by harmonising data, standardising monitoring methods, leveraging technology, and harnessing the power of a global community, the Integrated Marine Debris Observing System (IMDOS) aims to support and strengthen marine debris research and inform action to this growing global concern.
To tackle the growing problem of Sargassum, GEO Blue Planet’s Sargassum Information Hub is bringing Sargassum-impacted communities together to share data, research, and knowledge, and ultimately find workable solutions to the challenges posed by the proliferation of Sargassum mats.
Large influxes of Sargassum on beaches and in coastal areas in the tropical Atlantic Ocean are increasingly harming marine ecosystems, disrupting coastal activities and impacting local communities. The EU4OceanObs case study presents how the Earth observation value chain can help understand the Sargassum basin-wide spread, its impacts and inform mitigation and adaptation strategies.
Themed Local Action in Support of Global Traction, the 5th Symposium was specifically geared towards improving GEO Blue Planet’s engagement with African nations in an effort to expand the Earth observation community of practice, strengthen local capacity and provide access to resources, tools and services related to the use of ocean and coastal observations for societal benefit.
The first Ocean Partnership Forum between Canada and the European Union was from 3 to 4 October 2022. Bringing together high-level representatives and managers of ocean observing and data organisations, the meeting served to strengthen cooperation on areas of mutual interest and benefit on the theme of ocean observation and data sharing.
An official UN Ocean Conference 2022 side event, the event focused on marine litter observation, remote sensing and modelling as key pillars for supporting the establishment of realistic plastic litter reduction targets and developing policies to reach these targets.
Published in November 2021, this document provides an overview of the governance and operations procedures of GEO Blue Planet and serves as an addendum to the GEO Blue Planet Implementation Plan.
The annual flagship event of the Group on Earth Observations (#GEOWeek2021) took place virtually from 22 to 26 November 2021. This year's edition is one of the most important with major milestones linked to global policy agendas. Ocean related sessions discussed how GEO's activities can support national efforts to develop ocean-conscious climate action as well as strengthen cooperation to address marine hazards in Africa.
An official satellite activity of the UN Ocean Decade Lab "A clean ocean", the event attracted more than 200 partipants from 46 countries. Experts from different sectors and fields came together to share their knowledge and discuss the growing threat and multidimensional problem of marine debris to marine ecosystems, and ocean and coastal users.
This event will review the role Earth Observations play in monitoring, preparing for, and recovering from, marine hazards and what GEO can do to inform priorities and identify opportunities for future collaboration across GEO activities and regional GEOs working on this thematic.
The second phase of the EU4OceanObs project (2023 – 2027) is funded under the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme through a contribution agreement between the European Research Executive Agency and Mercator Ocean International. The initial project (2021 to 2023) was funded through the Partnership Instrument managed by the European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments and implemented by Mercator Ocean International.
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