Community Event Session 16: Earth Intelligence in Action: Advancing Urban Resilience, Biodiversity & Nature through the Global Heat Resilience Service, Global Ecosystems Atlas, and Partner Initiatives

The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) is leading two transformative initiatives that demonstrate the power of Earth Intelligence to address critical global challenges: the Global Heat Resilience Service (GHRS) and the Global Ecosystems Atlas (The Atlas). These complementary initiatives represent GEO's commitment to delivering actionable intelligence for evidence-based decision-making across urban resilience and ecosystem conservation domains. The timing is critical - by 2050, over 1.3 billion urban residents will face dangerous heat exposure, while 55% of the world's ecosystem types lack comprehensive distribution data. These initiatives directly respond to the UN Secretary General's Call to Action on Extreme Heat and the Global Biodiversity Framework's urgent need for quality ecosystem information.

These initiatives are being further strengthened through iClimateAction, a 3-year project funded by the European Commission's Horizon Europe programme starting March 2025. This project brings together WMO (the World Meteorological Organization), GCOS (the Global Climate Observing System), and GEO to optimize coordination around climate data and Essential Climate Variables (ECVs). GHRS and GEA serve as key demonstrators within iClimateAction, showcasing how improved alignment between these organizations can accelerate the delivery of actionable Earth Intelligence to decision-makers and other stakeholders.

This session brings together partners from both initiatives to showcase progress and future plans through interactive demonstrations and dialogue. Through a combination of technical demonstrations, partner perspectives, and facilitated discussion, participants will gain practical insights into how these initiatives are transforming Earth observation data into actionable intelligence. The session particularly emphasizes the user journey from data to intelligence to actions, highlighting real-world applications in cities and nature-positive and net-zero efforts.

Objectives:

Explore the GEO Community's contribution to urban resilience and nature/biodiversity
Showcase development status and implementation roadmaps of two flagship initiatives, the Global Ecosystem Atlas and the Global Heat Resilience Service
Demonstrate how these initiatives deliver actionable Earth Intelligence
Facilitate dialogue between initiative leaders, partners, and users
Gather feedback to inform future development