: Architecture and Data Osamu Ochiai and Michael Rast Science and Technology Alexia Massacand and Douglas Muchoney User Interface Antti Herlevi and Brendan Kelly Capacity Building Imraan Saloojee and Datong Zhao Tsunami Giovanni Rum 4) CEOS SIT liaison Giovanni Rum and Osamu Ochiai 5) GEO Net Cast Support Datong Zhao and Giovanni Rum Distribution of responsibilities

6. © GEO Secretariat Recent Meetings Recent GEO meetings –ExCom-5th April 11, 2006Geneva, WMO Final Acceptance of the 2006 WP –ExCom-6th Sep 5-6, 2006Geneva, WMO 06 WP Progress 07-09 WP Comments and Discussion Amendments Concerning ExCom Terms GEO-III Plenary Preparation –Architecture and Data CommitteeJuly 20-22, 2006Seattle, USA –Committee Co-chairs Aug 31, 2006Geneva, WMO GEO WP Implementation Guidance 07-09 WP Cross-Committee Dialogue –User Interface CommitteeSep 4-5, 2006Ottawa, Canada –Capacity Building CommitteeSep 14-15, 2006Brussels, Belgium

7. © GEO Secretariat GEO related meetings and workshops (examples) Meeting/WorkshopDatePlace EC GEONETCast workshopMay 3 2006Brussels, Belgium IEEE GEOSS Workshop (Applications of Wind Energy and Resource management) May 22-23 2006Beijing, China Symposium on Multi-Hazard Warning Systems for Integrated Disaster Risk Management May 23-24 2006Geneva, Switzerland GEO Capacity Building Workshop May 29-31 2006Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil GEO SE Asia Geohazards WorkshopJune 29-30 2006Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia GEONETCast First MeetingJuly 19, 2006Seattle, USA IGDDS WorkshopAug 31, 2006Geneva GEO Energy Expert MeetingAug 28-29, 2006Geneva Recent Meetings

8. © GEO Secretariat All seconded experts to the Secretariat have arrived Currently Secretariat focussed on initiating, supporting and facilitating the 2006 Work Plan tasks implementation, and preparation of 2007-2009 Work Plan. 2006 WP: Q1 and Q2 Report 2007-2009 WP: Draft Version for Technical Review Draft Version for Official Review Increased contacts to further the build-up of partnerships and engagement with all potential GEOSS stakeholders. WP: Secretariat Activities

9. © GEO Secretariat Strategic and tactical guidance on how to converge disparate systems to a higher degree of interoperability under GEOSS, and contribute data to the clearinghouse. Interoperability and Access Solving the Tower of Babel problem Define a model prototype system for access to all Earth observation data Earth Observation Web Portal and Clearinghouse 2006 Highlights

10. © GEO Secretariat 2006 Highlights: Access and Efficient Use GEO-II adopted the GEONETCast concept in principle, as presented by EUMETSAT and NOAA The vision is to provide easy access to as much data and as many people as possible GEONETCast is designed to disseminate space-based, air-borne and in situ data, metadata and products to diverse users WMO WIS Contributors EUMETCast CMA, Others Coverage Areas (Proposed) GEONETCast 2006 Highlights NOAA

11. © GEO Secretariat Typical Receiver Station Configuration - Dedicated personal computer (~ $1000) Data analysis and processing should be done on separate computer(s) - Satellite antenna dish (1-3 m) (~ $300-1200) - DTH receiver card or box (~ $200) 2006 Highlights

12. © GEO Secretariat 06 WP with 91 specific tasks has broad goals of 9 societal benefit areas. GEO II decided to develop work plan on a multi-year time scale in future First draft of 07-09 WP issued on 2 June for technical review with emphasis on convergence and cross-disciplinary activities within and among tasks Priority or Longer-Term Objectives

13. © GEO Secretariat Future Events 006 Work Plan and Task Reporting Calendar to GEO-III 23 September Task Sheets updates to the Secretariat 30 September Secretariat issues Q3 Report 13 October Committee Report to Plenary to the Secretariat 16 October Secretariat issues Plenary documents Future GEO Meetings –Science and Technology Committee Nov. 27, 2006Geneva –Executive Committee Nov. 27, 2006Bonn, Germany –GEO-III Nov. 28, 29 2006Bonn, Germany –CB Symposium Feb, 2007 Spain –GEO-IV and EO Ministerial Summit Nov 2007