Government representatives from more than 100 countries, business leaders, and non-profit organizations will gather from 4 to 9 November in Canberra, Australia for the annual Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Week.

GFOI is organizing a side event titled “The Global Forest Observations Initiative: Where supply meets demand” on 5 November from 15:15 to 17:15 in the Menzies room. During this session, participants will be given an overview of the Initiative, its key achievements and plans for the future including a systematic approach to identifying developing country needs.

GEO Week will highlight the wealth of opportunities that Earth Observations offer to environmental, development and economic decision-making. See more details in the side events’ page.

GEO is a partnership of 105 national governments and more than 100 organizations. It constitutes a unique network which envisions a future where decisions and actions are informed by coordinated, comprehensive and sustained Earth observations to benefit humankind. GEO’s work is based on the Mexico City Ministerial Declaration, November 2015: “full and open access to Earth observation data, information and knowledge is crucial for humanity as it faces unprecedented social, economic and environmental challenges”.

GFOI is a foundational GEO Flagship and recently submitted its work programme until 2022. GFOI advocates free and open data access as well as more coordination to increase the impact of international support in the field of forest monitoring.

Read more here.