Workshop Upcoming in Germany on ‘Supporting Science for the Millennium Development Goals and Beyond’

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Image of GEOSS logoBe a part of the next step toward reaching the Millennium Development Goals during the 2nd GEOSS Science and Technology Stakeholder Workshop in August.
Beginning Aug. 28, The Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) Science and Technology Stakeholders will gather at the University of Bonn, Germany, for the four-day workshop called “GEOSS: Supporting Science for the Millennium Development Goals and Beyond.”
The United Nation’s eight Millennium Development Goals, which have a target date of 2015, aim to find solutions to a range of societal issues, from extreme poverty to the loss of environmental resources.
According to the UN, Millennium Development Goals form a blueprint agreed to by the world’s countries and leading development institutions, and they have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of poor. While significant progress has been made, there are concerns the goals will not be reached without more support.
Attendees of the GEOSS workshop will review the science questions and research topics that need to be addressed in order to support progress toward the Millennium Development Goals, as well as toward meeting the grand challenges, even after the current target date for those goals.
The ultimate goal of the workshop, organized by the GEOSS Science and Technology Stakeholder Network and the Group on Earth Observations, is to identify services needed by research communities in order to link them closer to GEOSS, and to get their input for the development of GEOSS after 2015. In most cases, Earth observation can play a central role in enabling the required research.
“The workshop will bring together representatives of many international science organizations as well as intergovernmental groups and agencies to identify actions that would improve science support for the Millennium Development Goals,” said Hans-Peter Plag, one of the co-chairs of the GEOSS Science and Technology Stakeholder Network.
Michael Nyenhuis, also a network co-chair added, “The workshop is intended as a platform for an open dialogue between the Global Environmental Change (GEC) and Earth observation communities about observation data needs to be leveraged by projects such as the Future Earth Initiative, a new 10-year initiative on research for global sustainability.”
All GEOSS Science and Technology Stakeholders are invited to participate, but space is limited to 170 attendees. Registration is free and must be completed by Aug. 1.
Abstracts for poster presentations should be submitted using the abstract submission form by July 15.
For more information, visit the workshop website at http://www.geo-tasks.org/workshops/2012_Bonn/.