Canada

Group on Earth Observations – GEO Week 2022

Statement of Canada

Canada looks forward to reuniting with the global GEO community for GEO Week 2022 this year in Accra, Ghana to engage collaboratively on advancing the use of Earth Observation (EO) in addressing common national, regional, and global priorities and commitments. Canada recognizes GEO’s community of expertise and the effort committed to improving EO data access, quality, and integration of satellite and in-situ into decision-making processes.  As a long-standing member of this global community, Canada would like to highlight some of our national activities and contributions that are well aligned with GEO’s vision. 

Publicly released in January 2022, Resourceful, Resilient, Ready:  Canada’s Strategy for Satellite Earth Observation outlines a strategic approach that will guide Canada’s actions and investments in satellite EO data, technology, and partnerships over the next decade and more.  This includes advancing new satellite missions and analytical environments to study issues and generate solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation, particularly in Canada’s Arctic.

To complement the release of this EO strategy, Canada held our 2^nd National Forum on EO in early October 2022.  The forum brought together Canadian stakeholders from across academia, industry, government, non-government, and indigenous communities in order to assess the current EO landscape and identify the next steps needed to continue advancing the use of satellite EO in Canada.  This forum garnered a range of perspectives from stakeholders and fostered engagement between communities that will inform Canada’s future actions in a rapidly growing EO market.  The importance of international collaborations was highlighted by both the Canadian GEO Principal and the international GEO Secretariat, both of whom participated as panelists in workshops at the forum, promoting GEO’s activities and encouraging Canada’s involvement in this global community. 

Canada’s key satellite EO activities promote and reflect the growing need for EO and the benefits EO technology bring to advancing key priorities that impact the lives of Canadians, such as climate change, air quality, biodiversity, food security, water and oceans management, and forest fires. The systematic monitoring and analysis of our environment enables improved evidence-based decision-making to build an environmentally and economically sustainable tomorrow. 

In October 2022, Canada announced its contribution to the Atmosphere Observing System (AOS) mission led by NASA. AOS is an international multi-satellite mission with instruments that will measure aerosol and clouds, and how they interact to affect Earth’s weather and climate.  Canada’s contribution, the High-altitude Aerosols, Water vapor and Clouds (HAWC) mission, will provide critical data to support extreme weather prediction, climate modelling and disaster monitoring, including of volcanic eruptions, droughts and extreme precipitation. HAWC is anticipated to launch in 2031.

Open data continues to be a key priority for Canada, and this year the Canadian government launched a new collaborative pan-Canadian website called GEO.ca, under the leadership of Natural Resources Canada (NRCan).  This web platform will be a single point of entry for open Canadian geospatial data published by federal organizations as well as from provinces and territories, and will provide online space for our Canadian GEO communities. Geospatial and EO content from the site provides interoperable data to support numerous policy priorities and platforms, such as Canada’s Open Government Portal (Open Maps) and the Open Science and Data Platform for cumulative effects. This effort contributes to advancing Canada’s 2022-24 National Action Plan commitments, within the international Open Government Partnership.

Canada is also currently developing a National Adaptation Strategy that outlines how the Canadian economy and society can be more resilient and prepared for the impacts of climate change. The Strategy builds on the Government’s existing investments, including EO-based work in flood mapping, wildfire, and permafrost monitoring and management. Climate resilience is a cross-cutting issue with linkages to our national work in biodiversity as we continue to work towards protecting 30% of our lands and oceans by 2030.

The 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will take place in Montreal, Canada in December 2022, where international governments will gather to agree on a new set of goals and targets necessary to advance the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.  Biodiversity includes ocean marine life and the important role Canada has in protecting oceans and the longest coastline in the world.   In 2022, Canada allocated $2 billion dollars over nine years to renew and expand ocean protection initiatives that build on the $1.5 billion dollars already invested in 2016. Earth observation continues to contribute to better monitoring of our oceans in a sustainable socio-economic approach. This is especially true in Canada’s North, where the Canadian government is mapping the Arctic seafloor using both autonomous survey vessels and satellites to meet the challenges of Arctic hydrography including navigation safety.

In addition to these national highlights, the Canadian GEO community continues to advance these priorities and others through their engagement with international experts throughout the GEO community.  Below are selected examples of Canada’s contributions to GEO efforts:

GOS4M – Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) continues to co-chair GEO’s Observation System for Mercury (GOS⁴M) flagship and contribute expertise to increase global mercury monitoring capacity and centralized open data access. This work is key to supporting several international environmental agreements such as the Minamata Convention on Mercury to inform evidence-based policy development.

