With the theme ‘Global Action for Local Impact’, the GEO Virtual Symposium 2022 will explore how the portfolio of GEO products and services can provide insights and evidence for policy development and decision making, which is expected to lead to local impact over time. 

The symposium will foster dialogue among local stakeholders, GEO Work Programme (GWP) activities and other partners to discuss transversal environmental and societal issues, and to identify potential integrative EO-based solutions in selected regions. This approach is intended to strengthen synergies among GWP activities and enhance their capabilities of supporting decisions in a real-world scenario.

The event will also:

•Share good practice and lessons learned in areas such as user engagement, capacity development, equality, diversity and inclusion, open data and open knowledge, and designing for impact;

•Discuss the findings of the Foundational Task Working Groups surveys of GWP activities and their role in building linkages with the United Nations and other international organizations and supporting GEO’s engagement priorities; and

•Consult the GWP community regarding the work of the Expert Advisory Group on the concept of GEOSS while understanding the current state and future efforts relating to Earth observation capabilities.

All discussion at the symposium will be fed into the development of the 2023-2025 GEO Work Programme.

For more information about the symposium, please visit: https://www.earthobservations.org/symposium2022