GEO Community Update – October 2026
GEO Community Update - October 2026
Welcome to the October 2026 edition of the GEO Community Update. Here, we recap key events, achievements and updates to celebrate our collective progress and partnerships.
GEO Secretariat and Governance updates
AfriGEO Charts a Decade of African Leadership in Earth Intelligence
More than 400 participants gathered in Abuja, Nigeria, from 5 to 8 October for the 10th AfriGEO Symposium, under the theme “Earth Observation for a Resilient Africa." The week marked a key moment for the region as AfriGEO adopted a 10-year Strategic Implementation Plan (2026–2036) aligned with the GEO Post-2025 Strategy.
Call for nominations to the Programme Board
GEO Principals of Members and Participating Organizations are invited to nominate representatives to the GEO Programme Board for a term of up to three years. As the Post-2025 GEO Work Programme moves into implementation, the Programme Board's work becomes even more consequential. We welcome nominees who combine strategic insight with practical knowledge of Earth observations, artificial intelligence, policy, programme development, monitoring and evaluation, or resource mobilisation.
Make use of the GEO Community Space
In July the Secretariat introduced the GEO Community Space, a virtual platform where people involved in GEO Work Programme activities can share updates, promote events, ask for expert feedback and connect across time zones. You can join by logging in with your existing GEO account. A weekly digest of highlights from the Community Space brings you the latest events, calls and funding opportunities from across the Work Programme.
GEO Knowledge Hub keeps growing
The GEO Knowledge Hub has added 34 new Knowledge Packages containing 123 resources from 12 new knowledge providers. South Africa now has a National GEO Knowledge Hub, and work has started on one in Ghana. Recordings from this year's knowledge-sharing webinars are all on the Hub, including sessions on governance, licensing and ethics for Earth Intelligence, data spaces and ecosystems, interoperability between in situ, satellite and citizen science data, and capacity building for EO, AI and equity.
The 2026 GEO Symposium Report is out
In May, nearly 400 members of the GEO community came together in Geneva for the 2026 GEO Symposium. Now, for the first time, we’ve captured those conversations in a dedicated public report. The report brings together what was discussed, debated and decided, and sets out a foundation for the partnerships and investments that must follow.
📃 Catch up on more Symposium sessions in our blogs on mountain research, trusted AI for EO applications and very high-resolution imagery
From the community
GEO at AI for Good Global Summit 2026
In July, the GEO community participated in three thematic strands of the AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva: GeoAI, Early Warnings for All and youth climate action. GEO and ITU launched a pilot on heat resilience in Kenya. GEO tools and impact stories were also included in the solution catalogue of the Early Warnings for All AI Subgroup, which launched at the Summit.
📃Read the summary and blogs on the Youth GeoAI session and EW4All session.
Global Ecosystems Atlas: closing in on a global map
The Global Ecosystems Atlas is moving towards its first public release. The synthesis map now covers around 77% of Earth's surface at Level 3 of the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology, and the data catalogue holds more than 500 entries. To support the mapping of the world’s ecosystems, the Global Ecosystems Atlas uses AI foundation models that are trained on a global dataset of ecosystem records, which have verified by experts. This dataset, known as EcoTrain, is especially useful to map area where data is scarce.
Countries are already using it. Lesotho drew on Global Ecosystems Atlas data for Headline Indicator A.2 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in its 7th National Report to the CBD. A beta release of the platform, which will be unveiled at CBD COP17 in Yerevan, is available now on the Global Ecosystems Atlas website.
GEO urban community convenes at the World Urban Forum 13 in Baku
At the World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku, GEO convened its urban community in partnership with the Global Covenant of Mayors and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC). The session brought together Earth observation specialists, city networks and practitioners to explore how satellite and geospatial data can better serve urban decision-making.
GEO at Innovate4Cities in Nairobi
In June, GEO participated in the Innovate4Cities Conference (I4C26) in Nairobi, co-hosted by the Global Covenant of Mayors and UN-Habitat. I4C26 hosted a live editorial session on the second-order draft of the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities, where GEO was represented among the Review Editors. The fourth edition of the conference brought together local, regional and national governments, researchers, civil society and industry to connect urban science, policy and practice
Heat resilience from Geneva to Bengaluru
The Global Heat Resilience Service (GHRS) pilot is on track. Under the C40 Cities and IBM partnership, the Heat Insight decision-support prototype is being tested in Salvador, Rio de Janeiro and Bengaluru, and data for another 30 cities is being onboarded. Heat Insight and its data are also being added to the GEO Knowledge Hub. In Europe, GHRS is advancing heat-health pilots in Portugal, Denmark and Italy, supported by the ESA Climate-Health projects CLIMA-CARE and CLIM4health.
