2022 AOGEO Statement
September 28th - 30th, 2022
The 15th Asia-Oceania Group on Earth Observations (AOGEO) Symposium was held
online from 28 to 30 September 2022 with the theme of “New horizons for Earthobservation in Asia Oceania Region: Seeking engagement”. The symposium was hosted
by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology-Japan (MEXT) withsupport from the GEO Secretariat and brought together 142 participants in total and 7
countries presented their reports.
Each thematic Task Group (TG) held sectorial meetings and reported its achievements
and next implementation plans for 2023-2025 at the plenary. While seeking further
engagement with newer stakeholders such as youth, Special Sessions highlighted
regional challenges, opportunities, and actions in session topics such as water-resilienceand biodiversity for sustainable economies. These are key elements of thematic
integration taking place in the development of a post-2025 GEO.
Through the interactive discussion at the plenary, the participants:
1. Highlighted AOGEO’s unique regional role in driving and catalyzing cooperative
actions and decision-making by members to achieve our vision of a world where
decisions and actions are informed by coordinated, comprehensive and sustained
Earth Observations (EO).
2. Welcomed the progress made by TGs and AOGEO community to implement the
AOGEO Implementation Plan for 2020-2022 GEO Work Programme, and ongoingwork towards realizing the vision of AOGEO in the 2023-2025 GEO Work Programme.
3. Welcomed continued efforts to strengthen the engagement with diverse
stakeholders along the EO value chain, through innovative partnerships including
countries, civil society, youth, local communities, private and finance sector. This
will include identifying new opportunities to use EO in key areas such as biodiversity
for sustainable economies, while building on past successes.
4. Recognized that young generations play critical roles in addressing regional andnational challenges and encourages AOGEO to support and catalyze youth
empowerment and engagement in priority areas.

5. Encouraged AOGEO to proactively formulate concrete ideas and topics forstrengthening cross-sectoral and thematic partnerships between local, national, andregional stakeholders, by catalyzing additional financing for key AOGEO initiatives.
6. Provided input in informing the directions for GEO post-2025.
7. Acknowledged efforts by the GEO community for regional capacity development:i.

The 5th AOGEO Workshop, with the theme of Harmony and Empowerment—
Accelerate Action and Development for Local Needs, emphasizing for capacity
development on the use of EO data and knowledge in June 2022 in Beijing, China.
The 2022 AOGEO international training workshop on Earth observations forsustainable development in developing countries focused on Earth observations
for carbon and ecology monitoring in the Himalayan region in July 2022 online.

ii.

TGs fostering “facilitators” who will bridge the science community and society
to support decision-making, policy-making, public investment, and local
practices utilizing EO data and scientific knowledge.

8. Encouraged AOGEO to accelerate its response to the demands from political leaders,e.g. at the 4th Asia-Pacific Water Summit in 2022, to support speedy evidence-based
decision-making of policy-makers in cross-sectoral themes, such as water-resilience.

Achievements and way forward for 2023-2025 GEO Work Programme
9. Welcomed the progress and achievements of TGs, and their concrete
implementation plans for 2023-2025 as presented in detail in the Annex.
i.

Asian Water Cycle Initiative (AWCI) established the Platforms on Water
Resilience and Disasters in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka developed
the OSS-SRs and fostered Facilitators and demonstrated their achievements at
the Showcase special session of the 4th Asia-Pacific Water Summit. AWCI willcontinue to support the Platforms and their cross-sectoral decision making at
local to national levels in order to promote transformation into quality-oriented
societies that are resilient, sustainable, and inclusive.

ii.

Asia-Pacific Biodiversity Observation Network (APBON) has made progress inobservations of biodiversity changes and assessments of the impacts of climatechange and human activities in terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine areas

to address conservation needs. Its strategic plan will be implemented to respondto the growing needs to biodiversity observations.
iii.

