The Global Observation System for Mercury (GOS4M) Flagship officially kicks off

News / 6 October 2020

In 2019 GEO participated for the first time as an official Observer at the third meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP3) to the Minamata Convention on Mercury. The Minamata Convention on Mercury is the first multilateral environmental agreement that aims to protect both the environment and human health by addressing activities that are likely to increase human exposure to mercury. Earth observation plays a key role in supporting the Minamata Convention by providing comparable monitoring data at a global scale.

The Global Observation System for Mercury (GOS⁴M), a GEO Flagship in the 2020-2022 GEO Work Programme, aims to foster the sharing of monitoring data and modelling outputs, by providing new web services for reporting information and co-designing and developing discovery tools that support policy assessments and decisions. The Flagship also addresses the sustainable development goals, climate action, and disaster risk reduction which are GEO’s engagement priorities.

On October 7-8, GOS⁴M will hold its virtual kick-off workshop officially launching the GOS⁴M Flagship by nominating the Governing Bodies and planning activities for the coming months. The virtual event will be opened by Nicola Pirrone, Research Director of CNR (Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research in Italy) and GOS⁴M lead, Monika Stankiewicz, Executive Secretary of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, and Gilberto Camara, Director of the GEO Secretariat.

You can download the agenda of the kick-off workshop here.

More details can be found on the GOS⁴M website.