This year's GEO Week (6-10 November) in Cape Town, South Africa, which also hosted the Ministerial Summit on Earth Observation, was successfully concluded in early November.
This year's GEO Week (6-10 November) in Cape Town, South Africa, which also hosted the Ministerial Summit on Earth Observation, was successfully concluded in early November. More photos from the conference can be found here. Stay tuned to GEO website as more material from GEO Week 2023 will be added. You can also read a summary of the conference outcomes here.
The 19th GEO conference marked a turning point as members of the community adopted the post-2025 strategy entitled "Earth intelligence for all". The strategy not only supports GEO's continued leadership in coordinating and facilitating the provision and use of Earth observation, but it also introduces ways to develop products and services jointly with and for users. In the context, during this year's GEO Week and for the first time, the young generation was also involved interactively in the discussions, emphasizing their integral role in the economy and development, thus shaping their own "Youth Declaration".
The last day of GEO Week 2023 was dedicated to the Ministerial Summit during which ministers and other government representatives from around the world reaffirmed GEO's commitment to open and free access and sharing of data and encouraged governments to increase free access to geospatial observation using public resources. On the same day, the Ministerial Declaration was adopted that, among other things, reaffirming GEO's commitment to support international multilateral environmental agreements and establishing the development of an implementation plan to guide progress in implementing the post-2025 strategy and mobilizing resources.
The Greek GEO community was present and particularly active in GEO Week 2023 and the role of the Greek GEO Office (GGO) was also instrumental in developing and highlighting national positions and research achievements, as well as in shaping the overall GEO strategy for the next decade.
Specifically, GGO first gave a strong presence, with its Director Dr. Evangelos Gerasopoulos intervening after the presentations of the new GEO initiatives "Heat and Health" and "Ecosystem Atlas" and stressing the importance of supporting the new proposed "global warming resilience service", with emphasis on cities, where Greece has taken the lead in recent years in highlighting them as one of GEO's priorities. He also participated in a panel discussion on the role of National Geo-Observation Coordination Mechanisms, a new priority to accelerate and maximise the positive impact of the use of Geo-observation by states, cities and citizens. In this session, the Greek model of GGO operation was presented in its effort for national coordination and international contribution to the developments, which was included in the corresponding official document together with countries such as Canada, USA, UK, Japan and South Africa.
Monday, 6 November
Flash talks
Urban-scale indicators based on Earth Observation and in-situ data to support climate adaptation policy objectives at urban scale
Nefta Votsi (NOA/GGO), Session Lead
Workshops and Technical Meetings
The City Talks – HARMONIA solutions & potential synergies in urban domain among GEO Community
Betty Charalampopoulou (Geosystems Hellas SA), Speaker
Nektarios Chrysoulakis (Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas - FORTH), Speaker
Ioannis Kavouras, (ICCS, HARMONIA IRAP), Speaker
Joint GEO Working Groups Workshop
Evangelos Gerasopoulos (NOA/GGO), «Resilient Cities and Human Settlements - RCHS» WG representative
Tuesday, 7 November
Showcase Events
Enhancing public and private sector partnerships for delivering transformative services for Climate Adaptation and Food Security
Betty Charalampopoulou (Geosystems Hellas, EARSC Director), Speaker
Leveraging big Earth data and exploring non-satellite data to enhance assessment on climate induced losses and damages
Orestis Speyer (NOA/GGO), Session Lead, Speaker
National and EU initiatives’ contribution for addressing human and environmental Health and Disaster Crisis
Evangelos Gerasopoulos, Eleni Athanasopoulou (NOA/GGO), Speakers
Haris Kontoes, Alexia Tsouni (NOA/BEYOND), Speakers
Wednesday, 8 November
EU Booth
Enhancing African Agriculture through Earth Observation: Insights from AfriCultuReS, ANIN, and Afri4Cast Projects
Stelios Kotsopoulos (Agroapps PC) Session Leader
Thursday, 9 November
GEO-19 PLENARY
Bridging the Gap: GEO's Coordinated Approach to National and Global Engagements
Evangelos Gerasopoulos (NOA/GGO), speaker and panelist