Asia-Oceania Greenhouse Gas Initiative (AO-GHG) harmonizes various
observation platforms for GHGs, reduce uncertainties in sources and sinks, andcooperate among relevant institutes/agencies to support reporting GHG
budgets for the Global Stocktake Processes.

iv.

Oceans, Coasts, and Islands (OCI) further develop access to marine coastal data
through interoperability on cloud computing, and also promote better use ofsatellite data products for coastal and open ocean regions, in particular fromoptical remote sensors.

v.

Agriculture and Food Security (Asia-RiCE) formulated a platform for agrometeorological information and rice crop monitoring, and continues to provide
an outlook for rice production using validated multi-source EO data.

vi.

Drought monitoring and evaluation (DME) has been continuously developing
the web-GDMAP (Web-based Global Drought Monitoring and Analysis Platform)
using various EO data, and will realize the operation of web-GDMAP to provide
timely free information and products for drought monitoring, evaluation andmanagement.

vii.

Environmental Monitoring and Protection (EMP) released datasets and reports
focused on sustainable ecosystems, inland water quality, global carbon sourceand sinks; EMP will keep close connection with other related Activities, Initiativefor IPS to support SDGs, Climate Action etc, in 2023-2025.

viii.

Himalayan GEOSS continued its focus on promoting EO applications in the HKH
and regularly engaged in capacity development. Leveraged through SERVIR,
contributions were made to drought, disaster and land cover monitoring. It will
actively build partnerships with global and GEO initiatives to promote data andinformation sharing, and science and knowledge cooperation.

Findings from Special Sessions
Special session 1
10. Acknowledged that EO on multiple platforms including in-situ, satellites andmodeling analysis can provide critical information to respond to the growing

stakeholder needs from biodiversity conservation and ongoing economic initiatives
such as the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD);
Recognized the importance of the information infrastructure and tools which serve
as a platform for bridging between the biodiversity and ecosystem observation
community and users; andEncourages seeking further collaborative actions between the biodiversity andecosystem observation community and service providers to fill biodiversity data,
knowledge, and technical gaps to create the data value chain in the region.
Special session 2
11. Acknowledged that young generations play significant roles in addressing thecomplex challenges facing the region;
Recognized that AOGEO can be a key enabler for engaging and empowering youth inearth observations in the Asia Oceania region;
Encouraged strengthened consideration of youth perspectives and needs in a post2025 GEO; andRecommended that a plan of action for effective youth engagement be designed inclose coordination with existing youth networks so that synergies are leveraged,
which could include the elements contained in Annex II.

Special session 3
12. Welcomed the process of the development of a GEO post-2025 as an excellent
opportunity for AOGEO and its members to engage and share their vision andpriorities;
Reiterated the importance of GEO to harness the potential of technologicalinnovations and to convene and connect EO communities (institutions, academia,
individual scientists, citizens) with governments and other stakeholders to achieve
its vision, and emphasized the continued need for partnership, knowledge sharing,
capacity development, and resources;
Emphasized for GEO to use a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches,
including for capacity development, acknowledging that there rarely the same
solutions work for all;
Encouraged the post-2025 working group to position GEO as a catalyst for innovative
solutions for environmental and societal challenges, as well as a promoter of thepower and potential of EO; andInvited the post-2025 working group to take the comments made during this special

session into consideration in its further deliberations of a GEO post-2025.
Special session 4
13. Highlighted the important and complementary roles that community-led EO
networks are playing in supporting the Pacific Island Countries and Territories with
their geospatial needs;
Announced regional conferences in 2022-2023 that will provide valuable forums forsharing information and building collaboration on EO use and applications; andHighlights potential synergies from working together and encourages collaboration
as a diverse EO community in the Pacific Island Countries and Territories to jointly
address EO regional needs.
Special session 5
14. Acknowledged that AOGEO has developed and continues to develop EO solutions fortransformation into quality-oriented societies that are resilient, sustainable andinclusive to respond to the mandate given by political leaders at the 4th Asia-PacificWater Summit to support EO solution for evidence-based and cross-sectoral decision
making of leaders; andEncourages the AOGEO community to accelerate efforts on identifying concrete
steps and actions.

