Geneva - Hosted by the Russian Federation, led by ROSHYDROMET and ROSCOSMOS, the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) will convene its international Plenary on 9- 
Geneva - Hosted by the Russian Federation, led by ROSHYDROMET and ROSCOSMOS, the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) will convene its international Plenary on 9- 10 November in St. Petersburg.
The entire Earth observation community gathers once a year to assess progress and to plan future work to tackle some of the challenges of how to access space-based or in-situ atmospheric, land and ocean data to make better decisions for a changing, urbanizing and increasingly climate-conscious world.
The Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) Portal has been given a major overhaul, with a new-look interface, easier search functionality and customization options. More than 200 million data resources are now available globally, and there were more than 4 million enquiries to GEOSS in 2016 alone.
GEO’s Crop Monitor, gives a global snapshot of crop conditions and is published every month through GEO’s Global Agricultural Monitoring Initiative (GEOGLAM), with support from many national and regional organizations. 2016 got off to an unfortunate start in Southern Africa with a devastating drought. Countries were able to declare drought conditions in time to trigger measures to support farmers through assessments which rely on Earth observations.
GEO is aggressively supporting global efforts to monitor and achieve all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, (UNECA), a GEO Participating Organization, is working with the African Center for Statistics to identify datasets, including Earth observations, to meet the indicators. This regional effort is important to reinforce country ownership of monitoring and achieving the SDGs.
GEO’s regional programme in the Americas, AmeriGEOSS, has announced important progress for those who struggle with internet access - there are now 50 stations transmitting Earth observation data to people and organizations who have limited internet connectivity from the southern point of Patagonia to the most northern areas of Canada.
The Arctic is among the least observed places on Earth and this year GEO’s Cryosphere Initiative joined an international effort to address the scarcity of data and knowledge about the Arctic. Eight GEO Member countries (Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden, and the United States), as well as indigenous organizations and observer countries came together to discuss specific challenges associated with the relative lack of observations and opportunities for increased international collaboration.
St Petersburg, the GEO-XIII Plenary host city, is home to 5 million people – part of the 3.5 billion people across the globe who live in cities. Urban data produced through GEO have been integral to a new report, the Human Planet Atl