Ghana will host the 18th Annual Meeting of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Week from Monday, 31st October to Friday, 4th November 2022 at the Accra International Conference Centre.
The meeting will highlight how global partnerships are accelerating the use of earth observations to inform better local decisions on issues such as climate adaptation and food and water security.
The Minister for Environment, Science and Technology, Dr Kwaku Afriyie in an address at the Media Launch of the GEO week 2022 in Accra on Friday, noted that the GEO meeting aims to accelerate global collaboration using earth observations as evidence for local impact in Africa and around the world.
He said the meeting was well timed and aligned with Ghana and Africa’s ambitions with reference to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Africa Union’s (AU) Agenda 2063.
“Fundamental to AU Agenda 2063 are the African Outer Space Programme and African Space Policy and Strategy that reinforce the continent’s vision to be a consumer in the global space arena and become a producer and regulator of space products
“Through these initiatives, the AU is working to address the growing needs of African countries to harness space technologies and services, including Earth observations, to drive policies and decisions to attain the agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” he added.
Dr Afriyie urged stakeholders to work together to find innovative solutions to the multiple challenges towards building resilient economies, fast food, and water systems and ensuring the sustainable management of forest resources and biodiversity.
On her part, the Director of the GEO Secretariat, Yana Gevorgyan, said the GEO community has made great strides in responding to environmental and societal challenges by opening up access to data and convening partnerships that provide evidence for better decisions.
She expressed hope that the upcoming meeting in Ghana would provide an avenue for member states to consider new ways of thinking, and partnering, to accelerate global action for local impact.
GEO convenes strategic partnerships to identify and develop the EO tools, services and coordination mechanisms needed to address global needs and knowledge gaps.
Priority areas in the GEO Work Programme include the Sustainable Development Goals, Climate Action, Disaster Risk Reduction, Resilient Cities and Human Settlements, and facilitating access to Earth observations, developing the GEO Knowledge Hub, a digital library.
Richard Aniagyei, ISD
