GEO community update – February 2026

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

Togo is GEO’s newest Member

The GEO community is delighted to welcome the Togolese Republic as its 117th Member and the 33rd member of the African Caucus. The country is represented in GEO by the Ministry of Security.

GEO-led Earth Intelligence for All Forum at ZGC Forum

China GEO and the GEO Secretariat are co-organizing the Earth Intelligence for All Forum as part of the 2026 Zhongguancun (ZGC) Forum, China’s flagship international event on innovation, science, and technology, from 25-29 March in Beijing. The Earth Intelligence for All Forum aims to establish a national platform to facilitate global exchange and cooperation on Earth Intelligence, with a particular focus on industry-driven solutions to accelerate the transition from research to operational intelligent services, in line with the GEO Post-2025 Strategy. Several GEO initiatives as well as national initiatives aligned with the GEO Work Programme will be showcased during the forum.

📄 Find out more. 

Date for your diary: 8th AOGEO Workshop in Beijing, China

In parallel with the Earth Intelligence for All Forum, from 26-29 March in Beijing, the 8th AOGEO Workshop and AOGEO Caucus meeting will bring together decision makers and experts from across the Asia-Oceania region to advance Earth Intelligence applications under the GEO Post-2025 Strategy, with sessions covering agriculture and food security, ecosystems and biodiversity, and water and land use sustainability.

📄 More info on the programme.

📄 Visit the workshop website. 

The 2026 GEO Symposium and GEO-21 Plenary will take place 26–28 May 2026 at WMO, Geneva.

Key deadlines (don’t miss!):

Sponsorship opportunities include support for speaker participation from developing countries, a youth networking event, the participant reception, and contributions to the GEO Innovation Fund (with recognition as Founding Donors).

📄 More info and registration.

GEO Dialogue Series 2026: Open Knowledge to Earth Intelligence

The GEO Data and Knowledge Working Group is running a 2026 dialogue series focused on co-developing implementation guidelines for Open Knowledge, building towards Earth Intelligence.

Upcoming sessions:

📄 Details and registration.

GEO Work Programme Open House webinars

The Open House webinar series is a new space for sharing, learning, and connecting across GEO activities, with recordings and slides shared through the GEO Knowledge Hub.

After the success of the first webinar, we're back for round two with five more GEO activities you need to know about. Join us on 24 March to learn about initiatives working at the nexus of disaster risk reduction, climate and biodiversity.

📄 Register here. 

📄 Learn about the activities from the first Open House webinar.

GEO AquaWatch Water Talks

Join GEO AquaWatch on 19 March at 12pm UTC for the third Annual Water Talks Webinar, featuring opening remarks from Director Dr. Ghada El Serafy (Deltares), followed by Beatriz Silva Fernandes (Universidade Federal de São Paulo) presenting on remote sensing assessment of chlorophyll-a and suspended solids in the Santos Estuary, and Mar Roca Mora (Spanish National Research Council) presenting on assessing water quality impacts on submerged seagrasses using Earth observation data.

 📄 Find out more and register here.

GEO Knowledge Hub for Youth webinar series

A hands-on training series for youth, showcasing open-source tools and reproducible workflows from the GEO Knowledge Hub.

📄 Info and registration.

Introducing the GEO Youth Blog Series

The GEO Youth Blog Series is a new initiative dedicated to amplifying youth voices, perspectives and contributions across the Earth observation community. Read the first entries in the series now.

📄 Behind the scenes of the GEO Youth Ideathon @ Global Forum Rome 2025. 

📄 From narrow alleys to urban insights: 3D mapping slums for climate action. 

GEO BON Secretariat looking for a new home

GEO BON is inviting expressions of interest from institutions wishing to host the GEO BON Secretariat for its next phase of operations. The current hosting term at McGill University, Montreal, is approaching completion. Eligible institutions (including universities, research organisations and government bodies) are encouraged to submit proposals by 9 March.

📄 Find out more. 

Strong momentum for GEOGLOWS into 2026

Two new reads highlight how GEOGLOWS is being positioned as shared water intelligence infrastructure:

Esri has elevated GEOGLOWS as its global river forecast layer in ArcGIS Living Atlas, helping make daily streamflow forecasts accessible through an open map experience, with strong usage signals (including 120,000+ views of the Living Atlas layer in 18 months and 500+ apps created in the last year).

📄 Read more. 

Google.org’s $3.5 million philanthropic investment (via Brigham Young University) aims to help scale an open river forecast service so countries, businesses, and communities can better anticipate floods and droughts.

📄 Read more. 

GEO-LDN has a new website

The GEO-LDN flagship has launched its new website. The platform features event reports, news, publications from within the community, the GEO-LDN toolbox and more! Please explore the website and stay connected.

📄 Visit here.

How Africa uses Earth Intelligence to improve air quality: 12 projects to know

Earth Intelligence is transforming how we understand and respond to health risks across Africa. Organised by the GEO Health Community of Practice and AfriGEO, the third annual Special Edition: Focus on AfriGEO webinar showcased projects redefining the way complex health risks are managed using satellite technology, geospatial data, artificial intelligence and large learning models.

📄 Read more. 

iClimateAction starts the new year shaping the future of global climate observation

Scientists and experts met in Harwell, UK, in February for the fourth GCOS-WGClimate Joint Panels Meeting. Hosted at the European Space Agency, GEO was represented through iClimateAction, a joint initiative of GEO, World Meteorological Organization and Global Climate Observing System.

📄 Read more. 

Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Week

GEO will participate in the Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Week (HNPW) in Geneva in March. On 11 March, GEO will collaborate with Risk-informed Early Action Partnership for a session on “Earth Intelligence for Humanitarian Action: GEO Solutions for Early Warning, Crisis Response, and Community Resilience”. Also, on 11 March, Human Planet Initiative will be presenting during a UNDP session on Resilient Gateways in Times of Crisis.

📄 Find out more. 

Planning a webinar, workshop, training, or community event that the GEO community should know about? Send details (title, date/time, short description, registration link) to the GEO Secretariat so we can help amplify it through upcoming community updates.

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Our social media accounts have more than 50,000 followers combined, and GEO content has reached more than 200,000 people over the past nine months.

Reach out to news@geosec.org to discuss promoting your work across GEO digital channels.

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