The 13th AOGEO Symposium Successfully Concluded with the Adoption of an Action-Oriented Statement

News / 26 March 2021

The Thirteenth Asia Oceania Group on Earth Observations (AOGEO) Symposium, which brought together 201 participants from 20 countries in the Asia Oceania region, was successfully concluded. This annual symposium organized by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) with support from the GEO Secretariat, had active discussions throughout the event, starting from a series of sectorial meetings held in late February until the end of the three-day plenary meetings held on 3-5 March 2021. This year’s theme was: “Enhancing the well-being of people in the Asia-Oceania region through Earth observations in the face of COVID-19 impacts - design and implement future steps for Earth observations (EO) to realize global agendas, i.e. international policy linked to the GEO engagement priorities.”

Accordingly, this first virtual AOGEO Symposium featured:

• Plenary sessions highlighting country reports by AOGEO members;
• Sectorial meetings of thematic Task Groups (TGs); and
• Activity reports by the TGs and the Integrated Priority Studies (IPS) from three countries in the AOGEO region.

The event also had dedicated special sessions on the following hot topics of the AO region:

• Special Session 1: Linking Earth Observations with the Statistical Community for SDGs (See summary report and EO4SDG website);
• Special Session 2: Capacity development, data and knowledge sharing in the AO region during and beyond the COVID-19 era; and
• Special Session 3: Pacific Islands Countries and Territories.

The Symposium concluded with adoption of an action-oriented statement, which reaffirmed the importance of utilizing Earth observations and the power of science and technology through its applications in addressing global issues while further promoting the activities of AOGEO during the COVID-19 era.

More details including speaker biographies, presentations and webinar recordings of all sessions are available on the dedicated website of the 13^th AOGEO Symposium.