German contribution to the Group on Earth Observations and the establishment of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems

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Capacity Building

GEOSS the initiative contributes development targets to the fulfilment of the goals of the World Summit of sustainable Development 2002 and the Millennium Development Goals. An important aspect is the support of developing countries. GEOSS advocates sustainable support and share of developing countries for the implementation of the ten year plan.

The EU and EUMETSAT, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites have, for example, helped to create new capacities for operational use of meteorological Earth observation data in Africa through their Projekt PUMA (Preparation for the Use of Meteosat Second Generation in Africa, 2001-05). 53 countries and 5 regional centers in Africa have been supported with infrastructure und training activities.

"African Monitoring of the Environment for Sustainable Development" (AMESD) is a follow-on project for PUMA (2007-11). It extends the topics covered in PUMA and includes applications of environmental and climate monitoring. AMESD also establishes a link to Copernicus and its Africa-related activities.