High-flying plans in Graz

Environmental monitoring to be improved by combining ground and space data

The work to improve European environmental monitoring took another step forward with a symposium on Global Monitoring for Environment and Security, GMES, held in Graz in Austria this week. GMES is an EU-led project aiming to combine ground- and satellite-data in order to give a better picture of what is happening to the environment.

The symposium was organised by the Austrian presidency and brought together experts and policy-makers from EU bodies and institutions, member countries and the European Space Agency - ESA. The purpose was to discuss future applications of the services as well as the involvement of the regions, time frame, funding and governance.

At a press conference after this symposium, EEA's Executive Director, Prof. Jacqueline McGlade highlighted the need to engage users of GMES by delivering key services to them at an early stage. She held out ESA's early investment in providing environmental information as valuable in this respect. 'Fast track services and the partnership between ESA, the European Commission and European Environment Agency and the services on land, in particular, will provide information about the way Europeans live and use the land around them', Jacqueline McGlade said.

More information can be found at www.esa.int