GEO Community Update – June 2026

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

Highlights from the 2026 GEO Symposium and GEO-21 Plenary

More than 350 participants gathered in Geneva for the 2026 GEO Symposium contributing to townhalls, showcases, and 26 community-led events on topics ranging from climate services and AI to water security and land restoration. More insights are available in the dedicated section below. A full report capturing the outcomes of these impactful discussions will be released in the coming weeks.

The 21st GEO Plenary delivered key outcomes for GEO, including securing new funding commitments by Members to GEO Work Programme initiatives, approving an updated GEO Rules of Procedure, announcing a new GEO Innovation Fund and adopting an In Situ Data Strategy. These milestones strengthen GEO’s ability to deliver Earth Intelligence for All.

🎥 Watch session recordings and see photos here.

📃 Read the documents approved by the GEO-21 Plenary.

Call for Expression for Interest to host 2027 and 2028 GEO events

GEO Members are invited to express interest in hosting GEO’s global events in 2027 and 2028. Hosting a GEO event places your country at the forefront of international dialogue on Earth Intelligence, providing a platform to engage government leaders, space agencies, international organizations, researchers, innovators, industry leaders, investors and development partners from across the globe.

🌎 Submit your Expression of Interest by 31 July 2026 to secretariat@geosec.org

📋 Learn more about the requirements.

Launching a new virtual platform for collaboration: the GEO Community Space

The GEO Community Space is where the contributors to the GEO Work Programme community come together to discuss and collaborate. It responds to a long-standing need expressed by the community: a dedicated space to share updates, exchange new ideas, explore connections, and identify collaborative opportunities across the GEO Work Programme.

📖 Learn more about the platform and how to access it.

Dates for your diary: 10th AfriGEO Symposium and upcoming regional events

Registration is now open for the 10th AfriGEO Symposium taking place from 5–8 October 2026 in Abuja, Nigeria, under the theme “Earth Observations for a Resilient Africa”. Hosted by the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) of Nigeria and the AfriGEO Secretariat, the Symposium will build on a decade of regional cooperation to strengthen the use of Earth observation data, technologies, and partnerships in addressing Africa’s priorities and advancing the AfriGEO Implementation Plan 2026–2036.

✍ Register for the 10th AfriGEO Symposium.

📅 Save the date for AmeriGEO Week 2026 (Guatemala, 30 November-4 December 2026), and the 18th AOGEO Symposium (Japan, 15-17 December 2026).

Registration is open for the GEO Knowledge Hub Webinar Series for Youth

The GEO Knowledge Hub Webinar Series for Youth continues on 16 July 2026 at 14:00 CEST, with an engaging session focused on ecosystems, biodiversity, and carbon management. Join us to explore how Earth Intelligence and geospatial technologies can support environmental sustainability.

✍ Register here.

Join GEO at the AI for Good Global Summit

This July, GEO will contribute to several sessions at the AI for Good Global Summit, from 7-10 July 2026 in Geneva, including discussions on Youth with Marta Koch, and Early Warnings for All with Martyn Clark and Jumpei Takami. In the GeoAI session, AI4EO members will present on governance and ethics with Lea Shanley, geo-embeddings with Gregory Giuliani, and TERRESA, a foundation model for label-efficiency and multi-modal Earth observations with Zhengpeng Feng.

The GEO community will also be represented on the big stage through partners such as Will Marshall (Planet) and Wang Jian (Zhejiang Lab and Alibaba Cloud), joining global leaders shaping the future of AI for good.

📅 Save the date for the Youth, the EW4All and the GeoAI sessions.

🔎 Learn more about the AI for Good Global Summit 2026 organized by ITU with 50+ UN agencies and co-convened by the Government of Switzerland.

GEO Mountains Youth Ideathon 2026: empowering young innovators

From 2-9 July 2026, the GEO Mountains Youth Ideathon will bring together early-career researchers and practitioners from mountain regions worldwide for an intensive capacity-building programme on Earth observations, disaster risk reduction, and science-policy engagement. Participants will co-develop innovative solutions on challenges identified by the GEO community, including Slope Risk - GPT, WOCAT, and the GEO Indigenous Alliance. The GEO Secretariat is pleased to support this capacity-building effort.