GEOGLAM – Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) continues to provide a leadership role to the GEO Global Agricultural Monitoring initiative (GEOGLAM), and GEOGLAM’s Joint Experiment for Crop Assessment and Monitoring (JECAM) network. Through these research collaborations, Canada supports capacity development in EO-based crop monitoring that inform their own operational methods.  Along with sharing Canadian knowledge and data, AAFC contributes funds to the GEOGLAM secretariat that enable international efforts for food security initiatives.

GEO BON – With the GEO BON headquarters now hosted by the Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science at McGill University, the GEO BON community is working closely with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to develop biodiversity indicators based on EO data and essential biodiversity variables to support the implementation of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. GEO BON works with many global biodiversity and EO experts including ECCC.

EO4A – In 2021 Statistics Canada (StatCan) and ECCC received permanent funding to develop a national ‘Census of Environment’ program, focused on developing accounting-ready EO data to measure, monitor and report on the state and condition of Canada’s ecosystems. These data will be integrated with existing socio-economic information to inform on the value and benefits of ecosystem services in Canada. Canada continues to provide leadership on this activity through GEO EO4A, and the potential contributions it has to monitoring climate change and biodiversity degradation.

Post 2025 GEO – Through Canada’s membership to the international Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) participates on GEO’s Post 2025 working group and contributes to reviewing GEO’s mandate and path forward. This collaborative work will identify short-term and long-term goals by recognizing the opportunities and challenges of GEO’s membership countries, participating organizations and industry representatives. 

GWIS – Canada will invest $169.9 million over 11 years for a new wildfire monitoring satellite system to support wildfire management, including smoke monitoring, air quality conditions and carbon measurements.  This project is led jointly by the CSA, NRCan and ECCC.  NRCan also contributes to GEO’s Global Observation of Forest and Land Cover Dynamics (GOFC-GOLD) Fire Implementation team, which supports Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS) and their efforts to better characterize fire management at national, regional, and global levels.

Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Working Group – AAFC, on behalf of Canada, leads a sub-group under the DDR working group to modernize Jamaica’s National Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Act by integrating EO into their existing frameworks to support evidence-based policy.  This collaborative initiative is addressing systematic risk and the needs of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) for both disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation.

GEO Climate Change Working Group – ECCC, on behalf of Canada, continues to contribute to the GEO’s Climate Change working group by supporting international efforts in advancing EO for climate change monitoring and mitigation. Furthermore, Canada contributed input to the GEO’s COP 27 briefing on Research and Systematic Observation (RSO), emphasizing the role of GEO community and its efforts on promoting EO data.

GEO Value – The CSA, on behalf of Canada, continues to actively contribute to a variety of initiatives relating to best practices in valuation and regularly participates in research discussions with the wider GEOValue group, as well as specialized subgroups. Canada has also recently contributed to the organization of several panels on behalf of GEOValue, in close collaboration with international partners including one at GEO Week 2022. All of these are aimed at broadening discussion and engagement with the wider EO community, including at the leadership and working levels on the importance of measuring socio-economic benefits of EO.

GEO Health Community of Practice (CoP) – On behalf of Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) was the lead editor of the textbook  Earth Observation, Public Health and One Health: Activities, Challenges and Opportunities released in May 2022. Along with key support from CSA, GEO’s Health Community of Practice, GEO secretariat, GEO Bon and many international expert authors, the book explores how EO can contribute to better understanding, managing, monitoring, and responding to public health risks including both chronic and infectious diseases. The text book illustrates the context in which EO can contribute to public health practice with examples from 6 thematic areas as well as the needs, challenges and opportunities for collaboration between the EO community and the public health community.

GEO AquaWatch – Canada’s ongoing involvement in AquaWatch contributes to the global use of EO-derived water quality data and information for decision-making.  Canada’s expert guidance in the development of these EO products helps improve water quality monitoring capabilities used in water resources management.

AmeriGEO – Canada continues to contribute to the AmeriGEO coordination working group to support regional efforts in achieving common goals.  Canada’s GEO leadership also participated in AMERIGEO Week 2022 by presenting on Canada’s National GEO community.  The discussion focused on characterizing Canada’s community, goals, and the national secretariat’s role to support its members.

Canada looks forward to engaging with the local and international EO community in Ghana over the course of GEO Week 2022 with the potential of seeding new collaborative opportunities at the local, regional and global scale, as well as advance and promote existing common goals.

This aligns with our efforts to strengthen our national GEO community, increase contributions to GEO, and fund the GEO Trust Fund to enable the GEO Secretariat to realize its global vision.  Through Canada’s involvement in the Programme Board and Post2025-WG, Canada will continue to explore synergies between GEO and Canada’s Satellite EO strategy.  Along with promoting international collaboration and the importance of global capacity develop at regional and global levels, Canada will continue to promote the importance of diversity and inclusion, as well as the representation of Indigenous and industry partners.