GEOGLAM Secretariat

Programme Director: Sven Gilliams ( sgilliams@geosec.org )
Crop Monitor Coordination: Inbal Becker Reshef ( ireshef@geoglam.org )
Data Coordination: Alyssa Whitcraft ( akwhitcraft@geoglam.org )

GEOGLAM thanks the following for their support of the GEOGLAM Secretariat: The German Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL); NASAHarvest; Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC); United Kingdom Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA); and the Department of Official Development Assistance (ODA)

GEOGLAM Executive Committee Co-Chairs:

• Bettina Baruth (Bettina.BARUTH@ec.europa.eu) - European Commission, Joint Research Center
• Bingfang Wu (wubf@radi.ac.cn) - Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences
• Chris Justice (cjustice@umd.edu) - University of Maryland, Geographical Sciences
• Jana Plogmann (jana.plogmann@bmel.bund.de) - The German Ministry of Food and Agriculture

GEOGLAM initially evolved out of the GEO Agriculture Community of Practice(Ag-CoP). The community was largely self-organized with informal governance. Participants convened around common interest and best efforts. After the G20 policy mandate was adopted, and operational monitoring activities commenced, the community recognized the need for a somewhat more formal approach to governance. This brought rise to the new governance structure that was implemented in 2018 and is outlined in the figure below:

GEOGLAM has adopted this relatively “light” governance model to maintain administrative efficiency. Nonetheless, so far this approach has been very successful. GEOGLAM governance is split between the following roles:

The GEOGLAM Executive Committee (Ex-Com). The Ex-Com consists of major contributors to the GEOGLAM work program, including the Ex-Com Co-Chairs, leads of thematic teams , regional networks, major contributing initiatives, and the Program Director. The Ex-Com provides operational and strategic advice for the GEOGLAM work program, and through the Director reports on implementation progress.

GEOGLAM Ad Hoc Working Groups and Regional Network Coordination. These are ad hoc working groups that consist of representatives of the projects, tasks and activities (both funded and in-kind) that contribute to achieving the GEOGLAM work program goals and objectives. The working group Co-Chairs provide input to the Executive Committee on project progress towards meeting the program and theme objectives as well as their perspectives on direction, planning, and development of the program. Current thematic teams include Capacity Development, Data Coordination and Essential Agricultural Variables, and regional teams include AsiaRice, Agriculture in the Americas, AfriGLAM and DBAR-Agri.

The GEOGLAM Secretariat. The GEOGLAM Secretariat, administered by the Program Director is the coordinating body of GEOGLAM, composed of individuals who represent formal, direct contributions to GEOGLAM. The primary role of the Secretariat is to support the implementation of the Program. The Secretariat is the formal, outwardly liaising body of GEOGLAM to partner organizations including GEO. The Secretariat provides coordination and support for GEOGLAM initiatives and program reporting (eg. G20, GEO work programme, and GEO Programme Board as required), program outreach, and communications, including development and management of the GEOGLAM web site. The Secretariat facilitates fundraising efforts, and ensures that the financial contributions to GEOGLAM (in-kind, indirect, and direct alike) are coordinated and well managed within the WMO trust fund.

Outside of the Secretariat, Ex-Com and Working Groups, the heart of GEOGLAM is the many projects that contribute to GEOGLAM program outcomes. These projects are generally in-kind contributions from participating nations and institutions. Understanding that the “whole is greater than the sum of the parts”, the primary role of the GEOGLAM governance is the coordination of these contributions to achieve the greater vision for National to Global monitoring in support of food security and agricultural markets.