In addition to the WOC, this month GEO also accepted other new partner organisations, including: World Health Organisation (WHO), Association of Geospatial Industries (AGI), Global Flood Partnership (GFP), African Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology Education-English (ARCSSTEE), Arab States Research and Education Network (ASREN), and Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS).

GEO Secretariat Director, Dr. Barbara Ryan, stated, “GEO is committed in its support to the use of Earth observations to improve decision making for protection and management of our oceans. GEO is embarking on its second decade (through 2025), and we welcome the participation of WOC as a key partner for both addressing ocean challenges and engaging the private sector as we move forward.”

The WOC “Smart Ocean-Smart Industries” program is working to increase and improve the use of ocean industry vessels, platforms and facilities to collect ocean and climate data.

The WOC Sustainable Ocean Summit (SOS) 2016 (Rotterdam, 30 Nov-2 Dec) include a major focus on “Smart Ocean-Smart Industries: Industry Data Collection to Improve Ocean and Climate Knowledge”.

GEO is a partnership of governments and organisations that envisions “a future wherein decisions and actions for the benefit of humankind are informed by coordinated, comprehensive and sustained Earth observations”.

The GEO community is creating a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) that will link Earth observation resources world-wide across multiple Societal Benefit Areas, including – Biodiversity and Ecosystem Sustainability, Disaster Resilience, Energy and Mineral Resources Management, Food Security, Infrastructure & Transportation Management – and make those resources available for informed decision-making.