2nd GEOSS Science and Technology Stakeholder Workshop GEOSS: Supporting Science for the Millennium Development Goals and Beyond Bonn, Germany, August 28—31, 2012

Session P8: Towards an action plan

Conveners: Paola Campus, Jay Pearlman

The session will present and further develop a draft action plan based on the discussions during the previous plenary and breakout sessions. Taking into account the recommendations and possible actions for the Post-2015 period discussed in Plenary Session P7, the action plan will identify steps leading to a better alignment of the GEO Strategic Targets and the development of GEOSS to the Earth observation needs of global sustainability research supporting the Millennium Development goals and addressing the Grand Challenges identified by the Belmont Forum. The action plan will also provide a basis for the input to the Post-2015 GEOSS Working Group to be developed in Session P9.

Contributors to this Session should identify top-priority scientific and societal needs for the next three years (2012-2015) which are currently not sufficiently supported by GEOSS and indicate the stakeholders (e.g. Scientific groups, Policy Makers, International Organizations) who should be involved in the development and implementation of specific elements of the "near-term" Action Plan. Feasible ways to generate collaborations among the stakeholders (use of existing international agreements, Memorandum of Understanding, Bilateral Agreements, Consortia) should be considered along with existing difficulties in streamlining such processes.