Annex I

Achievements and way forward for 2023-2025 GEO Work Programme
AOGEO Task Groups
1. TG1 Asian Water Cycle Initiative (AWCI)
Achievements in GEO Work Programme 2020-2022
AWCI contributed to the Platforms on Water Resilience and Disasters in eachmember country by integrating the “Online Synthesis System for Sustainability
and Resilience (OSS-SR)” as a key knowledge base of each Platform and by
fostering “Facilitators” as trustable human resources through effective use of elearning. The achievements in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka wereintroduced at the Showcase special session of the 4th Asia-Pacific Water Summit
and reflected in the Summit Chair’s summary.
Way forward for GEO Work Programme 2023-2025
By enhancing the functions of the OSS-SR and the Facilitators and promoting
water cycle consilience, AWCI will continue to support the Platforms and theircross-sectoral decision making at local to national levels in order to promotetransformation into quality-oriented societies that are resilient, sustainable, andinclusive. AWCI will present its plans, on-going activities, and achievements at
high-level meetings, e.g., the UN Water Conference to be held in New York in
March 2023, and expand its activities to various countries.
2. TG2 Asia-Pacific Biodiversity Observation Network (APBON)
Achievements in GEO Work Programme 2020-2022
APBON has shared knowledge on biodiversity and its services, threats due toclimate change and human activities, and expanded networks regionally andglobally through collaborative projects and webinars even under the constraints
due to COVID-19 pandemic. APBON’s new strategic plan towards 2030 was
developed by regional cooperation which will engage the scientists, relevant
stakeholders, and the next generation to address biodiversity issues.
Way forward for GEO Work Programme 2023-2025
Addressing Nature-based Solutions through delivering scientific knowledge is key
locally and regionally. In-situ and satellite observations of status and changes ofbiodiversity and its services must be progressed to contribute to the Post-2020
Global Biodiversity Framework and to deliver appropriate data and knowledge
for societal and economic actions such as TNFD1. APBON will contribute to society
through comprehensive observations developed through national and regional
collaboration, capacity development and youth engagement.
3. TG3 Asia-Oceania Greenhouse Gas Initiative (AO-GHG)

Achievements in GEO Work Programme 2020-2022
AO-GHG developed a multi-data integration system, harmonizing the increasing
number of platforms, such as remote sensing, in-situ observations, andinventories, to reduce uncertainties in GHG sources and sinks to support theultimate goal of reaching net zero emission required by Paris Agreement. In
particular, GHG observation satellites have been advanced to meet therequirement of accounting GHG budgets. Synthesis of multiple models andmethods were advanced to obtain robust GHG budget estimation.
Way forward for GEO Work Programme 2023-2025
AO-GHG will further develop the multi-data integration system, and harmonize
the increasing number of platforms, such as remote sensing, in-situ observations,and inventories, to reduce uncertainties in the sources and sinks to support theultimate goal of reaching net zero emission required by Paris Agreement. The
system will be advanced to provide yearly and speedy regional GHGs budgets tocontribute the Global Stocktake Process.
4. TG4 Oceans, Coasts, and Islands (OCI)
Achievements in GEO Work Programme 2020-2022
OCI continues further development of the AOGEO ocean data networking system
based on GeoNetwork built on Amazon Web Services (AWS) as the data portal
site. TG4 also started to examine development of scientifically based datasetsfrom satellites for coastal and open ocean regions, focusing on optical sensor
observation for coastal water ocean color monitoring.

