Australia Country Report
On behalf of the Australian Earth observation

information, with a significant 93% of them

Country Report to the 2024 16 AOGEO

observation data.

community, it is a pleasure to provide ourthSymposium this year in Tokyo, Japan. As ahaving a moderate to high reliance on Earth
We would like to highlight the support

member of this regional community, Australia

Australia has provided to our international“Creating Earth Intelligence with the Asia
Oceania Society”. Australia would also like toadoption and uptake of open-source Openis excited about this year’s Symposium theme

extend our thanks to the host of this event,Japan, Ministry of Education Culture, Sport,
Science and Technology.

This report from Australia will briefly

highlight some important and exciting

developments over the past year that arebuilding our capacity, strengthening andincreasing connections amongst the various
sectors in the Earth observation community,

both within Australia and across the broader
Asia-Oceania Region.

Earth observation information is vital formonitoring and evaluating progress as we

Earth observation community through theData Cube, underpinned by Analysis ReadyData. Australia has played a pivotal role inglobal Earth observation initiatives such as
the Group on Earth Observation Land

Degradation Neutrality Flagship, Group on
Earth Observation AquaWatch andestablished strong partnerships with theAquaWatch Australia program. We

demonstrate our commitment to the

Sustainable Development Goals, throughparticipation in the international Committee
on Earth Observation Satellites and theGroup on Earth Observation.

Additionally, our involvement in the Early

take steps towards building a more

Warnings for All initiative, a groundbreaking

is large and diverse, and we face manyprotected from hazardous weather, water, or

sustainable planet. The Asia-Oceania region

shared challenges. Our close proximity means
we are uniquely positioned to assist eachother with Earth observation requirements.
A recent global World Economic Forum

report on the immense potential of Earthdata in emerging economies shows that theeffort to ensure that everyone on Earth isclimate events through life-saving early

warning systems by the end of 2027, is crucial
for building a climate-resistant future. These
programmes are crucial to achieving global
impacts on action to climate change.

Open data sharing is a Group on Earth

Asia-Pacific region could reach a potential

Observation founding objective and remains

delivering direct climate benefits.

Oceania region. Programs like Digital Earthvalue of $315 billion from 2023 to 2030,

Additionally, a recent Australian analysis of

the risks to the supply of Earth observation
data highlighted that 171 Australian

government initiatives depend on thisa key focus for Australia within our Asia-

Australia consistently promote open data andopen access to geospatial information,
enabling innovative solutions forenvironmental management and sustainable

Australia Country Reportdevelopment. The Copernicus Australasia

share the latest advances and applications in

to Sentinel satellite data, empowering users

active role in participating in the annual Asia-

Hub provides free, open, and reliable access

Earth observation. Australia also plays an

across Australasia, Southeast Asia, and thePacific Regional Space Agency Forum (hostedinformed decision-making and has signed aallows us to participate in collaborative

Pacific to harness Earth observation for

new agreement that will ensure continuity forat least the next three years. Australia hasformally joined the Landsat 2030

International Partnership Initiative which willin Perth, Western Australia this year) andresearch and build international partnerships
with space agencies from other countries toenhance cooperation and innovation.

Over the past four years, the GEO Pacificenhance the Indo-Pacific capabilities toIsland Advisory Group has been a forum forproduction, improve urban infrastructure

and learnings, and has helped to strengthen

optimise food security and agriculturalplanning, and prepare for disasters. AOGEO
must continue to add value to support
collaboration, especially in terms ofpromoting open data partnerships and user
to user links of Earth Intelligence.

AOGEO has an important role to play inengaging national and intergovernmental

agencies, users and potential users of Earthobservation, identifying regional needs thatmight benefit from Earth observation

applications and promoting communicationand collaboration. As we support theimplementation of GEO's Post-2025 Strategy,

it is important that the promotion of equity
remains central to our engagements andcollaboration. The Advancing Earth

Observation Forum (AEO 2024 Forum) andthe Earth Observation Australia Awards areusers to share their knowledge, experience
relationships across our wide and varied

region. Australia looks forward to continuing
to engage with the Pacific community,including through the Digital Earth Pacificprogram, and calls for continued support ofAOGEO members to Pacific Islands Countries
and Territories (PICTs) to help find and co-design Earth observation informed solutions
to the significant and increasing challenges

they face from climate change. The PICTs areamongst the most vulnerable to ourchanging climate and would highly benefit

from Earth observation derived informationthat can make a significant impact to mitigate
these issues.

In summary we are looking forward to agreat symposium on “Creating EarthIntelligence with the Asia Oceania Society”.

testament to the vibrant Earth observation

We hope that our Australian experiences insignificant contributions and innovations inpartnerships and networks of users in Earthcommunity in Australia, celebrating

the field. The AEO 2024 Forum will bring
together participants from academia,

government, and industry with end-users tomulti-sector collaboration, open data

observation can contribute to the Symposium
goals of creating earth intelligence with theAsia-Oceania society.