GEO community update – April 2026

Welcome to the April 2026 edition of the GEO Community Update. Here, we recap key events, achievements and updates to celebrate our collective progress and partnerships. 

GEO gears up for the 2026 Rio Convention COPs – partner with us!

GEO is preparing to participate in this year’s Rio Convention Conferences of the Parties (COPs), deepening cooperation with our Members. All three COPs – on combating desertification (UNCCD), biodiversity (CBD) and climate change (UNFCCC) – take place in the second half of the year. GEO will work with key partners to champion Earth Intelligence on the global stage.

ℹ Interested in collaborating with us? Contact the GEO Secretariat: secretariat@geosec.org

8th AOGEO Workshop

The 8th AOGEO Workshop took place from 27–29 March in Beijing, held alongside the AOGEO Caucus Meeting and the Zhongguancun Forum on Innovation and Development. This year marked a decade of the workshop, a testament to sustained regional collaboration across Asia-Oceania. The event saw experts from across the region explore ways to advance Earth Intelligence applications under the GEO Post-2025 Strategy. GEO Secretariat Director Yana Gevorgyan attended and delivered the opening address, and also presented at the first Earth Intelligence for All Forum as part of the broader Zhongguancun Forum programme.

The 2026 GEO Symposium and GEO-21 Plenary are just one month away! Registration is now closed and we look forward to welcoming colleagues from across the GEO community to Geneva.

For the latest schedule details, visit the dedicated webpage – your go-to source for all event information, updated regularly. Check back soon for the full programme.

🔗  Find out more.

GEO at Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Weeks 2026

In March, GEO attended Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Weeks (HNPW) in Geneva, co-hosting a session with the Risk-informed Early Action Partnership (REAP) titled "Earth Intelligence for Humanitarian Action: GEO Solutions for Early Warning, Crisis Response, and Community Resilience". The session brought together expert panellists from GEO Work Programme activities and collaborators to explore how Earth observations can reach decision-makers faster and at greater scale.

🔗  Watch the recording.

🔗 Read: Reflections from the GEO-REAP session at Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Weeks

GEO Indigenous Summit 2026

The GEO Indigenous Summit was held in March as Indigenous knowledge holders, Earth observation practitioners and policymakers discussed the integration of Indigenous knowledge systems with Earth Intelligence. The summit was a significant milestone for the GEO Indigenous Alliance and for GEO's commitment to ensuring that Earth observation serves all communities.

World Day for Glaciers

To mark World Day for Glaciers, GEO Youth COP Programme Co-Lead Marta Koch published a new blog exploring how GeoAI and satellite data are transforming cryosphere monitoring in climate-extreme environments.

🔗  Read the blog.

How Africa uses Earth Intelligence to combat disease and improve air quality

The GEO Health Community of Practice and AfriGEO hosted the third annual Special Edition: Focus on AfriGEO webinar, showcasing 23 projects redefining how complex health risks are managed using Earth Intelligence.

🔗  Read about those projects in this two-part series: Part 1 | Part 2

Second GEO Open House Webinar: DRR, Climate and Biodiversity Nexus

The second GEO Work Programme Open House Webinar took place on 24 March, focusing on the nexus of disaster risk reduction, climate and biodiversity. Five GEO activities – GEO-LDN, GEO-TREES, Digital Earth Africa, GEOARC and the GEO Indigenous Alliance – came together to share work, identify synergies and explore opportunities for deeper collaboration.

🔗  Watch the recording and read the recap.

Following the webinar, we published a series of reflections from participants. Read here:

The GEO Secretariat has launched a survey on the use of very-high-resolution (VHR) Earth observation imagery, inviting community members and practitioners to share their experiences and needs. Accompanying the survey, GEO Youth COP member Letwin Pondo has written a blog post offering a youth perspective on VHR and its potential to address development challenges.

🔗  Take the survey.

🔗  Read the blog.

Planning a webinar, workshop, training or event that the GEO community should know about? Got some news you want to share? Send details to the GEO Secretariat so we can help amplify your work through upcoming community updates: news@geosec.org

📲 Follow us on social media (LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram) for all the latest updates.

Thank you for being part of GEO’s journey. Together we are advancing Earth Intelligence for All.