The European Commission has continued its efforts to build GEOSS through European programs, such as Horizon 2020 and Copernicus, to ensure more accessible, interoperable and deployable information from Earth and Environmental Observations.

In the context of GEO Week 2020, WeObserve as well as the results of H2020 Citizen Observatories (LandSense, GroundTruth 2.0, GROW, SCENT) feature among the highlights of EU activities aiming to actively support the realisation of the EuroGEO initiative.

More specifically, the WeObserve Communities of Practice on data interoperability and standards, and on the SDGs, have tested interoperability solutions, developed best practices for data standardisation and highlighted, for the first time, the detailed potential of Citizen Science (CS) for SDG monitoring, respectively. CS and Citizen Observatories (COs) complement EO as a potential data source, and they provide in-situ data for validation. WeObserve also supported the formulation of the Lisbon Declaration, a declaration issued by and with the community of Citizen Observatories and Citizen Science practitioners. It provides a roadmap and key recommendations for the integration of Citizen Science communities as well as their activities, outputs and data into GEOSS.

Read the full statement of the European Commission and watch also the respective video! All the various quotes and statements are also available in the event page.