🔎 Find out more and read about Slope Risk - GPT, WOCAT and the GEO Indigenous Alliance

EuroGEO Marine and Coastal Action Group workshop

On 6-7 July 2026 in Geneva, Switzerland, the EuroGEO Marine and Coastal Action Group, led by GEO Blue Planet and GEO AquaWatch EU offices, will convene partners from European projects and initiatives to co-design strategies that transform raw data into meaningful information and knowledge. The workshop will support alignment with key EU priorities such as the European Green Deal, the Digital Twin of the Ocean, and the European Ocean Pact. The GEO Secretariat looks forward to welcoming participants to this workshop at its offices.

🔎 Learn more about the workshop.

Why regional action matters more than ever for GEO and the world

A clear message emerged across Regional GEO community events at the GEO Symposium: while global challenges are becoming increasingly interconnected, solutions must be tailored to specific regional, national, and local realities. This is where Regional GEOs play a unique role.

🔗 Find out more.

iClimateAction calls for greater coordination in climate services

A key takeaway from the iClimateAction session at the GEO Symposium was that technology is only part of the solution. Making climate information truly actionable requires stronger partnerships, effective governance, shared standards, and closer coordination across the entire chain from science to services.

📖 Check out the full article.

UNIGE volunteers reflect on the GEO Symposium Technology Town Hall

UNIGE students and GEO 2026 Symposium volunteers Emanuele Capizzi and Alexandra Stocker highlight their reflections on the Technology Town Hall: the future of Earth intelligence is as much about community engagement and accessible, trustworthy data as it is about AI and new technologies.

💭 Read their reflections.

How GEOGLOWS is advancing open and trusted water information

For over a decade, the GEOGLOWS community has been building something powerful: a trusted, shared reference for water information. At the GEO Symposium GEOGLOWS community event, partners from ICIMOD, WMO, IUCN, Google.org, INAMHI, and beyond demonstrated how open Earth intelligence is helping water managers, institutions, and governments make decisions from the same evidence—even across borders and river basins.

📚 Read the article.

A year of progress for the GEO-LDN community

In 2025, the GEO Land Degradation Neutrality (GEO-LDN) Flagship strengthened its role as a global platform connecting Earth observation experts, policymakers, and practitioners working to achieve land degradation neutrality. The GEO-LDN 2025 Annual Report captures a year of collaboration, innovation, and impact from the Regional Dialogue Forum in Fiji and the 2025 GEO Global Forum in Rome, to advances in capacity development and partnerships around the world.

📘 Read the report.

GEO Health CoP and AOGEO Webinar spotlights regional innovation

At the first-ever Special Edition: Focus on AOGEO webinar, organized by the GEO Health Community of Practice (CoP) and Asia-Oceania GEO (AOGEO), experts showcased nine projects using Earth observation and Earth Intelligence to advance environmental health approaches, agricultural and food security monitoring, and disease risk forecasting across the region.

📖 Read the key highlights from the webinar.

GEO HPI at HNPW 2026: from data to humanitarian action

At the 2026 Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Weeks (HNPW) in Geneva, GEO Human Planet Initiative (GEO HPI) representative Thomas Kemper highlighted how Earth Intelligence can improve airports and seaports preparedness, resilience, and decision-making during crises through the integration of Earth observation data.

💭 Read his reflections.

📰 See other GEO blogs on HNPW 2026: summary blog of GEO-REAP session and a youth blog on the session.

Digital Earth Africa: making Earth observations usable across Africa

At the second GEO Work Programme Open House Webinar, Mpho Sadiki highlighted the unique value of Digital Earth Africa, noting how it transforms Earth observation data into analysis ready data and accessible tools, enabling integrated climate, disaster risk, and biodiversity insights to support decision making and drive sustainable resilience across Africa.

💡 Read more and watch the full webinar.

Have an upcoming event or a newsworthy update to share? Whether it’s a webinar, workshop, training, publication, project milestone, success story, or community announcement, send the details (title, date, short description, relevant links and visuals) to the GEO Secretariat so we can help amplify it through GEO blogs, social media channels, the newsletter, and other community updates.

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