1

Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures

Way forward for GEO Work Programme 2023-2025
For the in-situ data portal, OCI will set up the GeoNetwork metadata site in eachindividual site if desired, and identify marine parameters for which we canexchange data inventory. TG4 will develop and expand the network of ocean color
experts for co-working with in-situ groups, then help the collaboration between
ocean color and phytoplankton experts for developing ocean color algorithms.
5. TG5 Agriculture and Food Security (Asia-RiCE)
Achievements in GEO Work Programme 2020-2022
Asia-RiCE developed systems of collection, validation and integration of Earthobservation data for agrometeorological information and rice crop monitoring in
the Asia-Oceania region. To align with the CEOS 2 and APRSAF 3 , Asia-RiCE
strengthened the partnership with national and regional agricultural sectors.
Way forward for GEO Work Programme 2023-2025
Cross-validation, data fusion by machine learning and cloud-based cooperationof Earth observation among various institutes are planned to improve the agrometeorological information and the quality of rice crop monitoring, as well as rice
yield estimation and its forecasting by integrating remote sensing and cropmodels. This will actively involve capacity building activities.
6. TG6 Drought monitoring and evaluation (DME)
Achievements in GEO Work Programme 2020-2022
DME has developed the prototype system of the web-GDMAP (Web-based Global
Drought Monitoring and Analysis Platform) by building data quality control
processes, drought indicators and drought severity alert approach using various
EO data. Particular attention was paid to identification and monitoring of flash
drought, and assessment of drought impact on crop primary production. EO
based products related to water availability and consumption were shared withthe public.

2

Committee on Earth Observation Satellites

3

Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency ForumWay forward for GEO Work Programme 2023-2025
DME will continuously improve the web-GDMAP and realize the web-GDMAP
toward operation for pilot countries or regions, and will continuously dedicate todata sharing of EO products. DME will strengthen cooperation with member
countries and users of the drought monitoring system, and will work more closelywith other AOGEO TGs and IPS, GEO Initiatives and Communities, and otherregional and international programs.
7. TG7 Environmental Monitoring and Protection (EMP)
Achievements in GEO Work Programme 2020-2022
EMP advocated Analysis-Ready Open Data, by integrating multiple EO data to
generate common products for EMP; released four Annual Reports and 41
datasets for ecosystem and environmental monitoring to support the GEOpriorities; and organized more than 10 AOGEO symposium task group sectorial
meetings, GEO Week side events, training and other activities.
Way forward for GEO Work Programme 2023-2025
EMP will promote development of an international cooperation network;
establish an international verification network for Earth observation products;
develop in-depth cooperation between various working groups and links to
Integrated Priority Studies (IPS); strengthen cooperation with GEO4SDG; andsupport data sharing and end-user decision-making.
8. TG9 Himalayan GEOSS
Achievements in GEO Work Programme 2020-2022
Himalayan GEOSS continued its focus on promoting EO applications in the Hindu
Kush Himalaya region. With the formation of AOGEO Regional Centre for Capacity
Development (RCCD) by ICIMOD, AIRCAS and NRSCC, two trainings wereorganized in 2022 on the theme “Earth Observations for Sustainable
Development in Developing Countries” with TG12. With GEO Mountains, an
online workshop on “Inter- and Transdisciplinary Mountain Data Across the HKH:
Identifying User Requirements and Access Preferences” was organized in June

2022. Leveraging from SERVIR-HKH efforts, specific contributions were maderelating to SDG Goal 2 (drought early warning), Goal 13 (climate change anddisasters), and Goal 15 (land cover monitoring).
Way forward for GEO Work Programme 2023-2025
Himalayan GEOSS will continue to work on capacity building through AOGEORCCD. It will actively build partnerships with other GEO initiatives and global
partnerships to address the data gaps on SDG indicators and promote EO
applications in coherence with needs of the regional countries on data and information sharing, and science and knowledge cooperation.

Annex II
Recommended plan of actions for youth engagement-

Provide mentoring programmes for young researchers and practitioners--

Support young applicants apply for funding and small grantUpscale communications and outreach on the value and possibilities for youth in
AOGEO, especially through joint events or blog posts with other active youth
networks in the region
Curate a database of possible youth speaker active in earth observations from the-region so that they can be contacted for public speaking opportunities atinternational conferences
Ensure a link with start-ups and young entrepreneurs that are very active indesigning operational solutions the region