GEO engagement priorities commercial sector engagement resource mobilization

GEO engagement priorities, commercial sector engagement, resource mobilization GEO 1 st Mid-term Evaluation Meeting Agenda Item 1. 3 Geneva, Switzerland 11 February 2020

Engagement Priorities GEO has three engagement priority areas that serve as policy references for the Work Programme activities: • UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development • Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction • Paris Agreement on climate change And a fourth one under consideration: • New Urban Agenda

Engagement Priorities Concept of ‘engagement priorities’ has evolved over time within GEO: • Engagement Strategy first presented at Ex. Com in 2016, as annex to the GEO Strategic Plan 2016 -2025 and endorsed at Plenary in St Petersburg (2016); proposal was to consider 5 priority areas, decision to focus on the first 3 where level of engagement was higher • Engagement Strategy Implementation Plan 2017 -2019, developed by dedicated subgroup and endorsed by Ex. Com in 2017, focuses on 3 selected priorities (2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; Climate Change – Greenhouse Gas Monitoring; and Disaster Risk Reduction) • Engagement Plan 2020 requested by Ex. Com and currently under development: goal is to obtain wide exposure, reach and visibility across different disciplines and partners

Engagement Priorities Achievements: • Changes in structure of GEO Plenary to reflect 3 engagement priorities in side events and dedicated Plenary talks with a set of outcomes gradually since GEO-XII Plenary in Mexico (2015), which strengthened the understanding of value of EO in support to these 3 global issues within the GEO community and supporting international and national policy decisions • GEO is a longstanding observer of UN-GGIM and processes linked to the SDGs, also obtained observer status to IPCC in 2019 and ongoing process with UNFCCC • Use of EO language in documents, for example, relating to the Sendai Framework – this includes the Data Readiness Review in 2018 and the Global Assessment Report (GAR) on Disaster Risk Reduction in 2019 • Special sessions at Programme Board meetings dedicated to New Urban Agenda with UN-Habitat in 2019 and Sendai Framework with UNDRR in 2020 • Engagement with the main international agreements/conventions, participation in international policy-related and technical meetings • Ongoing assessment of WP activities to align with and support 3 engagement priorities, e. g. GEOGLAM working on SDG 2 and reviewing links to Paris Agreement and Sendai Framework

Commercial Sector engagement • • • Mexico City Plenary (2015) and the Mexico City Ministerial Declaration stated that GEO should engage more broadly with stakeholders, including the private sector Commercial Sector engagement concept, developed by dedicated subgroup and endorsed by Ex. Com in 2017, in the context of the Engagement Strategy and its Implementation Plan 2017 -2019 Modes of engagement: publishing Calls for Opportunities to contribute to GEOSS, reviewing existing engagement, establishing conditions for collaboration, targeting outreach and communication, involvement in GEO Plenaries Associate category first discussed in Plenary in Iguaçu Falls Brazil (2012) and approved by Plenary in Kyoto (2018) for commercial sector organisations, as well as nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) There are scores of commercial sector organisations supporting the GEO Work Programme, e. g. Esri and GEOGLOWS GEO is regularly invited to join industry events, such as Euroconsult and EARSC annual meetings, as well as Maxar’s ENGAGE event and Esri user conference

Commercial Sector engagement Achievements: • • • 10 GEO Associates including commercial sector firms active across the GEO WP A review of the Private Sector Network (PSN) of the UN-GGIM was carried out, but it was not found to be particularly useful since it was not well established or working well Production of a series of 10 documentary videos on EOs by Blu. Orange, in partnership with the Secretariat and financially supported by commercial sector participants Launch of 2 open calls with commercial sector partners: • GEO-AMAZON WEB SERVICES – EARTH OBSERVATION CLOUD CREDITS PROGRAMME (closed in 2019): GEO and AWS have awarded USD 1. 5 M in grants, cloud services and technical support for projects in developing countries to use EO to support sustainable environmental development based on GEO priorities. 21 projects announced in 17 developing countries. • GEO – GOOGLE EARTH ENGINE PROGRAMME (closes March 2020): offer of 25 licenses valued USD 3 M for the sustained use of GEE for projects using EO data to address global challenges related to climate change, sustainable development, DRR and others. Companies have joined national delegations to GEO Plenaries for many years, however there was a dedicated Industry Track for the first time in November 2019 at the GEO Week in Canberra, Australia

Resource mobilization • • • Engagement Plan 2020 is subject to limited resources in GEO Secretariat – climate coordinator (in post since Sep 2019), disasters coordinator (vacant from April 2020), SDG coordinator (vacant since 2018) Members, POs and Regional GEOs are invited to lead activities and obtain support from GEO Secretariat In 2019, it was agreed that more focus should be given to supporting resource mobilization efforts of the GEO Work Programme to help raise ambitions and supporting global initiatives in line with the mandate of GEO e. g. GEOGLAM and GEOGLOWS NOAA has provided a staff member to support resource mobilization remotely, efforts are underway to develop a resource mobilization plan for 2020 to build the foundations USD 18 M was raised for Digital Earth Africa in 2019 from DFAT Australia and the Helmsley Charitable Trust, USA. DFID, UK expected to contribute another USD 18 M over the next 5 years. Resource mobilization also refers to the GEO Trust Fund: filling posts at the GEO Secretariat has proved difficult with secondments, so funding has to be found to ensure full-time posts for coordinators for the engagement priorities; discussions underway with the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, France, UK and others on this front.