Supporting land restoration at UNCCD COP17
At UNCCD COP17 in Mongolia, GEO-LDN co-hosted and contributed to events promoting Earth observation for land restoration, integrated planning and cooperation across the Rio Conventions. Together with UNU-EHS and partners, it highlighted data-driven land management, AI-enabled reporting and regional Support Hubs to strengthen country action.
📃 Read more.
Young mountain researchers tackle disaster risk
In Julym, 12 early-career researchers from the Andes, Central Asia, the Hindu Kush Himalaya, East Africa and the Caucasus met in Austria for the GEO Mountains Youth Ideathon. They developed solutions for disaster risk reduction using Earth observation.
Turning ocean data into decisions
In July, 29 participants from 24 European projects met in Geneva for the first EuroGEO Marine and Coastal Action Group Workshop. They agreed six priorities and set out a roadmap for 2026–2027 to ensure Europe’s marine and coastal data informs policy and operational decisions.
Seven years of the GEO Indigenous Alliance
In this blog, Diana Mastracci and James Rattling Leaf look back on seven years of the GEO Indigenous Alliance. They also announce a new Indigenous Alliance Knowledge Hub, which will keep Indigenous knowledge's context, authorship and accountability intact.
GEO Health CoP: Advancing Earth observations for public health
The GEO Health Community of Practice’s Air Quality Work Group published a review paper examining 34 air quality use cases, while its Animal Health Working Group explored how Earth observations can help anticipate hantavirus risks. Together with AmeriGEO, the CoP also showcased projects addressing air pollution, infectious diseases and extreme heat across the Americas.
📃 Read the blogs on air quality, hantavirus and environmental health across the Americas
GEO DRRA-WG members: enhancing data and knowledge for resilience
GEO Disaster Risk Reductions and Adaptation Working Group (DRRA-WG) members Khim Lal Gautam and Virginia Bukett published an article on Springer about glacier melt and human activities in Everest. Meanwhile, Mandira Shrestha worked with colleagues at the GEO-associated Global Flood Partnership conference to advance closing data gaps.
Coming up
GEO at UN CBD COP17
The 2026 UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP17) takes place in Yerevan, Armenia, from 19 to 30 October under the theme "Taking Action for Nature". GEO will have a strong presence, with the Global Ecosystems Atlas, GEO BON, and many Members and partners on the ground.
Data to Action Pavilion: GEO is co-convening the Data to Action Pavilion with GEO BON, GBIF, the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Zurich. The pavilion brings together organisations working across the whole biodiversity knowledge system, from Earth observation and monitoring to data infrastructure and policy support.
Everything GEO is doing in Yerevan is collected on our COP17 page. If you're attending, let us know by contacting mcrook@geosec.org so we can connect you with the wider GEO delegation.
GEO at UNFCCC COP31
The international climate community is gathering in Antalya, Turkiye, for UNFCCC COP31 from 9 to 20 November. Of relevance to GEO is Earth Information Day, where GEO and partners will showcase recent work in support of the monitoring and implementation of the Paris Agreement goals. This includes a new UNFCCC Technology Executive Committee (TEC)- International Organization for Migration (IOM) policy brief on early warning systems, which builds on the earlier TEC-GEO brief. The 2026 CEOS Earth Observation Handbook featuring case studies from the GEO community, will be showcased at an ESA-led COP31 side event on 9 November, with copies available to browse at the ESA booth.
AmeriGEO Week 2026, 30 November – 4 December, Guatemala City
AmeriGEO Week will be held at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala and hosted by Guatemala's Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, with the theme "Geospatial Interoperability for Regional Resilience and Sustainability". The GEO Secretariat is convening sessions on VHR access, stakeholder engagement and building bridges across regions.
Please complete this form if you would like to apply for funding, deadline 23 October and note that the Call for Poster Session proposals has been extended to the same date.
✍ Register here and read our blog post for more info.
18th AOGEO Symposium, 15–17 December, Tsukuba, Japan
The theme for this year’s AOGEO Symposium is "Advancing Earth Intelligence for Sustainable and Resilient Societies in the Asia-Oceania Region: Connecting Science, Decision-Making, and Action". Registration closes on 30 November. Remote participants can join in hybrid format. This year, the GEO Secretariat is convening a session on VHR access.
✍ Register here and read our blog post for more info.
Share your updates and events with the community
Do you have an event, webinar, publication or milestone coming up? Send it to news@geosec.org and we'll help share it across GEO channels. If you're heading to the CBD and UNFCCC COPs or a Regional GEO event, we'd especially like to hear from you.